“What is it?”
“The Red Spider Lily.”
Princess Gaoyi was visibly moved upon hearing this. “Not everyone can use her.”
“I can.”
Princess Gaoyi placed one of her hands under the table. “Are you still holding a grudge about what happened in the past? Or do you think you can do anything you please because our Zhao clan doesn’t have the power to restrain you?”
Qianye said frankly, “I’ve long since forgotten about that. The old man who came to get me referred to me as the fifth young master, which means I’m still a part of the Zhao clan. I’m only here for the Red Spider Lily because that’s my only chance of going against the Eternal Flame and his Sable Blessing.”
“Do explain more.”
Qianye gave her a short summary of how he was saved by the Azure King Reynold, only skipping the part about the Book of Darkness.
Gaoyi couldn’t help but look surprised. “I realize more and more how stupid the military was back then. They’ve been following the Longevity Monarch all these years, even as that old man went mad over the last decade.”
She sounded a bit frustrated. After all, the Longevity Monarch was one of the pillars of the Imperial Clan. Before the Radiant Emperor had revealed his powers, it was the Longevity Monarch who had been holding the fort at the capital. Whatever the case was, the heavenly monarchs were the only reason the Empire hadn’t been invaded by Evernight.
Qianye said, “I won’t borrow the Red Spider Lily for free. I’ll leave this gun here, I think it’ll be of greater use to the Zhao clan at this point. I’ll come and trade it back if I return alive.”
With a loud bang, a giant, sinister-looking gun with multiple barrels appeared on the table.
“Exactly.”
Princess Gaoyi remained silent, her expression rather conflicted.
The Red Spider Lily was mysterious, unpredictable, and extremely powerful. Zhao Ruoxi had badly injured Ge Situ with it back in the year. It was one of the strongest magnums for dealing damage to top experts.
To Princess Gaoyi, however, it was a weapon that wasn’t all that useful.
Zhao Ruoxi was the only one who could activate the Red Spider Lily’s ultimate ability; not even Zhao Jundu could do it. Yet no matter how strong she was, Gaoyi wasn’t about to let Ruoxi bring the gun into the battlefield. With the fourteenth prince setting an example, the princess had always been worried that Zhao Ruoxi’s weak body would be drained in just a few shots.
The Tempest, on the other hand, was a lethal weapon on the battlefield, and its rate of fire was leagues beyond the Red Spider Lily. Comparatively, the Mortal Emperor wasn’t really strong against top experts. With its gigantic area of effect, the magnum was more useful for intimidation and cleaning up the rabble. Outsiders might not understand too well, but Gaoyi knew that the Mortal Emperor was also reliant on compatibility.
There was no such issue with the Tempest, although it had always belonged to the Evernight Faction. If Zhao Jundu were to wield a Grand Magnum, it would be akin to granting wings to a tiger. The tables would turn if the Tempest were to appear on the Zhao clan’s warfront.
Gaoyi didn’t take long to consider. “Very well! I agree.”
She left in a hurry while Qianye sat there peacefully. He wasn’t worried at all that she would return with a group of experts and rob him of the gun.
Qianye paused very briefly. “I will.” He replied without looking back before vanishing into the air.
After returning to the Martyr’s Palace, Qianye steered the airship toward Serafis Continent. He was just about to cultivate on the Earth Dragon’s head when he sensed himself being watched.
Qianye activated his Bloodline Concealment. He also used chaos origin power to channel a secret art, producing a faint illusory projection nearby. This image looked just like him, but it didn’t have any facial features. Its face was just a flat surface.
The Martyr’s Palace kept swimming through the void, but the illusion stayed behind where it was summoned.
Qianye discovered that the focus on him had lessened significantly. Just like that, he produced several illusions until he could scarcely sense the power locked onto him. Only then did he continue toward the Serafis Continent.
…
In an isolated chamber on his warship, Predica opened his eyes helplessly. A number of demonkin experts approached as he walked out. “Your Highness, do you have a conclusion?”
Recalling the series of confusing fate indicators, he shook his head and said, “He seems to have learned how to avoid my scrying. Quite unexpectedly, he has learned to avoid my strong points and habits, maybe… he even knows the characteristics of my secret art.”
The leader of the demonkin group was surprised. In the field of prophecy, the difficulty level in scrying individuals was much greater than looking at a more general trend. Powerful prophets might be able to see the waves in the river of fate a hundred years from now, but they could hardly discern singular droplets. This was especially true of people with special bloodlines and connections—the interference was simply too strong.
Targeted evasion of a prophet’s power was an entirely different matter. The strengths and habits of master prophets who had been around for hundreds or even thousands of years were no longer a secret to the Daybreak side. The two factions had been contending in terms of strength most of the time. That was why the prophets of Evernight were helpless against Lin Xitang when he was alive; the man was simply too powerful.
Predica was completely different. He had only awakened very recently, so how did Qianye do this in such a short time?
Was there a traitor?!
The leader of the demonkin group thought of something. “Is it them?!”
Predica waved his hand in frustration. “I don’t know, either. You guys are on your own now. Also, report to His Majesty that it’s no longer within my power.”
