The gates of Southern Blue were flung open as a motorcade of several trucks drove out. Containing a mere three cargo trucks and four armored-transports, the caravan wasn’t that big. Yet, the Dark Flame insignia on the vehicles was fairly eye-catching.
Dark Flame became a public target after Song Zining’s capture—be it notoriously large mercenary corps or small hunter squads who could only take advantage of the situation, everyone wanted a piece of Dark Flame. Hence, a caravan labeled with their insignia would usually suffer numerous attacks along the way.
This situation lasted until Qianye displayed his might by injuring several opponents outside of Tidehark. Thereafter, the major mercenary corps rarely attacked for fear of Qianye’s potential retaliation, but the lone wolves didn’t care about all that. Since most lone wolves were fairly skilled in sniping, the escort forces would suffer casualties even if they reached their destination. This resulted in fairly steep compensation costs.
Under such circumstances, some major companies started hiring other mercenary corps and increasing their escort lineup as a safety precaution. This, however, increased the required investment significantly, and some companies started losing profits.
Qianye stood atop the first vehicle, scanning the vast land of the wilderness. It had been some time since he followed a caravan, but he hadn’t expected that the situation would be this bad. Only important characters knew of his trade with the Tidehark city lord and Eunuch Liu’s arrival. These lone wolves eking out a living in the wilds were unqualified to obtain such information.
The manager in charge of the caravan approached with a smile. “With Sire Qianye taking the field personally, things will surely go well…”
This manager hadn’t finished his boot-licking when Qianye pressed down on the man’s head, pushing him back into the car. At this moment, a bullet flew over the manager’s head with a resounding whoosh. A slight delay would’ve produced an obvious hole in the manager’s body.
Shocked out of his wits, the ashen-faced manager groped his body to see if there were any injuries. An origin gun appeared in Qianye’s hands, which he duly pointed at the direction of the bullet.
A bearded hunter was hiding in a shrub hundreds of meters away. He was already making a gesture of victory to his companions, but his hand froze halfway. Through his sniper scope, he saw the young man beside the target press the manager out of the way. Just like that, his certain-kill shot missed its mark.
The hunter had been in the field for many years, yet he had never experienced something like this. He had hardly recovered from the shock when Qianye methodically whipped out his origin gun and took aim in his direction.
The hunter felt his hair stand on end as he realized that his location had been compromised. He didn’t believe that the young man could hit him from over a hundred meters away. He had picked this nest meticulously and had only opened fire after taking aim for a long while.
Nonetheless, he had to move now that his location was known. As an experienced sniper, he had always believed that melee battles were for lowly mercenaries.
The bearded man jumped up and was just about to flee when he saw a flash of light. An origin bullet was already in his face!
The startled man’s upper body turned into a bloody mist before he could even think.
Several figures leaped out from their nearby hiding places and escaped desperately into the distance. Judging from their clothes, they were probably from the same mercenary corps as the bearded man. This small unit was highly skilled and experienced—their choice of location and timing were perfect. Their biggest mistake was not knowing that Qianye was in the caravan.
Gunshots rang continuously over the wilderness. Each timbre would end with the fall of a hunter. The last hunter was already a thousand meters away when she collapsed, unable to escape the clutches of sure death.
Qianye put down the sniper rifle and dragged the manager up. “Let’s go.”
The trembling man replied repeatedly, “Yes, yes!”
He gestured at the cars behind them to continue the journey, and then fell down limp into the seat. Even in the neutral lands, not everyone was fearless of death. That brush with death just now almost made it impossible for him to breathe.
The motorcade traveled for a period of time before Qianye picked up his sniper rifle and fired several consecutive shots. Every bullet would elicit a scream from a mercenary or hunter, ending up with them struggling in agony. Be it at three hundred meters or a thousand, there was never a missed shot.
This volley of shots decimated at least two hunter squads, and some of the more sizable mercenary corps no longer dared to operate on this road. Qianye looked around and ordered the caravan to move forward after finding no one concealed within his visual range.
Along the way, Qianye would either snipe from atop the car or vanish all of a sudden. On his return, the tense moods of all the experienced mercenary escorts would relax. Those battle-hardened warriors naturally understood that the danger had disappeared. Seeing as how Qianye had taken action personally, they were more inclined to believe that the hidden enemies had been killed.
