[V6C198 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
The colonel looked around and found his colleagues still in heated discussion, but none of them seemed to have noticed the lieutenant. It was as though this lady had never existed before.
This eerie incident left the colonel both terrified and bewildered. Moments later, even he himself could no longer ascertain whether or not this mysterious lieutenant had ever appeared before.
Qianye was completely ignorant about what had happened at the control center. At this moment, he was focused on circulating the Profound Combatant Formula and preventing the vortex in his body from its continued expansion. Qianye knew that the origin array buried under the floor was already being overloaded. However, he knew that the array was still a fair distance away from its absolute limit since no origin power flow could escape his True Sight. It looked somewhat dangerous at the moment, but there was no danger of damaging the array at all.
The real difficulty lay in the control of the Profound Combatant Formula. The deeper his cultivation, the more he could feel the might of the Profound Combatant Formula. This art—derived and perfected by the Martial Ancestor—assumed the form of an ocean vortex, drawing upon the origin power of the heaven and earth. Its tyrannical power was beyond imagination. Once Qianye had cultivated it to a profound level, the culmination of his nine origin vortices would be able to tear open the void and allow him to absorb void origin power.
Even though Qianye had only condensed two origin vortices, he could drain all the origin power within a hundred meters if he went all out—even the void origin power would be affected. There were several courtyards within this one hundred meter range, occupied by people of no lesser status—things would be quite problematic if he did that.
Once Qianye was closer to the divine champion rank, he would drain all of the origin power within a thousand meters. At that point, he might be the only one in an entire fortress who could cultivate.
Qianye had read through many classics and also asked Song Zining to collect information—it was confirmed that he was the only one apart from Zhang Boqian who could cultivate the Profound Combatant Formula. Naturally, the fewer the people who knew about this secret, the better. As such, Qianye had been controlling the formula cautiously and restricting its range within the walls of his courtyard, lest he invites more trouble.
However, it was fairly difficult to control such a tyrannical formula. Qianye was investing his full attention, yet it felt like he was holding up an ocean. He didn’t dare get distracted at all.
During this subtle moment, some ripples formed on the steadily circulating origin vortex. The ripples looked quite small, but they were acting upon an origin vortex capable of tearing through the void. A small deviation could culminate into a major disaster.
Qianye’s heart shook. He immediately used his full power to stabilize the whirlpool of origin power and barely managed to get through the danger.
However, the vortex moved again for some reason and formed an ocean spray.
Once was acceptable, but a second episode of the same nature immediately alerted Qianye. He calmly maintained the Profound Combatant Formula but secretly activated his True Sight in the process.
No origin power transformation could hide under his True Sight. Qianye soon noticed a barely discernible wisp of origin power appear and point toward the eye of his origin vortex. This origin power was extremely obscure. Qianye wouldn’t have noticed it if his perception wasn’t several times superior to his peers.
This origin power possessed peculiar properties. It pulsed in and out of existence as though it were a part of the void. However, there was a terrifying power contained within it, capable of inducing a faint reaction from Qianye’s ocean vortex.
It almost seemed to be interested in Qianye’s origin vortex, and even circled it a couple of times in a constant attempt to approach it. However, the origin vortex would react whenever this foreign energy closed in, quickly utilizing great power in a bid to crush this unknown origin power. That wisp of origin power would sense the attack every time and run away immediately.
Qianye maintained the stability of the oceanic origin vortex and contended patiently with that mysterious origin power. The latter made repeated attempts at probing the heart of the whirlpool.
But how could Qianye give it that opportunity?
After the two had circled about for a while, that wisp of origin power gradually grasped the rhythm of his origin vortex and began pushing toward the center. However, this was an intentional opening created by Qianye to draw it deeper. He would then destroy this intruder by fully activating the vortex.
Just as Qianye was waiting to act, a cold tide arrived from the skies and shot past his body. The arrival of this tide caused the Profound Combatant Formula to escape his control entirely, erupting with full force as though it had just encountered a powerful enemy.
With a loud boom, the roof of Qianye’s cultivation chamber was pulverized and scattered in all directions. The walls crumbled under the terrifying pressure, which expanded rapidly to the main building and even the courtyard fence, crushing everything in its wake.
In the blink of an eye, a shallow pit several dozen meters in area appeared around Qianye. The courtyard he was in had vanished entirely, and only the cultivation chamber foundations were left intact. The effects weren’t limited to his courtyard alone—the surrounding ones were also caught in the disaster, with most of them left half-destroyed.
The commotion was too great. The owners of the surrounding courtyards all flew into the air and were bewildered upon seeing the rubble below.
That terrifying destructive pressure had appeared suddenly like a raging tsunami and destroyed everything in its path. Even though the people living in the area were all true experts, this void rending power shook them deeply and even made them apprehensive.
This was the core area of the city, and there were innumerable guards stationed here, both secret and otherwise. In a flash, several Zhao clan experts emerged from the darkness and sealed off the scene.
Meanwhile, Qianye was sticking out like a sore thumb amidst the rubble.
