Volume 5 – A Distance Within Reach, Chapter 84: Danger Close at Hand
Finally, Qianye could no longer maintain his calm expression in the face of such bold words. “Right now?”
“Why not?”
Qianye was rendered speechless and only managed to reply after a long while, “The environment in somewhat… inappropriate.”
Twilight let out a fascinated laugh as she pinched Qianye’s face a couple of times. Then, she moved her hands down to stroke his chest. “Don’t even try. Don’t you feel that your origin power has been completely frozen like a river in winter? This is the effect of Bloodfreeze—not to mention you, even a virtuous count can forget about extricating himself. Unless… you have some other… secret arts?”
A virtuous count? That was the highest rank for a dark race count.
Qianye lowered his eyes. Indeed, his daybreak origin power felt as though it were sinking into a mire. His ordinary blood energy had withdrawn into the depths of his heart and were completely inactive. The purple ones had shrunk into the ability rune and looked as though they were about to enter hibernation. However, the dark golden blood energy carrying the Wings of Inception was only a little bit sluggish.
Twilight’s seemingly playful and probing whisper caused Qianye to become cautious. A sense of extreme danger flashed through his heart, whereupon he immediately dismissed the thought of trying to use his eye ability. At the same time, he also recalled something!
This woman had been giving Qianye the feeling that they were somehow acquainted. It turned out that this wasn’t just a misconception. He had seen her before! She was the first enemy he had encountered after emerging from the radiant door of Andruil’s lost realm!
Back then, the drop of primo blood Andruil had given Qianye hadn’t yet lost its effect. Qianye wasn’t certain whether or not Twilight had seen him clearly during the high-speed Spatial Flash, but no one would believe that their meeting here, at this place and time, was a mere coincidence. The key lay in what she wanted, and how much she knew.
Seeing that Qianye had turned silent, Twilight gently patted his face and said, “Be obedient and stop thinking too much. I might change my mind if you drag this on for too long.”
“Then? Will you let me go?” Qianye inquired.
Twilight, as though she had just remembered something, broke into a sudden laughter and said cheerfully, “I can consider!”
“Didn’t you say you’d give me the embrace…”
Twilight wrapped her arms around Qianye’s neck and leaned her head sideways to gaze into the pair of obsidian eyes. They were so limpid and crystal-clear that she could see her own image within it.
For a while, the two gazed at one another just like that.
Twilight rubbed her cheeks against Qianye’s face. Her words were almost exhaled straight into his ears. “I don’t like useless, obedient men. They’re not interesting at all. I like strong, dangerous, and exciting men…”
She let go of her hands and took a step back, saying, “It seems today is really not the right day; you’re not strong enough at the moment. But, I can give you some more time. I’ll be looking forward to it, so don’t make me wait too long.”
Qianye turned back and gazed silently at Twilight. Just how trustworthy the words of this extremely polar and fickle woman were, it seemed only she herself would know.
At least, Qianye was certain that she had really wanted to give him the embrace, but she had suddenly changed her mind for some reason. And this reason was naturally not born of kindness.
Twilight leapt up with graceful alacrity and glided several meters onto a large, horizontal tree branch. There she turned back as though she had just remembered something and pointed toward Qianye in a shooting gesture. “Oh, right! If you become my man, I don’t mind helping Nighteye once.”
Nighteye! This name was one which he hadn’t heard for a long time. Great fluctuations arose in Qianye’s heart at the sudden mention of it, so much that there were some abnormal changes in his facial expression.
Even the smallest of peculiarities couldn’t escape Twilight’s eyes. A certain tinge emerged within her smile which made Qianye tremble in fear. It was as though the two had been playing a game of blind chess up until now, and Twilight had finally seen his hidden cards.
“I’m leaving now. Get stronger, little man!” Twilight waved energetically. Her figure turned indistinct and, in the blink of an eye, reappeared far in the distance. After a few of such flashes, she had vanished entirely, giving Qianye no opportunity at all to raise his question.
He stood there in silence and endured the urge to call her back.
Twilight’s appearance covered Qianye’s heart with a heavy shadow. This vampire lady’s combat strength was far above Count Stuka, and even Zhao Yuying was more likely to lose against her than to win.
Now that he thought about it, he had stepped into Twilight’s domain in an unguarded state at the very beginning. She could easily have ended the battle in a few moves if not for her wanting to avoid damage. Qianye’s only choice was to rely on the dark golden blood energy and the Wings of Inception to break through Bloodfreeze’s control and prevent himself from falling into her hands alive.
However, a person with such power was definitely a high noble among the vampires. Why would she target him specifically? Qianye recalled the secrets in his body and couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
If this vampire woman was indeed one of the contestants for the Black-Winged Monarch’s treasure, then perhaps certain dangers weren’t too far off. But how was this matter related to Nighteye?
Qianye smashed the tree beside him with a loud bang. The tree-trunk which even two adults couldn’t wrap their arms around immediately collapsed on one side. A deep laceration also appeared on the back of his hand and, drop by drop, fresh blood fell onto the earth.
Qianye suddenly realized that he couldn’t do anything in his present state despite knowing that danger was close at hand. The sense of achievement he had gained from subduing Brudo had vanished without a trace. He couldn’t tell if his complicated emotions and feeling of helplessness stemmed from his own fate or because of Nighteye’s situation.
