“How can a human champion kneel so easily?” said Qianye.
Tian Jin’s lips trembled, not knowing what to do. Meir roared furiously, “Where did this scoundrel come from? You actually dare to interfere in my business?”
The werewolf viscount stared at Qianye. His muscles were all tensed up, ready to launch an attack at any moment. “You’re a vampire? Why are you interfering?”
Qianye’s appearance was indeed vampire-like. Additionally, the humans of Southern Blue had long since grown used to being submissive. How could there be anyone willing to offend both the Wolf King and Spider Emperor?
“I’m here because I don’t like what I see,” Qianye said coldly.
Meir let out an evil laugh. “Great, someone even more arrogant than I am. Die, brat!” His words hadn’t even ended when an axe hacked down at the speed of lightning. He was actually launching a sneak attack again.
However, the weapon stopped midway and could no longer descend. Meir was shocked out of his wits when he realized that Qianye had grabbed his axe with a single hand. His all-out swing was frozen half-way and couldn’t push any further.
Meir didn’t dare believe his eyes. He activated his power several times until his face became bright red, but the heavy axe refused to budge—he could neither slash down nor pull it back. The werewolf viscount’s pupils contracted as he stared at the single drop of blood trickling down the side of Qianye’s palm.
There was only a single drop of blood after grabbing Arachne Viscount Meir’s all-out attack with his bare hand?
Qianye also saw that drop of blood. He suddenly exerted force from his hands and dragged Meir up front. The spider had dug into the ground with his eight legs, but that only served to dig out deep trenches in the road.
Qianye threw a punch at the arachne’s abdomen. This fist strike was so powerful that it not only shattered the arachne’s plate armor but the attacking arm almost sunk into the body entirely.
Meir couldn’t even scream in misery before he was sent flying several meters back, destroying numerous buildings before coming to a stop. He fell to the ground and with his limbs flailing about constantly, unable to clamber up for a good while.
Qianye pointed at the spider. “Consider this a lesson. Keep a low key from now on, and maybe you’ll live longer.”
The werewolf’s hair stood on end. Arching his back and emitting a low growl, he said, “Do you even know who we are? You dare attack people here? This is Southern Blue! Do you think you can continue to live here after this?”
Qianye sneered. “I don’t care who you are, that little background of yours can’t frighten me. You may be able to drive me out of Southern Blue, but you can also forget about leaving the city in the future, I’ll make sure you become a corpse once you leave this place.”
The werewolf viscount’s expression changed drastically. He pointed at Tian Jin, saying, “Are you going to offend the Wolf King for such a small matter?”
Qianye replied, “Are you willing to become my enemy for such a small matter?”
The werewolf viscount drew in a breath of cold air. In the end, he forced himself to endure. “Fine! This ends here, I’ll not interfere anymore. What Meir does, however, is beyond my control.”
Qianye shot him a glance and nodded. “Smart.”
Meir clambered up at this point and shouted, “You actually dared to injure me. My granduncle won’t let you off. You can wait for the Spider Emperor’s wanted notice! And you, that Tian Jin, well done! Southern Blue can prepare for war if they don’t kill your entire family. The entire city will be slaughtered once the army arrives!”
This threat was solid. With the Southern Blue City Lord’s character, he really might send Tian Jin’s brain to the Spider Emperor.
Frowning, Qianye slowly uttered, “Still arrogant, eh? Do you think I don’t dare to kill you?”
The vice-captain was livid. He suddenly said to the werewolf viscount, “Sir, this matter has nothing to do with me. I do not know this person. He might have ulterior motives for inciting trouble between Southern Blue and the Spider Emperor. If you want to capture him, sir, I’ll do my best despite my ineptitude.”
Qianye was astonished, and for a moment, he could hardly believe this Tian Jin would do such a thing. He had helped the man out of his predicament, yet this person drew the sword of a passerby and stabbed at Qianye!
While attacking, he said, “I’m really sorry, but please go with my superior.”
How can this rank-eleven Tian Jin be Qianye’s match? The latter grabbed his sword forcefully and turned it into scrap metal. At the same time, the invasive origin power assaulted his body, causing him to go pale and almost cough up blood. He had barely managed to regain his footing when Qianye stepped forward and lifted him up by the neck.
The werewolf viscount’s expression changed, and he began edging backward. He wasn’t much stronger than Tian Jin—now that Qianye had subdued the latter in a single move, the wolf knew that he wouldn’t last very long, either.
Qianye stared into Tian Jin’s eyes and asked slowly. “Why?”
The man replied with great difficulty, “I have kids, elders, and family, all of them in Southern Blue. I have no other choice.”
“A stately champion and vice-captain, is that all you amount to?”
“I had no choice, no choice.” It would seem he had only one thing left to say.
Qianye slapped him hard a couple of times and tossed him to the floor. “I would’ve killed you already had you aimed for my vitals just now!”
Qianye glanced at the people around him. He could see anger, astonishment, and various other emotions, but no one was about to stand forward. It was a world where safety took precedence over principles. Depressed about his own meaningless actions, Qianye left with a sigh.
