That dream gave him quite a fright. After a round of heavy sweating, he was now fairly sober. His head was still throbbing, but most of the intoxication was now gone after a circulation of origin power.
Among past matters at the Yellow Springs, this incident left the deepest impression. Thinking back on it, Zhang Jing’s demeanor, actions, and even her expressions returned vividly—he hadn’t forgotten anything despite the many years that had passed by; these memories were all buried in his heart.
Song Zining was stunned when he recalled Qianye’s words from last night. He then jumped up in fury, shouting, “Nonsense! Absolute rubbish!”
But that chest of Zhang Jing that would wiggle thrice with each step swayed vividly within his eyes.
But this was the seventh young master we were talking about. He took a deep breath and circulated his origin power, sweeping away the discomfort in his body and calming his heart like a frozen lake.
He broke into a laugh as he muttered to himself, “This lass, I almost fell for her trick, the same goes for that idiot Qianye, he’s actually willing to be her accomplice. Mm, it’s not bad that you two are hitting it off. Damn lass, you won’t know my awesomeness until I make you jump into this pit voluntarily.”
Song Zining arrived before the window and looked out. His bedroom was on the third floor, not too far from the construction site. He merely scanned the area and found Qianye fairly quickly. It wouldn’t have been that easy to point him out from among the mercenaries if he hadn’t jumped onto the roof carrying ten tons of building materials.
Judging from the grime on his clothes, it would seem Qianye had been working for quite some time already. This fellow’s alcohol tolerance was definitely unquestionable.
Song Zining stood near the window for a while and was just about to leave when Qianye appeared nearby. “You’re awake? Give me a shower.”
Speechless, Song Zining summoned a shower of rain to wash the mud off of Qianye and some wind to blow him dry. “This is the last time.”
Qianye laughed loudly as he grabbed Song Zining out of the window. “Let’s go and grab some food.”
Song Zining was already starving after sleeping for the whole night. The two found a restaurant and began digging into a table full of food.”
“Qianye, is this how you’re going to be in the future?”
“Isn’t this good?”
“As you wish.”
“Enough with the useless stuff. The Wolf King should’ve recovered by now, and his revenge will arrive very soon. What plans do you have?”
Song Zining said in a relaxed manner, “What’s there to worry about? Just let Tianqing deal with it. Doesn’t she have a handful of methods to deal with divine champions?”
At the mention of this, Qianye immediately recalled Zhang Buzhou’s personal command token and felt that Song Zining’s suggestion this time wasn’t so great.
He explained the Wolf King’s combat strength and asked, “Do you have any way to restrain him?”
Song Zining became serious when the conversation drifted to proper topics. “According to your description, I can do half a second at most, and even that will involve some luck.”
Qianye nodded. “Half a second is enough.”
Song Zining gave it some thought and did some calculations. “The Wolf King’s physique is extremely powerful, if he possesses talent in this regard, his recovery must be astonishing as well. Additionally, werewolves can gain a short boost in power by communicating with their ancestors, so restraining him will be very difficult. It’s possible that you’ll only have one shot. Do you think you can heavily injure him in one blow? Are you going to use that move?”
Qianye replied, “Half a second is enough, I can do it if I use Heartgrave.”
Song Zining nodded, as though he had just remembered something. “Be careful, that gun will drain you completely.”
“What should I be afraid of with you around?”
“You might not be, but I am.”
Song Zining suddenly recalled something. “Oh right, Qianye, don’t be too surprised if you meet some old friends.”
“Old friends?” Feeling that something was clearly wrong, Qianye said with a wooden expression, “What have you done again?”
“It’s all for your good.”
Qianye went back to work after having his fill. Watching his receding figure, Song Zining shook his head and gave up on persuading him to cultivate. Perhaps this was the only way to make him feel better.
Song Zining went back to his residence, picked up his brush, and penned three letters. He sealed them in three silver mail tubes and ordered his assistants to prepare the car.
Moments later, a jeep left Southern Blue in great haste. Qianye was so invested in the manual labor that he didn’t notice Song Zining’s departure.
The jeep sped across the wilderness for half a day’s time and only came to a stop by nightfall. One of the aides jumped down and waved a special origin lamp into the air.
Moments later, a slender airship descended from high above and hovered in the air. Song Zining jumped onto it and ordered the vessel to return to the void. There, he activated the ship’s origin array and inserted the three silver tubes into it.
The radiant burst of light emerged from the array as the three tubes vanished. Following the eruption, the entire array turned dark, and the dozens of embedded high-purity black crystals shattered. Even with Song Zining’s fortune and temperament, he could feel his eyes twitching and his expression seemed pained.
