The Empire had always upheld strict military discipline. Fleeing before battle and disobeying orders were not only punishable by death, but their families would also be implicated. That was why most people would rather die on the battlefield than shoulder such a charge. This way, their families would be protected and compensated instead.
The three divine champions had no choice but to execute the orders, regardless of their opinion.
Duke Wenyuan was still in his prime and not willing to die just like that, so he couldn’t help but remind Qianye, “Sire, Nighteye will appear if we drag things out. That was how the previous commander received his injuries and had to be transported back to the Empire for treatment.”
He noticeably stressed the words transported back for treatment, to communicate that the injuries weren’t ordinary.
Qianye only replied calmly, “I’m counting on seeing her.”
Duke Wenyuan stopped speaking when Duke Minghai tugged on his sleeve and shot him a meaningful glance. The young duke was shaken as he recalled Qianye’s past. He retreated thereafter, secretly cursing the Empire for picking this person of all people. The relationship between him and the enemies’ commander was all too difficult to describe.
With the order issued, the Imperial soldiers no longer hesitated. They set up the heavy cannons as quickly as possible and began suppressing the other side with artillery fire.
These Imperial soldiers were elites, to begin with, and had only lost their sharpness because of the repeated defeats. Qianye had brought ten thousand more soldiers with him. The absolute order and clear objectives filled everyone with spirit as they put their full military might on display.
The dark race commanding officer was a bit surprised. Usually, the Imperial forces would retreat once they started firing their cannons, and they would be able to take a bite out of the enemy’s rear with ease.
“Struggling on their deathbed, eh?” The handsome vampire marquis sneered.
He raised his right hand and pressed it fiercely in the Empire’s direction.
The experts in the unit erupted in battle-cries, channeling their ferocity from the depths of their bloodline. The werewolves went berserk as they charged forth under the cover of the arachnes’ giant frames.
A small number of demonkin experts rose halfway into the air or stood on the arachnes’ backs to snipe the enemy targets.
The demonkin were smaller in number, but their sniper fire was much harder to defend against the heavy cannons. They had dealt a fair amount of damage to the Imperial defensive line in the blink of an eye.
Seeing the confusion on the other side, the glorious marquis let out a long laugh and rose into the air. He then charged forward, leaving a trail of resplendent blood energy behind him.
Charging through the air in battle could be considered an insolent move, but as a glorious marquis who had racked up victory after victory in the recent war, he had the qualifications to be insolent.
Seeing the main general on the assault, numerous dark race experts felt their blood boiling as they chased after the radiant trail. Many of his peers felt regretful that they had missed the opportunity to rush to the front first.
The glorious marquis had unleashed his blood energy entirely. He had his bloodthirsty eyes set on the Empire’s central command. The three powerful auras there did not stop him from charging straight toward his objective.
As he saw it, the old and crippled human divine champions couldn’t be a match for him. Moreover, he had two other glorious marquises serving as his assistants in this unit. This went to show just how much Nighteye favored him.
As a true expert, he had to be able to fight freely against enemies of the same rank. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be worthy of the title.
He was going to harvest the merits today!
His blood energy boiled alongside his high spirits. He circled once in the sky before diving toward the central command like a meteor!
Halfway through the dive, he noticed a young man with his hands behind his back looking coldly at him. The three divine champions were standing guard around him.
His aura could not be detected at all, so much so that the marquis hadn’t discovered his existence in the beginning. The first thought that came into his mind was, “There’s someone who looks even better than me?!”
He recognized that face in an instant. “Qianye!”
Without a second thought, he came to a screeching halt in mid-air. The change was so fierce that a sanguine ring of light erupted from his body. Fortunately, he was able to stop his forward momentum and flee.
The other two glorious marquises were shocked, but without any time to think, they immediately followed their commander back.
They reacted with due swiftness. The commanding officer was evidently stronger than they were, so why would they remain when even he was fleeing so frantically? Otherwise, were they supposed to go and find out what had frightened their superior so much? They had managed to live this long because curiosity had never gotten the better of them.
Running away just like that wasn’t a solution, either. The other marquis chased after the commander and called out to him, “Sire, what do we do with the soldiers?”
“Tell them to scatter and surrender if they cannot escape! I’m going back to report!” With that, the vampire marquis sped up and vanished into the distance.
The remaining marquises exchanged glances. One of them said, “You issue the order, I’ll leave first.”
He was gone in a flash.
Only a single werewolf marquis remained stunned in the air. He felt a sense of responsibility as he gazed at the charging soldiers on the front line.
If he were to order a retreat, some soldiers would be able to escape at least. The enemy would not take captives if they kept fighting until the damage was too severe and the army was routed.
During this brief moment of delay, his vision blurred and a person appeared before him.
The werewolf marquis saw the other party’s face clearly this time. He immediately understood everything. “Qianye!”