The werewolf viscount’s eyes flickered, but he didn’t call Qianye back. Meir had also clambered up at this point but was uncharacteristically quiet at the moment. He had sensed genuine killing intent in the latter when he uttered the words “Do you think I don’t dare to kill you?”
Meir understood that Qianye wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he were to keep up the provocations. At that point, where would they look for Qianye in the vast neutral lands? Even if the Spider Emperor did manage to catch the culprit, it wouldn’t change the fact that he was dead. This wasn’t a good deal at all.
Qianye arrived back at the hotel a while later. Seeing his sour expression, Nighteye asked, “What happened?”
Qianye sighed. “We might have to move again, I acted rashly just now.”
After listening to Qianye’s description of the events, Nighteye said with a smile, “And I thought it was something big, this is nothing. There are no divine champions in Southern Blue. Even if the two of us can’t beat the enemy, we can definitely escape. If they’re really insensitive, we can just repeat the Black Grove incident. The only thing you did wrong was letting that Tian Jin off so easily. You should’ve broken one of his legs at least. The Spider Emperor and Wolf King aren’t easy to provoke, so he doesn’t dare to offend them. Does that mean we’re so easy to provoke? Your softness will be the source of future troubles.”
Qianye laughed wryly. “He’s still from the same race and has his own troubles, so I couldn’t bear to do it.”
Nighteye nodded. “This is a small matter, anyway, nothing important. Let’s take our time collecting our things. If we leave in a rush, they’ll think we’re afraid.”
Qianye wanted to say something but stopped midway; then, he shook his head. He had wanted to pack up quickly and leave Southern Blue to avoid being surrounded. Without the Shot of Inception, Qianye felt quite confident about winning against a rank-fifteen warrior but would need to go all out against a rank-sixteen. The Southern Blue City Lord was rank seventeen and likely had a rank-sixteen expert under his command. Even if the lord didn’t take action himself, Qianye would be quite strained against this top expert.
But since Nighteye had insisted on it, Qianye decided to do as she wished. It was just that Qianye felt odd about Nighteye’s change in character—she was quite decisive now and no longer looked to Qianye for everything.
Seeing Qianye was somewhat reluctant, Nighteye stopped what she was doing and said to him, “Qianye, this is the neutral lands. If you want a quiet life, you need to fight for it. As I see it, we don’t need to leave at all and should just keep on living here. As long as the Southern Blue City Lord doesn’t take action, we’ll kill whoever comes our way. Even if the city lord himself were to attack, we need only to run away and ambush him later on.”
“I just didn’t want to put you at risk.” Qianye sighed.
“Even in the Monroe clan, my protection period has passed, I’ll need to take charge of things.”
Qianye pondered for a moment. “Fine, let’s stay then.”
…
The city lord’s residence in Southern Blue was beautifully decorated. It took up an entire four street blocks and was countless times grander than Su Dingqian’s own. The city lord was in his rear garden at the moment. The ambiance here was gentle, warm, and free of violent void origin power, a stark difference from the world outside. There was an extravagant weather-modifying array covering the entire garden, comparable to the nobility back in the empire.
A plump middle-aged man was lying on a recliner within the garden pavilion, his eyes narrowed as though he were half-asleep. There was a beautiful lady on either side of him, gently waving their fans while two more waited on him nearby. The tables nearby were filled with fresh fruits, many of which were—quite surprisingly—specialties from the empire and Evernight.
Shipped tens of thousands of kilometers to the neutral lands and still maintaining their freshness, these fruits were literally worth their weight in gold.
The sound of footsteps rang out at this moment as a young man hurried over and stood outside of the pavilion. There was a rattan chair beside the pavilion, on which an old man was dozing off. With half-opened eyes, this person shot a brief glance at the young man before going back to sleep.
At this moment, the middle-aged man inside the pavilion opened his eyes but wasn’t quite awake just yet. He let out a long yawn before saying, “What’s so important that you must disturb my afternoon nap? You think managing such a big city is easy? I need my beauty sleep.”
The young man had no choice but to agree, but he still wouldn’t leave.
City Lord Ji Rui swung and stretched his chubby body about. After sobering up a bit, he said, “Twelve, speak, what’s the matter?”
The young man was his son, the twelfth among them. However, their relationship was more like a superior and subordinate instead of father and son.
The young man was very respectful and honest. He knew very well that his father had thirty-something wives and concubines. There were over sixty children in total, thirty-five of whom were boys, and there were three more in their mothers’ wombs. He might be replaced by someone else if he didn’t try hard enough.
He summarized the conflict between Qianye and Meir, and then silently awaited instructions.
Ji Rui’s expression sank after listening to everything. Snorting heavily, he roared, “Provoking the Spider Emperor’s envoy is a grave matter! Do you really need to ask me what to do? Capture him and send him to the envoy. How useless! Now, where has that reckless bastard fled to?”
The young man whispered, “He hasn’t fled, he’s staying at the Four Winds Hotel inside the city.”
“Hasn’t fled? Humph, how bold! Makes it easier for us to capture him. Wait, he hasn’t fled?” Ji Rui’s fatty body trembled as he sat up.
