t [V6C40 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

Lin Xitang beckoned Song Zining to sit down. After the two exchanged a couple of words, Lin Xitang asked, “Is the Ningyuan Group your private industry?”

“Yes,” Song Zining replied.

“I heard your heavy machinery plants and a number of other estates around the Mercy County are in trouble. I can help you deal with them if you so wish.”

Song Zining didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he pondered for a while before saying helplessly, “The ancestral clan is, after all, where I was born. So, let’s just consider those worldly possessions as payment for raising me.”

Both his tone and expression were rather relaxed. It would seem he hadn’t taken the property confiscations to heart at all. It was as though he had never considered the possibility that Lin Xitang’s words just now were a subtle promise. Had Song Zining taken this opportunity to break free from the Song clan, he would not only regain all of his personal estates, but he would also receive a share of resources fitting of his inheritor rank. Taking it one step further wasn’t impossible, either.

Song Zining then made his intentions clearer. “A couple of friends and I have built a small base on Evernight Continent. It is rather insignificant compared to the major clans, but at least, there’s no one to hold us back.”

Lin Xitang withdrew his gaze with a smile. “Blackflow is indeed a land of miracles.”

Song Zining said calmly, “The city lord, Qianye, and I both graduated from Yellow Springs. Five years as a classmate, and two as a partner.”

“Two years,” Lin Xitang’s expression was stirred, “that’s truly rare.”

“Martial Xitang, you probably know how perilous the test is without taking those partner points.” Song Zining’s expression turned warmer. “I have already learned divination back then. Although my meager abilities weren’t enough to peer into heaven’s mysteries, it was quite easy to observe a person’s heart. No thought could escape me even if that person doesn’t put it into action.

“But Qianye never wavered, not even once, no matter how desperate the situation, or how easy the opportunity. Even I might not be able to be able to remain without a single thought. It was I who proposed that we split up after two years of being partners. Myriad life and the three thousand daos only await to be proven, and I didn’t want a friend’s blood on my hand.” Song Zining smiled lightly. “I’ve likely incurred your ridicule by showing such weakness as a Yellow Springs graduate.”

Lin Xitang listened in silence, then said, “The Yellow Springs Camp follows the law of natural selection. It’s the right outcome that you two were able to walk out of it alive. I heard Qianye is now working for the Zhao clan?”

Song Zining replied with a smile, “That can also be considered fate. A ‘mole house’ of the Ningyuan Group in charge of the Serene South County encountered some trouble. I was in a dangerous situation back then, so I could only ask Qianye to help me. After the delivery, he got into a conflict with some of the Zhao clan people, which, in turn, alerted the fourth young noble of the Zhao clan. But unexpectedly, the fourth young noble took an interest in him instead.” Song Zining said with a laugh, “This brat has always been quite lucky.”

Lin Xitang smiled faintly after listening to Song Zining. This “mole house” referred to the double-identity trade channel. Lin Xitang was even clearer than Song Zining regarding the rebel army affairs in Serene South. It was just that such an insignificant matter would only be in the form of a brief summary by the time it had reached him.

Their conversation ended soon afterward. There was an undisguisable exhaustion on Lin Xitang’s countenance by the time Song Zining excused himself. From this, one could see that the rumors of him suffering a divination backlash weren’t totally unfounded.

Zhang Boqian was standing there when Song Zining returned to the courtyard—even his posture was unchanged. Zhang Boqian looked at Song Zining from head to toe as the latter went over to say farewell. “You can also seek Muyi If you have any troubles in the future.”

This promise held great weight.

Song Zining exhaled deeply after walking out of the main doors of the central camp and quickly realized his robe was entirely drenched in sweat. He didn’t put up appearances after seeing Zhang Muyi and said with a wry smile, “Marshal Zhang is indeed awe-inspiring.”

Zhang Muyi replied sympathetically, “We still feel the pressure despite frequently receiving Marshal Boqian’s guidance.” He then placed a hand on Song Zining’s shoulder and said, “Come, let’s go for a drink! It’s on me!”

Song Zining agreed with a laugh. His greatest profit this time was Zhang Boqian’s word. The Zhang clan’s expression of goodwill afforded him benefits from many aspects. As for the other matter, that was Qianye’s battlefield, and no one could fight it for him.

Lin Xitang wasn’t resting when Zhang Boqian walked into the study. Instead, he had gotten up and was gazing out of the window.

Zhang Boqian glanced at him and asked, “You saw Song Zining but didn’t manage to solve the problem?”

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Lin Xitang laughed. “Song Zining’s words were all true, and his reactions were all genuine. Even the sentiments he revealed weren’t a pretense. But, I still didn’t get all the answers, especially the most important part.”

“Why don’t you meet that Zhao Qianye directly?”

Lin Xitang shook his head. “No need. Whether or not it really is him, there’s no benefit in being related to me at this time.”

Zhang Boqian looked at the marshal for a moment. “In truth, I also want to know who exactly it was that made you suffer such a setback and even forced you to endure it. Outsiders think it’s political, but you and I both know the matter with Red Scorpion had nothing to do with me. I’ve been shouldering this blame for long enough. I’m really not used to such injustice.”

Lin Xitang spoke slowly, “That was my fault and no one else’s. Let’s leave all grudges and gratitude until the end of this war of national fate.”

