Chapter 389: Hatred [V5C96 – A Distance Within Reach]
Zhao Yuying’s expression sank precipitously. “Which eye of yours saw this mommy here indulging in romance? This mommy is treating injuries. Are you blind? Can you not see?”
“Treating injuries? Could it be that there’s not a single doctor in this city? How come a stately young miss has to do such work?” Zhao Fenglei let out a sinister laugh. “Very well, let me see where this brat’s wounds are!”
With that, Zhao Fenglai charged in and grabbed at Qianye’s back. A metallic origin power glow emerged on his five fingers accompanied by the faint sound of a sharp weapon tearing through the air. It was evident that the might of this blow, if struck, was enough to punch a hole through steel armor.
“You dare?!” Zhao Yuying swung her hand furiously. However, she hadn’t recovered from her heavy injuries and was extremely weak after forcing herself to clear the origin power in Qianye’s wounds. Zhao Fenglei raised his left hand and pushed her away with an origin power barrier.
Nangong Xiaoniao screamed and stood in front of Qianye’s bed.
“Scram!” Zhao Fenglei’s backhand slap landed on Nangong Xiaoniao’s face. The flames of his fury had been thoroughly ignited, and his attacks were extremely ruthless. She was immediately whipped flying and crashed heavily into the wall. Fresh blood flowed out immediately.
Qianye had already shot up on the bed, but he couldn’t activate his origin power as the effects of the medicine hadn’t yet receded. Thus, he was a step too slow and failed to pull Nangong Xiaoniao away. He only made it in time to block Zhao Fenglei’s claw.
Two origin power vortices lit up on Zhao Fenglei’s body as he clenched his claw into a fist and smashed out. Qianye was immediately flung backward with a muffled groan and collapsed half the dividing wall amidst a loud boom.
Zhao Fenglei was also somewhat surprised at how easy he had succeeded. He sneered, “I was wondering just how powerful you were. So it turns out you’re just a useless trash who cultivates the Combatant Formula!”
He glanced over to see Qianye’s naked body and immediately confirmed all kinds of ideas. The flame obstructing his chest burned even brighter and turned his eyes red. He kicked away the pile of stone fragments in front, took a step forward, and once again clawed toward Qianye’s heart.
Hurried sounds came through from outside the door accompanied by a shrill alarm. The Dark Flame warriors outside had noticed something was wrong. Two soldiers with origin assault rifles rushed in and, seeing the situation within the room, raised their guns to fire—the origin arrays on the weapons lit up rapidly.
Zhao Fenglei let out a cold snort. “Mere insects dare interfere?” He stopped and pulled back all of a sudden, crashing into the two warriors at lightning speed.
Following the dull sound of impact, the two soldiers were sent flying while coughing up blood mid-air. Their chests had caved in. Immediately afterward, two small balls of flame lit up—it was the explosion of the origin power guns that had been interrupted mid-charge and struck with great force.
At this time, several soldiers rushed in and pounced toward Zhao Fenglei without a care for their lives. However, they were all killed without much effort. The difference in strength between them was too great, and their suicidal attacks failed to impede Zhao Fenglei in the slightest.
Zhao Fenglei frowned. He had just killed off an entire small patrol squad. These people fought to the end even under an obvious disparity in strength and not one ran away.
Zhao Fenglei turned back and saw that Qianye had finally clambered up near the wall and was supporting himself on a nearby table leg. It seemed he would collapse again at any moment.
Qianye’s obsidian eyes had turned an azure blue, much like the ocean before a storm. An intense dark red color was flashing in its midst, akin to the blood of the soldiers within and outside of the room. His heart was beating slower than ever before, but the three blood energies were agitated and waiting for the moment of Zhao Fenglei’s approach.
His blood energy had erupted, prepared for the final technique of detonating his blood energy and dying together with the enemy. Qianye knew not if his pure blood energy was enough to contend with a rank-eleven champion, but the answer would soon become evident.
The metallic origin power on Zhao Fenglei’s hands was so dense that it was almost tangible and emitting a frosty luster. He was just about to cross over the shattered wall when a chill rose from behind his back that gave him some pause.
Afterward, he heard Zhao Yuying’s scream, “Zhao Fenglei! If you dare touch him today, I will team up with Zhao Jundu to kill you tomorrow!”
Zhao Fenglei’s body trembled as he glanced back. He could hardly believe that Zhao Yuying was threatening him like so. “You’ll kill me? And even team up with Zhao Jundu? I’m the lineal son of Duke Yan. Duke You won’t allow you to do so!”
Zhao Yuying laughed loudly. “At that time, you’ll already be dead. What can grandpa do to me? This mommy will at most be confined for ten years or sent to a border region to fight to my heart’s content.”
Zhao Fenglei said fiercely, “Why would Zhao Jundu help you? He won’t have an easy time either after harming someone from the same clan.”
Zhao Yuying’s voice turned cold. “Qianye is the one Zhao Jundu wants to bring into Ketu Secondary Residence. If you dare attack him today, this mommy will make you regret being born into this world unless you can hide inside the Duke Yan residence without ever coming out again!”
Zhao Fenglei was shocked and only glared at Zhao Yuying with a fluctuating expression. He didn’t know whether he should believe this or not. He had indeed heard about how Zhao Jundu had caused a ruckus in trying to bring someone into his residence, but he had never connected the dots until today. Now that he thought about it, there must’ve been a reason why Zhao Yuying had run over to Evernight to stay with this unknown rural mercenary leader.
Zhao Yuying added with a cold smile, “As for Zhao Jundu, what can ever happen to him? You think too highly of yourself. Nothing will happen to him at all, at most, a couple of days of reflection.”
Zhao Fenglei’s countenance immediately turned ugly.
