Chapter 435: Assault Fire [V5C142 – A Distance Within Reach]
One had to know that the two airships were shaking violently. Not even the best Highbeard sharpshooter was capable of hitting a critical part in one shot under such circumstances. Only a legendary sniper might be capable of such a feat.
Qianye held onto the airship balloon with one hand and fired with the other. He shook his head after seeing the results and appeared fairly disappointed. He was aiming for the control room at first, but a strong gust of wind blew in just as he pulled the trigger. This caused the entire airship to swerve slightly, and his shot struck the propeller instead.
Qianye aimed anew amidst the fierce gale. Those below the champion rank simply couldn’t stand on the airship roof—even ordinary champions would find their movements greatly restricted. But such an environment was negligible for Qianye who had activated his blood core. He aimed once more at the patrol ship’s bridge, and this time, his eyes were suffused with an azure glow.
In his True Sight, the patrol ship’s movements slowed down, and the squalls revealed their trajectories. With a slight shift of Qianye’s right hand, the sniper crosshairs landed above the bridge’s side. He then pulled the trigger!
Another blazing streak tore through the night sky. The strong wind jolted the patrol ship, causing it to rise upward for a split second. The bullet that should’ve missed struck right through the control room windows, blasting half of the commander’s head apart and shattering the steering mechanism.
Qianye was greatly satisfied with this shot. He glanced at the patrol ship that had lost control and proceeded to climb back into the cabin.
Blackmoon’s expression was somewhat complicated as she gazed at Qianye. “You’re so awesome. Even the rank-four hybrid warriors from the clan might not be your match.”
“Rank-four hybrid? What level does that correspond to?” Qianye asked casually while sorting out the descent cable.
“Our rank-four hybrid warriors can contend against dark race counts and defeat their first-rank viscounts.”
“Oh, am I that powerful?”
“Yes, you are. Hybrid warriors see an exponential increase in strength with every advancement.”
“That’s interesting.” Qianye glanced at Blackmoon in astonishment; what he was amazed at wasn’t the strength of a hybrid warrior but Blackmoon’s discernment. This young girl had casually estimated Qianye’s true combat strength. That wasn’t something that could be written off as coincidence.
Qianye brought out the map and pointed to a certain location. “Drive the airship to this place after ten minutes. I’ll be waiting for you there.”
“What if I encounter another patrol ship?” Blackmoon inquired.
“Find a way to lose them, or at least hold out until I get back.” With that, Qianye opened the cabin doors, threw out the descent cable, and watched it fall into the bottomless night.
The biting cold air immediately flowed in once the cabin doors were thrown open. The wind was so strong that ordinary people would find it difficult to even speak. But Blackmoon raised her voice and shouted, “What are you going to do?”
“Below us is the Nangong family’s base of operations. I’m going to give them a small present.” With that, Qianye leaped out of the cabin door, shooting through the night and toward the ground.
Blackmoon poked her head out of the door and glanced down at the earth hidden beneath the blanket of darkness—apart from some vague lights, everything was shrouded in boundless gloom. She donned a pair of special goggles from her backpack and quickly zoomed-in by turning the adjustment knob.
There were two neat rows of barracks on the ground, and several airships were parked to one side. It was unexpectedly an airship base. At this moment, there were two battleships with all their lights on. Many soldiers were moving around the airships and preparing them for take-off. Within moments, these battleships would be ready to fly into battle and capture that antique airship.
Qianye descended rapidly through the sky. He grabbed onto the cable as it flew past him, retarding his momentum and also swinging him back up. He let go of the rope as he reached the highest point and shot down like a comet—he was still hundreds of meters from the ground at this point!
Many Nangong family soldiers saw the airship whistling past and the human figure hanging below it. They were dumbfounded when Qianye let go of the descent cable and fell diagonally toward one of their military patrol ships.
With a loud boom, the human cannonball, Qianye, smashed right through the roof of the patrol boat and crashed into the cabin like a comet. Under Qianye’s feet, several of the airship staff who failed to escape in time were crushed to death under the metallic frame and chunks of steel.
At the cabin doors, the survivors who had managed to avoid the first wave of calamity were staring with wide eyes as Qianye stood up nonchalantly—they could hardly believe their eyes. After coming to, they turned to run with a loud cry.
Qianye wasn’t interested in chasing after these small soldiers. He kicked open the cabin doors and entered the control room. He was quite familiar with the layout here and knew at a glance that this was a light patrol ship. Moreover, it was the newest model invented within the last thirty years. These ships were currently in service within the army and were rare on Evernight Continent.
Qianye produced two grenades, placed them on the control panel, and crashed his way out of the side window. Behind him, the control room was filled with flames which poured out several meters through the windows. The newer the airship model, the more complex the control system. There was no way for this airship to fly on the short term after having its control room destroyed.
Qianye turned around and headed toward the next patrol airship that was about to take off. His steps appeared slow but were actually swift—he reached the next airship in just a couple of steps, and small explosions rang out continuously through the night soon after. The soldiers who had wanted to stop him collapsed mysteriously to the ground without even Qianye raising his hand.