…

At this moment, Qianye was still on his endless exploration journey through the forest covered in purple substance. A vampire viscount flew out and crashed into a tree trunk before collapsing onto the ground. He struggled to clamber up but froze in place immediately after turning over—East Peak was already upon his neck.

Qianye looked intently at the viscount and asked word by word, “I’ll let you die swiftly if you tell me what I want to know. If you don’t know or are unwilling to talk, then I’ll cut out half of your blood core and toss it over there.”

The vampire revealed a struggling expression. He then said with a rueful smile, “Since it’s death all the same, why shouldn’t I retain some dignity?”

A damaged blood core was the most serious of injuries to a vampire. Having half of it cut out was a damage they would never recover from; it was certain death. However, their powerful vampire life force would allow them to continue living for a fairly long period and thus extending their torture.

Qianye, with his keen senses, noticed the vampire’s desire to live. “It’s fine if you wish to survive. I’ll stab your blood core and leave you to your fate. Just don’t let our men see you.”

The vampire’s eyes lit up with hope, but his heart was wracked with hesitation.

There was hope of survival even if the blood core was stabbed through. As long as he avoided battle and received a drop of origin blood, he could still recover from his injuries. This would lower his combat strength slightly, but nothing was more important than survival.

He finally nodded and said, “I hail from the Lakins clan, and my mission here is…”

Qianye finished listening to his short introduction, then asked, “What do you know about the princess of the Monroe clan? Who is with her?”

“You mean Her Majesty Nighteye? I don’t know much about her, but I heard some things lately…”

Qianye finished listening to him and asked a couple more questions. Then, seeing that there was no more new content to be heard, Qianye touched the vampire’s chest lightly with the tip of East Peak’s blade.

The vampire viscount cried out loudly and fell limp to the ground with an expression of agony.

Qianye indeed left without killing him, but even so, this viscount was bound to die. Although his injury could be healed with a single drop of origin blood, who would run into him in this accursed place and even give him a drop of origin blood?

Seeing Qianye leave, the vampire clambered up with great difficulty and staggered toward the exterior. Although the road back was incomparably long, there was at least more hope there.

Half a day later, East Peak tore through the air like a soaring serpent as it nailed a demonkin to a large tree.

Qianye walked out from the mist and arrived before the victim. “Answer my questions and I might let you go.”

“Pah! You think a noble son of darkness will submit to you?” The demonkin started spitting at Qianye.

Qianye dodged by moving his head sideways, grabbed East Peak by the hilt, and yanked hard. This movement left the demonkin crying out in misery.

But this wasn’t the end yet. Qianye circulated his origin power and poured it into the blade along the crystal threads. The origin power of Venus Dawn clashed with the demonkin’s innate demonic qi, resulting in a series of soft explosions!

The demonkin’s wretched cries immediately grew by an octave, quickly reaching a point where he was screaming his lungs out. He didn’t even manage to hold out for a minute before passing out with his head hanging to one side.

Qianye’s daybreak origin power had undergone refinement by the Glory Chapter. It was pure and extremely close to Daybreak. After entering the demonkin’s body, it was like a drop of water falling into a pot of boiling oil. How could that demonkin endure?

Qianye waited quietly for the demonkin to wake up and continued the same steps from above. The demonkin was no longer so stubborn after several repetitions and proceeded to answer Qianye’s questions.

“Barring Her Majesty Nighteye, Count Eden is the next most proficient in camouflage. The count hails from the famed demonkin clan, Dark Abyss, and a genius whose fame shook the world a hundred years ago. Apart from camouflage, he also possesses the ability to corrode enemies. That is, after all, the Dark Abyss’ most proficient bloodline power.”

This demonkin spoke in great detail. Qianye had interrogated several batches of experts from the Evernight faction in recent days and finally confirmed that the Monroe Princess was Nighteye along with some other relevant information. However, core intelligence like the Holy Son’s objectives, preparations, and movements were a mystery even to Nighteye. The others naturally didn’t understand.

But knowing this much was quite enough. Even if he knew more, what then? Qianye himself had already lost count of how many Monroe clan descendants he had killed. Perhaps there were Nighteye’s friends and family among them.

The distance between Evernight and Daybreak was an insurmountable chasm. Perhaps only a temporary neutral territory like that small trading town could afford them a fleeting intersection in their paths.

Their next meeting might end with a bullet flying over from Nighteye’s gun, or perhaps her terrifying eye ability would pierce his origin defenses to crush his heart and blood core.

Qianye was suddenly overcome by an inexplicable loneliness. He pulled out East Peak and didn’t even bother to deal the dying demonkin a finishing blow. In any case, death was only a matter of time for the latter after being scorched by Qianye’s pure daybreak origin power.

Not long after Qianye had left, the demonkin who was originally on his last breath suddenly became spirited. The vertical eye on his forehead opened up as an odd, black toad appeared therein. The toad opened its mouth and poured down a torrent of origin power upon his head.

The demonkin’s aura immediately grew stronger, and a part of his injuries quickly recovered. He glanced toward Qianye with eyes full of hate, but there was also undisguisable terror mixed in. He didn’t dare seek Qianye for revenge no matter how proud he was—all he could do was glare.

The colossus’ remains were no longer something he could vie for, so he simply turned about and prepared to leave.

The demonkin was immediately startled as he turned about—a young girl had appeared there at some point.