Although Zhao Yuying’s strength was higher than his at the moment, the lineal grandson of Duke Yan was slightly higher in position than the lineal granddaughter of Duke You. However, the same couldn’t be said for Zhao Jundu—he was the number one genius in the 300 years of Zhao clan history. Moreover, he had the potential to become the empire’s number one character after Zhang Boqian.
Such a person would definitely receive Duke Chengen’s greatest protection even if he killed Zhao Fenglei. Even many elders within the clan would stand on his side. Why would they hurt the clan’s pillar with which they could climb into the skies for a dead person? This was the general train of thought in major clans and aristocratic families.
It was similar to Nangong Xiaofeng injuring Zhao Yuying. The damaged had already been done, so instead of demanding blood, why not simply claim even more benefits as compensation. Individual sacrifices were nothing compared to the benefit of the clan.
Zhao Fenglei was making such a rational plan just a while ago, but this very principle had fallen onto his head in the blink of an eye. What surprised him was that this feeling was exceptionally sorrowful.
“Won’t that mean Zhao Jundu can kill anyone he wants?” Zhao Fenglei guffawed, but his laughter was brought to a sudden halt by Zhao Yuying’s cold gaze filled with killing intent.
Zhao Jundu was indeed capable of killing anyone he wanted, and even the lineal grandson of Duke Yan was no exception. In truth, Zhao Fenglei was also able to do the same to anyone who wasn’t royalty or nobility.
Naturally, Zhao Jundu would be restricted by the clan after killing someone of Zhao Fenglei’s status, and the empire wouldn’t allow him to act wantonly either. But the problem was that the first victim would’ve died for nothing and Zhao Fenglei didn’t want to be the first.
He clenched his teeth and said, “Fine, you’re capable! You even allied yourself with the Duke Chengen lineage for a country boy. I want to see how you’ll explain this to Duke You.”
“That’s my problem. None of your business!”
Zhao Fenglei took a deep breath. “Yuying, you’ll be my woman sooner or later. This is something already finalized by our grandparents.”
Zhao Yuying spat disdainfully and said, “Unless all the men in the world are dead!”
Zhao Fenlei turned to glare at Qianye and said, “It seems you’re not fated to die today.”
Qianye had been standing at his original place all this time and gazing at him as though he were observing a dead man. The gaze caused Zhao Fenglei to feel uneasy all over and he couldn’t help but shout, “What expression is that?”
“That’s my expression when I look at a dead man,” Qianye replied calmly. He hung onto a nearby object and slowly clambered up.
Zhao Fenglei’s eyes were filled with anger. He wanted to kill this bastard regardless, but a bone-deep chill flashed through his heart. Qianye was quite unsteady as he stood up and seemed as though he would collapse at any moment. But Zhao Fenglei perceived the illusion of an injured beast baring its fangs.
Zhao Fenglei had wanted to say something when footsteps were heard from the hallway accompanied by slight buzzing sounds of charging origin guns. Without a second word, he smashed through the window behind him and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The group of dark flame officers and soldiers rushed in.
Qianye changed into his clothes with the help of two personal guards and, without a single word, went to inspect Nangong Xiaoniao’s injuries. Half of her face had swollen up, and her nose and mouth were full of fresh blood. But she was only struck because of the anxiety and lack of combat experience; her own origin power wasn’t that weak. She managed to block most of the damaging impact and received only flesh wounds.
After putting Nangong Xiaoniao down, Qianye found Seventeen in the hallway outside. Her head was bent in an unnatural position as though she had fallen asleep. However, there was a ghastly trace of blood snaking down from the wall behind her.
Although he had already expected this, Qianye still extended his hand toward her nose.
There was no longer any breathing.
Qianye’s hands trembled slightly. Although Lil’ Seven, Nine, and Seventeen were all slaves in the beginning, Qianye had always treated them as friends. Lil’ Seven and Nine had been transferred to military duties and could already shoulder heavy responsibilities. Seventeen came later and thus stayed near Qianye to take care of his clothes, food, and everyday life like a thoughtful little maid.
The patrol unit that had charged had been wiped out completely, and their remains had been gathered to one side by their colleagues. Qianye still went over to check on them one by one, however, miracles were called miracles because they rarely ever happened.
There was clamor outside the room. After finding that Qianye was safe, the Dark Flame officers reassembled their forces to search the base and reestablish defenses. A series of orders and footsteps could be heard continuously therein. Inside the room, however, everything was deathly still.
Qianye walked to the bed, picked up his clothes, and started wearing it piece by piece. However, Zhao Yuying caught him.
“Lie down immediately and finish the treatment. Xiaoniao, take care of him and don’t let him leave until the wound has been dressed. I’ll take care of things outside!”
Qianye wanted to struggle free, but Zhao Yuying lifted him up and pressed him down on the bed. She then said word by word, “You can fight tomorrow if the injuries are properly treated. If you’re not willing to spend one hour, then it’ll take a week! Understand?”
Qianye glanced up but lay down obediently with a sigh after seeing Zhao Yuying’s bright gaze.
Zhao Yuying spoke no more. She exited the room in large strides and shut the door in passing. Moments later, a blaring marshaling call rang out in the Dark Flame base as squads of soldiers rushed out and assembled on the drill grounds.
Zhao Yuying jumped onto the jeep and rushed out of the barracks with numerous transport vehicles carrying hundreds of warriors behind her. Even more soldiers rushed out of the base and toward the various strategic points. In the blink of an eye, the defenses of the entire Blackflow City had been raised to the highest level.
Zhao Yuying circled the city once in her jeep before driving toward Count Yuyang’s courtyard. The courtyard door opened just as she jumped off the vehicle, and from it emerged a guard who bowed toward Zhao Yuying and said respectfully, “Young miss, the master has been waiting for you.”
