The dark race experts attacked in a coordinated fashion. At the lead were the arachne and werewolf marquises, while the demonkin and vampires roamed the sidelines, waiting for an opportunity to attack. The counts formed groups of three that covered for one another as they harassed the target from a distance.
A form of cooperation between the four major races had started to take shape, each making up for the other’s shortcomings while amplifying their overall strength. Apparently, the Empire’s high evaluation of Nighteye wasn’t without reason. She was the only one who could force the races to set aside their differences and work together, and this would place a great deal of strain on the Empire.
Such a strategy might be effective against ordinary experts, but Qianye paid them little heed and simply produced his domain. A tremendous pressure bore down upon the counts, making it difficult for them to even walk. The scorching daybreak glow burned them all over and made it impossible to open their eyes.
Ordinary dark race experts fell in droves under Qianye’s domain; they simply had no power to resist. The domain stretched only a hundred meters or so, far inferior to Nighteye’s, but the destructive power within the domain was much more terrifying. Anyone who wasn’t a titled expert would be immediately annihilated by the oceanic pressure and daybreak origin power.
After sealing the area with his domain, Qianye raised East Peak and slashed once in each direction. Every move of his sword would see an expert cleaved in half.
Sweeping Calm!
“Stop!!!” Larga roared furiously.
Unfortunately, all was too late. A total of seven experts, including three marquises, had fallen to Qianye’s blade. Only a single glorious marquis managed to survive, albeit with a large gaping hole and nearly half of his body cut open. With one hand pressing on the wound, he shot into the air and flew away. He didn’t even stop at the central command.
Larga went berserk in an instant, wrenched by the heartache of losing so many men.
The two fallen marquises were his trusted aides, and one of them was even a distant cousin. His family’s strength would fall sharply now that the man had been killed. He would’ve never imagined that Qianye’s attacks would be so terrifying. The fight reached its climax almost instantly, and the killing move was so fast that even his shout was half a beat late.
Only at this point did he realize why Margo had fled on sight. A fight with Qianye would reach the life and death juncture within an instant; it would be too late to flee at that point.
Larga wavered for a moment, hesitating whether or not he should fight Qianye. He had seen very clearly that Qianye was already at the duke-standard in both the power of his domain and sword techniques. Even if he were a tad inferior to a veteran duke like him, the gap would be fairly limited.
But he immediately noticed Qianye turning pale and his aura dropping sharply after the attack. Such a powerful strike was no doubt exhausting, and Qianye had to have paid a price to cut down three marquis and four counts.
Larga immediately came to a decision. Laughing loudly, his expression turned dark as he said, “You ignorant human brat, I, Duke Larga, will be the one to take your life!”
Qianye leaned on his sword. He slowly retracted his domain and curled his finger in a gesture of challenge.
Overcome by anger, Larga crossed hundreds of meters in an instant and appeared before Qianye. He landed on the ground with a loud thud and unleashed his fierce origin power. The energy formed a shockwave that pushed all warriors and experts away, clearing the field for him and Qianye.
Qianye sneered. “What, afraid of injuring your subordinates? Is your control of origin power so useless?”
Larga was angered further by the mockery. It was true that he didn’t want to hurt his men because experts at his level would rain death upon everything within several dozen meters of them. Moreover, Qianye’s domain could easily kill all of the dark races that were swept in. This act of valuing his soldiers’ lives became a topic of mockery for Qianye.
“Enough nonsense! It’s a worthwhile death for you today with so many people accompanying you. Now die!”
A pair of daggers appeared in Larga’s hands as he sprinted toward Qianye at lightning speed, aiming for his vitals. As a duke, he was highly confident about his close-quarter combat abilities.
The attack was so fast that most enemies wouldn’t be able to even react. Even though Qianye parried the blow quite cleverly, the slight delay allowed the incoming blades to cut through his robes.
Larga then withdrew ten meters away, effectively dodging Qianye’s Nirvanic Rend.
“How’s that? Those who look down on the demonkin must pay a steep price. You’ll be the next one!” Larga circled behind Qianye and stabbed once again with his twin blades.
The two exchanged several blows in the blink of an eye, and Qianye sustained some shallow wounds in the process.
Larga was extremely fast and agile, twisting and turning like smoke over short distances. It was almost as though the environment of the new world had little effect on him. Even Qianye was somewhat inferior in terms of pure speed.
Apparently, speed and mobility were Larga’s specialty. Ordinary dukes would never have such ridiculous speed. Although his attacks lacked power, all he needed was to keep adding more wounds and bleed the target dry over time.
Qianye seemed lost in thought, but Larga was stunned as he watched Qianye. Every cut he had landed on the target only left a shallow cut on the skin, yet the effort involved felt like he was cutting battle armor.
Larga had never been known for his attack power, but he was still a duke when all was said and done. Why did it feel like he was fighting against an arachne grand duke?
Larga collected his thoughts, telling himself that bloodletting was a viable tactic. His daggers then went for Qianye again like venomous snakes.