At almost the same moment, a silver tube appeared in one of Ningyuan Heavy Industry’s secret bases on the Qin Continent—where the other two had gone was a mystery. The base looked like an ordinary civilian residence, occupied by an old husband and wife without any children.
The old man picked up the tube cautiously, carefully checking the seal and insignia before putting it away. Then he packed his bags and boarded an airship bound for the Imperial Capital.
Back in the neutral lands, Song Zining was still not quite assured. He summoned the captain and passed him a letter, saying, “Head back to the Qin Continent and hand this to General Wang Zuo in the Imperial Capital. Ask him nothing, tell him nothing, he knows what he should do. Send this ship back after arriving at the continent, you head to the capital on your own.”
“Understood.”
Song Zining jumped off the airship after the captain confirmed his orders.
The airship slowly rose into the air and flew toward the boundless void.
After the airship had left, the follower asked, “Young Master, hasn’t the message been delivered? Why are you sending more?”
“That origin array might be the work of a grandmaster, but it’s not entirely safe.” With that, Song Zining boarded the vehicle and returned to Southern Blue.
Song Zining was resting with his eyes closed as the jeep bumped and jolted along the way. All of a sudden, he shot up and roared, “Stop!”
The badly shocked aide stopped the jeep hurriedly.
Song Zining jumped down and paced about pensively. Half a day later, his knitted brows eased up as he muttered to himself, “Let it be, she’ll probably appear and pass the message back. There’s no way she doesn’t have that much ability.”
He once again jumped onto the jeep and said, “Let’s go back to Southern Blue.”
This time, the vehicle made no stops as it sped back to the city.
On the continent’s edge, Ji Tianqing was standing on a tall peak, gazing out into the distance. An eerie looking airship jumped out of the void, gliding forward silently until it was hovering in front of Ji Tianqing.
This airship was barely discernible and almost illusory, seeming to fade away at a careless glance.
After the vessel had been stabilized, several people flew out and bowed before Ji Tianqing. “What are the Young Miss’ orders?”
Ji Tianqing fished out a letter. “Send this back. The contents are highly important, so failure is not an option. Escort the missive with this airship.”
Everyone was astonished. “This isn’t quite appropriate. Our duty is to protect Young Miss. We cannot shoulder the responsibility if we leave and something happens to you.”
Ji Tianqing’s expression sank. “Deliver this letter, Father will understand what to do. You won’t be able to shoulder the responsibility if some mishap occurs along the road.”
That person wanted to dissuade Ji Tianqing, but she had already turned around and left, effectively denying him any opportunity at doing so.
Everyone remained petrified at the scene. Moments later, an elder said, “Young Miss is with Song Seven, there probably won’t be a problem. Sir Xu, perhaps we should just listen to her orders and deliver the letter.”
The previous person was locked in a deep frown, clearly hesitant about this matter. The elder said again, “Sire Xu, you know her temper. There’s no way you can convince her otherwise. The only thing we can do now is to go back and return as quickly as possible.”
Sir Xu sighed. “I guess that’s the only thing we can do.”
Everyone returned to the airship, upon which, the vessel flickered out of existence and vanished into the vast void.
Ji Tianqing wasn’t very far at the moment. She stood on a lone peak, gazing at the distant sea of stars. There was no radiance on her face at this moment, and instead, it was shrouded by a hint of sadness. She finally woke up after a moment of blank staring, almost as though she had just been roused from a dream.
Ji Tianqing uttered hatefully, “Song Zining! Just you wait and see!”
Within Southern Blue, Song Zining was studying plans and diagrams in his office when he felt a chill run between his brows. A frigid intent washed over him like a basin of icy water. He began calculating frantically, but all he got was chaos which he could make neither head nor tail of.
The surprise ruined his mood, making it impossible for him to continue studying the plans. All he did was pace about inside the room and try to recall why this mishap had occurred.
It was at this time that Qianye walked in and grabbed Song Zining off his feet. “Don’t bother with all this useless stuff, it’s time to drink!”
“Still drinking?” Song Zining was scared.
Deep that night, Qianye dragged an out-cold Song Zining back to his residence, tossed him into bed, and then left with great satisfaction.
In the blink of an eye, it was a new day once more. When the blinding light passed through the gap and onto his face, Song Zining cried out frantically and sat up, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.
That whip-bearing instructor had once again appeared in his dreams.
Meanwhile, Qianye was hard at work at the site, humming a small tune and occasionally exchanging dirty jokes with the other mercenaries.