Qianye stood there for god knows how long before he exhaled deeply and ran toward Green Peak Mountain. Regardless of what the future held for him, he had to walk the current path to its end. Qianye was never one to give up so easily, otherwise, his life would’ve ended back at Lighthouse Town.
Sharp Fang tribe was still there at the foot of Green Peak Mountain, however, the entire settlement was solemn as though they were preparing for the arrival of a great enemy. The werewolves in the wooden huts had all pulled back into the caves, and they had even constructed a low wall halfway up the mountain with numerous stone archer towers.
A long howl rang out as Qianye shot into their vision at high speed. Hundreds of werewolf warriors rushed out to their posts and assumed combat stance.
Qianye turned a blind eye to these warriors and pressed forward all the way until he was about ten meters from the wall. He swept his gaze over the battle formation which seemed like it would ignite at a moment’s notice and asked coldly, “Where’s the chief? How long is he going to wait?”
The werewolves were immediately agitated and many of them roared. But at this moment, there was a clear aura on Qianye’s body which incited a sense of inherent apprehension within them—the suppressive might of a powerful expert. Even the most violent of werewolves dared not charge out.
The defensive line toward the left split into two, and the old chief emerged in the company some powerful werewolves. He waved his hand, gesturing for his tribesmen to stay put while he walked toward Qianye on his own. “Young and powerful human, the way you appeared is rather inappropriate.”
“Honorable Chief, your fence-sitting attitude is also very inappropriate. My patience is disappearing as we speak. Please give me a clear answer.”
The chief’s expression turned gloomy. “Are you threatening our Sharp Fang tribe?”
“I never threaten. I only state the truth.”
“Our tribe has over two hundred brave warriors, and all of them are prepared to bleed.”
Qianye sneered. “So you want all your soldiers to bleed?”
The chief turned silent for a moment.
“Before you make your decision, you should probably know that Brudo is about to surrender.”
“Red-Haired Brudo the Terrible?” The Sharp Fang tribesmen broke into a commotion.
They could be considered vassals to the werewolf viscount, and Brudo’s terror had long since taken root deep within their hearts. Such a terrifying character was actually willing to serve a young human?!
The werewolves finally took Qianye’s strength seriously. Before this, they couldn’t help but hold him in contempt simply because he was a human.
The chief’s expression seemed to have aged considerably during that moment. He hadn’t the slightest doubt regarding the authenticity of Qianye’s words since this kind of news could be confirmed with a simple inquiry. Moreover, the chief knew that Brudo had locked down the mountain pass at the very front. Qianye appearing here was already enough to explain everything.
He turned back to glance at the werewolf tribesmen behind him. Most of the warriors seemed at a loss as they gazed at their chief and leader with pure faith and expectation. The chief’s gaze then shifted into the distance where the women and children were standing.
The old werewolf finally withdrew his gaze. He looked at Qianye attentively and said with a wry laugh, “It seems we have no other choice.” He slowly got down on one knee and raised his scepter, a symbol of his status as chief, before Qianye.
Qianye took the scepter, then returned it to the old chief.
In the dark race nation, this simple receive and return was a ceremony to acknowledge allegiance. It symbolized a vow of loyalty, and the lord’s subsequent conferment of authority. From this moment on, Sharp Fang tribe would be considered Qianye’s vassal. Naturally, that was according to dark race rules.
“Bring a few men and accompany me onto Green Peak Mountain.”
The chief immediately became hesitant. “That’s the resting place of our ancestors.”
Qianye replied indifferently, “That place was nothing several hundred years ago. And even now, that place wouldn’t be yours had I not driven Stuka away.”
The old chief sighed. He then summoned two elders to follow Qianye up the mountain. There were still traces of an origin array on the natural platform at the summit. Qianye circled around and then entered the cave where the vampires had once stayed.
Back then, the vampire guards were all concentrated within the two outer stone halls. Qianye was in a hurry back then and thus didn’t go deeper after finishing them off. Only now did the have the time for careful observation.
The outermost stone hall was completely empty. From the second layer onward, there were holes chiseled into the walls on both sides, many of them filled with corpses wrapped in thick cloth. Qianye walked toward the innermost room and found hundreds of such corpses.
It was a werewolf tradition to preserve the remains of the most important people in the tribe and place them in the ancestral graveyard. Meanwhile, the bodies of most werewolves would be thrown into the ravine and allowed to return to the earth.
Sharp Fang tribe’s ancestral grave had preserved such a large number of corpses. Apparently, their history was even longer than Qianye had anticipated. Perhaps the origins of this tribe could be traced back to the Thousand Year War. The vampires who had occupied this place didn’t profane the ancestral remains and left everything intact.
Standing within the werewolf ancestral grave, Qianye was suddenly overcome by an inexplicable feeling. Both his daybreak origin power and blood energy were restless, as though they were responding to something.
A vague blue color emerged in Qianye’s eyes, and as he scanned the surroundings, he immediately discovered that the origin power here was much denser than the outside. Threads of darkness origin power were seeping out continuously from the cave walls, and some of them were actually being absorbed by the corpses of the werewolf ancestors.