Book 5, Chapter 149: Eternal Night 2
Chapter 149: Eternal Night (2)
A human with wings!
Eternal Night’s statement shocked everyone present. Serene Dream Lotus Crown even began to tremble. “Are you saying that…… A human…… Everything was because of a human……”
“That makes it much more logical. This is why Halcyon Wing Streak’s personality changed so much after returning, and why he is so insistent on targeting our race, right?” Eternal Night said.
One of the lower-status officials quickly replied, “Your Majesty is truly wise. The possibility of this is quite high. Great Wind Country’s Windbite can produce wings. Once their bloodline’s density reaches a certain level, their wings can become real. It seems that Halcyon Wing Streak is likely a disguised human, probably from the Windbite Clan!”
Unexpectedly, Eternal Night shook his head. “This is definitely not Feng Zhuying’s actions. The Feng Clan guards one of the human borders from the Beasts, so their hatred of the Beasts is incredibly deep. Their primary enemy will always be the Beasts, so they have always supported an alliance to deal with the Beasts. Feng Zhuying and his subordinates would never provoke a Desolate Beast into attacking and then rob our storehouses.”
A person who supported an alliance between the Intelligent Races was truly unlikely to infiltrate a neighboring race’s territory and steal from them. Most importantly, the Feng Clan rarely interacted with the Harpies. However, it appeared that Eternal Night understood Feng Zhuying quite well.
More precisely, he was knowledgeable about all seven human emperors, as well as their powerful subordinates and other talented individuals. This knowledge extended to the Ravagers, the Astrals, and the Oceanids as well.
The long lifespan of a Harpy and their intelligence allowed Eternal Night to carefully study the world around him and gather a large stockpile of information so that he could thoroughly understand his opponents.
He was now in his old age, and his body was beginning to show signs of deterioration. However, his mind was still exceptionally clear.
When Serene Dream Lotus Crown and the others heard his words, they all nodded in agreement. This indeed didn’t seem like something the Feng Clan would do.
“Then who do you think it could be, Your Majesty?” Serene Dream Lotus Crown asked.
She understood Eternal Night quite well given how long they had known each other, and knew that he never took shots in the dark. Since he had brought up a suspicion, he had also likely come to a conclusion.
Eternal Night said faintly, “Let’s first assume that he is a disguised human. He probably didn’t choose to assume Halcyon Wing Streak’s identity for no reason, and this is probably closely related to the exchange of hostages from two years ago. And who could participate in that exchange……”
Serene Dream Lotus Crown understood. “So it was Liaoye Country’s doing? True, only they would have such a deep-rooted hatred for us.”
Even though the Harpies were technically enemies of the entire human race, Liaoye Country was responsible for directly facing off against the Harpies, so their relationship with the Harpies was also the worst. The debt of blood that had been incurred between the two parties was unfathomably deep.
It wouldn’t have been strange at all for some group in Liaoye Country to do this to them.
But the whole of Liaoye Country was still far too broad.
Eternal Night said, “After the exchange, the diplomatic envoy escorted them to Sky City, passing through security checkpoints at the Origin Energy Temple, Chaos Tower, and Sky City. Each hostage was thoroughly questioned before being allowed to advance. I believe that the humans don’t have any skill that allows them to deceive True Light. Otherwise, there would have been far more than one or two human spies who tried to sneak in. As such, the assuming of Halcyon Wing Streak’s identity probably took place after the hostages were returned……”
“That must be it!” one of the royal subjects said. “Once the hostages returned, they would no longer be under another person’s control. If the human were to kill Halcyon Wing Streak at this point and take his place, it would be incredibly difficult to detect.”
Serene Dream Lotus Crown said, “But that also implies that the attacker was part of the diplomatic envoy! It must have been someone from the envoy!”
“Immediately send someone to figure out who was missing from the diplomatic envoy when they left!”
The subjects began to discuss amongst each other animatedly.
Eternal Night lifted his hand again. “There’s no need to find out. The humans wouldn’t have left behind such an obvious clue. This person might have had a high status amongst the humans, but he probably took on an unassuming role in the diplomatic envoy, which would allow him to disappear silently. If we make an investigation now, they will probably tell us that one of their servants got sick and died on the way over. And if we go and dig up the corpse, we will probably find a body with wings buried there.”
The Harpies were rendered speechless.
Even though Eternal Night’s analysis wasn’t quite spot-on, he had managed to at least make his point. The humans couldn’t possibly leave behind such an obvious clue for them to find.
“But……” Eternal Night continued calmly after a moment.
This caused the eyes of the other Harpies to light up.
Eternal Night said, “I already said that he must be an important individual amongst the humans. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have done things like this, nor would he have been able to get the diplomatic envoy to cover for him. He also wouldn’t have been able to stir up as great of a commotion as he has done today.”
Serene Dream Lotus Crown asked directly, “Who do you think it is, Your Majesty?”
Unexpectedly, Eternal Night shook his head. “I don’t know who this person is. I have some guesses, though. He is probably has quite close ties with the Zhu Clan or the Li Clan. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been admitted into the diplomatic envoy so closely. But I reckon that it’s more likely he is affiliated with the Zhu Clan.”
