After some thought, Qianye realized that it was probably impossible.
Ignoring whether or not Zhao Jundu was willing to live on in such a manner, it wasn’t certain whether someone with divine champion origin power could be embraced successfully. A case like Qianye’s where daybreak and blood energy existed side-by-side was basically unprecedented. He couldn’t be considered a pure vampire because there was no indication of any clan in his blood energy. Although he had obtained some ancient inheritances from the River of Blood, he wasn’t sure if he had the power to give someone else the Embrace.
Besides, in those legends about how the Embrace could bring the dead back to life, the process was more or less just activating the target’s vitality. What was he to activate if the target’s life force had already been severed?
The silence was finally broken as dusk arrived. Qianye suddenly opened his eyes, a ring of dark gold lighting up in the blue depths of his pupils. His blood core pulsed strongly, and the entire city could hear that beat. Qianye had entered a combat-state.
A figure appeared over the distant horizon. Despite the great distance, their austerity and killing intent had already arrived. Just like two giant beasts, each could sense the other’s strength even before coming into view.
That figure shot toward Whitetown without delay, slowing down just before entering its firing range and retracting its killing intent.
Qianye left his original spot and appeared before this figure. He kept East Peak pointed toward the ground, and the harsh glint in his eyes gradually faded away.
Standing before Qianye was an exceptionally beautiful bow-wielding lady. There were some traces of vicissitudes on her face, but her uneroded elegance added a bit of time-worn richness to her beauty.
More importantly, Qianye could feel a stabbing pain from the empty bow in her grasp. This meant that, even in his current state, he wasn’t entirely certain that he could defeat her.
The lady glanced toward the city and looked obviously relieved after seeing Zhao Jundu, Bai Aotu, and Song Zining. She then looked carefully at Qianye, saying, “You must be Qianye? Zhao Weihuang is truly blessed.”
“And you are?”
“My name is Haimi. According to seniority, you should call me aunty.” At this point, she said self-deprecatingly, “Oh my, it has been so long since I last stretched my legs. Didn’t think I’d grow so old in such a short time.”
Qianye looked at the woman, dazed. For a while, he couldn’t figure out just how they were related for her to mention seniority.
“You’re… our reinforcements?” Qianye asked.
Haimi nodded. “Strictly speaking, yes, but it seems I arrived a bit too late. You guys probably don’t need my help anymore.”
Qianye was overcome by a wave of deep fatigue. “Seems so.”
“The main army will arrive a bit later. There are still some obstructions on the road that they need to clean up. Also, the situation on the void continent has shifted again, the dark races are retreating in full force.” Having said that, her expression dimmed down noticeably as she became lost in thought.
Qianye didn’t know how to respond. Was he to blame her? There was no point. He could see that, just like Bai Aotu, Haimi had only arrived after a series of bloody battles. He could also see that she had been gravely injured and was only suppressing the damage by force. How could he blame her under such circumstances?
Princess Haimi glanced at Whitetown once more, taking in the entire battlefield this time. She couldn’t help but feel shocked upon seeing just how fierce and bitter the fighting here had been. Just the density of the corpses lining the ground was enough to tell her everything.
Compared to the path the eastern army had paved with blood and bones, the battle here was even more ruthless. Her gaze stopped briefly on a certain part of the ruined city, where the Nineteenth Princess’ corpse lay under a pile of rubble.
Haimi said after observing the battlefield, “It’s good that you won. The losses are still acceptable considering the situation.”
“Acceptable?” Qianye couldn’t help but sneer. “Aren’t the Zhao clan humans in your eyes?”
Haimi was startled. “Zhao clan?” She looked at Zhao Jundu and the soldiers around him. “Isn’t Zhao Jundu still doing fine?”
“Still fine?” Qianye was already on the verge of bursting out. He had given up on chasing down the routed enemies and even watched the vice-duke retreat, all so that he could protect his brother’s last period of peace.
Even if it was just an illusion, he was willing to believe until the very end that a miracle would happen. With Haimi’s eyesight, there was no way she couldn’t see through Zhao Jundu’s current state.
It was at this time that Qianye sensed something and turned around. Zhao Jundu, who had been completely still all this time, actually stood up and stretched his body. The vitality in his body shot up rapidly along with his movements.
Qianye, however, wasn’t delighted. He stood frozen and his vision even went blurry for a moment.
This was the final eruption of vitality, his origin power’s last attempt at saving the body. All was useless, however, because it would only warm-up and not rekindle the fire of life. In the blink of an eye, Zhao Jundu would return to the eternal darkness, and the vitality they could see now would no longer exist.
Haimi’s expression changed drastically. She was gravely injured and weak, so she only realized the actual situation when Zhao Jundu moved.
