“Malice.”
Eunuch Liu’s answer was clean and precise, but Qianye couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Why would a great dark monarch—one who could suppress an entire continent—fear something so intangible as malice?
This malice had to have a source, right? Experts with a sharp perception would indeed sense certain things beyond the five senses, but if that was the extent of it, Eunuch Liu would’ve mentioned the source of this threat.
When Qianye inquired further, Eunuch Liu replied with a question, “You’ve been pioneering new land here for a while, did you not sense the malice?”
Qianye thought back carefully and recalled that he did feel restless and uncomfortable in the beginning. The human body would also react to stress under adverse environments, so he couldn’t say for sure if it was due to malicious intent.
Eunuch Liu said, “Speaking of which, this is actually a good thing for us humans. There’s an extremely powerful malicious intent targeting top experts here in the new world. According to the pieces of intelligence we obtained from the Evernight side, we can be sure that the malice is much stronger against the great dark monarchs of Evernight than toward the heavenly monarchs of the Empire. I don’t know why that is the case, either.”
“Then what exactly is that malice?”
“The elder prince has already experienced the new world for himself. Upon his return, he said there is indeed a strong malicious intent here. There seemed to be something hiding in the new world, watching every person from the shadows. Even someone with cultivation as profound as the Pointer Monarch might not be this entity’s match, let alone other people. Other heavenly monarchs have also gone in to explore the new world, but fortunately, this malice never took action. It only watched from the sidelines even when the Profundity Monarch took down the forest with four holy trees.”
“Is it close by or in the void?”
“There’s no way to judge its location. No one knows where it’s hiding, and that’s what makes it all the more terrifying. That’s why both heavenly monarchs and the great dark monarchs have to be on guard at all times. I wouldn’t have succeeded so easily just now if Sousa hadn’t been distracted.”
Qianye understood what had happened. Even Sousa might lose to Eunuch Liu if he couldn’t concentrate on the fight. Since the malicious intent was much stronger toward the Evernight experts, the great dark monarchs would have to be more cautious.
They would be either heavily injured or killed if a heavenly monarch from the Empire were to launch a successful surprise attack.
Qianye hadn’t really sensed this malice Eunuch Liu was speaking about. He could only laugh at himself for being so weak that this entity wouldn’t even take notice of him.
Eunuch Liu left after the Martyr’s Palace returned to the Fort Continent. Qianye could only say his farewells as the old man flew up into the sky. There was probably an airship waiting in the void.
Qianye went back into the new world without further delay and continued attacking new territories. He paid more attention to this so-called malicious intent but couldn’t sense anything at all.
On the contrary, invisible energy descended upon him from the void as he returned to the new world. Qianye felt his body grow lighter and almost as though his origin power had grown more active. The strange origin power in the environment that used to be difficult to control began to accumulate around him to express their acceptance and delight. It was almost as though they were alive.
The sudden change startled Qianye. He had spread out his perception to try and sense the malice of the new world, not expecting to receive a friendly will in return. This was so far off from his expectations that he found the situation rather difficult to accept.
He hadn’t imagined that there would be such a stark contrast before his departure and after his return. There had to be a reason behind this, but what was it?
Qianye ordered the Martyr’s Palace to hover in the air and stop its advancement. He wanted to be cautious before the reason was clear.
Sousa’s vigilance set off alarm bells in Qianye’s mind. Even a great dark monarch had accepted his loss, albeit a minor one, against an enemy who wasn’t a heavenly monarch. Apparently, he was more afraid of this malicious intent than he was of losing face.
Considering the size of the new world, the hidden entity here was likely even more powerful than the mysterious entity at the bottom of the Eastern Sea. It might even be stronger than void colossi like Sky Demon.
It was best to be cautious against such a monstrosity. He couldn’t drop his guard just because of the friendly will.
Qianye simply sat down and thought back to everything that had happened, trying to find anything that was out of the ordinary. A sudden idea came into his mind. Could it be the two holy trees on the Martyr’s Palace?
Qianye immediately went back into the airship and to where the trees were stored.
The holy trees had been placed in the biggest storage area on the airship. Even though each of them was dozens of meters tall, the Martyr’s Place could still accommodate them quite readily. This area hadn’t been partitioned into cabins and only walled off from the outside, so it was just the right place for the trees.
Qianye was startled when he walked into the chamber.
The leaves and branches on the two holy trees were flourishing. The protective soil around the roots had spread out on the floor, and the lake of holy tree sap was nowhere to be seen. The roots of the holy tree were stretching out in all directions, almost as though the trees were planning to take root on the Martyr’s Palace.
Qianye came to the trees and noticed something different about them. He knelt down and dug out some of the soil, only to find the holy-tree roots piercing deep into the Earth Dragon’s muscles.
Qianye felt his chest tighten. The holy trees were alive, but the Earth Dragon was only a lingering consciousness. The gains would never make up for the losses if he were to ruin the dragonship just to transport two holy trees.
