Chapter 424: Muddy Waters
Chapter 424: Muddy Waters [V5C131 – A Distance Within Reach]
Karsi immediately felt his scalp go numb when East Peak appeared—a sign of extreme danger. He simply didn’t dare to meet the blow head-on and leaped frantically away from the other two.
East Peak fell with a crack and directly slashed the assault vehicle into two halves. It was as though it were slicing through tofu.
Karsi was shocked out of his wits. Seeing Qianye rush toward him, the viscount drew his sword to block while shouting loudly, “Norris, pincer attack!”
East Peak arrived with incomparable force and twisted Karsi’s sword out of shape immediately upon arrival. He could hardly ward off the attack in terms of pure strength, to speak nothing of the origin power impact.
Moreover, Norris who specialized in speed failed to assist him in time. The vampire’s movements were as slow as a snail, and he even tripped along the way. Norris glanced at his completely numb left leg, only to discover that the blood flowing out of the wound was actually putrid and dark purple in color.
“My blood, my blood!” Norris was inconsolably terrified.
Karsi was barely holding out under the raging torrent of blows. It actually took several dozen exchanges before his sword was completely destroyed and the viscount was pierced through the abdomen. The origin power attached to East Peak suddenly erupted and almost tore Karsi into two.
The vampire viscount hadn’t died completely at this point, but Qianye didn’t have time to deal that final blow. He quickly turned toward the human male who had already fled for some distance. He could clearly see the man’s eight origin nodes with his True Sight, which proved that he was only a rank-eight fighter. But for some reason, he gave Qianye a vague feeling of uneasiness.
At this moment, the battle ahead was still raging on, and most of the warriors were so invested in the battle that they had no idea what had transpired behind them. But the soldiers cutting off his path weren’t small in number either. Ten-odd vampire warriors and over a hundred human soldiers reacted by surrounding him from all directions.
Qianye ignored the people around him and thrust directly toward that human male. There were no fancy moves in this strike, but it was fast and hard enough. The best way to deal with such mysterious opponents was to use raw strength to overpower them.
However, this blow capable of defeating a viscount didn’t faze the man at all. He pressed down on his waist and immediately conjured a faint red barrier which protected him within.
Qianye only felt as though he had struck an extremely big rubber ball; most of the force was dispersed and failed to reach the target. This sword strike akin to wind and thunder actually failed to break that energy barrier and only blasted it away.
Qianye was a bit surprised. A defensive treasure capable of blocking a sword strike containing eight parts of his full force should be fairly valuable. It seemed the other party’s identity wasn’t ordinary. But why was a person of such status so mediocre in strength, and why were there no expert bodyguards accompanying him?
His heart trembled—following his will, a scarlet origin power barrier emerged around his body to reinforce his origin power defenses. It was at this moment that a person among the ordinary soldiers surrounding him erupted with power and charged toward Qianye. A rapier several meters long and only a finger in width appeared in the man’s hand as he thrust it at Qianye’s back.
The rapier was as thin as a needle. It broke through Qianye’s origin defenses in one strike and pierced into his back. Even the constitution stronger than a vampire count was rendered helpless in the face of this rapier embodying the extremes of power.
As the blade entered his body, Qianye instinctively twisted his body to avoid vitals and, at the same time, fired at his assailant.
A “ding” rang out in Qianye’s body as the thin rapier shot past the heart and struck the blood core! That faint sound was precisely the sound of the blade puncturing the heart and stinging the dormant blood core.
The ambushing expert wasn’t expecting Qianye to react so quickly. With a muffled groan, the man was struck by the Mystic Spider Lily, producing a messy, bowl-sized hole on his chest.
A shot at such a close distance had barely managed to break the other party’s defenses. The man wasn’t anxious at all even under the current circumstances. He proceeded to pull out his blade with great force and caused the rapier to exit Qianye’s body like a venomous snake. Afterward, he flashed away.
Qianye’s blood core finally woke up after being damaged. It was beginning to pulsate.
“Thump… Thump…” The dull sound was like a beating war drum and almost suppressed the beat of his heart.
Qianye didn’t lose his mobility like other vampires after his blood core was injured. On the contrary, he grew ever more ferocious like a wounded beast. At this moment, an uncontrollable killing intent surged within his heart, and he couldn’t help but let out a furious roar!
The blood core started boiling and almost burst into flames. All of the crystalline fragments lit up as countless strands of blood shot out from within.
At this moment, a layer of faint red appeared on Qianye’s body as hundreds of sanguineous threads shot out and pierced through every warrior within a dozen or so meters. The ambushing expert was the most miserable, having been pierced through by tens of bloody lines.
The heavily injured Karsi and Norris weren’t able to escape the calamity either and were struck by ten threads each. The remaining high-ranking vampire soldiers all suffered several attacks, while the ordinary human soldiers were only pierced by one.
The bloody lines retracted immediately after their emergence, their ends stained with the scarlet color of blood. After their return, the blood energy in Qianye’s body shot up to its peak and immediately started to boil. The blood core repaired itself at an unbelievable rate, and the physical injury on his body also closed up rapidly. It regenerated in the blink of an eye until only a faint scar was left behind—and even that was gone after some time.
