Nighteye’s arrival at the base spread rapidly among the dark races on each battlefield. Those who understood things became excited, feeling as though some darkness had finally arrived amidst the glaring daybreak.
The Empire had been struggling during this battle, but the dark races were in just as much pain. Everyone would write their wills and farewells before the battle—none of those going into battle expected themselves to return alive. The situation was even more serious than the holy wars.
The commanders of each unit were just as troubled. The loss of troops always accompanied the fall of numerous officers and experts as well.
The dukes in charge of each battlefield weren’t spared from the pressure, either. Although there were reinforcements coming in steadily, the deaths on the front line were just as numerous. The supremes of the Sacred Mountain took no action even under such circumstances. The only order they had issued was to attack and drive the humans out of the sinkhole area.
The dukes felt helpless as they took to the field in turn, suffering one defeat after the other in the hands of Song Zining and Zhao Jundu.
There was a rumor circulating among the dark races that Song Zining’s divination arts were already close to Lin Xitang in his early years.
This kind of conjecture only served to suppress the injection of experts from the Evernight Council. Only a few top masters could perform divination in the sinkhole region, people the council would protect like treasures. There was no way they would be willing to send them into the field.
This was a lesson they had learned from Lin Xitang. Back when the Twin Paragons of the Empire were on the rise, the factions had fought both in the field and remotely via divination.
That period of time was a particularly low point for the Empire’s divination schools, a time where the seeds of internal strife had started to sprout. Hence Evernight’s prophets were highly effective against the Empire’s overall strategy. Some rumors, minor changes to the flow of fate on the battlefield, and a bit of suppression from the top experts and the Empire’s war zones would be up to their ears in problems.
Back then, Lin Xitang’s accomplishments weren’t that evident and the casualty ratio was just within an acceptable range. But as time went by, the Evernight side finally discovered that something was wrong. All prophets who had fought against Lin Xitang would gradually fall ill after returning to Evernight and pass away after several months. Some would take years but their fate was no different.
It took a good deal of secret information and several years after the end of the Empire’s internal strife for the Evernight Council to connect the death of their prophets to Lin Xitang.
Some even suggested an absurd but terrifying idea that Lin Xitang’s true objective was to hunt down Evernight’s prophets.
It was already too late by that point. Although Lin Xitang hadn’t laid his hands on the grandmaster level prophets, the fallen geniuses who had actively taken part in the war—either in planning or for observation—were people who would’ve become grandmasters one day. Moreover, they would be prophets with ample battlefield experience.
Many of them had fallen victim to Lin Xitang’s trick and met their eventual ends. Even the supremes could do little against this kind of spiritual injury.
Just like that, Lin Xitang had single-handedly caused a cross-sectional destruction among Evernight’s prophets.
Since then, the Evernight Council had been extremely careful in the deployment of their prophets—they would only observe the situation in ordinary battles and never appear in the field. It was thereafter that the Empire’s Twin Paragons truly began to shine.
History was once again repeating itself on the battlefield around the sinkhole. Song Zining’s high rate of success couldn’t be a strategy alone; he had to have used divination. This meant that the Evernight Council would have to be more careful in the deployment of their own prophets, putting their forces in an even more passive state.
This was the situation when Nighteye had set out with her forces, but she spared little thought for it. All she did was lead the army slowly toward the sinkhole, almost as though she were on a leisurely trip.
…
On a mountain peak somewhere, two marquises were gradually turning pale and weak as they fought Wei Potian. Exchanging glances, they attacked with their most powerful moves at the same time and then fled almost immediately after the round of attacks.
With a peal of drawn-out laughter, Wei Potian slashed at one of the marquis from afar. The blow opened up a big gash on the fleeing expert’s back, a wound so deep that the bones were almost visible. The marquis lurched forward but his steps remained swift. He couldn’t even afford to care about his soldiers as he vanished over the horizon.
Wei Potian retracted the Thousand Mountains and laughed coldly. “Playing this game with me again? It’s been over a dozen times, you think I’ll fall for it again? Take this marking before you go!”
Wei Potian turned back to find that the dark races on the frontline were retreating like the tides, and the foot of the hill was full of corpses.
With a shout, he charged out at the front. The Wei clan soldiers jumped out from behind cover and followed their young master to kill the routed enemy. This ruthless assault cut down thousands more dark race soldiers before coming to a halt.
Wei Potian said in satisfaction, “Check our battle results, help the injured and clean up. We’ll go back and rest afterward!”
The warriors erupted in a thunderous cheer. Many of them were already pondering on how to spend their money and relax after going back.
Wei Potian scolded them with a laugh, “Look at you guys, what do you guys know apart from wine and women? The contributions from this battle are enough for you to buy land or start up a business. Hand over ninety percent of your contributions after we return, and this daddy will help you guys find some good land in our province. Everyone will be a landowner after the war!”
The soldiers broke out in cheers. Of course, it was impossible for them to become a part of the nobility, but owning land and business would give them the foundation to build a family. If they kept trying hard enough, they could one day become a landowning household. If these small families held a stable footing, they would also add to the Far Eastern Province’s foundation. The aristocracy of each generation had to slowly develop just like that.