Qianye stood there rather casually. He shot a glance into the distance and said in surprise, “Wow, they sure run fast! Do they think I can’t catch up?”
But he didn’t really attack or chase after the escapees. Instead, he glanced at the werewolf marquis and the emblem on his chest. “So you’re from the Summit of Peaks, it’s not a bad deal letting those two off in exchange for you. William is on Fort Continent at the moment and we can be considered good friends. Out of consideration for him, I’ll give you two choices… surrender or die.”
The marquis smiled wryly. He realized why the vampire marquis had run so fast, even abandoning his soldiers. Competing with Qianye and his Spatial Flash in speed was a sure way to court death. The only way to survive was to leave a bait big enough that Qianye would have to stay and devour it.
And this bait, needless to say, was him and his squad.
The werewolf marquis gazed deeply into Qianye’s eyes. “If they had stayed behind, we might not lose to you in a three-to-one battle.”
Qianye laughed. “And that kind of thinking was why you were left behind.”
After a moment of silence, the werewolf marquis went down on one knee and said, “Marquis Tatumu of the Giant Rock Tribe from the Summit of Peaks is willing to swear loyalty to you on our ancestral spirit, under two conditions.”
“What would those be?”
“First, I will not fight against my own race. Second, let me leave if you become enemies with the Summit of Peaks one day.”
Qianye said, “The ancestral faction isn’t included in the same-race limitation.”
After a brief thought, Tatumu said, “Very well! They submitted to the Evernight Council and sold out our race’s interests. We must settle this account with them sooner or later.”
“Then there’s no problem. Your post is not here but on Fort Continent. Do you have any problems?”
“No problem.”
Tatumu was fairly delighted even. He knew that the Summit of Peaks had built a base on Fort Continent to train soldiers, and that base was built in cooperation with Qianye. Now that he was being dispatched to Fort Continent, he would be joining his tribesmen. That was a great outcome for him since his fate in Blacksun Valley was just to serve as cannon fodder.
After subduing Tatumu, Qianye said, “Go tell them to surrender, I won’t be accepting prisoners after a while.”
Shaken, Tatumu flew back to the army, ordering the troops to withdraw and surrender. The unit was leaderless at the moment and taking a painful beating from the Empire. The vanguard had suffered grave losses, so their morale wasn’t as high as before.
Most of the troops surrendered under Tatumu’s orders, and the few headstrong ones were killed by him. The demonkin resisted with the most ferocity, but they fared no better than the mantis who tried to stop the proverbial cart.
The great victory left the three Imperial divine champions speechless. How could it be so easy? They didn’t even need to fight before the enemy commander fled in a hurry. No matter how confident they were, they knew that this reaction wasn’t because of them.
There was only one explanation—Qianye was so strong that the opponent had to flee on sight.
This was unbelievable but not too difficult to understand. The three divine generals were from the older generation, and even the youngest Duke Wenyuan was one who had risen to fame twenty years ago. Qianye hadn’t even been born when Duke Minghai rampaged through the battlefield.
Qianye had risen meteorically in recent years, but he had little contact with the older generation. These people had also been deliberately ignoring young talents like Qianye, Song Zining, and Zhao Jundu.
The older and less important characters weren’t really interested in facing the youngsters’ rise to fame. They didn’t even want to hear words like the twin stars, new strategist god, etc, let alone look up Qianye’s abilities and accomplishments.
This was a stark contrast from the dark races—their assessment of Qianye was decided by the corpses of countless comrades, and a mistake would end up with them losing their lives.
After stepping into the divine champion realm, he was no longer a genius waiting to mature but a true expert with sufficient clout. There might be some people who weren’t familiar with his rise to power, but as time went on, more blood would be spilled in a display of his might.
Long-lived creatures valued their life more, and opponents were more aware of their enemies. That was why the vampire glorious marquis had fled immediately and Tatumu had surrendered. Those who couldn’t see reality would be reduced to a name on the casualty report.
The battle was fairly short. The dark race losses weren’t severe, but two out of their three generals had fled before reaching the battlefield, while the remaining one had surrendered. Morale had hit rock bottom when some of the men heard whispers of Qianye’s name, and this rumor was further proven by their commander’s actions. As such, many men decided to surrender in despair.
Seizing close to ten thousand prisoners was an unprecedented victory for the Empire. Even the three divine champions became spirited as they made arrangements to bind and transport the prisoners of war. The way the entire army looked at Qianye was different now.
There was respect and fear in their eyes, but it also seemed as though they were looking at some monster.
Many Imperial soldiers had heard of Qianye, but those stories felt more like legends than anything. It was only after fighting under his command that they had the opportunity to witness such a ridiculous scene.
To have scared away a vampire glorious marquis with a mere glance, they really wanted to know what kind of terrifying creature was hiding under that beautiful countenance. How strong was he that even high-ranking experts were scared of him?