The manager had recovered from his shock at this point. He found some time to approach Qianye, saying, “Sire, you can leave some of the small fries to our men. Why would you need to take the trouble every time?”
Qianye smiled. “No need, some of the enemies will escape if I let them handle it.”
The manager gasped. “You’re eradicating them all?”
“Yes.” Qianye nodded. “I can’t protect you guys every time, so I’ll be wiping out all those troublemakers during this run. This will set the rules for the future as well.”
The manager asked cautiously, “Sire, this isn’t quite appropriate, is it? Everyone seeks riches in the neutral lands, while mercenaries and hunters seek a path for survival. Under normal circumstances, the conflicting parties won’t finish off one another. Cars and surrendered personnel will be spared behind after a successful caravan robbery, and the mercenary escorts won’t chase failed robbers to the end. They’d just let the escapees escape. Wiping them out will incite the wrath of the other mercenaries. The outcome will be quite serious!”
Qianye replied indifferently, “That’s someone else’s rule. From today on, any land where Dark Flame settles will play by my rules. Whoever isn’t satisfied can challenge me anytime.”
The manager trembled as he remembered Qianye’s past. He said with an awkward laugh, “Yes, yes… it’s naturally fine if you want to make the rules.”
He spoke pleasantly, but his expression was full of pain and worry. Qianye shot him a glance, saying, “You should have the channels to transmit my message, right? Tell everyone that they can come for revenge anytime, but they can forget about leaving afterward. No matter how big the neutral lands are, I’ll hunt them down to the very end.”
Trembling, the manager said, “Yes, yes! I’ll spread your message once we get to Seagaze. That should scare those rogues away.”
He hadn’t even finished speaking when Qianye suddenly disappeared, and a miserable scream echoed a thousand or so meters away. The manager wiped the cold sweat off of his brows, feeling somewhat regretful about speaking too much just now.
Qianye stood in the wilderness, watching the slowly collapsing body in a bit of surprise. This man was exceptionally fierce and tenacious despite his mediocre strength. Even after being stabbed in the vitals with a vampiric blade and having his essence blood drained, he still managed to sound a warning cry with his last breath.
Hundreds of meters away, three people were fleeing at top speed, with two stronger bodyguards protecting a young man in the middle.
This distance was nothing for Qianye; he didn’t even need to use Spatial Flash. Exerting force from his feet, he sped off in a cloud of dust, leaving a large hole where he was standing just now. Qianye covered dozens of meters with each step and was soon on the trio’s tail. Finally, he leaped over a hundred meters and landed in their way.
Face ashen and his origin power in disarray, that young man could hardly even stand. The two bodyguards wore expressions of despair, as though they were facing a great enemy. At one step away from the champion realm, the guards weren’t weak at all. It was precisely because of their strength and experience that they could tell the gap between themselves and Qianye—hence the desperation.
An old man suddenly appeared beside Qianye. Stroking his beard, he said in a calm manner, “Young man, there’s really no need to go so far as to exterminate everyone.”
Qianye turned around with an indifferent gaze. “You think I didn’t discover you?”
The old man’s hands couldn’t help but tremble slightly. He then recovered his calm, saying, “The young master is merely playful, he doesn’t mean any harm. You should know that our family has hundreds of years of history in Seagaze City, not something a youngster like you can fathom. Back in the year…”
The old man’s words had only reached halfway when his expression changed drastically. A massive force bore down on him, burying him all the way up to his knees! His joints also started creaking and groaning under the enormous pressure. Just as the elder was struggling to prevent his legs from breaking, a red glow flashed in front of his eyes! A vampiric blade had sunk into his chest.
Qianye waited a couple of seconds before pulling out the blade. “I’m not interested in your background.”
The old man struggled momentarily before his eyes gradually darkened. Only at this point did he realize that Qianye had no need to waste his breath since he could kill in one fatal blow. Unfortunately, the realization came too late.
Qianye looked back at the ashen young noble, baring his white teeth in a radiant smile. “I’m not interested in who you are.”
The young man was shocked out his wits and almost fell limp to the ground. “N-No! You can’t kill me! I’m the young master of the Tian family, my grandpa loves me the most! If you kill me, you’ll form an irreconcilable feud with our clan.”
“Irreconcilable feud? I like those.” Qianye’s smile was oddly charming, almost like the grin of a grim reaper.