Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 48: Rules of the Tribe
“Are there any taboos?” asked Qianye.
William took a step back and shrugged. “None whatsoever. Do as you wish.”
Qianye nodded. He then stepped forward and grabbed the man’s collar.
Revealing a nasty grin, one of the werewolf guards grabbed at Qianye’s wrist and roared, “Little bastard, are you courting death?”
But soon after catching Qianye’s wrist, his whole body shook and flew backwards, as if he were struck by lightning.
Qianye’s movements weren’t quick at all, but the shopkeeper seemed to be bound by an invisible attractive force and unable to retreat. He could only gaze helplessly as Qianye lifted him up by the collar.
The shopkeeper felt as if he were struck in the chest by a heavy hammer the moment Qianye’s fingers touched him and a mouthful of blood rushed up his throat. However, with a shake of Qianye’s hand, the man’s whole body trembled as if struck by lightning, effectively choking that mouthful of blood back down.
The other werewolf bodyguard drew his weapon and rushed over. With a wild roar, he smashed his spiked club down on Qianye’s head.
Qianye only turned and shot a glance at him, but the guard suddenly began to palpitate as if he were being watched by a vicious beast. Not to mention swinging his club, he even had the urge to run away immediately.
Qianye calmly lifted his leg and stomped down.
The ground suddenly began to shake as an indefensible force was transmitted underneath the werewolf bodyguard’s. It threw him high into the air and dozens of meters away.
Qianye’s hand suddenly relaxed and dropped the fierce-looking shopkeeper to the ground. The man wasn’t weak, but he was still struggling to clamber up. In truth, he had already received two heavy blows since falling into Qianye’s hands and the origin power within him was on the verge of collapse. How could he stand up?
Qianye walked calmly towards the booth, retrieved that grade five sniper rifle, and tossed a blood crystal over. It bounced once on the shopkeeper’s face, then slid down his jacket and onto his belly.
Qianye lifted the rifle indifferently and began to inspect the trigger and barrel in detail. Afterwards, he said without even looking at the shopkeeper, “This is money for the rifle. You won’t get off so cheap next time. It’s not as if I can’t afford to buy your arms, legs, and even your brain.”
None of the spectators were heckling anymore. Most of them were trembling because all of them knew that Qianye’s words, although spoken to the shopkeeper, were likely also directed at them. However, some among them showed no signs of fear and only gazed deeply at him and William to memorize their appearances before dispersing in twos and threes.
The results of this probing were already quite evident. The strength of this newcomer was tyrannical, to say the least, and his way of handling things was just perfect. Someone with such efficient and ruthless methods was clearly not a newly hatched bird. The onlookers swiftly decided that it was impossible to scrape profits from such a person, but they might be able to do something big by cooperating with him.
Qianye strapped the sniper rifle to his back and beckoned William. “Let’s go.”
William nodded and left with Qianye.
William’s destination was a two-storeyed building on the west side of the city. It was a sizeable store with all kinds of merchandise filling its display racks. From vampire origin power guns to arachne crystalline silk—there were all sorts of things. Those entering and leaving the shop also comprised of many different races and the number of werewolves among them wasn’t greater than that of the others.
William pulled back his hood and revealed an insignia on the inner surface of his collar. After seeing the origin glow emitted from the insignia, the clerk’s eyes lit up as he led them towards the back of the store.
Qianye was walking furthest back. He had just passed the doorway when he suddenly noticed a cold gleam in the corner of his eye as a dagger was thrust at his throat.
Qianye made no extra movement and even his expression seemed absolutely unaffected. At a glance, it was difficult to say if he was petrified with fright or if he was so calm that he didn’t even care about the lethal danger. He only raised his head to glance at William.
The dagger arrived at lightning speed and was pressed against Qianye’s throat. A capable looking young werewolf with a bare upper body appeared from within the shadows and said while staring fixedly at Qianye’s face, “I smell the stench of a vampire on his body!”
A florid radiance flashed across William’s ceramic-like greyish blue eyes, but it gradually vanished after seeing Qianye’s calm demeanor.
His turned towards the young werewolf, and said coldly, “This is my guest. Drop your weapon, lest the visitor looks down on us.”
The young man wasn’t quite satisfied and retorted loudly, “What right does he have to look down on us? He’s just a useless bastard!”
William immediately let out a sigh.
The young werewolf’s eyes never shifted away, but his expression suddenly changed. A handgun had appeared in Qianye’s hand at some point and its muzzle was aimed straight at the werewolf’s heart.
A chill permeated the young werewolf’s heart—he actually hadn’t sensed it! Due to this, he came to a swift realization—since the other party was capable of drawing his weapon and aiming it at him so silently, it was also quite likely that he could have easily dodged the blade at his throat.
That is to say that, although Qianye seemed restrained by the werewolf, he had actually never even cared about him. That was the sole reason why the sharp weapon was allowed to approach his neck.
The young werewolf’s breathing grew distinctly heavier as he retracted his blade and growled, “He uses a vampire weapon and there’s a vampiric stench on his body! We don’t welcome him here!”