“Why is that?” everyone asked.
Serene Dream Lotus Crown was the one to answer this time. “Yes, it must be the Zhu Clan. Kelesda said that this person was also involved in the raid on Jade Clearmist’s secret treasure realm. Do you remember who was one of the deaths at that place?”
The Harpies all glanced at each other before simultaneously crying out, “Li Daohong!”
That was right.
Li Daohong had died in Jade Clearmist’s secret realm.
This had caused a great commotion, as Liaoye Country used it as a pretext to put a large amount of pressure on Sky City. Serene Dream Lotus Crown was forced to prove to Li Wuyi that this wasn’t a plot by the Harpies - there was no need to scheme against each other, since they were openly fighting. Li Daohong had died during one such open confrontation.
Li Wuyi understood that killing Li Daohong had no benefit for the Harpies. Thankfully, Li Daohong was such a troublemaker that while the Harpies preferred for him to be alive, most of the humans probably were fine with his death. After claiming some reparations from the Harpies, Li Wuyi returned his attention to the country’s internal affairs.
But now that Eternal Night brought up the matter again, everyone realized clearly that this human was most likely not part of the Li Clan’s envoy. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to attack his own prince.
“So it must be the Zhu Clan then? But who among the Zhu Clan is able to pull something like this off? Zhu Chenhuan?” one of the Harpies wondered aloud.
Eternal Night shook his head. “A mere Demonic Emperor Bloodline clan shouldn’t be able to produce a genius of this level. But not everything always goes the way we expect. After all, the Zhu Clan is quite skilled in bewitching techniques.
It wasn’t that strange for a clan talented in charming techniques to ensnare one or two geniuses like that.
In theory, Su Chen had also been “charmed” by Zhu Xianyao. That was not a lie.
But this also made it much more difficult to determine this person’s identity.
Even though the Zhu Clan was a Demonic Emperor Bloodline clan, there were a few hundred of them amongst the human race. The Harpies and humans were also bitter enemies, so it was already quite impressive for Eternal Night to know what the Zhu Clan was proficient in.
Even though Eternal Night was intelligent, he lacked enough information to pin it on Su Chen.
However, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t think of a solution.
“I will go and gather the necessary information on the Zhu Clan right now,” one of the officials replied. He was responsible for gathering information, so this was one of his duties.
Eternal Night, however, replied calmly, “By the time you manage to do so, the Thousand Poisons Toad will probably have already been dealt with, and the disguised Harpy will also have fled far, far away.”
The Harpies were stunned.
What were they to do?
Eternal Night said, “It’s enough that we know this matter is related to the Zhu Clan. There are some decisions you can make without knowing all the answers. Mountain Mist!”
“Your loyal subject is present!” One of the Harpies stepped out of rank.
“Send word to Flat Sky City as quickly as possible that we urgently need a shipment of Starcloud Gold for a negotiable price. Get them to send it over immediately. Also, check the records to see which people were present in that diplomatic envoy and find a way to get them as well…… The same people who made it to Sky City. I don’t know what their relationship to this guy is, but I believe that there are definitely a few of them who have a close relationship with him,” Eternal Night said eerily.
The royal subjects finally understood what Eternal Night was trying to do and replied, “Your Majesty is truly wise.”
Capturing the diplomatic envoy was the same as capturing Halcyon Wing Streak’s vitals.
After delegating these tasks, Eternal Night said, “Kelesda, what do you think about this plan?”
Kelesda?
The Harpies present were all stunned with the exception of Serene Dream Lotus Crown.
A voice chuckled darkly, echoing through the throne room. “Your Majesty is truly worthy of being emperor. I, Kelesda, have nothing but praise to say. I never would have imagined that he was a human even though I have known him for a year, but your hypothesis has reminded me. Now that I think about it, there were many things about him that did seem human in origin. It all makes sense now.”
A person walked in from outside the throne room. It was Kelesda.
Kelesda was a master of thunder and specialized in the control of sound. It was no surprise that none of the discussion that had just taken place had escaped his ears.
Eternal Night maintained his emotionless expression. “Then I will also guess what your goal is. You want to use the incomplete antidote for the Thousand Poisons Toad’s poisons, your ability to track Halcyon Wing Streak, and the threat of the Thousand Poisons Toad to rebuild Fate’s Hands?”
Kelesda chuckled. “Most importantly, Fate’s Hands will be a law-abiding organization from now on and will not oppose Sky Country any longer. In addition, Your Majesty must provide me with wealth and items, and the territory of Flower Mountain must also belong to me. After all, I have nothing right now.”
The other Harpies were shocked by Kelesda’s demands.
Kelesda was being far too greedy, wasn’t he? Not only was he asking for official political status, but he was also asking for treasures?
Unexpectedly, Eternal Night didn’t even bat an eyebrow. “I can agree to your conditions, but you must agree to two small conditions of mine.”
“What conditions?” Kelesda was taken aback. He originally thought that Eternal Night would definitely make a large demand in response.
Unexpectedly, Eternal Night replied, “Change your name and your organization’s regulations.”