Bai Aotu’s eyes hadn’t healed, but her other senses were even sharper now. She could sense the changes in the heaven and earth without even seeing the visual phenomena.
“The heaven and earth lament the fall of a supreme power…” Qianye had heard of this term before. Knowledgeable people from both the Empire and Evernight explained the phenomenon before—as people who could communicate with the grand origins of the world, the uncontrollable origin power of these supreme experts would affect the entire realm after their demise.
However, only great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs would be able to reach that state, not ordinary ones. Even if they weren’t on the level of the Sacred Mountain, they would have to be fairly close. For instance, Lilith’s sigh as she woke up from her slumber spread across the entire realm and both factions.
Only then did Song Zining wake up from his reverie, trembling all over as he threw away the divination token in his hand. He looked at the pieces with lingering fear and said with a wry smile, “The heavenly mystery is unfathomable and full of dangers. Senior, you are gone, but you’re still at such an unapproachable level.”
“Senior, which senior?” Qianye had a bad feeling in his heart.
Song Zining hesitated for a moment. “I’m not sure if I should tell you. If it’s true, then you’ll know sooner or later. The omens indeed point to the fall of a powerhouse, and if I’m not wrong, it’s very likely Marshal Lin.”
“Marshal Lin?” Qianye couldn’t believe his ears.
Lin Xitang wasn’t a heavenly monarch. If he was close to ascending, such important news would be known throughout the world. The Empire wouldn’t hide the presence of a heavenly monarch because they needed to intimidate the Evernight faction. The current heavenly phenomenon was so majestic that the entire void continent was covered in a rain of falling stars. How could the source be Lin Xitang?
Song Zining collected himself, saying, “I knew you wouldn’t believe it, because neither did I. Yet, I saw a world devoid of all light, and in it, a vast sky full of stars and Marshal Lin… The entire world transformed into a tearing stream of light.” He never managed to finish the sentence because he felt his chest ache so badly.
“Since there’s no light in that world, how did you see the stars?” Qianye shook his head without waiting for a reply. “These divination omens of yours are really weird.”
Song Zining sighed and remained silent. Bai Aotu only listened to the conversation without making any comment.
Outside of the Qin Continent, there was a black sun hanging high in the sky.
In the vast space, two figures were locked in a fierce melee, with gunshots mixed in from time to time. The Evernight fleet, even the duke-grade flagships, was parked a good distance away.
The Eternal Flame, wielding the “Sable Blessing”, was in a heated battle against Zhang Boqian. He seemed to be holding the advantage, but his expression wasn’t relaxed in the least. On the contrary, he looked more and more serious as time went by.
Without so much as a warning, the dark sun faded away.
Astonished, the Eternal Flame almost allowed Zhang Boqian to charge into the hundred-meter range, but he immediately put some distance between them. Zhang Boqian stopped entangling the enemy after his failed charge and only stood with his hands behind his back.
An illusory figure appeared where the dark sun had faded away. “It’s over. Let’s go, Crassus.” With that, the shadow disappeared and everything became silent.
Drastic astronomical changes ensued as the darkness vanished.
The void was vast, distant, and empty. There were stars drifting down everywhere, as dense as falling rain in certain places. Everyone wondered whether the small asteroid belt from the top of the world had fallen down.
That very moment, the heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs sensed the laws of the entire world shaking. An intense aura of Daybreak wafted over from the falling starlight. Had a powerhouse fallen? Which supreme expert was it? Why was it a Daybreak aura? The aura was simply too unfamiliar. It definitely wasn’t one of the known human heavenly monarchs.
The Eternal Flame left immediately, and the massive Evernight armada also began to turn around.
After the entire Evernight fleet had left, only Zhang Boqian was left in the entire void-space. He remained standing in place, looking up at the heavens.
The starlight was no more.
The Radiant Emperor appeared behind him at some point; no one knew how long he had been standing there. There wasn’t a single flickering light left in the void. This distant emptiness was just as it had been since time immemorial.
The Radiant Emperor said, “Teacher has left.”
Zhang Boqian said, “I’ll go take a look.”
The two were calm. Their tone of voice was no different from the norm as one stepped forward and the other turned back. Before Zhang Boqian was the boundless void, and below the Emperor’s feet was the blue-green silhouette of the Qin Continent.
The Demon King had finally taken the stage and that was one of the worst scenarios. As a supreme whose darkness was closest to the grand origins, those who fall to his blade would be eliminated in both body and soul. Not even a single particle would be left behind.
The Radiant Emperor walked toward the Qin Continent in steady steps, the land gradually expanding in his vision.
The fighting in the void hadn’t affected the continent just yet, and everything was calm and peaceful before his eyes. The mountains stretched in a continuous line, and the rivers galloped across the vast land. The cities and towns scattered across the panorama stood testament to the thriving era. Yet, that person couldn’t even return to his hometown as a corpse. Only his love for this land would be eternally buried between the heaven and earth.
The Radiant Emperor himself had never gotten the opportunity to venture too far into the void. The Empire’s borders were his farthest battlefield.
Back in the year, Lin Xitang had spoken to him as the newly appointed prince-guardian. “A ruler is one who will guard the nation in life and die for the state.”
This teaching had been his guiding post throughout life.
The void continent gradually calmed down after the starfall.
Not long after, the main army of the eastern route arrived. The first to appear in the distance was the Imperial Guard fleet with their striking emblems.
The soldiers in Whitetown didn’t feel any excitement when they saw the late warships. This battle had ended in such a miserable victory that no one could feel happy about it. Besides, the various army routes had failed to rendezvous on time. There was something wrong, either with the command or the strategy itself. These mercenaries from the neutral lands were selling their lives for money. Who would’ve thought their first battle away from the neutral lands would be so bitter?
