[V6C180 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

At this moment, the captain’s voice rang out from behind Qianye, “This... what’s going on?”

The captain ran over to the windows. The airship was only a hundred or so meters from the ground. This height wasn’t enough to kill an imperial brigadier general. That Bai clan man had crashed into the ground and was now clambering to stand up. With his origin power cultivation, he really shouldn’t have fallen so miserably. It would seem Qianye had done something to make him fall straight down.

The captain heaved a sigh of relief and said helplessly, “General, was there really a need to do this? Such a conflict will only benefit the dark races.”

Qianye said indifferently, “I really have no interest in bullying the young fellows before dealing with Bai Aotu, but I won’t take things lying down if some insensitive fellows rush out in front of me.”

This captain was also a brigadier general. He was of the Zhang clan, so his stance in this conflict was neutral. However, he naturally leaned toward the Zhao clan since the latter was providing them with full support. He knew that the Bai clan brigadier general wouldn’t return to the airship after such humiliation, and in fact, he felt that it was better that way. At least, there wouldn’t be another conflict—being caught in the middle wasn’t easy.

It was at this time that the airship trembled all of a sudden. One could see, through the open doors, two high-speed airships splitting off into the distance.

The captain shook his head and sighed. “Two more places needing reinforcements. The frequency is pretty high today. Dammit, things wouldn’t be so bad if the Bai clan people hadn’t caused such trouble!”

At first, Qianye’s group of four and the Wei clan private soldiers made up a fairly powerful force on the battlefield. While William was sitting the fight out, they were able to drive Twilight away and kill off all of her subordinates. It was only natural that they would sweep through virtually every other dark race squad in their way. After all, marquis level characters wouldn’t join such petty battles.

But now, Qianye and Wei Potian were badly wounded, and Song Zining was also injured. The only one in their group who could fight was Zhao Yuying. The lack of high-end fighting power suddenly increased the pressure on the Zhang clan fleet. That much was evident from the number of fire-support mobilizations.

In truth, Song Zining’s injuries weren’t that serious. It was just that the seventh young master had his own thoughts in this matter, holing up in his room and pretending to recuperate. According to him, how could he stress the Bai clan’s tyrannical behavior if his injuries weren’t serious? Moreover, despite his light injuries, the two wounds on his face seemed quite terrifying. At a glance, he almost seemed to be in a worse condition compared to Wei Potian.

However, Song Zining didn’t remain idle, either. He had served in the Zhang clan’s advisor department before and was familiar with people from every level of the army. After hearing that he had been injured, many generals and leaders rushed over to visit him. Very soon, Song Zining’s room was buzzing with activity and guests. He had already explained the process of their battle over ten times in just half a day, and he did not forget to curse the Bai clan every time he did so.

Qianye closed the cabin doors after the high-speed warships had left. “How long will it take to reach the Zhao clan defensive region? How urgent are things?”

The captain wore a worried expression. “This segment of the journey isn’t that important. After reaching the Zhao clan’s fortification area, however, the fleet will need to return for supplies. The dark race army should’ve caught up already at that point. That would be the most critical period.

Qianye nodded. “I see, I’ll go and get some rest then.”

“You need to recuperate well with your injuries. I’ll have someone send some medicines over in a while.”

Qianye returned to his chambers and continued cultivating to accelerate his recovery. The truly difficult battles would follow after reaching the fortress region.

The transport airship swayed continuously, and the faint sounds of rumbling explosions could be heard from the outside. The warships in charge of fire-support were up to their ears in work since every late support meant the destruction of a combat squad.

At such a time, Qianye could only hide in the cultivation chamber to heal his injuries. This only added to his loathing of Bai Aotu.

…

Meanwhile, in the Bai clan camp, Bai Kongzhao was sitting across from Bai Aotu.

“Didn’t you say you won’t trouble Qianye anymore? What’s going on this time?”

Bai Kongzhao was just as slender as before, but she seemed slightly taller. Her messy, long hair was curled and slightly withered. Her skin was sickly pale and almost translucent, vaguely revealing the green veins underneath. Her face and hands were filled with numerous small wounds. Some had almost healed, but a fair number of them were new. Only her pair of eyes were filled with unchanging mysteriousness and beauty.

After hearing Bai Aotu’s words, the young girl replied, “I wasn’t targeting Qianye this time, I was trying to kill Song Zining. I saw an opportunity, so I took it.”

“Song Zining?” Bai Aotu frowned. “Is he that powerful?”

No one understood Bai Kongzhao’s combat and survival instincts better than her. If this girl said there was an opportunity, it meant that the target had zero chance of escaping her fatal blow. There had only been one exception all this time, and that was Qianye.

However, Bai Aotu had just seen Song Zining and knew that he had only suffered some flesh wounds. This meant that Bai Kongzhao had failed completely.

