The new world, outside of the Imperial forward base. Countless airships were in the process of landing and unloading a steady stream of troops, as well as resources. Within the main building, Wei Potian couldn’t help but whistle when he saw the formation of soldiers. “That’s quite the investment! When did those old fogeys from the military become so generous?”
Song Zining was studying a war map at a nearby desk. Hearing Wei Potian’s comment, he asked casually, “What investment?”
“Come and see for yourself, they’ve mobilized dozens of airships.”
Song Zining didn’t look up. “Oh, that’s nothing. Evernight has also started using airships to transport soldiers. Our airships can only last seven days, but I heard they have it worse. Their transports are breaking down after five days at most, so we still have the advantage in consumption.”
“I’m talking about the troops, not the airships. They sent twenty thousand… nah, thirty thousand soldiers!”
“What?” A surprised Song Zining glanced out of the window. “How come? There shouldn’t be that many!”
Wei Potian found it puzzling. “Isn’t that a good thing? We’ll be able to supplement all of our losses during this period with more to spare!”
Song Zining’s expression darkened. “That’s not the point. The amount of holy tree sap determines the number of soldiers we can maintain in the new world.”
“So?”
Song Zining rolled his eyes at him. “Don’t just think about fighting all day, use your brain for once! Think, where does the holy tree sap come from?”
“From our side, and some from Qianye’s. The others…”
“There’s no other place! Our entire supply comes from Qin Continent and Fort Continent. There’s no way to gain anymore. There’s only one explanation for the arrival of so many reinforcements. The medicine meant for Qianye has been taken over.”
Wei Potian scratched his head. “So that’s how it is. But… we’re both fighting the dark races anyway. What difference does it make?”
Song Zining’s expression was ugly. “It’s fine if that’s all there is to it, the more troops we have, the better. But the problem is the reinforcements are far too few if they really did take Qianye’s quota.”
“This is too few?”
“Of course! Qianye has already sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers into the new world!”
Wei Potian was shocked. “That bastard is already so awesome?”
Song Zining sighed. “If I’m not wrong, he’s being targeted because of his rapid growth.”
Wei Potian frowned angrily. “Who has the balls to do that?! This daddy will beat him to death!”
Song Zining cut him short. “Think about Qianye’s background and strength. If they even dare target him, do you think they’ll fear a mere Marquis Potian?”
Wei Potian said happily, “You finally remember my title!”
“To hell with it! I wonder which secretary with a fried brain approved of such a title,” Song Zining cursed. “Go and pack up, prepare to leave!”
“Leave? Where to?”
“To war, of course! Since reinforcements have arrived, we should go and help Jundu push into the heart of the dark race lands.”
Seeing that Song Zining was angry, Wei Potian couldn’t help but feel guilty. He mumbled, “Fine, we just need to fight, right? Why so serious? But we can’t stand around and let Qianye suffer, can we?”
Song Zining turned back. “The harder we attack the dark races, the more we help Qianye get back at them.”
“Why is that?” Wei Potian didn’t understand.
Song Zining said calmly, “Only a handful of people in the Empire can block Qianye. I can more or less guess who it is. Whether I’m right or not, those people will be forced to take action if we fight the dark races hard enough. The human race faces far less malicious intent than the dark races in the new world. If we don’t dare fight even under such circumstances, we can forget about fame and glory.”
Only then did Wei Potian come to understand. He stuttered, “You mean, the heavenly monarch…”
“Shut up!” Song Zining stopped Wei Potian with a shout and left. The latter scratched his head and stomped. “What’s with that attitude?! I’ll see what you can do when I become a divine champion.”
Despite the complaints, he almost flew out to get things done.
Half a day later, the army at the forward base assembled and boarded several batches of airships. The vessels then moved out in a fleet. Soon, the army at the forward base had been assembled. They boarded batch after batch of airships, which then set out into the distance.
The airships crossed vast distances to where the Masefield door was located. There, Zhao Jundu was already building a temporary fortress. The defensive structures were so close to the door that even the gateway was within firing range.
Traces of battle were scattered before the fortress. Moreover, there were also numerous demonkin corpses that hadn’t been cleared away and even some burning airship wreckages.
