Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 32: Wings of Inception
Qianye had just killed a rank eight iron rhinoceros. The plentiful essence blood within this ten-meter long beast made Qianye extremely full.
This time, Qianye exhibited symptoms of tiredness after the filling meal. He was immediately overcome by drowsiness and could hardly control the urge to sleep. He had no idea if something was wrong with his body or if it was a special characteristic of the iron rhinoceros’s blood.
He could no longer care about how safe this region was as he hurriedly searched for a hiding spot to lie down and sleep. Qianye’s consciousness was still laughing self-deprecatingly when he was swept into the dreamland by the extreme weariness. It seemed shortcuts would always involve certain repercussions. Just as the combatant formula brought harm to one’s body, drawing upon the blood of creatures would also produce weird reactions from time to time.
His sleep this time wasn’t deep. After an unknown length of time, Qianye was still lingering in a half-awake state. Suddenly, he saw a golden meteorite falling from the sky and smashing ruthlessly into him!
Immediately woken up with a start, he turned around and switched to a sitting position.
He once again found himself in that hazy world. Mists were rolling about in all directions. He wanted to reach out and tear off a piece, however, he soon felt himself slowly ascending and piercing through the domed roof as if it was empty space. He then emerged through the thick earth, continuing to rise above the ground and toward the boundless skies.
There was a ball of golden light before him which seemed to be the only existence he could sense within this empty space. Qianye proceeded to fly straight into it almost as if he was being guided by an invisible force.
Following which, a pair of eyes appeared within his conscience.
A pair of inexplicable eyes—they were enormous, as if they would blot out the heaven and earth. They had experienced countless vicissitudes, as if every ancient timeline was flashing sequentially through their depths. Furthermore, they were intelligent, as if they could see through the world’s deepest secrets with every gaze.
The moment Qianye gazed upon this pair of eyes, an unparalleled and tremendous will touched his consciousness. Following which, a resonant voice reverberated throughout this whole world.
“I am Andruil of the black wing. Oh ye blood descendant who shares a common origin as I, are you prepared? Since my legacy has chosen you, then it’s inevitable that you accept this task—this mission destined to never be completed…” [1]
Qianye’s immediate reaction was, why should he accept the orders of a great dark monarch? Furthermore, how difficult would it be if even Andruil himself felt that it was impossible to complete?
Moreover, what was this so-called inheritance all about?
It seemed this colossal consciousness immediately understood Qianye’s thoughts as the voice once again rumbled, “My legacy is divided into two parts. One of it is named the Wings of Inception which, at this moment, is already within your body. The other, called the Eye of Truth, is hidden on Flaming Beacon Continent…”
Following which, the scene of a continent appeared within Qianye’s consciousness. Judging from its special landscape, the confluence of three peaks and single river, it was probably the Western Continent which was also the Flaming Beacon Continent as addressed by the dark races.
At this moment, Qianye’s field of vision seemed as if he was looking down from thousands of meters up in the sky. The earth was being repeatedly magnified as if the scene was zooming in until it fixed itself on a certain mountainous region.
It wasn’t merely a still map but similar to an incomparably life-like image. He could clearly see many dark race members roaming about in the area as if they were searching for something. A large number of them were already digging into certain hills and valleys.
Qianye was shaken. Apparently, the dark races had also found certain clues about Andruil’s treasure via other channels. Furthermore, they were already starting to explore and excavate. However, it seemed they hadn’t obtained the exact coordinates and could only investigate over a large area. But with such a carpet-like excavation, they would find it sooner or later.
Qianye’s heart tightened as his vision was flooded with dazzling light.
“Go now, find the Eye of Truth and you’ll obtain true strength. At that time, you’ll gain the right to know your destiny…”
When Qianye opened his eyes, he found himself lying within the cave hideout. The cave roof was intact. There wasn’t the slightest sign of rocks falling down from above.
So it was just a dream.
Qianye propped himself up and was stunned as he lowered his head. The ground he was lying on had caved in with cracks extending in all directions. A red glow was flashing in the depths of these crevices, and there were actually residual flames slowly flickering inside. However, no heat was transmitted to the surface at all.
After seeing this bizarre scene, Qianye suddenly felt a chill run down his back. It so happened that he had been sweating profusely and all layers of his clothing were drenched.
Could it be that a meteorite had really fallen onto him? Why couldn’t he find any wounds on him at all? Even his clothes weren’t damaged.
So it was a dream but yet not a dream? Qianye doubtfully checked himself from head to toe but couldn’t find this so-called Wings of Inception anywhere.
At this time, Qianye calmed down and moved toward an intact corner of the cave. He sat down with his back to the wall to regulate his breathing. The drowsiness brought about by the rolling blood energy had all but vanished. This was a region under dark race control and not his pre-determined resting place. Hence, Qianye decided to continue his journey after being able to move again.
As he ran through the night, Qianye sensed an unusual and almost drowning-like sensation which seemed to press down and diffuse throughout the surrounding air. The feeling affected his heart with every breath, making him very uncomfortable. It vaguely seemed as if great danger was closing in.
