Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 38: The Nameless Valley
Up until the very moment he pulled the trigger, Qianye was completely acting on his well-honed combat instincts. There wasn’t any time to think.
Only when the projectile left the chamber did he suddenly realize that the bullet he had fired from the left-handed component of the Twin Flowers was the “bullet” he had obtained from the “great master”. And he hadn’t even filled it with origin power!
Qianye felt quite distressed. As a veteran soldier, this was a mistake he absolutely shouldn’t have made. But then again, how was this empty bullet actually fired?
At this moment, he wasn’t even paying attention to the effects of that final shot—an unfilled physical origin bullet was only a little more than a metal bullet, and without an explosive medium, the fired projectile would have as much effect as a pebble.
Previously, he had fired so many rounds from the Twin Flowers and failed to wound the other party. Zalen merely maintained a simple blood barrier with seemingly no intention to evade. He was concentrating on dealing with the blood poison in his body. From this, one could see that the viscount was confident no grade four origin gun could break through his defenses.
Qianye, on the other hand, didn’t put too much hope on the Twin Flowers’ firepower. He was only using this method in an attempt to send even more blood energy into Zalen’s body. Everything after that would depend on the outcome of the blood energy struggle.
Qianye’s movements were as fast as lightning despite the countless thoughts flashing through his mind. After he finished pulling the trigger, Qianye immediately leapt away from the ground and toward a preselected direction of escape.
However, he heard several odd hissing sounds while he was in midair, momentarily preventing him from hearing anything else clearly. Afterwards, he felt an incomparably powerful energy fluctuation behind him, but it didn’t seem to be directed at him.
Qianye turned around to witness a completely unimaginable scene.
The flying “bullet” was shining brilliantly. All the fine patterns upon it had erupted with resplendent light and were gradually breaking down, transforming into irregular rings that were breaking free from the bullet surface layer by layer.
The irregular ring-shaped radiance twinkled like starlight, revealing an indistinct pattern between each flicker like a miniature origin array. Additionally, the bullet’s speed would increase a little whenever a ring broke from the bullet.
Hundreds of rings broke away in such a short distance! The outer shell was completely shed off in the blink of an eye, revealing a silver core a couple of centimeters in length.
The bullet core was abnormally bright and could be seen very clearly despite the bright origin power radiance. Judging from the luster of its material, it was undoubtedly made of high purity mithril. The core was similarly filled with veined patterns as if an unknown origin array was carved upon it.
At this moment, the flying bullet core was like an unsheathed blade as it rumbled through the air with surging momentum. If not for the origin power radiance being a tad too small, one would be inclined to think, from its energy fluctuations, that it was an origin cannon shell.
Zalen was the foremost target in its direct path—he immediately raised his head but the distance was so short that even the blood barrier didn’t do much of a deterring effect. The bullet directly pierced into his body.
Qianye was stunned by the scene. He descended from the air and almost forgot to continue running. A severely wounded vampire viscount was a great enticement for him. He wanted to take the risk and go in for the kill. It would be worth it even if he was heavily wounded in the process.
However, Qianye immediately resisted this captivating notion. His recent experiences with dark race champions told him that a badly injured champion was still a champion and could easily drag him into mutual destruction.
Besides, he only aimed for the greatest area of effect while he used the Twin Flowers to deliver blood energy just now and didn’t especially target his vitals. It was the same for that final shot—the silver bullet core merely brushed past the viscount’s heart. To high-ranking vampires with powerful constitutions, this injury was far from lethal.
Qianye immediately raised his speed. He crossed over the mountains and ridges without looking back and soon disappeared amidst the peaks.
Meanwhile, the wounded Zalen let out a pained roar as the bullet struck him. His blood energy suddenly began to boil and almost enveloped his whole body.
He looked down at the wound on his chest. A large area of his flesh was charred by the burning mithril. His exposed and wriggling internal organs were continuously spraying out bloody mists and striving to resist this external corrosion. However, threads of black were coiling upwards from within his body like vines. That was Qianye’s blood poison.
Zalen retrieved a black crystal bottle from his pocket and unscrewed it with trembling hands. There was a single drop of fresh blood within the bottle. The blood wasn’t motionless. Instead, it was rolling about incessantly as if searching for an exit.
As the viscount brought the bottle close to his wound, the drop of blood immediately shot out from the bottle, rushed in, and had merged into his flesh within mere moments. Zalen let out a painful howl and fell to his knees. His whole body was trembling uncontrollably.
However, the rapidly putrefying flesh around his wound stopped worsening. Moments later, the parts corrupted by the mithril began to shed, revealing pink granulation tissue underneath. After some time, large amounts of black blood seeped out of his skin as Qianye’s blood poison was expelled from his body.
That was a drop of pure origin blood of a mighty count from their race. Zalen had obtained it in the past for his meritorious contributions.
This drop of pure origin blood, when used on a human, would immediately produce an offspring at the blood esquire level from the start. When used on inferior or mixed blooded vampires, there would be a high chance of raising its bloodline rank. For a viscount such as Zalen himself, this drop of blood was a life-saving medicine. It would save him from dangerous situations as long as his injuries didn’t kill him immediately.