A cold voice echoed in everyone’s ears amidst the cheer. “In such a rush to go back?”
Wei Potian’s expression shifted drastically. He turned around to see a dark race squad emerging from the valley entrance. Their numbers were small, but the dense array of expert auras caused one’s scalp to go numb. The unit was made up of ten thousand soldiers at most, but there were actually ten marquis in their lineup.
The dark race army had appeared silently, almost as though they had popped out of the void. Wei Potian never sensed this army’s arrival, and even the fleeing Evernight soldiers just now probably had no idea of this unit’s existence.
As an experienced leader, Wei Potian roared immediately, “Return to base!”
The Wei clan soldiers turned and ran, charging toward their fortifications on the hill. As long as they were behind defensive lines, a normal squad of ten thousand could forget about defeating this elite imperial unit of five thousand.
Wei Potian brought up the rear with his private guard. That mysterious army wasn’t in a rush to chase after them, either. They only advanced at a steady pace, filling the field with gradual pressure.
Wei Potian relaxed somewhat after seeing that his forces had reached the fortifications. He was just about to join them himself when his vision blurred—there was someone in front of him all of a sudden.
He looked up in surprise. “Y-You… how come it’s you?”
Nighteye said, “Why can’t it be me?”
Wei Potian said, “This isn’t the place to talk. Follow me to the rear, the dark races will charge us any moment now.”
Seeing his state, Nighteye said, “Don’t worry, they won’t.”
“They won’t? There’s no way they’d let go of such an… opportunity…” Wei Potian looked back to find the crowd of experts standing still several hundred meters away.
Wei Potian glanced at the dark race army then back at Nighteye, his jaw dropping wider and wider.
“Correct, that’s my squad,” said Nighteye.
Wei Potian scratched his head with a difficult expression. “What do I do? What do I do? You’re Qianye’s wife, how can I fight you?”
Nighteye’s tense expression relaxed ever so slightly, but it was soon replaced by cold indifference. All this time, there was a mixed expression, something between laughter and tears, that never receded. “I have nothing to do with him anymore. Even if I did, he’s not from your side, is he?”
“That’s that, but he’s still a brother. How can I fight his woman?” Wei Potian was serious.
The two armies couldn’t hear their conversation, but the dark race marquis wasn’t too far from them. Their expressions turned odd all of a sudden, and it looked like they were having a hard time holding their laughter back.
Wei Potian wasn’t going to hold back against them. He roared with a dark expression, “What are you laughing at?! I can’t fight Nighteye, but you guys are a piece of cake. Come at me in groups of two, I’ll take all of you on!”
This kind of challenge was normal, and it was advantageous for Wei Potian’s defensive strategy. This time, however, it proved completely ineffective. An arachne marquis said, “Of course we’ll come at you together. What will the others do otherwise? Watch?”
Wei Potian spat loudly. “What a disgrace to your so-called sacred blood!”
This provocation had no effect, either. The marquis stood still like wooden dummies, looking at Nighteye.
Nighteye said, “They’re here to spectate. Enough talk, let’s fight.”
Wei Potian began to scratch his head again. “I told you I can’t attack you..”
He hadn’t finished speaking when Nighteye appeared in front of him and a cold, delicate hand grabbed him by the neck. Wei Potian was then lifted into the air and slammed hard to the ground. This slam was so powerful that even his Thousand Mountains had erupted out of reflex.
Nighteye let go and stood looking down at him from above.
Wei Potian flipped over and got back to his feet, his head still spinning and in a daze. “Leave! There are heavenly monarchs in this area, they might attack you.”
“Why would they target me?”
“You’re so powerful that even I an not your opponent. The heavenly monarchs might consider you a sacrifice,” Wei Potian said seriously.
An unnoticeable smile emerged on Nighteye’s cold countenance. “I’ll be targeted if I defeat you? You really… think highly of yourself.”
Wei Potian shook his head in an attempt to wake himself up. “Isn’t that normal? No ordinary marquis is my match. You’re a genius, so it’s very likely you’ll become a sacrifice. You don’t know what those behind the curtain are thinking, they prefer targeting young geniuses too and not just dukes.”
Nighteye said, “Enough, use your Thousand Mountains! I’ll tell you why later.”
Helpless, Wei Potian unleashed a mountain peak above him and assumed a combat position.
Nighteye didn’t attack immediately. She pointed at Wei Potian’s waist, saying, “Your sword.”
“It’ll be bad if I wound you with that.”
“As you wish.”
Nighteye’s figure flickered and appeared in front of Wei Potian. She then slapped the Thousand Mountains gently.
This slap seemed fairly light, but it sent Wei Potian’s ears buzzing. It felt as though he were standing inside a bell. His vision was filled with a spectrum of colors.
That tall mountain peak cracked like glass, its remnant projections barely holding its shape.
Nighteye was rather surprised that she couldn’t shatter the Thousand Mountains in one go. Her lips rose in a faint smile as she realized the solution.
If the first slap didn’t work, then all she needed was a second slap.
The Thousand Mountains vanished immediately as Wei Potian was knocked out.
