Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 47: Tradition and Perseverance
A wisp of hatred flashed across Schiller’s face. “A group of vampires arrived at Count Stuka’s castle not long ago, and later on, a number of them occupied Green Peak Mountain for some reason. Since four hundred years ago, Green Peak Mountain has always been our Sharp Fang tribe’s sacred place wherein rests the ancestors of every generation! But a single order from Count Stuka made it so that our Sharp Fang tribe members couldn’t enter our own sacred place!”
Schiller calmed down his emotions with some effort and continued, “I felt indignant after my return and thus sneaked onto Green Peak Mountain to see what those vampires were doing at our ancestral cemetery. I’m quite good at stealth and thus successfully arrived at the summit where I discovered a group of vampires holding a secret meeting. They probably hadn’t expected anyone to approach, and thus I was able to eavesdrop on many topics of their discussion. However, I was accidentally discovered upon my departure and chased all the way here.”
At this point, Schiller began gasping for breath. His wounds had been invaded by blood energy and could no longer heal on their own—they were worsening with each passing moment.
Qianye checked the werewolf’s injuries and asked, “Do you want me to help you treat the wounds?”
Schiller edged back instinctively and shook his head. “I need food.”
Qianye nodded and brought out a large piece of dried meat ration and tossed it to him. After some thought, he also tossed out a piece of blood crystal.
Schiller literally wolfed down the food and finished it in just a couple of mouthfuls. He held the blood crystal and hesitated for a moment before swallowing it whole. Moments later, a visible strand of darkness origin power washed over the big wound on his back, after which, the curled up flesh and skin slowly began to close.
The effect of blood crystals on darkness life forms was similar to that of black crystals on humans. It was just that the effects were remarkably better on vampires. But this werewolf’s powerful restorative abilities made Qianye somewhat envious. The dark races were indeed the favorites of this world—they possessed powerful talent and abilities from birth, while the humans had to cultivate with great difficulty. To close the gap, humans even had to borrow the help of special effects from various arts.
“What secrets did you hear that they have to chase you all the way here?” asked Qianye.
Schiller looked at Qianye cautiously. Then, he said slowly and firmly, “I can’t tell you, and I won’t ever tell anyone outside of the Summit of Peaks!”
Qianye laughed and said, “If not for me, you would already have died and won’t be able to inform the Summit of Peaks. Additionally, it seems their holy child is taking action from what I heard from that vampire viscount. Are you sure you don’t want to tell me? This might delay important things.”
Schiller shook his head. “No! I can only tell this secret to the Summit of Peaks!”
Qianye frowned—he tried persuading him once more, but no matter what Qianye said, Schiller only replied that he could only reveal this to the Summit of Peaks.
Most werewolves were like Schiller. They were extremely stubborn and inflexible, sometimes to the point of being stupid. That was precisely why they made poor military commanders despite being the best warriors on the battlefield and also why they weren’t suited to become lords of a region.
Those like William were an oddity in the werewolf community.
It seemed that he wouldn’t be able to get that secret out of this young werewolf even if he killed the latter. But Qianye didn’t really mind that so-called secret. Among the dark races, the vampires and demonkin had always enjoyed engaging in conspiracies, scheming and deceiving each other. This was especially true in such an obviously secretive situation—the details overheard by the werewolf youth probably seemed like a big issue to him, but it might not actually be that significant to Qianye.
Qianye didn’t plan to pressure Schiller and only said, “It’s fine if you’re not willing to divulge the information. I can only help you this much.”
Schiller’s eyes flickered. He glanced at Qianye and suddenly said, “I can give you information on Count Suka.”
Qianye was startled. “What makes you think I’m interested in this count?”
“I’m quite sure a powerful person like you must be a major character on the human side and not just a mere hunter or adventurer. Since someone like you came to this area on your own, who else but Count Stuka is worth your attention within a hundred kilometers? You might not care about the other viscounts.”
Qianye smiled—this werewolf was unexpectedly clever. Although he also had a good deal of stubbornness, Qianye couldn’t help but form a favorable impression of him.
Two bottles of strong wine appeared in Qianye’s hand, one of which he tossed over and said, “Then let’s hear it.”
The dark race members loved alcohol and Schiller wasn’t an exception. But he glanced at the vampire corpses strewn across the ground and asked with some hesitation, “Here? What if more of them catch up?”
Qianye replied casually, “It’s fine as long as His Excellency the Count doesn’t arrive himself. It’ll save me some trouble if they find their way here.” He still had two of the great master’s bullets and three of the Song clan’s Refined Silver Bullets of Extreme Yang. Add to that his own blood energy suppression, the Twin Flowers, and the powerup from his Wings of Inception, he really didn’t care about one or two low-rank viscounts.
Schiller’s young blood was stirred after hearing Qianye’s calm words. He immediately sat down on a big rock and began to recount all of the secret information he had obtained.
Count Stuka was the arachne count who ruled this area. He was the lowest-ranked among counts and, according to arachne standards, was near the end of his life. The arachne, as a race, would not grow stronger during the last phase of their lifespan. In fact, they might even deteriorate somewhat. Normally, Stuka should have already chosen a successor to inherit his title and lands.
