t [V6C16 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Zhao Gongcheng and William were standing off against one another on the edge of the battlefield. The latter laughed out loud after hearing those words, “I’m holding down this old man right now! But he’s powerful, really powerful. Once he makes a move, I’m can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to obstruct him. It’s quite probable that he’ll fire a couple of rounds at you people.”
Everyone had a weird feeling after these words were spoken. Zhao Gongcheng’s power was unquestionable, but they were under the Iron Curtain, and the two were currently in a deadlock. It was too unreasonable to say that he couldn’t obstruct the enemy. He was almost reminding Zhao Gongcheng that he wouldn’t fight for real and that the latter could do whatever he wanted. He was almost announcing that he was going to throw this match.
But Zhao Gongcheng had experienced hundreds of battles and faced all kinds of schemes. His expression turned even more austere, and he focused his full attention on dealing with William after hearing those words. Merely from the momentum with which William had entered the scene, it was obvious that he was the strongest Evernight expert here. How could he be easily trusted? William naturally sensed the changes in Zhao Gongcheng’s aura; his expression froze at the unexpected outcome.
Apparently frustrated and angry, William revealed a mouthful of cold, snow-white teeth as he snarled at Twilight, “How dare you order me? Pureblood of the Monroe clan, remember to observe proper respect before you surpass me in rank. Moreover, you should forget about your little laughable schemes. You should be thinking about how to leave this place alive first!”
With that, his exaggerated smile was withdrawn, and his greyish-blue eyes were filled with merciless frost. Twilight’s expression was beyond unsightly. She hadn’t expected William to flip out at such a juncture and even threaten her so brazenly. Although William was more powerful than her as an individual, the vampires had always looked down on the werewolves.
Meanwhile, Qianye ignored everything happening around him and kept on walking toward Zhao Jundu at a constant speed.
Twilight’s expression transformed several times as she watched Qianye approach step by step. She knew that the odd heavy sword in the latter’s grasp would descend upon her once those tidal waves enveloped her.
And she actually had a strong premonition that she couldn’t take this blow even though the other party was only a rank-ten human champion. She herself felt that this premonition was absurd—could it be that the power of Qianye’s attack had already caught up to Zhao Jundu’s?
The battle fell once more into a subtle situation. Regardless of their ability to restrain one another, the superior fighting power from both sides still had the ability to incite Sky Demon’s will. In truth, with so many experts present who were past the restricted rank, a chaotic battle might directly attract Sky Demon’s avatar.
At this moment, however, Twilight’s greatest fear was William.
Earlier on, William had clearly arrived in anger. Twilight had done so many things behind people’s backs that she wasn’t sure whether or not she was the target. At present, rather than saying William was restraining Zhao Gongcheng, it would be more accurate to say that the latter was restraining him. The chances of him making a move against the vampires were greater compared to the humans.
Qianye finally looked straight at Twilight with a faint trace of ridicule on his face. However, his feet didn’t pause in the slightest.
The rolling tides arrived before her chest!
Twilight clenched her teeth unwillingly before erupting with blood energy, decisively raising it close to the Iron Curtain’s tolerance threshold as she retreated in a flash. Her figure vanished and reformed hundreds of meters away. Only then did she cry out, “Let’s leave!”
Nighteye and Faras pulled back at the same time.
Qianye had already arrived beside Zhao Jundu at this point and was standing alongside him as he watched Nighteye, Twilight, and Faras retreat in different directions. The vampires had always enjoyed the advantage of speed, and all three of them specialized further in this attribute. In the blink of an eye, their figures had almost vanished over the horizon.
Zhao Jundu retracted his sword radiance and said indifferently, “That Twilight is one of the few dark race members who likes to play petty schemes. It’s quite a pity that we didn’t get to kill her this time. You have to be careful when you meet her in the future. As for the primo from the Monroe clan, her eye abilities are extremely terrifying, but I can see that you need not fear such a skill despite your fledgling domain.”
Qianye nodded. It was at this time that a small ruby hidden within the nearby grassland burst apart, shooting out a faint strand of blood energy from within. Twilight’s voice echoed in Qianye’s ears once that blood energy emerged.
“Little Qianye, that fellow is called Faras, and he’s intent on becoming Sister Nighteye’s man. He came all the way here just to chase after her and might even force her to go back and marry him! Oh right, he’s also a primo. Finally, remember that you owe me one!”
Qianye’s expression immediately grew heavy, and killing intent emerged within his eyes. But he glanced about and found nothing out of the ordinary with the other people.
This ruby was apparently something Twilight had thrown down before leaving, and it was a mystery what methods she had used to have only Qianye hear that message. It would seem that her domain, despite being fairly weak, had other unfathomable uses. It was just that Faras escaped too quickly. He retreated with all his might once Twilight had made her move, and had even abandoned his subordinates to their fates.
Intentionally or otherwise, Twilight had delivered this warning only after everyone had left.
Qianye suddenly turned back toward William. At this moment, William was the only dark race member left on the battlefield. However, he was in no rush to leave and didn’t pay much attention to Zhao Gongcheng who was eyeing him like prey. He only beamed radiantly at Qianye.
Qianye was momentarily speechless as he weighed the still-unsheathed East Peak in his hands.
William immediately shot backward after seeing Qianye’s movements. “Oh my! I came to the wrong place by accident!”
The three abandoned men glanced at one another, but neither Zhao Jundu nor Zhao Gongcheng seemed to have any intention of chasing after him.
