The entire province looked as though it had been picked up by an invisible hand. This time, however, the specks of light rolled into a torrential snowball over the land. Space was still distorted, folded, and crushed—and the torrent of radiance was also shattered in the process—but things within range of the light weren’t completely destroyed.
That snowball bounced around repeatedly within the distorted space. It would shrink considerably with each jump, but the space around its point of contact would also recover.
This proved that the attack from the City of Eimer was being neutralized. The energy and laws required to activate this defense were astronomical, but it gave everyone some peace of mind to know that the attack could be blocked.
No one knew what would be left behind in the province after the calamity. That torrent of light couldn’t withstand a single attack from the City of Eimer, but it proved that the incomprehensible strength could be broken.
On a tower in Serene Pass.
Lin Wu said calmly, “The Little Lady fired a scattered defensive assault this time around. It should be able to defend against the floating city’s attack if it’s in full defense mode. Judging from the intensity of scattered energy, though, it seems the penetration waves will still damage ordinary civilians.”
This was similar to how most objects would be destroyed within the range of a heavenly monarch’s attack, but some experts might be able to escape.
The Radiant Emperor asked, “What were those bright specks on the ground just now?”
Lin Wu glanced at the Zhao brothers with a strange expression. “We launched a defensive attack over a long distance. Those light specks act as guidance coordinates.”
The pillar of light had come from one of the Northern Legion’s camps, at the most front-line of Lin Xitang’s defensive region. Its location was already within the rebel provinces.
Garrisons and borders were adjusted slightly after the Empire redefined its warzones. That camp had already been abolished, not to mention all of its ground structures were destroyed, but neither the Zhao clan nor the rebels found out about the superweapon hidden underneath.
Everyone felt curious about how the entire Desolate North was covered in guiding coordinates. Lin Wu paused briefly to compose his message.
He said, “Those beacons are actually origin arrays installed on various weapons.”
The Radiant Emperor and the Zhao siblings were sharp people. The first channel that came to mind when they thought of tampered weapons was smuggling.
Zhao Jundu suddenly recalled some old secrets. Back in the year, he had investigated Song Zining several times because he didn’t feel at ease about his close relationship with Qianye. He discovered some traces back then, but he never found any hard evidence. For instance, Ningyuan Heavy Industries’ grey trades, its supplier status to the Northern Legion, and its many shady connections.
This was one of the reasons he didn’t like Song Zining. Today, it felt as though he had suddenly found the answers to all the suspicions of the past. Even someone with his mental capacity found it hard to describe his current emotions.
“Divine silence,” Zhao Jundu uttered.
Lin Wu narrowed his eyes, and his gaze toward Zhao Jundu became much sharper. However, he didn’t say anything in the end.
The Radiant Emperor sighed. “The Northern Legion’s research team is not inferior to the Imperial Family’s. The Empire hasn’t produced a new superweapon in several hundred years.”
There were many reasons for this. The more important reason was the long years of peace, which brought about arguments in the distribution of resources. The design, construction, and maintenance of a superweapon involved astronomical numbers. It was only natural that people would grow complacent when there was no use for it in war.
The design and testing of a new weapon was a different level of difficulty altogether. The marshal’s warzone and the clan territories shared little harmonious relationship. And since superweapons happened to be area-of-effect weapons, coordination and confidentiality would become major issues.
Even the nearby Zhao clan didn’t know about Lin Xitang’s secret weapon. Lin Xitang had already passed when the hand-over was officially carried out. The Northern Legion didn’t inform the Zhao clan when they handed the territory over, otherwise, the base wouldn’t have been abandoned. There had to be a deeper story behind all of this, and no one could say who was in the wrong.
The distant flying city began to move once again. No one knew whether the dark races were going to continue attacking Desolate North or if they were turning toward the Empire.
Zhao Junhong had been feeling awkward all this time, but he ended up asking, “Commander Lin, can the Northern Legion’s weapon fire again?”
Lin Wu shook his head. “No, it can only fire once. This is actually the Little Lady’s first real test-fire.”
He pointed at the three researchers on the ground. “They’ll organize the weapon blueprints and today’s data, then hand everything to the Zhao clan.”
Zhao Junhong nodded in thanks. There was nothing else he could do anyway. The Western Continent was the newest territory added to the Empire’s map, so their continental defense system wasn’t a match for the others and their long acc.u.mulation. The West Pole City might be able to withstand a couple of attacks, but Serene Pass did not possess such capability.
There was a mystery that no one managed to figure out all this time. Such superweapons would take vast amounts of resources with each shot. What was the Evernight Council trying to achieve?
With its second move, Eimer stopped between Serene South and Desolate North. Its fire could cover Serene Pass at this distance.
The atmosphere grew tense.
The City of Eimer didn’t remain still. The entire city turned around slowly until it was facing the mountain pass!
A commotion broke out in the stronghold. The first airship squadron to finish preparations scrambled into the air, with more of them forming up on the ground. All cannon turrets and fire ports opened up as the officers ran about to check the equipment.
