Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 3: Harvest (Part 1)
Qianye felt that it was rather unfortunate. With Gu Liyu’s character, there likely wouldn’t be such a good opportunity in the future.
Originally, he wouldn’t be able to trace Gu Liyu’s whereabouts even if he had the intention to. However, perhaps due to prolonged repression or maybe to conduct some nasty scheme, the other party actually appeared directly before him. It was just that, hereafter, Gu Liyu probably would never reveal himself anymore unless he was sure of killing Qianye.
However, Qianye also gave Gu Liyu a big surprise.
Gu Liyu had never expected that Qianye would be completely uninterested in the purpose of his arrival. The latter had absolutely no fear of his identity and actually opened fire right there in the city. The price of a single arm could be considered quite high.
Gazing at the vast mountains, Qianye suddenly raised his twin flowers and fired!
The dark red origin bullet rocketed toward the sky and pierced through the profound darkness of the night—it was extraordinarily eye-catching. The immensely loud gunshot echoed throughout the valleys and spread into the distance.
Qianye believed Gu Liyu would hear and understand the meaning of this gunshot.
Irreconcilable.
Qianye was in no hurry to return to the city after giving up his pursuit. He studied the surrounding in detail and found a hiding place to recover while cultivating.
Qianye’s origin power had almost been exhausted after maintaining his maximum speed until now. He didn’t use a stimulant all this time because, in truth, he more or less hoped that Gu Liyu would rely on his one rank superiority in origin power to turn back and counterattack. At that time, Qianye would be able to give him an unforgettable surprise. However, Gu Liyu’s overcautious nature wrecked Qianye’s little trap.
At this moment, a pale Gu Liyu appeared before a well-disguised cave dozens of kilometers away. The cave was equipped like a small supply station—there were military-use mattresses, some food, and necessary medical supplies. Gu Liyu found two packs of preserved blood packs and proceeded to replenish the significant amount of blood he had lost. Only then did the color on his face returned with difficulty.
Gu Liyu immediately jumped up and drew his dagger after hearing some footsteps outside of the cave. He moved quietly to one side of the cave and waited while holding his breath.
The person outside didn’t walk in but called out first, “Liyu, are you there? It’s me!”
Gu Liyu lowered his dagger only after confirming that it was Ye Muwei’s voice. He said weakly, “Come in!”
Ye Muwei squeezed into the cave and immediately saw Gu Liyu’s limp left arm. He had already performed a simple operation, however, the color of the back of his hand extending outside his sleeve and the insensible swaying angle made it obvious that the injury was no different from a traumatic amputation.
Ye Muwei’s voice immediately began to tremble. “Liyu, your hand…”
Gu Liyu recovered some of his normal calm at this point and said, “It’s nothing. I don’t have to depend on martial power to make a living. At worst, I’ll have to expend some military merit to have it reattached.”
Ye Muwei’s face turned even paler because this meant that his left arm had truly been crippled. However, she nodded and forced out a faint smile. In truth, both of them knew that such a fundamental injury would inflict heavy losses to a person’s martial capabilities even if it was perfectly reattached.
In the extremely warlike empire, one had to be backed by great individual strength even in a post like a staff officer which leaned toward civil work. Otherwise, how could one convince those arrogant soldiers and valiant officers to obey?
Ye Muwei went over to dress Gu Liyu’s wound anew and felt somewhat relieved only after seeing his situation stabilize.
She would grind her teeth until they crackled whenever she recalled the culprit. “Liyu, let’s issue an arrest warrant when we get back! He dares injure a staff officer of the imperial army. No one can protect him from this crime!”
Gu Liyu’s expression was extremely sinister and replied only after some pause, “No, don’t report this matter. Just say… that we were attacked by a dark race patrol and that I sustained an injury in combat.”
Ye Muwei was shocked. “Why!? Wouldn’t that be letting that brat off too easily?!”
Gu Liyu gazed at the flickering flames and replied slowly, “We would have to explain the whole process of this conflict if we report this matter. If we completely fabricate the cause of this incident, there will inevitably be too many loose ends which others can use to attack us. With my current identity and position, the dispatched military police enforcer will definitely be below champion rank. Even if Yin Qiqi and the Wei clan people can’t protect him, it isn’t difficult for them to leak the news. What do you think the consequences will be if we fail to kill him and allow him to escape into the wilderness?”
Ye Muwei shivered after some thought.
Qianye was a wolf, the most dangerous hunter in the wilderness. His perseverance and patience had been sufficiently proven during the spring hunt. Additionally, it was confirmed, with Zhao Junhong, that the former was completely unaffected by the other party’s identity. He would be an extremely terrifying killer once he loses all the restraints binding him, someone who would wait for 10, 20 or even 30 years as long as he could kill his target in the end.
Yin Qiqi and the Wei clan would certainly be happy to supply him with various things during this process such as information and equipment which would only serve to sharpen his fangs.
Gu Liyu said gloomily, “Right now, Qianye has just established a mercenary corps. This will serve as reins to bind him and we’ll at least know where he is with such a rope tied around him. How will we sleep soundly at night hereafter once he’s unbound?”
Ye Muwei nodded.
Gu Liyu leaned on the stone wall and closed his eyes. “I was too careless this time, but this will never happen again. Let that brat live for a while longer. I’ll definitely send people to find him if he doesn’t die to the dark races during this war.”