He communicated with the Earth Dragon’s consciousness and sensed waves of joy. Qianye soon discovered that the airship had already taken control of the two holy trees and was absorbing the new world’s origin power through them. The trees were also happy and willing to start a new symbiotic life.
This was an outcome Qianye hadn’t ever expected.
If one were to consider the dragonship a living creature, these trees would serve the function of extra noses and lungs through which it could breathe and eat. Origin power was the only form of nutrition for void colossi. In the past, the dragonship had to rely on the heart to absorb origin power and maintain a slow rate of regeneration. The efficiency of energy absorption had increased tenfold with the addition of these trees, so much so that a layer of muscles had already begun to appear under the roots.
Whether or not the Earth Dragon would come back to life after complete regeneration, now that was a completely different issue.
It would seem that these two holy trees were the main reason the new world was so friendly toward Qianye.
They were now bound to the Martyr’s Palace, which was linked to Qianye’s consciousness. There was now an intersection on the plane of consciousness. Hence, not only did the new world recognize Qianye as a native, but as a high-authority native on par with the holy trees. The holy trees possessed a natural ability to utilize the alien origin power, and this also benefited Qianye. That was why all the origin power had gathered toward him.
At that exact moment, Qianye felt as though he had really run into dumb luck. Who would’ve thought the two trees he had moved out of caution would bring him such a surprise? He hadn’t made that decision out of mercy for the trees but rather because of their value and out of fear that the other trees would retaliate in unison.
After accidentally obtaining the friendship of the new world, the biggest benefit Qianye obtained was the ability to utilize the origin power in the environment.
The alien origin power of the new world was uncomfortable for both humans and the dark races; rarely would anyone be able to use it without a hitch. This would cause many experts—from the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs down to dukes and divine champions—to feel awkward upon entering the new world. The sensation was akin to multi-millionaires suddenly deprived of their money.
Fighting under such circumstances was beyond dangerous because they might just fall from simple, careless mistakes; even Sousa was injured by Eunuch Liu’s attack. Those who had reached this level were all heroes of the era. No one wanted to die in such a clumsy manner.
After understanding this point, Qianye changed his original plan and ordered the Martyr’s Palace to fly in the direction of the Moorland werewolves.
He drew an arc on the map and made preparations to keep the dark races on the other side of this line. There wasn’t a lot he could do, though, since it was already a near-impossible endeavor to go against a force backed by an entire continent.
The dragonship became more flexible as it roamed the skies of the new world and took down forest after forest. It almost seemed as though the airship had come to life.
At the same time, an unending stream of resources arrived on Fort Continent. Every day, thousands of newly trained werewolves would be outfitted and injected with medicine before heading into the new world. The Imperial research academy had developed a medicine using the holy-tree sap as the raw material, greatly improving its efficacy.
With the direct help of the aristocratic families and secret assistance from Zhao Jundu, the Imperial army finally agreed to allow Qianye to exchange the medicine for holy tree sap. The price was also fairly reasonable. In short, Qianye would be able to exchange one portion of holy-tree sap for two doses of medicine. This ratio was equal to Qianye and the Empire going half-half on the costs, a delightful deal for both parties.
This improved the time Qianye’s army could be maintained in the new world and allowed him to expand further out.
During the expansion process, Qianye discovered an interesting development. The six-armed creatures and beasts became a lot more aggressive toward Qianye after he obtained the friendship of the new world. They would go after him and fight him to the bitter end.
The forest, on the other hand, became a friendly party. It no longer issued warnings when Qianye entered and would instead hide his aura with a gentle breeze. This allowed Qianye to sneak into the forest center with relative ease. There, he witnessed a part of the six-armed creatures that not many knew about.
Whenever Qianye encountered the six-armed creature, it was either asleep or searching for outsiders and ready for combat. This time, Qianye finally saw the six-armed creature in its normal daily life.
There was a single holy tree at the center of the forest, and the holy sap had only formed a tiny pond. That six-armed creature was on one knee beside the water, knocking on a long rod with a stone. One of the ends gradually became sharper as he banged on it, and it would seem that this was how their weapons were made.
The stone spear had already taken a rough shape and was ready for delicate crafting. The six-armed giant started banging with greater care, hoping to make the spear sharper.
Qianye was speechless. Normally, the weapon would need to be sharpened at this point and not banged on. It did not seem like the six-armed creature knew about this, and Qianye wasn’t about to tell him. He merely observed in silence.
The six-armed giant was, of course, working with the stony metal. This strange metal was the best material for several kinds of origin arrays, but it wasn’t the best for making weapons because of how pliable it was.
The six-armed giant kept hammering for a good while, but there were no signs that the spear was growing sharper. The creature seemed dispirited as he put away the shavings and crushed them into a ball. He then cut open his arm, showered the weapon with his blood, and carefully placed it in the pond.
Once inside, the stony metal started absorbing the tree sap and surrounding origin power.