All of a sudden, a tremendous suppressive might arose from Serene Pass. It quickly spread out to cover the entire stronghold, then pushed toward the rebel provinces like a tornado.
The Radiant Emperor’s figure rose into the air, with mist and winds swirling beneath his feet. It was as though a storm were brewing beneath him. Leaden clouds gathered in the sky, forming the vague figure of a nine-scaled soaring serpent.
A silent streak of lightning tore through the firmament, almost as though a giant path had been opened up therein.
The soaring serpent revealed its form at this point. It possessed golden claws, thunderbolt horns, and was shrouded in a sphere of radiance. This mixture of light and fire wasn’t really harsh on the eyes.
In a flash, the soaring serpent spread its wings, and the sphere of light burst into myriad beams which merged into the sky.
After that initial radiance, the world was covered in darkness. People looked up in fright, only to find that the soaring snake had spread its wings completely and blotted out half the sky.
The City of Eimer looked like a constant light source in the alternating brightness of this world, never growing brighter or darker.
A majestic aura surged into the sky from the floating city, one that seemed to have traversed the ages to descend upon this world.
A faint golden hue emerged in the sky where the soaring serpent’s wings did not cover. It felt as though the world was past afternoon and closing in on twilight.
The calm was quickly broken as the void tempest stirred up by the soaring serpent rushed into the dusk-washed land.
The Great Qin Emperor’s “Clear Sky” domain and the vampire primogenitor’s Nation of Dusk clashed with one another, initiating a battle that spanned thousands of kilometers!
Following this sudden clash of domains, the Radiant Emperor’s suppressive might pushed across the midline between two provinces. Habsburg, on the other hand, pulled back as far as an arrow could fly.
This went to show that even the youngest crown prince of Evernight was at a disadvantage against a newly ascended heavenly monarch.
Predica was furious. “A heavenly monarch! When did the Great Qin gain a new heavenly monarch?”
Duke Doer had already gone down to the surface with the warlocks. Eimer’s second shot failed to exert its full force, but the situation wasn’t so bad. The humans here possessed lower origin power overall. Their few experts had been killed in the beheading operation a while ago, so survivors were few and far between. According to the great warlock, there wouldn’t be too much of a deviation. This was good news because this meant that they wouldn’t have to redo half the mission.
The demonkin and arachne dukes on the airship wore unsightly expressions, just like Predica. The humans had produced yet another heavenly monarch, and he was right in front of them. Although they didn’t need to run away in fright, it was a new variable nonetheless. The most hateful thing on the battlefield was the turning of tables.
Habsburg was the only calm person. It was even hard to tell that he had just released his domain in a long-range battle.
He walked forward, his blood energy intensifying with each step. A sanguine armor quickly formed around his body, and a long spear appeared in his hand.
Predica came to at this point. The Radiant Emperor’s power came so suddenly that he didn’t have time to stop Habsburg from releasing his domain. Seeing that Habsburg was about to leave Eimer, Predica flashed over and grabbed his hand.
“Habsburg, what are you doing?”
The blood armor around Habsburg had already formed. He stood quietly in the air with his spear and glanced back at Predica.
The surprising thing was that Habsburg wasn’t in a complete combat state. His deep blue eyes were like gems, as limpid as the clear skies, and his voice and expression were just as calm. “Heading to battle.”
Predica didn’t know what to say for a moment. Facing battle was a warrior’s honor, and he himself had never shrunk back against powerful enemies, so how was he to tell Habsburg not to fight?
He loosened his grip with a nod, saying, “I’ll bring up the rear.”
Soon, a cryptic aura erupted from Predica’s body as a staff emerged in his hand. The weapon was entirely black and seemed to be condensed from the purest of darkness origin power. Wisps of light were floating about near the tip of the staff, resembling a half-open eye.
It was only after Habsburg and Predica had left Eimer that the two dukes came to. Completely suppressed by the duo’s might, they didn’t even dare to move, let alone interfere.
George and Melina exchanged glances. Seeing a similar experience in each other’s eyes, they found a common topic to discuss.
Melina said, “That weapon in Lord Predica’s hands… is that the council’s holy weapon, the Keeper of Destiny?”
George nodded. “Yes. His Highness Predica is probably the only one who is a match for it.” He said after some pause, “His Highness Habsburg is so strong. It turns out it’s true that a vampire crown prince can contend with a great dark monarch. No wonder His Majesty Kane treats him with such importance.”
Habsburg traversed the desolate land at a steady pace.
The grand mountain pass of the human race stretched below the grey skies. The giant soaring serpent lingered in the air, its wings fully outstretched as it guarded the Empire’s territories.
Habsburg halted as a figure appeared before him, a man in Imperial military clothing. He was in the prime of his life, bearing a mild temperament that hardly matched the violent tempest from just now.
“The Flaming Crown Habsburg?” The man smiled. “I’m Lin Xitang’s student.”
Habsburg’s blood core skipped a beat, tugging on the scar upon it. Then, his vision was filled with sword shadows, seemingly covering the entire sky.
A frost of death and murder bore down upon the enemy as sword energy gushed into the air.
The Great Qin Emperor’s sword was called “Teia.”