The expert took a step forward. “Can you explain it in greater detail? So that we can respond appropriately.”
Predica glanced at him with a spurious smile. “Respond? You speak as though you dare to fall out with the Spider Queen.”
The demonkin expert’s expression was unsightly, but Predica wasn’t in the mood to care about that. He simply left with a swing of his sleeves.
After returning to his room, Predica threw himself onto the sofa and covered his face with his hands. “Your Majesty, the new world is indeed vast, but what is there to discuss if we can’t even win the war at hand? Why won’t you allow me to try unraveling that man’s secrets?”
…
In the void, Qianye was seated quietly on the Earth Dragon’s head. “Eh?” He opened his eyes all of a sudden. He had a feeling that something big was about to happen.
Qianye focused on the Book of Darkness. In his perception, the book had become somewhat illusory; there seemed to be a boundless universe within. Through the book, Qianye’s perception became much lighter and capable of stretching vast distances. At times, he would catch some strange fragments of information.
This feeling was fleeting and odd, to say the least. Qianye eventually put it aside and continued cultivating, absorbing the nearby void origin power on his way to the Serafis Continent.
…
On Serafis, dusk was falling upon Castle Mist and the city below.
Numerous slaves were starting to return from their fields, but the mines in the mountains were always brightly lit. Strong men, as well as slaves who were proficient in mining, worked day and night. Most of the workshops had wrapped up for the day, but there were some that worked through the night.
An old demonkin with an austere expression was patrolling each and every factory in the workshop district, followed by a large group of people. The officer in charge of the district was explaining things along the way.
The old man cut him short all of a sudden, “When will the next batch of alloys ship out.”
“My question is, when will the goods ship out?” the old man repeated his question.
The administrator began sweating buckets. “Lord Marquis, erm… ten days!”
“I want it in three!”
“That’s impossible, all available hands are already working around the clock.”
“If you don’t have enough slaves, get to work yourself! It’s the duke’s order, no more delays!”
“… I understand.”
At this point, the old marquis stopped patrolling the place and went straight back to the castle. He then returned to his study after giving out orders for dinner.
Entering the room, he saw a person reading the doc.u.ments on his desk.”
“Who are you?” The old marquis drew his pistol.
The man put down the papers and turned around with a smile. “Marquis Carne? You probably don’t know me, I’m Qianye.”
“Qianye!” Carne was so frightened that even his gun was trembling. Even so, his voice was fairly calm as he said, “What gall! You actually dare come to Serafis!”
“I heard Serafis hasn’t experienced any battles since the holy war seven hundred years ago.”
“That’s indeed the case.”
“That history ends tonight.”
At midnight, a raging flame broke out in the ancient castle. The workshop district also saw fierce explosions as the main furnace of its most important factory toppled over, sending flames out in all directions.
The ancient Carne family, the demonkin race’s biggest producer of metal alloys, thus came to an end.
…
Inside a tent in the mountains, Qianye was going through a thick family register under the lamplight.
The demonkin were a race that attached great importance to history and culture. They were still plagued by the loss of inherited skills, but there was no big gap in their history like the vampire race.
This family register in Qianye’s hand was as thick as a brick and held records of the Carne family’s rise, its changes, and distribution. Add to that each family’s marital connections, there were records of over a hundred families in the book.
The doc.u.ments were fairly detailed. It contained not only the names and history of every major character, but also their talents and abilities.
The family register was the most important doc.u.ment for every demonkin family. Long before the humans rose to power, the wise demonkin had already begun keeping family registers. They hoped to find a way to purify and strengthen their bloodline through this method, all the while testing out the effects of combining various bloodlines.
A family register, especially from a family with a long history like the Carnes, was more or less a detailed academic paper.
Qianye had a question after looking through the abundant resources. Why were the demonkin deteriorating in technology even with such a detailed record system?
He didn’t have much time to ponder on this before the present matters grabbed his attention. He spent the entire night reading the register and gained a deep understanding of the entire Carne family.
After observing the evolution of the world through the Book of Darkness several times, especially the evolution of the dark races, Qianye had gained a deep understanding of bloodline evolution.
“Interesting, the Carnes have been trying to produce a duke for the past three hundred years. Hmm, they’ve been going the bloodline purification route… for instance, the marriage to the marquis of Eimer… let’s see, Marquis Eimer and Marquis Carne shared a common ancestor in the fourth generation.”
Qianye flipped several dozen pages and arrived at the name of a different family. “But according to the records here, it’s best for them to acquire a different bloodline. After all, Carne’s bloodline can’t be considered strong. For instance, the Taurean family is a good marriage candidate.”
Qianye broke into a laugh. “Why am I worrying about the demonkin?”
He closed the family register and put it into Andruil’s space. The data collection, analyses, and calculations in this book were all very interesting. It might even be useful for the management of large populations, so Qianye decided to keep it as a reference.
Qianye sensed something at this point, so he opened the Book of Darkness. There was now a new page in the book, holding all the contents of the Carne family pedigree.