After a brief period of shock, Haimi discovered something abnormal. She pointed at Zhao Jundu, saying, “Something’s wrong, his vitality…”
Zhao Jundu’s life force was still strengthening at a rapid pace, so much so that it was ignited and overdrafting. The final struggle of his origin power proved that its grade and purity were not at all inferior to Qianye’s.
But no matter what, it was still one spark short of reigniting the flames of life.
Haimi became highly anxious. Considering her experience, she knew that this was an extremely rare and fleeting occurrence. Yet even someone like her was helpless to save him. There was no legend in this world that could produce vitality out of nothing and bring life to the dead.
It was at this time that a speck of light flew in from the void. It made one circle above Qianye’s head, then shot straight into Zhao Jundu’s forehead.
The mote of light was as intense as the sun, containing daybreak origin power even stronger than Qianye’s Venus Dawn. The moment this spark entered Zhao Jundu’s body, it immediately ignited the vitality gathering in his body!
Qianye’s blood core throbbed violently as the speck of light approached him. The pulsation was so intense that it felt somewhat painful, but before he could think too deeply into it, his attention was drawn away by the miraculous scene in front of him.
Zhao Jundu’s eyes slowly opened!
His peaceful eyes were shrouded with a lingering purple hue, and that bewildered expression of his looked unexpectedly innocent. He still hadn’t figured out what had happened. “Qianye…” He called out before collapsing slowly.
Qianye arrived in a flash and helped him up. Haimi also appeared at the same time and supported the other side of Zhao Jundu’s body.
The two clearly sensed Zhao Jundu’s heart beating. The pulse was weak, but it was real, unlike the illusion from a while ago.
“He… this…”
Haimi examined him briefly before saying, “Although I don’t know why, it remains a fact that Zhao Jundu is still alive. However, he’s extremely weak right now and requires immediate treatment. I must bring him back to the rear Imperial base now, or it’ll be too late.”
Zhao Jundu’s current situation couldn’t be solved with a couple of injections. He would need big medical equipment, things that could only be installed in a fortress or base.
Qianye carefully scanned Zhao Jundu’s body with his perception, afraid that he would extinguish this miraculous ember if he caused too much of a commotion. He discovered that Princess Haimi was right—the vitality throughout Zhao Jundu’s body had dried up and was now like a candle in the wind. He required immediate treatment.
Qianye hesitated for a bit because he wanted to tag along.
Haimi seemed to understand his thoughts. “My main army isn’t far, and my flagship has emergency medical facilities on board. We’ll surely be able to send him back to the rear without a problem. You should stay here and do what you need to do.” Her eyes scanned Qianye’s body as well. “You need to deal with your own injuries too.”
Qianye realized that Haimi was referring to his aura turning completely into darkness origin power. Without further words, he gleaned at Zhao Jundu’s sleeping face and nodded. “Very well.”
Haimi was just about to leave when Qianye called out to her and brought out a pile of items. “These should be useful for him.”
Haimi glanced at the offered items. There were all kinds of rare medicines, but the eldest princess of the Empire had no lack of such resources. She was just about to tell Qianye to take the items back when she saw an origin crystal among them. Even someone of her status couldn’t help but feel surprised. “You have something like this?”
This origin crystal was the one Qianye had condensed by plundering the vampire race’s major stars. Although its attribute leaned toward darkness, it could be used by both factions since its only power was to strengthen physical constitution. It was beyond suitable for Zhao Jundu’s current situation.
Haimi always did things in a straightforward manner. She took the crystal and said, “Great, this is going to be very helpful! Keep the rest.”
Time was of the essence, so Haimi simply shot into the air and left.
Qianye returned to Song Zining’s side and sat down. The seventh young noble had woken up at this point, and Bai Aotu also looked toward them when she heard movement. All three of them felt somewhat delighted when Qianye explained the situation.
It was at this time that the last glow of twilight vanished over the horizon and night fell upon them.
What appeared, though, was a strange natural phenomenon. The dark sky was filled with falling stars and rising winds.
A sheet of meteorites fell into the void continent and burst into flames, filling the sky with streaming fire. It was an impressive sight to behold.
Both Qianye and Song Zining’s expressions shifted drastically upon seeing this. Qianye felt an empty space in his heart, as though something had gone missing. Song Zining could sense it with even greater clarity because he cultivated divination arts. He quickly picked up a segment of broken wood and began to do some calculations.
The more he calculated, the paler his face became.
Qianye’s expression became gloomy as he observed Song Zining. The latter’s countenance grew pale, and his aura gradually became unstable as he repeated the process.
Qianye reached out and slapped his back lightly, scattering the layer of illusory projections around his body. Song Zining looked up and stared blankly at Qianye. There were streams of blood dripping from his eyes, yet he was completely oblivious about it.
Qianye said in a gloomy voice, “It’s fine as long as we know the general outcome, no need to confirm it repeatedly.”
Bai Aotu said, “Both the heaven and earth lament the fall of a supreme power.”
