[V6C39 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
The person beside Nighteye possessed inferior visual range compared to Qianye, but his skill in camouflage was clearly superior. This person had melded into his surroundings. If not for Qianye’s True Sight capturing a minute change in origin power, it would truly have been difficult to discover his existence.
With such a person partnered to Nighteye, it was no wonder that even those old veterans had no way to defend.
Eden stopped moving after adjusting his position. He discovered nothing else apart from a vague sensation born of his intuition. Nighteye was in charge of that direction, and her vision was much greater than his own. Since even she was showing no reaction, then it was likely nothing.
Qianye only glanced at Eden through the corner of his eyes. The focus of his vision had always been on Nighteye.
Qianye suddenly felt a stifling sensation in his chest as his body gradually turned colder and his heart wracked with an ineffable confusion. He was like a guilty kid standing before his elders. What the grown-ups thought was a minor matter was perhaps the end of the world in the child’s heart.
Just like Qianye at the moment, he felt his entire world was slowly but surely sinking into the deepest darkness.
One corpse after another flashed past Qianye’s eyes—Zhao clan soldiers, experts from other aristocratic families, and those iron-blooded warriors of the various army corps. And it wasn’t just people of the empire; those Evernight experts who had died in Qianye’s hands also appeared in his vision, especially the vampires of the Monroe clan. The datura flowers they wore stung his eyes so.
Those gunshots reverberated in his ears, and the tremor as his blade entered their bodies felt just as clear to him. Qianye recalled, with great clarity, each and every Evernight expert who had fallen to his sword.
But whether it was for Nighteye or Qianye, every battle, every bit of military contribution, pushed them further from one another. They pushed each other to a distance where they could no longer hold hands as they did in the beginning.
The crosshairs of Qianye’s scope was still on Nighteye’s own. He needed only to pull the trigger and that origin-infused Bullet of Extreme Yang would blast through her scope and through her eye—even a marquis would be gravely wounded by this shot. Moreover, Qianye could even activate Heavy Caliber and Accurate Shooting to raise the projectile’s firepower.
Qianye’s finger on the trigger was bloodlessly pale, not unlike that of a lifeless corpse. The finger was trembling slightly, a situation unbecoming for a superior marksman like him.
At some point, Zhao Shizhong, the dead Zhao clan warriors, those from the other aristocratic families, Red Scorpion, and those teammates from the 131st Battalion with whom he had fought side by side all appeared around him. Their gazes as they looked down at him from behind pierced through him like red-hot iron nails.
“Fire!”
“Pull that trigger!”
“Kill her! Now!”
Those voices echoed in Qianye’s ears.
In his dazzled state, he seemed to have returned to his time in Red Scorpion. That was the final battle where his captain had sent Qianye out through the siege, then turned back to meet the tide of blood-thralls and dark race warriors. The scene of his heroic figure as it was drowned by the dark tide had carved itself deep in Qianye’s heart.
At this very moment, Qianye realized the gravity of William’s words.
Daybreak and Evernight are eternal enemies.
The trigger in Qianye’s hand was as heavy as lead, and tugging upon it felt like hauling a mountain. He almost couldn’t control his breathing and heartbeat as he clenched his teeth and pulled on the trigger little by little.
At the other end of the scope, Nighteye was completely still and hidden, her crosshairs still upon Qianye.
The wind had stopped, and all sounds had vanished. The slowly moving trigger was the only thing left to testify that this world was still alive.
Amidst the unbearable suffocation, Qianye suddenly banged his head on the tree trunk, allowing the chipped bark to prick him.
At this point, the trigger had returned to its original position, and his hand no longer possessed the strength to tug on it again. What seemed like ages passed in this manner before Qianye slowly raised his head, retreated down the back of that tree, and left. During the entire process, he didn’t glance even once at the other side and thus had no idea whether she was still there.
However, Nighteye was still there, and she was just as silent. Whether it was her person or her sniper rifle, there was not the slightest of movement. This also meant that she was still gazing at that place where Qianye had stayed. What she saw through the scope, however, was a mystery.
Another good while passed by in this manner. Finally, Eden could no longer resist nudging at Nighteye. The latter seemed exceptionally sluggish and only turned back after Eden had pushed her a couple of times.
Eden performed a gesture to move and whispered, “There should be no more prey here, let’s go to another area.”
“...Got it.”
Eden shot Nighteye a puzzled glance—he felt that there was something odd about Nighteye, but as for what exactly it was, he couldn’t say. And trying to venture a guess from her eternally frozen countenance was beyond difficult.
Qianye’s figure appeared once again after they had left. He slowly ascended the treetop where Nighteye and Eden had been hiding in and proceeded to observe the interwoven branches underfoot.
With both Nighteye and Eden being specialists in camouflage, how could there be any clues left behind? If Qianye had not seen Nighteye through his scope with absolute certainty, he would probably find it quite difficult to ascertain whether or not she had really been here.
Moments later, Qianye left the treetop with a light sigh and vanished into the hazy mist.
...
In this world suffused with the void colossus’ will, the experts of the two factions soon began encountering and killing one another.