The Empire’s warships circled above Whitetown before landing outside the city. The fleet commander then entered the city along with his high-ranking officers. Everyone was shocked by the things they saw along the way. The commander bowed deeply when he saw Qianye and Song Zining, saying, “General Qianye, General Zining, this general arrived late!”
The commander himself was a lieutenant general, but he saluted the two as though they were his superiors. Also, he didn’t even frown at the darkness aura coming from Qianye.
Qianye didn’t know what to say when he saw that these generals were all injured. Sustaining such wounds in the void meant that their warships had been severely damaged. There might not be any survivors if the damage was any greater. That was why the death toll was usually much higher than the number of injured soldiers.
Ultimately, it was Song Zining who took over the conversation. He conversed briefly with the generals and collected the latest information from them. There, he heard that Marshal Lin had come to the void continent personally.
Song Zining glanced at Qianye. The latter was deep in thought, seated on a chair, and tapping subconsciously at the handrest.
The fleet had arrived, and the ground forces weren’t too far off. The eastern army would soon enter Whitetown and begin clearing the battlefield. The Dark Flame fleet had also returned to the void continent, leaving only the Martyr’s Palace to guard the airspace.
The returning squadron was bruised and battered, and two of their corvettes had been destroyed. Clearly, the battle outside was rather fierce. The captain in charge of the battlecruiser summarized the process of their battle. Evernight had used an entire duke-grade fleet to restrain the Martyr’s Palace, with the flagship risking damage to keep the palace pinned down. Wave after wave of transport squadrons took this opportunity to charge into the void continent.
Speed was the only weakness of the Martyr’s Palace. Caroline was nervous, but there was nothing she could do. The Martyr’s Palace was akin to a giant beast that could do nothing against the thousands of tiny creatures rushing past. It would swat down a couple of them with each random movement but could only watch the rest charge into the continent.
Caroline was decisive as well. She immediately ignored the transports and focused on bringing down the duke’s fleet. Only by clearing this fleet would the corvettes be able to intercept the transports.
In the end, the Martyr’s Palace successfully destroyed the duke flagship by relying on its absolute advantage in defense. Even then, the unrelenting arachne duke boarded the Martyr’s Palace and fought for an entire day and night against Caroline. He ultimately fell in battle, no match for Caroline who had been reinforced by the Earth Dragon.
The battle also affected the interior of the ship, destroying a good chunk of equipment and half the crew. This reduced the palace’s fighting power by almost half. That arachne duke was simply prepared to die in this assault.
Despite the reinforcement of the dragonship, Caroline was also injured by the duke’s counterattack as she delivered the finishing blow. Currently, she was recuperating aboard the vessel.
Qianye and Song Zining gained an even greater understanding of Evernight’s investment in this battle. They had actually sacrificed an entire duke-grade fleet just to take down Whitetown. Now that raised the question why they would suddenly give up after investing so much?
It was only reasonable that a senior member of the Evernight Council would be there to oversee the sword-bearers. Where did those top-ranking experts go? It even looked like the sword-bearers and the duke-grade fleet was here to die. It was just that the Empire would also have to pay a price to kill them.
A bad sensation filled Qianye’s heart, but the central army arrived just as he was lost in thought. A fully-armored Duke Wei flew over to Whitetown on his own without waiting for the flagship to land.
Qianye and Song Zining had to welcome the duke since he had arrived personally. Duke Wei observed Qianye and Song Zining from head to toe, then sighed while shaking his head. “Thinking back to the Spring Hunt, you two were just kids. Now, you’re about to surpass this duke. The young will surely surpass us in time! What a pity, what a pity.”
All of a sudden, Qianye sensed his blood energy stirring. The dim, almost ethereal Wings of Inception in his chest seemed like it wanted to spread its wings. He was greatly alarmed, almost as though a powerful enemy was arriving, but where was the enemy? Looking up, the rifle strapped to Duke Wei’s back immediately attracted his attention.
Song Zining and Duke Wei both noticed the change.
The seventh young master followed his gaze and saw the gun. He gasped. “Mortal Emperor! How come it’s here?”
Duke Wei sighed. “The central army’s vanguard charged swiftly under Zhao Jundu’s command, while I brought up the rear with the main army in tow. Unexpectedly, Zhao Jundu moved ahead too fast and the dark race army descended from the sky to intercept us. The Fourteenth Prince moved to assist the battle with the Mortal Emperor, but who would’ve thought it was a trap? The dark races used a special method to drag the prince to death. I knew the Grand Magnum was important, so I kept it on me. As long as I remain alive, the gun won’t be lost.”
Qianye and Song Zining could see that Duke Wei was heavily injured and only suppressing the damage with secret arts. Listening to his recount, the dark races had actually set up a trap for the central route. Although they didn’t get the time to chat with Princess Haimi, it was very likely that the eastern route had encountered a similar obstruction.
Only Bai Aotu managed to charge through the western front; neither its fleet nor ground forces were in sight yet. But it really wasn’t a big surprise, judging from the situation of the central and eastern routes, and considering the identities of the commanding officers on the western front. It was also easy to see the dangers Princess Haimi and Duke Wei had braved to push their armies forward.
At this point, the situation around Whitetown was very clear. The battle was a sure loss if it wasn’t for Zhao Jundu’s final eruption, killing all of the sword-bearers, and the Evernight’s senior council member never showing up. The entirety of Whitetown and most of the top experts from the central and eastern routes might have fallen in battle as well.
At this moment, Zhao Jundu and Bai Aotu were gravely injured, the Fourteenth Prince and Nineteenth Princess had fallen, and both Princess Haimi and Duke Wei were heavily wounded.
At the thought of this, Qianye frowned ever so slightly. Why had this battle turned out so badly?
