Out in the void, a shuttle-shaped airship was flying rapidly toward the Fort Continent to rendezvous with the council airship.
Several black-armored experts boarded the flagship and arrived before Predica.
Noxus was visibly moved. “It’s you guys!”
The leader bowed slightly. “His Majesty’s determination is unwavering.”
Noxus said, “Where’s Soma?”
“You should know by now that we have no name, only our designations. However, I can make a small exception out of respect for you.”
He turned around and said, “Call twenty-seven.”
Moments later, a black-armored expert walked out. “Your Highness Noxus!”
Even as a great dark monarch, Noxus could feel his hands trembling. “Good, since you’re here, do your duty… and don’t humiliate your father’s name.”
Twenty-seven bowed silently and went back to the rear.
Predica laughed wryly. “This matter is rather difficult. I can’t see Qianye’s fate trajectory clearly, so you’ll have to search over a wide area.”
The black-armored expert wasn’t moved at all, almost as though he had expected this. “The Demon King has instructed us to bring this to you.” With that, he passed a square box made of black jade.
Predica opened it up to find half a yellowed page and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Book of Revelation!”
“His Majesty wants that item, no matter the cost.”
Predica said, “With this page from the Book of Revelation, the mists of fate won’t be able to cloud my eyes this time.”
He picked up the piece of paper, which immediately burned up in his hand. As the flames flickered, the mist in his pupils slowly faded away and Qianye’s figure appeared.
“He’s in the snowy mountains.”
“We’ll head over to investigate, I hope the warlord will oversee things from the void.”
The black-armored expert briefly scanned a map of the Fort Continent and left after checking where the snowy mountain range was. Noxus stood there gazing silently at their receding figures.
Soon after, the black-armored experts withdrew from the room. Their airship turned toward the snowy region before finally departing. Noxus also went back to his airship and followed them.
Of course, the arachne warlord didn’t need to take part in the tedious initial search. They would only need his help once Qianye had been flushed out.
Predica gazed out of the cabin windows, distracted at the sight of the continent below. “They even sent this group? Is the Book of Darkness really that important?’
…
In the study of Lava Castle, the Demon King put down his book and glanced at Habsburg who was resting with his eyes closed. “Dearest Habsburg, you don’t seem very spirited these days. Has your injury from the Fire Beacon Continent not healed? Why don’t you rest a while longer?”
“Rest” for a vampire was to enter the blood pond, where their healing would be expedited.
Habsburg replied indifferently, “No need, it’s not that serious. You’ve already dispatched the Secret Blade Emissaries, so the matter is likely at its climax. These thirty sword emissaries represent several hundred years’ worth of acc.u.mulation for the council.”
The Demon King said, “The book is extremely important. You could say it’s incomparably important for the present phase.”
Habsburg said, “There are quite a lot of forces being occupied by Qianye and Nighteye. I think you also recalled Grand Duke George’s forces from Dawn Continent? The Fort Continent is a tiny place, searching the entire place is just a matter of time. The Great Qin Empire might notice if your movements are too big.”
Habsburg opened his eyes with a frown. “Do we have the power to seal the gates?”
“Of course not, but it’s fine to slow down their information flow.”
“There will always be loopholes and lucky people breaking out of the lockdown. They’ll discover the truth soon enough.”
The Demon King said thoughtfully, “Do you mean… I should let Qianye and Nighteye go?”
“Didn’t you say your objective is not to eliminate the vampire race? Their importance…” Habsburg paused for a bit. “Except for the Book of Darkness, I don’t think they pose a threat to you.”
The Demon King broke into a laugh. “My dear Habsburg, why do you still not trust me? You’re right, my objective is not to destroy the vampire race. An intact vampire race untainted by daybreak is an essential part of the new world order. Those who have escaped don’t amount to much, even those direct descendants hiding on the Dawn Continent. When the new world order arrives, the impurity in their bloodlines will only become a burden for them. Before long, they will find themselves losing their power and descend into mediocrity. They won’t be important anymore at that point.”
Habsburg was somewhat moved. The Demon King had mentioned the results of this purification several times, but this time was the clearest of them all. “The source of their strength is the River of Blood.”
The Demon King said, “The thirteen seals in the river weren’t there since the beginning, nor are they eternal. Since it wasn’t thirteen in the beginning, nor is it thirteen at the moment, why would you think it will always be constant?”
Habsburg went quiet because he had no reply to this question. What exactly was the first drop of blood? What was the essence of blood energy? Even the Queen of the Night might not have these answers. In the past, everyone believed that the loss of blood seals would weaken the power of the river, but thinking a level deeper, these seals were a derivative product. This formed a paradox.
