Qianye finally realized why the supremes went silent after the opening of the new world, even though the various races had come together.
In the very beginning, he had thought that the united dark races would be able to suppress the Empire even without the supremes taking action. It turned out that the supremes had actually fought a perilous battle against Andruil at the opening of the new world. The Blacksun Valley was a scar left behind by that battle.
It was now clear why the will of the new world was so hostile toward the dark races.
As an expert growing ever closer to the apex, Qianye knew very well what it meant for a single person to fight an entire race. If this was true for a grand duke, how would it be for a supreme like Andruil who had successfully cultivated the mirage moon origin power, something no one had ever done before? He would surely become an expert on the same level as the Queen of the Night given enough time, perhaps even stronger.
However, he had chosen to fight the supremes to the death—to guard the darkness origins and save humanity from destruction.
Qianye didn’t know what to feel at that moment. He simply felt that it was unreal and unbelievable.
How did things turn out like this?
Andruil seemed to have seen through Qianye’s thoughts. “I didn't do it for the human race, much less for the Empire. I only have one reason, and that is Yuqing.”
“Nangong Yuqing?” Qianye became absent-minded. He had gone through the records related to the lady and found very few doc.u.ments that mentioned her. She was leagues away from Andruil be it in terms of status or background.
At the mention of Nangong Yuqing, Andruil sighed mournfully.
Keeping a promise at all costs, Qianye was no stranger to this feeling.
Qianye had a feeling that the entanglement between the supremes was much deeper than he had imagined. This was, after all, something that had gone on for hundreds of years.
“You said someone unexpectedly appeared and that led to your loss? Who is she?”
“The loss was inevitable; I’m not sure I could’ve defeated Lilith even without the Spider Queen and the Demon King. Even if I could kill her, I wouldn’t have the heart to do so since she had spared me several times already. My fate was already sealed, so why bother? The sooner this ended, the sooner I would get to see Yuqing. Say, do you think there’s a next life after death?”
Qianye didn’t know how to reply.
Andruil had long since fallen, yet he was still asking such a self-evident question. Apparently, he already knew the answer but was simply unresigned.
Without a next life, there would never be a reunion.
Andruil didn’t wait for Qianye to reply, nor did he want to tell Qianye who it was that he had run into. He turned toward the distant skies and said, “Regardless, I want to believe there is. My time is up, I’ll be going now. The mirage moon origin elixir here will pave the last leg of the way to you becoming a great dark monarch.”
“Do you need me to do anything?”
Waving his hand, the Black-Winged Monarch thus walked toward the horizon and vanished.
The legendary Black-Winged Monarch, the Lord of Evernight, had left this world forever. His fight against the three supremes was destined to fade away in the river of time, never to be known.
And Qianye was the only one who knew the reason behind that fight. For some reason, he felt his eyes start to moisten—it was perhaps the strong wind blowing into his eyes.
Only when that familiar figure had faded away did Qianye remember something. “Come back! You haven’t told me how to use the Wings of Inception!”
His voice echoed in the empty space, but no one replied. Dazed, Qianye thought he saw Andruil appear in the air, waving his hand casually as he said, “Use it however you want to.”
Moments later, Qianye returned to his senses. Andruil was gone… forever. Perhaps a fragment of his consciousness might remain in some unknown corner of the world, but that was just a mechanical projection with no spirit.
Qianye had many questions he wanted to ask, especially about the relationship between the Queen of the Night and Andruil. However, Andruil seemed intent on taking the past to his grave.
Qianye felt emotional. If Andruil and the Queen had not fallen out like this, another Lord of Evernight would have appeared on the Sacred Mountain, and the vampire race would surely surpass the others.
This power structure would remain until this day. With the addition of Nighteye and Qianye, the vampires might even conquer the entire Evernight World. The war on Twilight Continent would not have happened, and the Azure King would be able to wake up from time to time for a stroll.
Andruil was gone, but the war was still ongoing. Qianye and his chaos origin power could be considered a different version of Andruil.
This war against the demonkin and the Evernight council was destined to stretch to the end of time.
Qianye stood silently for a while, then left the secret realm for the holy land. He could absorb the mirage moon origin power anytime; the urgent matter at hand was to stop Medanzo.
The journey back was much faster. After a series of Spatial Flashes, Qianye was once again at the borders of the holy land.
The area was filled with the clamor of moving soldiers as they assembled in the plaza. A number of giant wargods were sitting on the ground, and other tribesmen were helping them don their armor.
Every a.d.u.l.t male and female was a soldier, so the children had taken up the duty of shipping and moving things about.
Qianye arrived in the air above with a single flash. There, he saw a small group of twenty soldiers setting out toward the battlefield.
Qianye pulled a nearby elder over and pointed at the group. “Where are they going?”
“The battlefield, of course! We’ve started fighting against the black demon!” the elder said.
The elder was puzzled. “Won’t that just delay things? There’s half a day’s distance between here and the battlefield.”
Qianye was speechless. “Tell them to stop and wait. Set out when the entire force has been assembled. Where is the battle taking place, I’ll head over now.”
The elder told Qianye the direction, which he confirmed with his perception.
If even the Attawa had to run for several hours, this meant that the battlefield was over a thousand kilometers away from the holy mountain. Their forces were sparse, to begin with, yet they had chosen such a distant battlefield. Qianye simply didn’t know what to make of this.
The elder said as if everything was right and proper. “We will not let those black demons taint our holy mountain! That’s why we should fight them as far away as possible!”