That expert’s face was pale, and his aura extremely weak. He looked down at his body only to find ten-odd bloody spots which, compared to the wound from the origin gun, were negligibly small. However, the injuries didn’t seem simple at all. Nine of them were on his nine origin nodes, while his heart and two champion vortices were pierced by numerous bloody threads.
At this moment, the greater half of his vitality had been robbed, and his origin vortices, destroyed.
The man raised a finger at Qianye and said in a trembling voice, “You… you…” He could no longer speak at this point and suddenly collapsed to the floor, his vitality extinguished. No one knew just what it was that he wanted to say.
Like a toppling domino, the expert’s collapse was quickly followed by the petrified men around him; all of them had lost their vitality. In the blink of an eye, no one was left standing around Qianye.
The distant man inside the protective barrier turned pale as he stared at Qianye like he would a ghost. He had managed to avoid that calamity just now because of his distance. Seeing Qianye’s gaze turn toward him, the man finally lost his composure—he let out a fearful cry and turned to flee.
But how could Qianye let such a pivotal character escape? He immediately chased after him with great speed and progressively shortened the distance between them.
“Save me!” the man screamed while running. Qianye became vigilant and paid extra attention to his surroundings to avoid ambushes. However, his speed never decreased.
A military transport charged over from the side at a great speed, aiming for Qianye. The ferocity in his heart hadn’t receded at this moment, and he couldn’t suppress the killing intent upon seeing the vehicle that didn’t know life from death. He let out a thunderous shout and actually crashed right into it.
“Boom!” Qianye’s body was pushed back several meters, and his legs dug deep into the ground, forming two deep trenches. Meanwhile, the transport was sent flying and spun several times in the air before crashing to the ground.
Qianye strode forth in large strides and slashed right through the car. Fresh blood immediately gushed out amidst the torn metal and formed a bloody mist after mixing with the gushing steam. Apparently, the people inside didn’t survive.
Dealing with the military transport didn’t take long. He started running once again and soon arrived behind the man, slapping him to the ground with a swing of East Peak.
The barrier was quite strong and managed to block East Peak once again. The man wasn’t injured at all despite falling to the ground. This time, Qianye was prepared. He brandished East Peak and started hacking at the barrier in a leisurely manner. This kind of external origin barrier required an energy supply and would naturally vanish once the stored energy had been depleted.
The man cried out anxiously, “Stop! Let’s talk nicely! Stay your hand first!”
After several slashes, the barrier was fluctuating intensely and appeared to be on the verge of shattering. The helpless man withdrew his barrier and gradually stood up with his hands raised.
“Have your men cease fire and surrender,” Qianye said coldly.
With East Peak against his neck, the man had no choice but to obey. “Cease fire! Everyone stop fighting and drop your weapons!”
The gunshots soon grew sparse and finally stopped. Apparently, this man’s position was quite high since his orders were immediately executed. Even the surviving vampires didn’t resist and threw down their weapons obediently.
The captain of the caravan rushed over after a while and was startled upon seeing Qianye. That was because the latter was still wearing a tactical mask at this moment which blocked out most of his facial features.
However, he quickly understood that Qianye didn’t want to show his face. He bowed deeply and said, “This lowly one is Song Yinian. Many thanks to this Young Noble for saving us. Otherwise, all our goods would’ve been lost here along with several hundred lives. I wonder if Young Noble is willing to expose your name? I will definitely visit you upon my return and express my deep gratitude!”
“Where is this caravan from?” Qianye inquired.
Song Yinian hesitated for a moment before speaking with a wry laugh, “This route was supposed to be top-secret, but we were unexpectedly intercepted here. It would seem that we were sold out long ago. Let it be… we are from the Ningyuan Heavy Industries, and these three mercenary squads were hired as supplementary escorts.”
As expected, this caravan was from the Ningyuan Group. It seemed Qianye had made the right choice by intervening. But he still felt rather doubtful, and hence he inquired further.
Song Yinian was only a middle-rank character in Ningyuan Heavy Industries and had only been following orders this time. All he knew was that he had to deliver these goods to the designated cargo distribution center and nothing about the route after that. He didn’t even know what he was transporting before they were robbed.
Seeing that Song Yinian couldn’t explain anything clearly, Qianye instructed him to arrange an empty cargo truck and bring the captured man inside.
Qianye threw the man to the ground after closing the compartment doors and said coldly, “Tell me everything you know. I would advise against making me use my usual methods. No one has ever succeeded in keeping their lips sealed in my hands.”
This man appeared to be in his thirties with fair skin and slender eyes. He was fairly calm now that his initial panic had passed—he clambered up to pat his clothes and proceeded to sit down cross-legged.
He said calmly, “I see that you charged in midway and have no idea how deep the waters run. With a powerful cultivation at a young age, your future prospects are indeed promising. You must, by all means, avoid wading into these muddy waters. Otherwise, you’ll regret it very quickly.”
Qianye replied indifferently, “You’ll have to explain to me just how deep these waters are.”
The man said proudly, “You’re already in deep trouble for those vampires you killed outside. Those are important characters from the Twelve Ancient Clans. They’ll surely never let you off. But if you swear allegiance to me, I can help you suppress this matter. What say you?”
“If their identities are really so shocking, can you even suppress them?”
Facing Qianye’s doubtful gaze, the man said, “Of course, I can. I’m surnamed Li. Young Noble, you should know what that means, right?”