It was at this moment that he felt his surroundings turn hot, and at the same time, his body started feeling heavy. There was no noticeable brightness, but his eyes stung as though he were staring into the sun.
That was the effect of the daybreak origin power in Qianye’s domain. Wherever his Venus Dawn existed, the dark races would feel a constant burning pain.
Larga’s movements inevitably grew slower, but fortunately, Qianye also seemed out of it. He failed to evade the incoming blow, which cut right through the skin to his rib bones.
A metallic “ding” echoed as the blade came into contact with the bone, bouncing back from the impact. A surprised Larga stared at the wound, only to find that Qianye’s rib was dark golden and metallic.
“You’re a prince?!” he cried out.
Qianye’s East Peak arrived in his face before the duke could overcome the surprise. Under the effects of Qianye’s domain, Larga couldn’t evade in time and was flung back by the impact. He withdrew with a loud cry, applying pressure on the wound as he did so.
This slash was much stronger than Larga’s attack, cutting through two of his ribs in one go.
The demonkin was bewildered. The metallic bone he saw inside Qianye made him uneasy as it was the hallmark of the prince and grand duke ranks.
Arachne could refine their skeletons at the duke rank, which made them the number one race in terms of physical strength. The demonkin would need to wait until they were great dark monarchs before they could remodel their bodies. Larga was starting to attempt this process, but every step was full of difficulties.
The vampires stood between the arachne and demonkin, so they would need to be at the grand duke rank to reform their skeleton and improve their physical strength.
Could Qianye be a prince?
Larga quickly dismissed the idea because Qianye would’ve beaten him black and blue by now if he were a prince. Besides, no one had heard of such a young prince—what were the chances that the vampire race could awaken another powerful expert, and that he would be standing with the humans?
Larga sealed his wound with demonic energy, then charged toward Qianye once more. This kind of injury would not affect his fighting power.
Once again, Qianye did not evade and simply brought East Peak down upon Larga’s head. The demonkin had no choice but to dodge. He wasn’t dumb enough to trade wounds with this monster after finding out how strong his body was.
When he charged at Qianye the next time, the domain around him suddenly doubled in strength. Qianye was like a black hole, emitting an indefensible wave of gravitational power that kept drawing him in.
Just as alarms went off in Larga’s mind, East Peak arrived above his head with a momentum capable of splitting mountains.
Larga immediately pulled his blades back and focused on defense. He was a veteran duke, after all, so blocking Qianye’s first strike wasn’t out of the question.
The strike was heavy, but Larga felt that he could deal with it. Qianye’s stance made it clear that he was performing Sweeping Calm, and the next few strikes should be targeting different directions under normal circ.u.mstances. Who would’ve thought Qianye’s bones would start to emit crackling sounds at this moment? The power of Excavator stacked up with each sword strike that swung down at the demonkin duke.
By the time the seventh blow came, Larga was trembling all over and bleeding from the nose. But he ultimately managed to block the attack.
However, the eighth strike had yet to come.
Qianye let out a loud roar as his momentum shifted precipitously. It felt as though an ancient void colossus was slowly opening its eyes.
Qianye channeled his divine champion power at the height of Excavator’s strength. Augmented by the overlapping empowerment, Sweeping Calm’s peerless eighth strike descended upon Larga, eliciting a startled cry from the duke!
His twin blades broke under the strain. Larga managed to move ever so slightly during the blade’s downstroke, barely avoiding being cleaved into two. Yet, the attack opened up a long wound from his shoulder all the way to his legs, cutting halfway into his body. This wasn’t an injury that could be sealed.
“This is for you!” Larga tossed out an item in his urgency and fled.
Noticing the familiar aura, Qianye caught the object subconsciously. Larga had fled a thousand meters during this brief lapse, and he was going faster and faster. It was too late to go after him.
A clear voice echoed on the battlefield. “Lord Larga, you’re running away? The battlefield is this way! Are you fleeing? Sire? Duke Larga? Your soldiers are over here!”
The voice traveled far and wide. It was extremely penetrative as well, a testament to the person’s extraordinary cultivation. When Larga heard the call from afar, his demonic energy almost exploded from embarrassment and anger. He had to try fairly hard to keep the wound on his body from expanding further. Red in the face, he simply sealed his ears with demonic energy and fled.
A moment’s delay would mean death.
The person calling out from the air was Margo. This call had more or less destroyed Larga’s life-long reputation and prestige. A glorious marquis running away was fundamentally different from a duke doing the same thing. After all, there was a gap of two levels between the two.
Margo felt rather satisfied seeing Larga’s reputation go down the drain. Before he could feel delighted, however, he heard a voice behind him. “That was quite the shout.”
Margo’s body went stiff. He slowly turned around to find Qianye looking at him with his hands behind his back.
In his urgency, he pointed in the direction Larga had escaped. “He can’t have gone far, go after him! This is a duke we’re talking about.”
But Qianye didn’t move.
“Duke…” Margo’s expression turned bitter.