“You’ve said this many times, but your new world won’t succeed unless you can defeat the humans before the Queen of the Night awakens.”
At this point, Habsburg looked straight into the Demon King’s eyes. This was the first time he had tried to probe the Demon King from Lilith’s perspective.
However, the Demon King smiled warmly and replied ambiguously, “True…” He then went back to reading his ancient book.
Habsburg felt a sudden pain in his c.h.e.s.t. It wasn’t all that intense, but fatigue flowed into his being like spinning silk. Yet, he still had no intention of going to sleep in the blood pond. In the Blackfire Realm connected to Habsburg’s origins, a crystalline speck flew out from Lin Xitang’s remains. However, the formless boundary produced by the shadow shard fragment stopped it from drifting away. All it could do was roam about in the small space.
…
An airship suddenly appeared in the sky above the snowy mountain range, its deck full of black-armored Secret Sword Emissaries.
The leader gazed down at the hazy mountain range below. “We may have signed up for different reasons, but as Secret Sword Emissaries, our lives are no longer ours. There’s no need to say that this battle will be extremely dangerous. Let’s go.”
He jumped straight down into the mountain range, followed by the rest of the emissaries who scattered themselves across the hills.
A snowy forest. Qianye was on a rock, wiping his azure sword at this moment.
“You can say that it is, or that it isn’t.” Qianye smiled.
While wiping, threads of greyish energy would scatter from his body and land on the azure blood sword. Every shred of energy would cause the glow on the azure blade to dim down slightly, almost as though it were covered in dust. The original sharpness and blood-thirst also weakened a bit.
Little Zhuji wasn’t afraid of anything, but she seemed fairly cautious against this chaos origin power and would keep a safe distance from it. Her large eyes followed the grey energy constantly—she didn’t dare to take her focus off of it for even a second, afraid that it would so much as touch her.
Qianye shot her a glance. “Is it that scary?”
“Yes!” The little lass nodded furiously.
“You’re armored, though.”
The little girl was wearing a set of bright golden armor. The gear was both beautiful and heavy, but there were some signs of twisting and crushing in certain areas. This set used to be Basil’s combat armor, but the girl had modified it by force so that it would fit her.
Basil’s armor was of the highest quality, but the girl still didn’t feel safe in it.
Little Zhuji gazed at Qianye for a while before saying, “Aren’t we running anymore?”
“No.”
“Why? Aren’t we doing pretty great at running away?” The little girl was puzzled. She knew instinctively that there were people chasing after them. The auras of these people terrified her so much that she didn’t want to face them.
Qianye pointed upward. “We’re being watched, so we won’t be able to flee this time.”
Little Zhuji’s eyes lit up. “We won’t be able to flee? We’ll be able to run once we kill those pursuers, right?”
“Smart!” Qianye praised.
A cold voice echoed from the forest. “Smart? I say it’s stupidity.”
A dark-armored expert emerged from the woods. He was holding a spear in one hand and a double-barreled shotgun in the other.
Qianye didn’t even look up and simply kept on wiping his azure sword. “Should I say your luck is too good to have found me immediately, or that your luck is really bad?”
The black-armored expert let out an odd laugh. “Secret Sword Emissaries like us consider ourselves dead. My death will be worth it once I relay your location.”
Qianye finally looked up. “What’s a Secret Sword Emissary?”
The black-armored warrior was startled; he couldn’t even finish whatever he had planned to say. Anger flared up in his eyes as he fired his gun twice—once into the sky and the second shot at Qianye.
The origin bullet whistled toward Qianye, blasting the rock he was sitting on. The fierce shockwaves overturned several dozen snow-capped trees.
However, Qianye was no longer where he was a moment ago. He appeared behind the expert and whacked him on the nape of his neck. “Secret Sword Emissary? Nothing too impressive, it seems.”
The expert’s bones crackled as the slap broke countless bones. He staggered forward, coughing up blood and innards, but he still managed to look back at Qianye with a fiery expression.
This ferocity did little to intimidate Qianye. He stood there with his hands behind his back and didn’t even draw his sword.
The emissary revealed a weird smile. “You still don’t understand what a Secret Sword Emissary means, but you’ll… know… very soon…”
“What can a marquis do?” Qianye hadn’t even finished speaking when his expression shifted drastically.
The Secret Sword Emissary spat out a mass of faintly discernible demonic energy, which landed on Qianye’s body. Next, the expert’s body burst into flames, ending in a terrifying explosion. The force from this eruption was drawn toward Qianye by the lingering demonic energy.
Caught off guard, Qianye only managed to drag Little Zhuji behind him before he was drowned out by the impact.
By the time the dust and smoke had settled, Qianye looked up to find several Secret Sword Emissaries near him.