The footsteps of the charging Nangong family soldiers faltered after witnessing this scene from afar. This young man was like a demonic god—he had appeared all of a sudden, and all those who approached him met their ends without knowing how or why.
Qianye boarded the second patrol ship in the blink of an eye and leapt out once again from the cabin windows. This patrol ship’s control room also burst out in raging flames.
Several warriors rushed out from the side at this moment and charged toward Qianye while firing. They were seasoned and ruthless, clearly the elites of the private army. Under their leadership, the previously cowed soldiers began to form an encirclement.
Qianye had no intention to avoid the fight and rushed straight toward the incoming group. He walked calmly through the hail of bullets—his gait seemed relaxed, but his body would flicker at every step as he evaded most of the attacking bullets.
He simply took the ones he couldn’t evade head-on, that was except those fired from high-grade origin guns. Ordinary bullets would simply bounce off Qianye’s skin on their own, and even large caliber bullets would only leave a red mark.
He could capture almost all of the soldiers’ movements with his True Sight. He could see their numerous trajectories weaving together and would evade the most powerful origin bullets with a slight shift of his footwork.
Qianye’s five fingers flicked out in turn, shooting out numerous air bullets amidst soft, thunderous sounds. The soldiers within dozens of meters fell backward with bloody holes on their throats and foreheads.
Qianye’s surroundings were emptied within moments as none of the Nangong family private soldiers dared approach him.
Two grenades appeared in his hands, which he weighed briefly before hurling toward a distant airship. The several hundred meters of distance was normally well out of grenade range, but the two explosives actually screamed through the air at an abnormal speed. Their trajectories were almost horizontal, and it seemed striking the airship wasn’t a problem.
“You dare!”
A tall figure appeared in front of Qianye with a loud roar. The two grenades were also destroyed mid-air by the incomparably fierce origin power.
The flames on the nearby airships had yet to die out. Set off by the blaze, the man’s figure was like a mountain as he walked toward Qianye step by step. This person’s appearance shrouded Qianye in a hazy mist, causing his origin power circulation to turn stagnant and his origin nodes to dim down by quite a bit.
This was the Nangong family’s famous domain, Origin’s End. All origin power would be suppressed within this domain with the exception of the Nangong family’s special arts. Although claiming to end all origin power was a bit exaggerated, it was still a first-rate domain in terms of power.
“You actually dare act so atrociously in front of me, Nangong Xiaoyue. You sure have guts—” He didn’t even manage to finish his words before his eyes suddenly went wide!
Countless cracks akin to dense spider webs suddenly appeared on the earth beneath Qianye’s feet as a visible wave extended in every direction. With a soft clatter, the domain power restricting Qianye’s body was forcefully shattered. His figure flickered and arrived before Nangong Xiaoyue with a single step!
“You!” Nangong Xiaoyue was astonished. The origin power on Qianye’s body was presently dim and had clearly been suppressed by the domain. However, he had forcibly thrown off the bindings without using any secret techniques, relying only on his incomparably tyrannical force. It was simply unimaginable!
Nangong Xiaoyue had no time to ponder on this. He let out a sudden shout and brandished his hand like a blade, drawing out a huge crescent moon through the air which slashed toward Qianye. But Qianye seemed to have transformed into a mirage in the breeze—his figure flitted past Nangong Xiaoyue and appeared dozens of meters behind him.
Qianye turned back slowly, allowing the fresh blood to drip down from his fingertips. In a flash, his digits were free of blood and just as clean as before.
Nangong Xiaoyue was frozen on the spot. He slowly looked down, with incredulous eyes, at the five bloody holes over his heart. Even the armor that was capable of stopping a blast from a grade-four origin gun was penetrated.
His Origin’s End shattered with a bang. At that very moment, Nangong Xiaoyue knew he hadn’t seen wrong—Qianye definitely wasn’t a champion yet, and his origin power had clearly been restricted. But the latter was able to shatter his domain and pierce his heart merely by relying on that incomparably powerful body.
The entire airship port fell into silence as Qianye flicked the last drop of blood off of his fingers. The warriors were all petrified—it was a mystery whether they were intimidated or if they were waiting for Nangong Xiaoyue’s fate.
It was at this time that a mountainous suppressive might covered the entire landing zone. An aged but thunderous voice rang out, “Who dares cause chaos here?”
An old man dressed in green robes and a tall coronet walked out from the darkness. Despite his slightly-built stature, he took up everyone’s everyone’s field of vision the moment he appeared. [1]
At this very moment, a strong gale kicked up around Qianye and pressed down upon him like a mountain. It seemed as though the entire world had come alive to pressure him from all directions. Qianye’s legs trembled slightly and his bones creaked and groaned—it was as though a mountain was on his back, trying to force him to the ground.
Being able to restrain Qianye to this point with just his aura meant that this was definitely the second elder of the Nangong family, Nangong Yuanwang.
[1] Not the coronets used by European nobility. The kind of little hats Chinese officials wear.