The battles on the surface around Giant’s Repose were still ongoing. The two factions initiated a second major battle after Song Zining’s successful break-out. The long-silent Sky Demon suddenly sent seven avatars to rush toward the defensive lines of the two factions.
An entire seven Sky Demon avatars!
These avatars attacked indiscriminately. Not to mention those ordinary champions of the division level, even the leaders overseeing the war zone could hardly obstruct them. This development exceeded both factions’ expectations. The two sides immediately toned down their battles and even called a ceasefire in many areas.
Later on, they saw Sky Demon’s avatars gather in one place and jump into Giant's Repose.
Now, the situation had become fairly complicated. Without a clear outcome from the battle between Sky Demon and the Queen of the Night’s party, there was no way to judge the demon’s movements after the descent of its avatars.
During the short exchange, both camps discovered that the descended avatars possessed at least the strength of a marquis. But no one could tell whether or not they could erupt with greater power or if they possessed any special abilities when attacking together.
Sky Demon was a void lifeform with special attributes, and its avatars had naturally inherited its characteristics. Even a dark duke or an imperial divine champion might fall under the coordinated attacks of its seven avatars. Moreover, Sky Demon itself was a type of void colossus, and no one knew whether or not its avatars were subject to the suppression of the other colossus’ remnant will, or to what extent.
At this moment, Sky Demon became the greatest enemy for both factions. As such, the two factions pulled back in mutual understanding and once again assumed their positions on each side of Giant’s Repose.
For Evernight, every ancient essence fragment would help them produce a duke or a duke-level strategic weapon. Risking a present duke for a chance at producing another duke was certainly not worth it for them.
On the empire side, the higher-ups all knew that this was a battle for their national fate. Although they weren’t clear as to their exact objective, they were quite certain that it wasn’t the ancient essence fragments. Naturally, they wouldn’t mobilize their divine champions to take this risk.
As such, the thousand kilometers around Giant’s Repose reached a state of subtle balance.
The frontline command center of Prince Green Sun, Zhang Boqian, was situated at the highest point of a stretching hill, the empire’s camps spreading out in many layers beneath his feet.
Weapons and flags filled the ends of one’s vision, and there was no lack of aristocratic private armies among them. The quality of their elite soldiers and gear were evenly matched with that of the imperial regular army, so much so that some of those famed clans might even be superior. This was also a reflection of the Great Qin Empire’s present power distribution.
A champion of the Zhang clan led the way for Song Zining as they passed through several camps and headed for the big tent at the summit of the hill.
Song Zining’s step paused ever so slightly as they stepped through the tent doors. Zhang Muyi gave him an understanding pat on the shoulder and said, “The enmity of the previous generation has nothing to do with you. Marshal Boqian isn’t one to take it out on the younger generation.”
Zhang Muyi’s words were a clear reassurance. Song Zining turned to smile at him, but his gaze secretly swept over the eastern barracks in the process.
In addition to Zhang Boqian’s lineal branch “Ironclad Legion”, the Thunderous Cavalry of the Imperial Guard was also present in this command center. Moreover, their numbers were actually no less than that of the Ironclad Legion and could be considered a full mobilization. In truth, any martial law enforcement unit accompanying a heavenly monarch could only serve to keep up appearances. What then was the Thunderous Cavalry doing here? Were they here to represent the imperial court, or were they here to protect someone?
Zhang Muyi stopped in front of a certain door. It was fairly quiet here; not only were there no soldiers and officers moving about, but even the guards were absent. He pointed at the main camp up front formed by several tents linked together and said, “Brother Zining should enter alone. I’ll wait for you outside.”
Song Zining nodded and walked in. The decoration inside the large tent was fairly simple. To the left was a solid sand-table, on the right was a conference table for twenty people, and upon the wall was a large map. This was apparently a war room, but there was no one here at the moment.
A certain feeling emerged in Song Zining’s heart. He stepped through the door on the other end of the tent and reached a courtyard.
There was an imposing figure standing below a tree. Song Zining glanced over and saw a deep void filled with lightning and the grandeur of the heaven and earth itself. He collected his thoughts and bowed. “Song Zining of the Highland Song Clan greets His Excellency Prince Green Sun.”
Afterward, he heard Zhang Boqian speak in an indifferent tone, “Go in. Someone’s waiting to meet you.”
Song Zining revealed an astonished expression. However, he didn’t ask further and only walked through the door behind Zhang Boqian. His surprise grew even deeper after seeing the person inside. “Marshal Xitang!”
There was a silver-haired man sitting beside the window, the legendary Lin Xitang who was supposedly bed-ridden at the imperial capital. He was clad in plain-colored clothes which contrasted with his pale, almost-translucent complexion. However, as his eternally calm eyes shifted over, it seemed as though that frailty was nothing but an illusion.
In recent years, the Ningyuan group had risen rapidly through the Northern Legion’s suppliers list, especially in the business of firearm origin arrays. Moreover, the company had almost reached the legion’s core circle after joining the so-called “Operation Divine Silence”.
But, whether it was coincidence or otherwise, this was the first time the owner, Song Zining, had met Lin Xitang.