Chapter 1429: Heart of the Undercurrents
This harmless-looking creature could use origin power? Qianye would have never discovered this if he hadn’t observed closely.
The creature remained quiet in Qianye’s hands, almost as though it was too startled to do anything. However, that adorable state only lasted a single second before it exploded with great strength and twisted itself out of Qianye’s grasp.
Surprised, Qianye reached out at twice the previous speed and caught the creature again. The little fellow was no longer pretending this time as it tried to struggle free with all its might. Yet, no matter how hard it tried, Qianye’s grasp was as tight and immovable as a mountain.
Unable to struggle free, the little critter suddenly twisted its body around and chomped down on Qianye’s hand. This bite ended up breaking all four of its incisors.
Qianye raised his brows, surprised at its biting power. The little animal’s bite was enough to tear through steel and was comparable to larger wild beasts. It should feel proud to be able to leave some red marks on Qianye’s skin.
Having suffered enough pain, the animal let out a sharp squeal, a sound that wasn’t so simple to Qianye’s ears. The cry traveled far and wide, well beyond the range of normal hearing.
All of a sudden, squealing sounds rang out in every direction as hundreds of small creatures appeared and surrounded Qianye. This time, there was no pretense—every one of them glared at him with bloodthirsty expressions.
Qianye glanced around without the slightest movement.
Following another cry, all the animals pounced toward Qianye at the same time. A flash of red erupted in the air! Then, it was followed by a rain of animal carcasses.
Life Plunder was a powerful weapon against groups, be they human or animals.
After the beast horde was slaughtered, the environment fell into utter silence. A shade of red emerged on Qianye’s face, receding only after a while. The amount of essence blood from these animals was shocking. With hundreds of them added together, it was a difficult load even for Qianye.
He stood there until the Book of Darkness had absorbed all of the blood energy. After that, he checked the supplies and equipment in Andruil’s space before running toward the tallest mountain peak.
The beasts just now had proven that this world was extremely dangerous. In his cautious observation, Qianye discovered another suspicious point. The sky here was extremely clean and devoid of all flying creatures. He didn’t want to risk becoming the target of some unknown beast in the air, especially when his ground movement speed wasn’t slow.
After half a day’s time, Qianye finally reached the tallest mountain range. Before him was an expansive forest filled with strange trees. The round parts enveloped by giant leaves had already turned red, almost as though they were ripe.
Be it the forests or the grasslands, Qianye could sense a bit of danger from them. And there weren’t a lot of places left these days that could threaten him.
It was at this moment that a flash lit up the sky at the ends of his vision, followed by a faint oscillation. Qianye understood that this was an emergency signal used by the demonkin. The light produced was highly penetrative, traveling far and wide even in this world.
These flares were expensive, so only important characters could afford to use them. Under normal circ.u.mstances, it would be a mighty marquis waiting at the source of that signal.
A mighty marquis was a worthwhile target by any measure. Qianye couldn’t help but smile coldly as he ran in that direction.
He came to a screeching halt soon after setting out. His eyes changed color as he glanced in a different direction where a bit of light was flickering in the distant sky. The plume of pale fire grew clearer and larger in his vision.
The Eternal Flame!
Qianye had never imagined that the great dark monarch would enter the inner world so quickly. It would seem the heavenly monarchs weren’t able to restrain the Evernight powerhouses.
After some thought, he decided to halt his advance. If Qianye could see the Eternal Flame, it meant the latter could see him as well. He did not think for once that the great dark monarch would have weaker eyesight than him. Attacking a demonkin within his range of vision would be an open invitation to get hunted down.
After observing a while longer, Qianye circled around and sneaked past the Eternal Flame. No matter how strong the Eternal Flame was, he was but a single person. He couldn’t keep tabs on all Evernight experts.
Qianye had no idea what the future held beyond the opening of the inner world. Before he could set foot on the peak of this world, all ideals were simply ideals. What he could do now was kill as many demonkin experts as possible and weaken their power.
A promise was too weak of a restraint on a character like the Demon King. Should the supreme go back on his words, Qianye would never be able to escape his clutches—unless he was willing to hide in the Empire. So what if he did keep his promise? Qianye wasn’t going to forget that Lin Xitang had died in the Demon King’s domain.
The living darkness origin power in this world would give the supremes quite a bit of trouble. The span of time it would take for them to make up their minds to enter was where Qianye’s opportunity lay.
Qianye glanced at the Eternal Flame once more as he left hastily. There were many factors in the new world that made him stronger, and only his chaos energy was unaffected by the living origin power here. Qianye’s plan was to go on a killing spree before facing the Eternal Flame head-on. He would be a completely different person by the time he was standing before the great dark monarch again.