Song Zining sprang out of the airship and arrived beside Zhao Jundu on the fortress walls. He glanced into the distance, saying, “They’re planning to use the airship wreckage to form a defensive line. Looks like they haven’t given up!”
Zhao Jundu glanced at him. “How come you’re here?”
“How do I help you without coming?”
“Do I look like I need your help?”
Song Zining said, “Why so angry?”
Zhao Jundu gazed into the distance. “Because a certain person has been pulling the strings from behind the curtain, Lil’ Five has offended someone he shouldn’t. Now, the other party is causing trouble for him, what do you say I do?”
Song Zining went silent for a while. “I did lay down some schemes, but that’s for his own good. The results actually aren’t that bad, you know.”
“This is called not bad?”
“It would have been much worse if I didn’t make those plans.”
“Who’s gonna believe you?”
Song Zining shrugged. “You have no choice but to trust me. Certain things you’ll never get out of my mouth.”
Zhao Jundu stared intently at Song Zining, an eerie dark red emerging in the depths of his eyes. However, his killing intent gradually subsided and his expression relaxed. “I’ll trust you this once.”
Song Zining smiled. “I have never let my brothers down.”
Zhao Jundu sighed. “What’s the plan now?”
Song Zining pointed at the silent field before them. “Abandon this place.”
“Abandon this place?” Zhao Jundu was surprised.
“Do you think someone as powerful as Masefield can’t break through?”
Zhao Jundu raised his brows. “That’s exactly what I want!”
“The problem is, Evernight controls several continents and several doors. The demonkin alone have four doors. Why must they keep throwing themselves at you?”
Zhao Jundu said, “If they don’t capture this door, Masefield won’t have any face left in the future.”
“That is definitely the case under normal circumstances, but their interests in the new world are too important. They might not care about face when there are greater benefits in sight.”
Seeing Zhao Jundu go silent, Song Zining continued, “They can use one continent to keep you busy here and still have the capacity to keep expanding in the new world. It won’t be worth it if we let the dark races take over the new world while we stand guard here.”
“What exactly do they want here?”
Song Zining shook his head. “The new world is too big. My divination arts can only grasp some blurry hints, but one thing is certain, the doors to the new world were opened by the three supremes of the Sacred Mountain. That’s probably why the malicious intent here is stronger against their great dark monarchs.”
“That means there’s something hidden here, and the dark races are going all out to get it.”
Song Zining said, “Whatever they’re looking for, we must find a way to stop them. Qianye’s forces are weak, and it looks like his door is quite far from us. The Moorland werewolves alone will be quite difficult for him to tackle. It’s not a bad thing to focus all military power on our hands. The fiercer we fight, the less time the dark races have to pay attention to him.”
Zhao Jundu produced a map and drew an arced line. “What are we waiting for then? Let’s keep advancing along this line and we’ll probably end up at the next dark-race door.”
Song Zining shook his head. “That’s too slow.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“No matter what the new world is hiding, it’s very likely at the center. The focal point of this arced line is the center of the entire realm. If we ignore everything and charge in that direction, it’s very likely that the dark races will come looking for us.”
“Good idea! Are you really looking to die, though?”
Song Zining said, “I fear death more than anyone.”
“Then did you consider what kind of forces we’ll encounter in that direction? Princes and great dark monarchs are a given. We might even run into supremes like the Demon King and the Spider Queen.”
Song Zining pointed upward. “We have other people to deal with them. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
Zhao Jundu replied calmly, “I used to be very confident, but I’m not so sure right now.”
Of course, Song Zining understood that Zhao Jundu was referring to the heavenly monarchs being unreliable.
He didn’t reveal the hidden message but said, “It would have been difficult to say in the past, but now that the monstrosity under the new world has been infuriated, the great dark monarchs will probably not act recklessly. That is unless they’re much braver than we are.”
Zhao Jundu snorted. “I’ve never heard of a great dark monarch who doesn’t fear death.”
“There was one. The Black-Winged Monarch Andruil actually dared to challenge the Queen of the Night.”
“That’s why he’s dead now,” Zhao Jundu replied curtly.
Song Zining laughed. “Haha, true. So… do we fight?”
“Of course we fight! But before we do, we will present all of our battle plans to the superiors, several copies in fact.”
Song Zining clicked his tongue. “Looks like the refinement in fire didn’t make you dumb after all.”