The latter said after some thought, “He’s much more powerful than I anticipated, and he also had a life-saving fan. In terms of value, that fan should be equal to his second life. It can be said that I’ve already killed him once.”

Bai Aotu nodded in agreement. Such life-saving treasures were extremely rare, and it wasn’t excessive to say that they were priceless—there would be huge waves whenever one of them was produced. The empire had once paid half an elite corps in order to obtain a life-saving treasure capable of stopping a divine champion’s attack.

Hence, Bai Kongzhao’s attack was equal to having killed half a Song Zining.

The young girl said, “Moreover, Qianye is so much more powerful than I expected. His chase stopped me from firing another shot. If you weren’t here, I don’t think I could’ve escaped. I’ll avoid him in the future and not give him a chance to capture me.”

Bai Aotu frowned in silence. She only spoke moments later, “Kongzhao, you’re still a human when all is said and done. Why are you doing this?”

“For survival and for the empire.”

“Oh?” Bai Aotu’s lightning gaze stabbed at Bai Kongzhao. The latter faced her calmly without any intention of backing away.

“What’s the specific reason?”

Bai Kongzhao placed an ordinary looking crystal in front of Bai Aotu. The latter’s eyesight wasn’t something an ordinary person could compare to. She said in shock, “An origin crystal fragment?”

The crystal fragment was actually hiding an origin power comparable to the raging seas, along with exuberant vitality. It was just that the origin power attribute lay between darkness and daybreak. Its uses were limited in the eyes of normal people.

A complete origin crystal possessed more than just vast amounts of origin power—it contained innate abilities. Usually, such skills were extremely powerful and could raise one’s combat strength from the foundation up.

It went without saying that the one in Bai Kongzhao’s possession did not contain any innate abilities, only an early framework of it. If Bai Kongzhao was successful in her future cultivation, she would be able to develop a powerful ability of her own.

Bai Kongzhao pointed at the origin crystal fragment and said, “This is the downpayment for killing Song Zining.”

An origin crystal fragment was actually a mere deposit? Bai Aotu picked up the crystal and observed it in detail. Then, seeming to have realized something, she said, “Could this be the kind of power you need?”

The girl nodded. “They have two more fragments and will give them to me once I kill Song Zining. With these three fragments, I can become stronger and also keep on living.”

Bai Aotu let out a rare sigh. “Who are they?”

“I don’t know the true mastermind behind this. All I know is that they’re from the Song clan.”

Bai Aotu sneered. “Song clan! They’re still doing this at such a time. It looks like there’s no longer any cure for their stupidity.”

“Fine, you said you’re doing this for the empire, what’s with that?” Bai Aotu inquired.

“I know some people on the Evernight side. They’re willing to provide me an opportunity to kill one of their counts as long as I kill Song Zining. There’s also this.”

With that, Bai Kongzhao placed a sniper rifle in front of her, along with a rectangular rod made of blue metal.

Bai Aotu’s expression changed slightly. “This is a demonkin sniper rifle and likely one from a famed clan. This piece of metal... is this a heart of serene blue?

“Yes, this is a heart of serene blue that the dark races delivered. If I kill Song Zining, they’ll process this into an origin gun core to replace the one in here.”

Bai Aotu picked up the sniper rifle and studied it repeatedly. Her gaze lingered for a fair length of time on a line of decorated text depicting the weapon’s name and the artisan’s signature. Any weapon with such a signature was a premium product above grade-seven.

Bai Aotu put down the rifle and said, “Then it’ll become a grade-eight gun, can you use it?”

“I can manage if I get the remaining origin crystals.”

The tent fell into silence. Bai Aotu watched the young girl for a long while before sighing lightly.

The girl sat quietly with a somewhat vacant expression, almost as though she didn’t know what to do or what she had done wrong. Perhaps her heart was extremely complicated, or maybe it was truly simple, so simple that all she knew was to survive and become stronger. Her only reason for becoming stronger was to survive.

Bai Aotu didn’t know what to say. In the end, she said slowly, “These things will bring you a lot of trouble, keep them to a minimum in the future. I can’t be there to help you shoulder your problems every time. You’ll have to rely on yourself in the future.”

“Eh?!” Bai Kongzhao seemed not to understand.

Bai Aotu didn’t continue the conversation. She merely waved her hand and said, “Go now, it’ll be too late if you don’t leave quickly.”

Bai Kongzhao was just about to say something when she jumped up like a startled cat and suddenly turned around. Then, she grabbed the sniper rifle and origin crystal, rushed out of the tent, and soon disappeared from sight. However, she didn’t forget to salute Bai Aotu before leaving.

The latter sat quietly with renewed calmness.

It was at this moment that a delightful sound resounded throughout the Bai clan camp. “Bai Aotu, get out here and accept your death!”

This voice was full of anger, yet it was inexplicably pleasant to the ears.