William’s expression turned cold as he roared at the young werewolf. The volume of his roar was just about the same as normal speech, but the young werewolf was suddenly blown back as if he were struck by a cannon shell. He smashed through two layers of walls with a loud crash and collapsed on the street outside.
“Wait! This is a misunderstanding!” An old werewolf rushed over and blocked William’s way.
The old werewolf performed a salutation towards William and said, “Honorable guest of the Summit of Peaks, it was not our intention to offend you. My son, that young werewolf, is easily agitated due to the hot weather. It’s just that your guest is truly not welcomed here. Please have him remain outside!”
“This is a grey city and not the tribal grounds. When did such a rule appear without my knowing? One such that even I cannot bring a guest.”
The old werewolf wore an apologetic smile but seemed to have no intention of retracting his words.
William let out a cold laugh and said, “It seems the White Claw Tribe is so amazing right now. You’ve brought your tribal rules to this place after being allowed a turn in this position for a mere three years? I insist on bringing this person with me. What can you do?”
The old werewolf replied politely but resolutely, “Then I can only ask you to leave.”
William began to laugh loudly instead of showing anger. He dragged Qianye behind his back and said very slowly, “It seems the Summit of Peaks has been too kind towards you lot. Even a second-rate tribe dares disrespect me. Is this a declaration of war from the White Claw Tribe?!”
At this point, William let out another muffled roar and sent the old werewolf flying. Not only did he shoot through the building walls but also crashed into the shop across the street. It was unknown just how many houses he crashed through after that and where he fell in the end.
The sound waves from William’s roar hadn’t yet died down and was still reverberating in all directions. All the people in the shop collapsed and rolled on the ground. Many werewolves were directly flung away and crashed into the walls, spraying fresh blood mid-air.
Qianye, who was standing behind William, felt as if a hurricane was blowing into his face. The origin power in his whole body began to move on its own, suddenly becoming more condensed and contracted.
Along with the changes in origin power, Qianye noticed that he suddenly felt as if he were in water; his every movement was greatly impeded. He felt as if his body might just leave the ground and float upwards due to the formless attractive forces that had appeared in the vicinity. Many small objects were already beginning to hover in the air.
As William’s roar traveled forward and reverberated throughout the place, the residual waves crashed into Qianye’s protective barrier and produced a sound like muffled thunder before shooting out in every direction.
Qianye’s face turned somewhat pale but recovered soon afterwards. This time, he had personally experienced William’s unfathomable strength. It seemed that William hadn’t, in the slightest, used his full strength that day in Darkblood City. Otherwise, Bai Longjia would have undoubtedly lost when fighting one against two.
Originally, William had turned around with a mass of azure-colored energy on his arm, intending to help Qianye block off the residual waves, but unexpectedly, a collision between the two origin powers had already taken place. A touch of surprise appeared within William’s eyes after witnessing the scene before him. He didn’t have time to say anything before an incisive killing intent surged in from outside the house.
A tall and thin man walked in with large strides, looked around, and said with a frown, “Friend, grey cities are indeed free, but you’ll still have to maintain a basic level of quietness. What’s the matter here? Can you give me an explanation?”
William let out a snort and replied coldly, “This place belongs to the werewolves. It has nothing to do with you arachne. Whatever I do here is not your business. Leave immediately!”
That arachne was already capable of taking on a human form and was apparently also a champion-level expert. Fury flashed across his countenance after hearing William’s impolite reply, but at this time, the arachne’s eyes happened to sweep over the unremarkable tattoo on William’s neck. He was immediately shaken and his anger also vanished completely.
The arachne then shot a glance at Qianye and frowned. This person, who was the only one left standing in this shop apart from William, gave him a certain odd sensation and even a faint sense of danger.
However, the other party’s aura was that of a weak human and might also be related to the vampires in some way. The arachne noticed the dagger and pistol at Qianye’s waist and understood that normal humans wouldn’t use a whole set of vampire weapons.
In any case, the arachne wanted to regain a little bit of face, and Qianye was just right for that. He immediately roared, “Since that is so, what is this weak human doing here?”
William frowned and was about to give an impatient reply, but Qianye had already raised his head. While looking at the arachne, he said while releasing a strand of his aura, “I just killed someone and am here to sell some of the spoils.”
The arachne’s expression changed drastically. He took a few steps back almost subconsciously and cried out in astonishment. “Brahms! He actually died in your hands?!”
That which Qianye released was, in fact, a strand of Viscount Brahm’s aura from the battle at Black Clay Swamp. Back then, a large amount of Brahm’s essence blood had been absorbed by Qianye, and naturally, it wasn’t too difficult to preserve a strand of his aura.
The arachne stared at Qianye as if he had seen a ghost and began to edge back. “Have fun in this place!” he said with some difficulty. With that, the arachne turned around and left hurriedly, as if he were fleeing for his life.
William asked in amazement. “Brahms? If I remember correctly, he’s quite capable in battle despite being a bit dumb. He actually died in your hands?”
Qianye laughed and said, “Of course not! I merely delivered the final blow.”
“Then what are you holding onto his aura for?”
“To drive wild beasts away.”
William immediately rolled his eyes at this.