There were more woods in the inner world than imagined, as well as a complicated network of tunnels and sinkholes in the ground. After roaming the jungle for an entire day, Qianye encountered at least hundreds of creatures that he had never seen before.
He committed the information regarding these animals to his memory, but he neither studied them deeply nor slaughtered them. He didn’t want to leave too many traces because some Evernight Experts were born trackers.
After an entire day of exploration and traversing two mountain ranges, Qianye decided to rest and spend the night in one of the forests.
He picked a large tree and set up some traps around it before hiding himself in its crown. He circulated his Bloodline Concealment and channeled the Mystery Chapter, slowly condensing the essence blood stored in the Book of Darkness.
Even the vampires could only absorb a certain amount of essence blood, else they would be unable to digest it. The reckless drawing of blood would end up tainting their bloodline. This limitation didn’t apply to Qianye since he possessed the Mystery Chapter. The only bottleneck he would face was the chapter’s conversion speed.
Qianye didn’t know whether there was any precedent to the changes he had undergone. He did feel a bit baffled at times, but the imminent pressure and surrounding dangers gave him no time to hesitate.
Nights were fairly calm in the inner world, strangely so even. The black sun was still hanging in the sky; it was the light-emitting halo around it that had vanished.
By the time the halo appeared again, it was dawn in the inner world.
Qianye tried to comprehend this phenomenon with the knowledge he possessed but to no avail. At this point, he wondered whether the demonkin or vampires would have ancient books about this or whether the founding divination experts knew of any similar legends.
A whole night of cultivation helped Qianye digest the essence blood and origin power. At this rate, he would be taking the next step rather soon. After all, there was never a place as good as this where even small beasts could provide ample power.
Qianye stood up and sensed the blowing darkness origin power around him. He hadn’t been going around randomly the past couple of days. Instead, he was following and doc.u.menting the flow of origin power at all times. Comparing the findings he had noted down, Qianye found that the darkness origin power here was flowing along a mysterious trajectory.
The flow was always in a single direction and in the form of an arc. Extending this arc continuously would produce a giant circle that was hundreds of kilometers in diameter. The circle was so large that this vortex would be impossible to notice—unless one possessed senses as sharp as Qianye or used special recording equipment.
Qianye shifted his direction toward the center of this circle. If there was any secret to this world, its chances of appearing would be greatest at the center.
Considering Qianye’s speed, he could traverse several hundred kilometers each day even while moving cautiously. He was at the center of the area before long.
Three shadows were chasing one another. They clashed all the way from the ground into the air, then all the way from the air back to the ground. The strange trees below, as well as the giant rocks in the surroundings, collapsed from the shockwaves. Even the predatory animals of the inner world remained in hiding and did not dare appear.
An arachne and a demonkin expert were attacking an Imperial divine champion. Even against two enemies, the divine champion’s defenses never faltered, and it seemed like he could keep on fighting for a long time.
Qianye snuck close to the battlefield, fished out Dragonsgrave, and locked onto the demonkin vice duke. Perhaps because they were at an advantage, the vice duke was rather relaxed and his movement arts weren’t at their maximum. The man’s movements were full of openings in Qianye’s eyes.
The vice duke was just about to evade backward when his body turned sluggish for a brief moment. An apparently knowledgeable person, he cried out, “The Eye of Control!”
However, the discovery was too late. Despite his utmost efforts to evade, his knees burst into a bloody mist. The demonkin’s origin power defenses were like paper against Qianye’s origin bullet.
Seeing the vice duke gravely injured, the arachne expert turned and fled at the sight of Qianye.
The latter frowned but didn’t give chase. Little Zhuji was in the Spider Queen’s hands, so Qianye decided that it would be wise not to kill arachne experts unless necessary. Besides, the arachne was also a vice duke, and his speed was far beyond ordinary arachne.
The demonkin expert had been heavily injured, but he hadn’t completely lost his fighting power just yet. He was doing his utmost to maintain his demonic energy output and flee through the air.
Having made the decision, Qianye charged straight over to the target and cut him down from the sky. During this process, he paid no attention to the Imperial divine champion and his reaction.
Qianye landed beside the vice duke. “Do you want to live or die?”
The vice duke glared stubbornly at Qianye. “You won’t live long after I die. His Majesty will not let you off.”
“That’s in the future, but now, you will die before me.”
The vice duke sneered. “I entertain no such hope after running into you.”
“It’s not like you have to die. If you happen to know something and I happen to be interested in it, I might leave you with your life. You’re no longer a threat, after all.”
The demonkin’s expression shifted quite a bit, apparently struggling inside.