In the depths of Fort Continent, Qianye and Nighteye were standing side by side at the edge of a cliff. Before them was a green ocean of mist-shrouded trees, stretching far off until it met the sky over the horizon.
“Here we are,” Qianye said.
Nighteye did not say a word.
Qianye hugged her gently. “This is a key period for your recovery. You must find a safe place to recuperate, not run around with me. Seek me out when you’ve become a prince or even a great dark monarch.”
“What will you do then?”
Qianye smiled as he produced a hazy mass of origin power. “With this chaos origin power, no one but the Demon King can capture me.”
Nighteye was still worried, but Zhuji said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be around to fight those Papa can’t beat.”
Little Zhuji was in a fairly strange state. Her bloodline powers hadn’t m.a.t.u.r.ed, but her physical strength had reached an extreme level. Her constitution was akin to the combined strength of the ancient vampires and arachne, hardly measurable with ordinary standards. A while back, she even managed to break free from Sousa’s grip while he was distracted. Having her around would be a great boon for Qianye.
Nighteye was also a decisive person. “Very well, I’ll be going then.”
She planted a gentle kiss on Qianye’s lips and left.
Only when her figure had vanished did Little Zhuji ask, “Why did you ask aunty to leave?”
“She needs to look for an ancient blood pond and sleep for a while. She’ll become even more powerful after she wakes up. Oh, weren’t you calling her ‘sis’ a while back? When did she become ‘aunty?’”
“I recently learned that a woman’s age is very important. I should call her aunty so that people don’t misunderstand my age! After all, I’m still young. Mama said humans usually start counting from the time we break out of the eggshell.”
Qianye didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, what had Song Zining put into her head? He didn’t know how arachne counted their age, but only egg-laying creatures could be counted in that manner.
This little lass was as smart as she was mischievous, and her intelligence was expanding particularly quickly. Qianye could no longer treat her as a kid, but her own perception of age was probably less than ten years old.
Qianye glanced up at the sky where the Martyr’s Palace was moving farther and farther away.
The demonkin had mobilized Sousa last time, so there might be more great dark monarchs coming for him. The dragonship wasn’t enough to hold its own before such experts, so Qianye had to send it away to protect his foundations.
Back then, Brock was utterly defeated because Qianye had charged into his airship and kept him restrained. He wasn’t about to subject himself to this fate.
The visibility inside the forest was limited as almost all light was blotted out by the giant trees and lingering mist. It was difficult to tell night and day apart. The tree trunks were covered in glowing moss, which provided the b.a.r.e minimum of illumination to see things.
The environment was dark, damp, and filled with a bone-deep chill. Even a champion might fall sick after staying here for too long.
In a clearing within the forest, Qianye lit up a fire and began roasting a small creature he had captured. “How are you feeling?”
Little Zhuji looked up at the sky. “I still can’t see clearly, but I can make out some clouds now.”
“Not bad, keep practicing. Perception is the most important factor for a good hunter.”
Nodding, Little Zhuji stared earnestly at the misty treetops, hoping to see through them.
This sea of trees was fairly well-known on Fort Continent as a death zone. The woods were covered year-round in a dense mist that could obstruct perception, and there were drifting wisps of origin power under the cover of the moisture and cold. This origin power provided no benefit to living beings. In fact, even experts would feel weakened after prolonged exposure to it.
These things posed no problem for Qianye, and Little Zhuji was entirely at home in this environment. He had come to this forest to hide in the special environment and lie in wait for the demonkin hunters. He couldn’t pick his opponent, so it was important for him to pick the battlefield.
Not only was perception limited inside the forest, but it would also be distorted. The latter might be fatal under certain circ.u.mstances. Little Zhuji was born for such adverse environments—her perception was even improving gradually, leaving Qianye speechless. This was also the reason why he had brought her along.
After some thought, he decided to stir up some trouble for the arachne after this crisis. He needed to rob some top-grade inheritances for her.
The meat on the fire hadn’t finished cooking when Qianye sensed something. He looked up to see an airship enter from the void and come to a stop above the sea of trees. The cabin doors opened, and several figures stepped out—one of them was almost four meters tall, with a strange ashen-colored face.
“Duke Minica, Duke Basil, we’re here.”
The gloomy Duke Minica glanced at the boundless sea of trees below. “According to His Majesty Predica’s prophecy, this is a possible hiding place for that person. Our mission is to search the place thoroughly and, if we find Qianye, keep him busy until the warlord arrives. Everyone, remember to be extra cautious and focus on survival. We cannot make the same mistake as Brock, understand?”
The experts confirmed their instructions.
Minica said to the giant, “We’ll count on you if a battle breaks out, Lord Pedro.”