This werewolf count’s strength was unfathomable. The suppressive might of his combat form alone was far superior to Faras. From this, one could easily tell how impractical it was to try killing him under the Iron Curtain. Moreover, William’s actions since he had appeared were quite weird. After careful thought, it seemed that he wasn’t an ally to those vampires at all and might even be enemies.
Zhao Jundu glanced at Qianye and asked, “You know him?”
Qianye replied, “I’ve seen him before. William of the Summit of Peaks, most likely a mighty count.”
It was apparent that Zhao Jundu knew this name. His expression turned somewhat somber as he said, “So it’s him. I heard William already possesses such strength even before maturity. The imperial military’s assessments state that he may grow up to become the Nana of the werewolf race.”
Qianye was dazed by this information. Immature? It wasn’t quite noticeable on the surface, but his temperament indeed resembled a kid. However, the dark race’s external appearances were less often related to their age and more often to their strength.
Most of them had their lifetime peak-potential decided at birth by the power and purity of their bloodlines. The four major dark races would all go through long childhood, adolescence, and middle ages. Their powers would develop the fastest during childhood, gradually stabilize throughout adolescence and middle age, and then slowly decline thereafter. Demonkin and vampires possessed secret arts to delay their aging process. This was also the reason why the two races had always maintained the top positions on the Evernight side. For instance, the method employed by the vampires was hibernation.
Zhao Jundu spoke up at this point and broke Qianye’s reverie, “Let’s go.”
Qianye pondered for a moment before saying, “You guys leave first. I’ll catch up soon.”
Zhao Jundu sensed Qianye’s killing intent and immediately understood his intentions. He said with a frown, “Are you going after Twilight or the two primos?”
“That primo from the Perth clan.”
Zhao Gongcheng said at this point, “This strategy isn’t quite appropriate. That primo doesn’t have any powerful abilities, but he still holds the advantage in rank. Neither you nor Jundu can exert your full power under the Iron Curtain, so it’ll be fairly difficult to kill him. Even Jundu had to start off by agitating him into a head-on battle and use his domain to whittle away at the opponent’s strength before injuring him. Moreover, Qianye, you haven’t acquired the Omniscient Seal. This old man feels that your domain can easily injure him but can hardly make him stay.”
Zhao Gongcheng’s words were pertinent. Qianye replied with a nod, “Many thanks for the general’s reminder, but I have a personal feud with him. Since I’ve encountered him, then I must teach him a lesson even if I can’t kill him.”
Zhao Gongcheng’s brows locked into a frown and seemed as though he wanted to further dissuade Qianye. As he saw it, there was a pretty wide gap between Qianye and Faras. Prince Samael’s bloodline wasn’t as powerful as those of the second-generation primogenitors, but he was still a primogenitor nonetheless—his primo couldn’t be overly weak. Since he couldn’t be killed, there was no point in giving him such a lesson.
Zhao Gongcheng was naturally informed of Qianye’s true identity since he was the overseer of the bloody battle. He didn’t wish for the latter to take such a risk. “Qianye, your talents are superb and will certainly become a supporting pillar of the empire one day. As I see it, this primo’s temperament is far inferior to you and Zhao Jundu. He won’t be a problem in the future.”
Qianye nodded in response, but Zhao Jundu butted in without waiting for the former to speak, “Qianye, go if you want to! Changes are coming to the Iron Curtain. We’re already assembling the units and will withdraw in turn within the next few days. Go quickly and return fast!”
Qianye felt that it was still Zhao Jundu who understood him better. He responded in the affirmative and turned to leave.
Zhao Gongcheng was somewhat astonished as he watched Qianye’s rapidly accelerating figure. Qianye was using the simplest extreme running method. Despite lacking the astonishing momentum he had exhibited during his appearance, one could see that he wasn’t slower than vampires of the same level. This would be reflected in his combat strength and allow him to cancel out the vampires’ innate speed advantage.
Only then did Zhao Gongcheng feel relieved. “Eldest Brother said Qianye’s potential is excellent and that his future is boundless. It is indeed the case!” The eldest brother he was speaking of was the most senior character among the Xuan-character generation, Duke You Zhao Xuanji. [1]
Zhao Jundu said calmly, “His martial dao is simple, pure, and solely follows his heart. That being the case, we should just let him go if he wants to challenge that primo. I have a feeling that as long as he can catch up, that primo will die in Qianye’s hands.”
Zhao Jundu’s words were also a form of explanation to Zhao Gongcheng as to why he had interrupted and overruled his suggestion. Zhao Gongcheng actually didn’t mind it at all. The two thus left the battlefield soon afterward.
Qianye chased after Faras for an entire night and another half a day. Only by noon on the second day did he find a temporary vampire camp with three viscounts within, all were Faras’s bodyguards from back then.
Qianye didn’t need to launch a sneak attack against third-rank viscounts like them. An origin array emerged under his foot as he used Origin Vault to traverse a hundred meters and land squarely in their camp. The suppression of his oceanic force froze the three viscounts stiff, then a slap with East Peak knocked them all down.
Qianye drew his vampiric blade and poked one of the viscounts in the face. “Where is Faras?”
The viscount was fairly strong-willed. He sneered, “Seeking death in Sire Faras’s hands?”
“Where is Faras?” Qianye repeated.
“Do it. I shan’t bow to a lowly human!” With that, the viscount closed his eyes.
Note: About the title, a literal translation would mean “Might of no Battle” which, I believe, stems from Tsun-Zu’s art of war where it is stated that “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting”. The title is probably referring to a might so overwhelming that it subdued all enemies without a fight.
[1] Chinese families usually name children of the same generation with a uniform character.