However, it was different from the essence blood used for the embrace or to produce blood thralls. Even a powerful count could only produce a drop of pure origin blood in dozens of years.
When Zalen stood up once again, his previous handsome demeanor had become completely warped and twisted. He stared fixedly toward the direction in which Qianye had fled and said while grinding his teeth, “I’ll definitely catch you and let you know what hell truly means!”
Zalen’s voice was traveled far and reverberated throughout the mountains.
The fleeing Qianye heard Zalen’s roar and felt a chill in his heart. He hadn’t expected the vampire count would actually recover from such heavy injuries in the blink of an eye. The dark race warriors from the 13 clans were indeed extraordinary.
Qianye began to increase his speed. At first, Qianye thought he would have one day to escape. He reckoned it would be quite difficult for the viscount to catch up as long as he planned his route through complex environments such as jungles and make false traces along the way. But now, there was less than half an hour between them. There was simply no time to remove the traces of his movements.
This episode of fleeing lasted one whole day and night. The distance between the two was shrinking gradually. It was just that the process was quite slow.
Such an outcome greatly surprised Zalen—he hadn’t expected a mere esquire could hold out for so long. But this also served to increase his resolve to eliminate this target completely.
Although it was quite bizarre that the other party had fired a daybreak attribute origin bullet from a vampire handgun, the invading blood poison confirmed Zalen’s previous speculation. Regarding this hostile clan scion whose bloodline power could contend against his own, it was obvious that he had to throttle the former to death before he matured.
Besides, Zalen’s losses this time were immense. He had consumed a drop of pure origin blood—it was uncertain when he would be able to obtain such an item again. The chase had taken so long that he was certain it could no longer be concealed. If he couldn’t find any clues related to the Black-Winged Monarch’s treasure, he would inevitably receive severe punishment upon his return.
Right now, he could only vent this resentment by catching Qianye and bleeding him dry.
Zalen climbed a tall peak and saw, in the distance, a faint shadow disappearing from his field of vision. He was so angry that he began to laugh instead. “You’re actually running toward human territory? Don’t tell me that you think those livestock can be of any use. Scum like you will only tarnish our sacred blood!”
Qianye who was at the front fled with his head lowered. He mostly went in a straight line—the terrain did little to obstruct him. But whenever he happened to come across some special terrain, he would utilize it in passing.
But currently, the blood essence he had obtained from the blood esquire had been depleted. Hereafter, he would have to consume the daybreak origin power and blood energy within his body. The only thing that could be considered a bonus was that his legs, having been strengthened just a while ago, received maximal tempering due to the constant and extreme running. Not only did their strength stabilize, but they also seemed to be growing a little bit stronger.
Another day passed by in the blink of an eye. Qianye had crossed over thousands of kilometers and the Zhao clan’s territory was just at the other end of the mountain range in front of him. Both of them were obviously moving slower, and the distance between them had shortened to a couple of kilometers. However, this distance hadn’t changed for quite some time now.
Qianye’s heart was incomparably heavy. He knew for certain that he wouldn’t be able to push through this mountainous region with his remaining stamina. At this moment, his body was extremely tired and his legs were moving almost mechanically. However, he did his best to focus his mind and observe the surroundings. He had to come up with a countermeasure.
As Qianye crossed over a mountain ridge, a long gradual slope appeared before his eyes which lead toward the valley in front.
He leapt forward and, borrowing from his forward momentum, rolled down the gradual incline until he reached its base. He then jumped up and was prepared to sprint once again, leaving this valley as quickly as possible. This way, he might be able to borrow the concealment effect of the landscape to temporarily escape the vampire viscount’s line of sight. If there was another terrain advantage he could utilize on the other side of the valley, it would help him gain a small distance advantage.
The valley was tranquil and beautiful, but Qianye’s eyes could hardly see the scenery. He was nervously determining the terrain at the valley’s exit in order to draw a swift escape route the moment he rushed out.
It was at this moment that Qianye suddenly came to a halt.
A beautiful scene rushed into his vision. The green trees shaded the hillside while the valley ground was covered with a lush carpet of grass, decorated with mountain flowers akin to speckled stars. A stream trickled down along the steep precipice and converged into a winding river within the valley. The blue water was so clear that one could see the finger-length fish scuttling around at the bottom.
The scenery was just like a painting.
And within that painting, there was also a lady.
She possessed a head of black hair and her temperament was gentle and beautiful. There was a transcendent aura about her comparable to a fairy who shouldn’t appear in the secular world. At this moment, she was crouching beside the river—she held up her long skirt with one hand, while with the other, she was stirring the river water. Her skin was so fair that it almost seemed translucent as her slender jade fingers moved through the water.
The fish in the water weren’t frightened by her movements. On the contrary, they gathered over and frolicked around the lady’s fingers.
The young woman was apparently quite fond of these little creatures in the water. However, a faint but undispellable concern was visible upon her countenance.
This was a painting so beautiful that it was stifling. The moment it rushed into his field of vision, Qianye was momentarily dazzled as if something had struck his heart.
The young lady seemed to have noticed Qianye’s gaze and also raised her head at that moment. As such, Qianye’s figure appeared within her pure and limpid eyes.
The moment their eyes met, Qianye and the young lady seemed to have recognized one another.