The giant said in a deep voice, “Rest assured. I have orders from the Spider Queen, I won’t remain idle or act like that trash Sousa.”
Duke Minica said, “I feel so much more at ease.”
The three top experts jumped out of the airship and flew in different directions to begin their search. It was just that the vast sea of trees would take a long while to comb through, even with their top talents.
Predica was in front of his desk in the central study, thinking long and hard as he gazed at the map. Some parts of the cartography were glowing faintly.
At this moment, a knock came from the door and a demonkin officer walked in. “Your Majesty, Duke Minica reports that he has reached the target area and is now conducting the search. All search parties are in position now.”
Predica nodded. “I hope they won’t be as dumb as Brock. That arrogant bastard thought he could go toe-to-toe with Nighteye and her Awakening Dream. It’s no surprise that he fell. Though, it’s rather unfortunate that he would die even with Sousa around.”
There was no way that officer would comment on such a topic.
Predica seemed a bit tired. “I’m going to rest. Tell them I’ll recalibrate the location one day later.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Predica didn’t leave after the officer’s departure. Instead, he glanced at the four scattered locations on the map and shook his head, “The deviation range is so big. Is it because of Qianye or the Book of Darkness? If it’s the book, I’d really want to take a look.”
Qianye came to a sudden stop while running through the woods. He could sense a gaze from the void, passing through the many obstructions to land on him. Neither space, clouds, nor trees could obstruct this gaze.
Qianye instinctively channeled Bloodline Concealment and retracted his aura, fading away into the environment. All of a sudden, the Book of Darkness absorbed that gaze and split it into four parts, which shot off in different directions.
Qianye was no stranger to the divination and prophetic arts of each faction. As his cultivation and perception grew stronger, his senses toward such things also grew sharper. Yet, this was the first time he was able to see the entire process like so.
In the past, Qianye would vaguely sense these arts after they had missed or were blocked for some reason. Other times, he never realized. This time, he could do nothing but watch as the Book of Darkness interfered with the scryer, splitting the prophetic power into four and sending them off in different directions.
Naturally, this meant that Qianye’s plan to launch a fierce counterattack also went down the drain.
Qianye thought back to the perception from before and confirmed that the gaze had come from the Evernight Faction and not the Empire. He changed his direction after some thought and crept in the direction of that aura.
On the airship in the void, Predica woke up from his nap. He rubbed his tired eyes and looked once again at the marked map. With a sigh, he summoned the communications officer on duty and said, “These are the new possible locations, forward them to the search party.”
The current officer on duty, an arachne, was startled as he glanced at the map. “Your Majesty Predica, this… isn’t this too different from yesterday?”
Predica’s expression turned dark. “What, are you arachne trying to question my prophetic powers? Tell Fokash to come if you want my position.”
The arachne was shocked. The fight for the council’s head prophet was fierce. After the death of Master Grey, neither Gonza of the demonkin nor Weber of the vampire race were able to convince the masses. As for Fokash of the arachne race, this communications officer didn’t know whether he wished to compete for this position. What he did know was that he couldn’t afford to offend this prophet.
The arachne left hurriedly after repeated apologies.
He had never run into such interference before, and it wasn’t a clash between divination and prophecy as he had suspected. Even he couldn’t tell where the problem was or why there would always be four zones each time.
Predica knew that the Demon King had never allowed him to touch the flow of destiny for fear of Lin Xitang’s lingering influence. The young prince had always followed this limitation, but he was never satisfied. He might not be a match for a living Marshal Lin, but the man was already dead. Even a great dark monarch couldn’t leave a lasting effect after his demise.
This time, the Demon King actually allowed Predica to join the operation after Sousa’s defeat, and one involving Qianye no less. Predica shook his head with a sigh—there was no other way now.
Back on the ground. A streak of light fell toward the forest from the sky. Minica’s figure appeared in the air and grabbed an alloy tube from this light.
He opened it to find a map inside. His countenance turned dark as he said with an angry snort, “Is this a joke?! How can Qianye escape hundreds of kilometers away under my watch?”
After some hesitation, he flew toward the new objective as marked on the map.
Qianye moved through the forest like a specter, with Little Zhuji in tow. The lass didn’t fall behind at all. In fact, she was having a lot of fun running through the woods. She would often jump between giant trees at the speed of lightning, but she was able to do so without making a single sound. This was an early sign of a top-tier hunter.
Qianye came to a sudden stop and his gait froze in the air. He slowly pulled back his foot, crouched down, and brushed away a leaf on the ground.
There was a metallic grey spider under the leaf, lying silently in wait. If Qianye had put his foot down, he would have surely crushed this insect.