Qianye raised his speed and, at the same time, became more cautious. His night vision and perceptive abilities were all activated as he paid rapt attention to surrounding movements.
Qianye gazed into the distance after climbing up a peak which offered him a wide field of vision. Suddenly, his expression shifted—there was a black tide slowly moving at the edge of the horizon.
From his abundant combat experience, Qianye was able to tell that this wasn’t a tide at all but a rapidly moving army. It seemed the previous wind-borne aura had come from the dark race army!
Judging from its scale, this should be an army numbering in the tens of thousands. Even the strength of 10,000 cannon-fodder couldn’t be underestimated. Besides, Qianye also noticed a number of black specks floating above the dark race unit. Those were the champion level dark race experts monitoring the troops from the air.
Such large number of experts signified the great strength of this army.
Qianye observed for a while before he suddenly turned his head. A similar dark race army had appeared over the horizon in another direction. Additionally, their strength wasn’t inferior to the current one.
Qianye rapidly recalled the surrounding map in astonishment—this wasn’t a predetermined battlefield. There must be some other reason for dark race armies of such scale to be converging upon it. The strength of these armies wasn’t inferior at all to those deployed at the predetermined battlefields. The empire would inevitably react immediately. It was quite likely that this area would turn into a great battlefield.
At this time, Qianye had no choice but to avoid this place despite his wishes to serve the empire to some extent. Neither side would be able to distinguish his allegiance once the battle began. Their first reaction would be to kill him immediately.
He now had two options. One was to turn back to Shadowhill County, and the other was to continue toward Weiyang City. He gazed at the lines of movement of the two opposing armies and, after a while, decided to take the risk. He would take the opportunity to pass right through them before their rendezvous.
With that, Qianye leapt off the peak and ran under topographical cover for almost half a day at a speed slightly faster than that of long distance running. Finally, he successfully passed through the region between the two dark race armies as the sun began to rise. He was forced to kill off two keen scouts along the way.
What awaited in front, after passing through the danger zone, was a hilly region. However, Qianye had only walked for another half a day before finding yet another dark race army. Although the numbers in this unit were smaller, their soldiers were all elites compared to the other two armies.
Two powerful consciousnesses swept toward Qianye just as he showed his head even though they were separated by a distance of over 10 kilometers. Qianye fell flat on the ground with great astonishment and lay without moving a single inch. He circulated bloodline concealment and withdrew his aura.
The two fluctuations swept past the hill but ended up empty-handed. Even the vegetation here was sparse with the occasional harmless creature passing by.
Qianye didn’t dare move—things absolutely wouldn’t be so easy now that he had attracted the other party’s attention. As expected, the two consciousnesses swept through the region once again one after the other.
This time, Qianye immediately leapt up and fled along the mountain ridge as soon as the two consciousnesses passed him. A number of vampires appeared on the mountain ridge soon after he left. They had come to investigate once more but found nothing out of the ordinary. Qianye left almost no traces of himself, not even his own scent.
Meanwhile, the dark race armies continued moving along their designated lines. This group of high-ranking vampires split up to check the surroundings for a short while then left to catch up with their unit.
Qianye continued on, encountering several roaming dark race sentries along the way. He discovered even more dark race armies lying across his path toward Weiyang City. In order to skirt pass enemy scouts, Qianye was forced to change his route further and further away from his target.
It wouldn’t do if this went on. Even though Qianye had no idea what was going on in the outside world, he knew that the empire wouldn’t let these dark race armies rendezvous successfully. Therefore, a battle could break out any moment here. There were dark race scouts everywhere, and their experts were increasing in number. It was already too risky for him to escape toward the surrounding areas. If he was unlucky, he might run straight into the intercepting imperial army units.
Qianye momentarily pondered before making a prompt decision—he turned back toward the complex mountainous area, found a cave extending deep into the ground, and sealed himself inside. He fumbled into the deepest parts and started cultivating. He was prepared to pass this period of turmoil here.
Battle broke out at dawn the next morning. Qianye could still sense the sounds of origin power collisions and the shockwaves from explosions despite being hidden deep underground. Sometimes, the earth shook violently as if the whole cave and mountain peak was about to collapse.
From this, it was obvious how intense the battle outside was.
Such experts and armies had gathered here to engage in a life and death battle. But why? Qianye sometimes couldn’t help but wonder about the reason. He naturally didn’t know that the true reason for this war was for Dark Monarch Andruil’s Wings of Inception.
Merely, after a certain completion of his 40th Combatant Formula tide, he discovered that the dark golden blood energy previously entrenched lazily within the rune had swum out.
It remained unaffected within the sea of daybreak origin power and only continued to move around his heart in a leisurely manner as if it was out for a stroll. Oddly, a small pair of wings had grown out of one end. It seemed as if this blood energy, previously impossible to differentiate between head and tail, had suddenly grown a head.
[1] There was a slight inconsistency here between this sentence and the next one. I modified them slightly so that it makes more sense.