The dark races enjoyed long lives and also placed the pursuit of strength above all else. As such, upon reaching an advanced age, they would choose to hand all of their authority and resources to the most outstanding descendant. Afterward, they themselves would either wait peacefully for the end of their lives or enter a long hibernation to delay their gradual death.
With the exception of vampires, members of other races had to have the strength of a duke or utilize other special arts in order to enter hibernation, not to mention they would also have to spend vast amounts of resources. Both paths were far out of Stuka’s reach, and the only path left for him was to obtain the essence blood of a powerful expert.
But according to Schiller, this Count Stuka was apparently not resigned to his fate. As such, he had proactively participated in matters of the upper continent in hopes of working for a major character. He wanted to borrow this opportunity to receive recognition and hence receive a few drops of essence blood.
Essence blood from a true superior expert possessed all kinds of miraculous effects. It could activate the bloodline of young descendants and heal deadly wounds. When used on Stuka, the most direct effect would be the prolongation of his life.
Stuka was willing to pay any price In order to obtain supreme essence blood. Not only did he control all of the region's resources in his iron grip, but also bled all the vassals and tribes dry. Anyone who didn’t comply with him would invite the count’s frantic retaliation and bloody suppression.
The werewolves were the weaker race within this region. Having lost their ancestral resting place, it was only natural that the Sharp Fang tribe would be full of hatred toward the count, and there were many others tribes who were in similar situations. Since even the werewolves had experienced such things, it was even worse for those small races outside of the four major ones—many of them were killed off or banished.
The entire county was actually in a state of tempestuous chaos.
This information was something Qianye had never expected. The reason he had chosen this place was because the count had no powerful heir, and the potential resistance after occupying this land would be weak.
But now it seemed that the only obstacle was this mad count. He only needed to defeat the count, and the seemingly powerful army under his command would immediately collapse. Moreover, Qianye felt that the closer this arachne count was to the end of his life, the less he would be willing to put his life on the line.
Schiller removed a beast bone necklace from his neck and passed it to Qianye. “I owe you a life. This is my token. If you need any help in the future, you can come and find me with this. I will uphold my promise even if I have to fight a bloody battle.”
Qianye smiled and said, “Will you still help me if I decide to drive Count Stuka away and take his place? I’ll carve out a piece of land and live alongside all of you.”
This made Schiller hesitate. Share a territory with humans? Although there was no shortage of such grey zones in Evernight and even the upper continents, a treaty with the human race was simply inconceivable to this young werewolf.
Qianye was in no rush and waited calmly for Schiller’s decision.
The young werewolf glanced over at the vampire corpse, and moments later, a firm resolution appeared in his eyes. “The Sharp Fang tribe will stand with you as long as you promise to return our sacred mountain to us and not slaughter those of my race!”
“That’s fine. I agree.”
Schiller cut open his wrist and poured his boiling hot blood onto the necklace. The beast fangs turned a dark red immediately after absorbing the fresh blood. This was the werewolves’ most sacred ceremony—a promise made in this manner had to be upheld with the lives of the entire tribe. It seemed his position in the Sharp Fang tribe was very high. Otherwise, there was no way he could easily decide the tribe’s future like this.
Schiller handed the necklace to Qianye and said solemnly, “It’s not you whom I trust, but His
Excellency William and the Summit of Peaks. If one day I find that you used us without keeping your promise, I will find and kill you wherever you may be, no matter how many years have passed!”
Qianye broke into a smile and asked, “Do you think you can do it?”
The werewolf youth was momentarily stunned and his momentum dropped quite a bit. There was, at this moment, a huge gap between Qianye’s combat strength and his. It would take him at least several years of hardwork in cultivation to catch up. But Qianye was quite young in terms of human life-span, which meant that he had a long future ahead of him. Who knew how powerful he would be at that time?
However, the word fear didn’t exist in the werewolf dictionary. Schiller immediately replied with due seriousness, “If I can’t kill you, I will continue to fight you until I die!”
Qianye sighed. “Out of respect for William, I can only give you some advice. Excessive courage is no different from stupidity.”
“We werewolves have our own traditions and perseverance!” Schiller replied in a dedicated tone.
Having recovered a fair bit of his stamina and origin power after a while, this obstinate werewolf youth insisted on leaving by himself.
Qianye then cleaned up the battlefield and took away everything valuable. There wasn’t a single item he fancied, including Duras’ belongings. But now that there were two trade channels, one light and one dark, in Song Zining and Old Bearded Blade, these vampire armaments were all equal to gold coins.
After hearing about Count Stuka’s madness, Qianye began to show some interest in that secret Schiller had found out. Although the young werewolf wasn’t willing to talk, he had actually revealed a key location—Green Peak Mountain.
The vampires involved should still be there, waiting for Viscount Duras’ return, and Qianye could catch them on Green Peak Mountain if he moved fast enough. According to Schiller, there was no count among them, and this added to Qianye’s desire to get to the bottom of this matter.
He opened the regional map and confirmed the direction before running swiftly toward the Sharp Fang settlement.