Ye Muwei finally revealed a sincere smile. “I believe you. I’ve always and will always stand beside you!”
A faint trace of arrogance appeared on Gu Liyu’s face. In truth, he had always been the one to leave his peers in the dust and with the gap growing only wider and wider. Gu Liyu had never paid attention to anyone apart from a number of geniuses from the aristocratic families. Martial strength was quite important, but upon reaching high places, one would find that it wasn’t everything.
At the thought of this, Gu Liyu said, “It’s getting late, let’s rest. We’ll have to return to camp tomorrow. With the war near at hand, the old man from the Yin family wishes me to perform to some extent. I still have to complete my arrangements for him. Humph, Qianye, if not for this war…”
Qianye had just completed his cultivation as Gu Liyu and Ye Muwei began to rest. He slowly stood up and had just taken a single step when he staggered back. His legs were numb and aching as if countless ants were crawling through his bones.
Qianye wasn’t alarmed but was instead delighted because the sixth origin node was in his knees. The ignition of the origin node in the knees would strengthen all the other parts of the body. This effect was especially pronounced in the legs. This kind of tingling sensation meant that the skeletal muscles on his legs were growing anew and such an intensity indicated that it was a complete transformation. After the stabilization of his current condition, his leg strength would be raised by a large margin and his speed would also increase.
The only thing unfortunate was that such a change would require time—a more thorough transformation would be more time-consuming. Gu Liyu wouldn’t have escaped so easily if such an upgrade had arrived just a few days sooner.
At the thought of this, Qianye shook his head—no wonder even Li Yuanjia, with his explosive sword arts, said he only had a 30 percent chance of killing Gu Liyu. It seemed Qianye’s chances of killing the latter was still quite small even after obtaining an overwhelming advantage in speed. In a fight between experts, it was easy to decide the outcome of the battle but difficult to kill one another. This becomes more evident at higher levels.
Qianye slowed down his steps and ran back to Blackflow City at a jogging pace, lest he strains his legs too much. He arrived at the city close to dawn.
At this time, Blackglow City was overcome by a tense atmosphere. The expeditionary army guards on the city walls had increased quite a bit. Gazing at the tardy expeditionary army, Qianye only hoped that they would be able to move promptly when the battle with the dark races began.
It wasn’t yet time for the city gates to open, but the captain on duty happened to be a Wei clan guard. Both sides greeted one another before Qianye directly leapt up, took a couple of steps on the city wall and crossed into the city.
Qianye first went to the place where he encountered Gu Liyu. The abandoned grounds were completely empty and silent as if nothing had ever happened before. He turned into a small road—this place was already quite close to the mercenary corps headquarters—the newly installed gates would come into view after taking two turns.
Gazing from a distance, the whole headquarters was still fast asleep and only the lights in Song Hu’s room were lit. Qianye approached the half-open door without alarming the guards and silently walked in.
Song Hu was standing in front of the map and seemingly pondering about something.
Qianye arrived beside him and asked, “What are you looking at?”
It was just about the same time Qianye spoke that Song Hu discovered an extra person in the room. This shocked him greatly. He instinctively flipped his hand and performed a horizontal swing. A dagger with a cold gleam surprisingly appeared in his hand as he slashed toward Qianye’s throat.
Qianye raised his hand to block and accurately caught Song Hu’s wrist. Song Hu immediately felt as if his wrists were cuffed by an alloyed hoop—he couldn’t move a single inch no matter how much force he exerted. The violent origin power rushing out from him seemed to have crashed into a sturdy and unshakeable wall.
Song Hu’s tense nerves only relaxed after seeing clearly that it was Qianye.
Qianye let go with a faint smile.
Song Hu moved his stiff and rapidly swelling wrists which had several new fingerprints upon them. Although inevident on the surface, his heart was overcome with shock. During the short contest just now, Song Hu had been unable to sense the origin power difference between him and Qianye at all.
Both of them were currently at rank six. Song Hu’s was due to a level drop, and as such, he was much more knowledgeable about these few levels than the average person. He knew it hadn’t been long since Qianye reached rank six and he had also sensed, during their clash, that the latter’s origin power was only slightly stronger than average. However, Song Hu was completely defeated during the confrontation of origin power—it was like an ocean wave crashing into a dike—if the origin power of an ordinary person was a shield, then Qianye’s was like a wall.
“So this is the power of the Venus Dawn? The reputation is indeed justified!” There was finally some reverence within Song Hu’s tone.
Qianye didn’t comment on this and asked, “What’s the situation here after I left?”
Song Hu shrugged and said, “Fairly tranquil just as before. Right now, all the junior leader positions of the city guard are occupied by the Wei clan’s people. They certainly won’t come to us looking for trouble, but you can’t expect them to provoke those experts either.”
Qianye glanced silently at Song Hu. Two days ago, the latter was still complaining before him about the mission assigned by the Wei clan. But now it seemed he had gotten over it?
“However, we did reap some rewards—I drove that jeep back. Tsk, tsk, a hunting hound car. This is first-rate stuff even on the Qin Continent. I’d advise you not to use such a thing. Selling it for money would also solve our current desperation.”
Qianye raised his eyebrows. Following which, he broke into a laughter and praised, “Not bad. You act quite fast.”