Two Zhao clan experts flew toward Qianye and inquired about the course of events. Their attitude was fairly polite since they had already recognized him. Disregarding his relationship with the Zhao clan, his personal accomplishments alone were enough to demand respect. They didn’t dare rush to conclusions.
At this moment, Qianye had barely managed to curb the explosive power of the Profound Combatant Formula. He stood up, looked around at the rubble around him, and said awkwardly, “I seem to have lost control of my origin power during cultivation.”
Everyone at the scene was an expert. They had immediately discerned that the source of the problem lay with Qianye. They had, at first, thought that he had lost control while practicing a certain powerful combat art. After hearing that it was actually his cultivation art that had lost control, everyone’s expression became quite spectacular.
What kind of cultivation art could go out of control like this? That tempest of origin power just now was quite withdrawn in its power. It seemed to be limited within a couple dozen meters, but in truth, it was really terrifying. The impact was enough to seriously injure a person if he were caught off-guard.
A force capable of rending the void—what did this entail? It wasn’t an issue of how much origin power, but the level it was at. Many lieutenant generals might have deeper origin power compared to Qianye, but it was impossible for them to tear through the void.
In the wake of such a terrifying loss of control, it could be considered light if half of one’s bones were fractured. However, they saw Qianye stand up calmly without so much as a wound on his body. This caused everyone to freeze up.
The major clans enjoyed a thousand years of inheritance, and no one knew just how many secret arts they possessed. Qianye had risen meteorically in recent years, and the only reason he wasn’t so dazzling was because he was somewhat overshadowed by Zhao Jundu’s brilliance. Any other aristocratic family would surely pour all resources at their disposal into nurturing him. Hence, it wasn’t particularly surprising for Qianye to have obtained some secret arts or formulas from the clan.
Things seemed more plausible at the thought of this. The people’s gazes became complicated by envy and jealousy. However, to be able to cultivate up to this point, they were all quite aware of their own abilities. Although Qianye’s secret art was peerless in might, one could tell at a glance that it wasn’t something just anyone could cultivate. If they were to train in it, they might be crushed to a pulp before achieving anything.
The Zhao clan experts searched through the rubble and found that the cultivation array under the chamber was fortunately intact. The arrays in the neighboring courtyards weren’t affected, either. These arrays made for aggregating and refining origin power were the most valuable assets. Comparatively, the courtyard buildings weren’t even worth mentioning.
Thus, the incident passed by just like that. Someone led Qianye to a different courtyard which would be his new residence. The other experts with damaged courtyards couldn’t enjoy this kind of preferential treatment. All they could do was live somewhere else until their residences had been repaired. They didn’t complain, though, since Zhao Jundu had already spoken of this matter personally. No one was willing to offend the future sixth Heavenly Monarch for such a small issue.
After everyone had dispersed, that female lieutenant gradually appeared from the darkness. She stood not too far from the crowd, but no one could discover her presence.
She gazed at the destroyed courtyard with a tinge of disappointment and muttered to herself, “One who can release but can’t control. How can such a person be worth paying attention to? Kuanglan, I hope you don’t disappoint me again.”
However, there was a certain doubt lingering in her heart, and she kept on gazing silently at the remains of the cultivation chamber for a long time.
Qianye’s expression was dark as he arrived at the new courtyard and sat down inside the cultivation chamber. The tide of frost just now was the true reason he had lost control of the Profound Combatant Formula. However, it was neither visible nor tangible, and even harder to grasp than the wisp of obscure origin power—Qianye didn’t even know what it was.
Since he started cultivating the Profound Combatant Formula, Qianye had known that this was an art developed by the Martial Ancestor. Even the ancestor himself never managed to cultivate it to the end; he was only able to reach the divine champion stage with it.
Just who was it that had made the formula lose control?
Thus, the night quickly passed by in puzzlement. The same female lieutenant came to deliver a letter at dawn, but she turned to leave after handing him the letter. This time, Qianye discovered that he actually couldn’t discern her strength!
The first one to hide from Qianye’s Eye of Truth was Nighteye. She possessed the primogenitor’s bloodline, and her Bloodline Concealment was something Qianye knew very well. The next was Song Zining; he couldn’t isolate himself from the spying, but he could mislead and disrupt the process. Zhao Jundu, on the other hand, had never concealed his own strength before. He was confident enough to allow everyone to see him clearly. He would let his opponent know that his loss was only right and proper.
But this lady actually rendered his Eye of Truth ineffective. Apparently, her secret arts were absolutely shocking—there was no way she could be a mere lieutenant.
Qianye’s brows rose sharply as he gazed at her receding figure. He realized that the appearance he was seeing might not be real, either. If that were the case, her appearance altering abilities must be truly out of the ordinary.
Qianye shut the courtyard doors after her figure had disappeared and opened the letter.
There were only a few lines on the paper:
“The promise of life and death draws near. General, how goes your preparations? I shall visit you shortly and see everything for myself. Li Kuanglan.”