Chapter 665: Reading Until Dawn
[V6C195 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Thus, Eden’s existence caused a much greater headache for Li Tianquan than for any other aristocratic family. It could be said that the contribution rankings would soon scatter in the winds if this scourge wasn’t removed. Even if they could hold out with the Storm Pearl for now, they wouldn’t be able to reach the very end.
The true reason the Li family had brought out two Storm Pearls was to attract imperial experts to fight for them. The Li family’s current lineup wasn’t enough to cover a battlefield as large as the Misty Wood.
Two Storm Pearls was nothing if they could obtain the Misty Wood. What treasure could compare to the family’s chance at being promoted to a major clan?
This was the Li family’s hundred-year plan. Li Tianquan would be condemned throughout history if things were ruined by his hands. Moreover, there was no telling when things would go south. Even now, there were already people secretly moving to impeach him.
He had never imagined that such a good battle situation would be ruined by a single Eden. But what could he do? Li Tianquan knew his own abilities—even if he took the field personally, it would probably end with him being killed by Eden.
Eden’s advantage in the Misty Wood was simply too great. The aristocratic families had proven this fact with a mountain of corpses. Eden’s vision in the forest was at least four to five hundred meters, a range sufficient to throw everyone into despair.
The more he felt distressed about Eden, the more he hated Qianye. How could things have deteriorated to such a state if the latter were still here to confront Eden?
At the thought of this, Li Tianquan couldn’t help but curse, “Little animal who can’t see the bigger picture!” Then, he threw the teapot in his hand to the floor.
A maid entered silently, cleaned the room, and left just as quietly. Recently, Li Tianquan would smash a couple of teapots each day, and almost everyone around him had gotten used to it.
Li Tianquan’s mood improved quite a bit after smashing a teapot. He had switched to using cheaper teapots now so that he wouldn’t feel a heartache every time.
But of course, the problem remained unsolved despite the destruction of chinaware. Regarding the release of the Storm Pearl, he was going to confiscate Qianye’s reward at first. That would save him the trouble of modifying the leaderboards. The reason he had prepared was that Qianye had left the warzone in advance.
This reasoning was somewhat forced because Qianye had only left a few days ahead of time. Besides, even if he did leave early, his position on the ranking couldn't be broken. Those ranked below him risked life and limb during the last week and fought with everything they had. However, none of them managed to shake Qianye’s place.
This also meant that the results were the same even if Qianye allowed them to run free for an extra week. One had to remember that Qianye was fighting with Eden during the earlier phases.
Although there were many people with the same thought, there was also a substantial number of people who were against him. These people were clear that the current Li clan couldn’t even deal with Eden—how were they going to handle Qianye?
Just as the arguments were at their peak, Zhao Jundu suddenly sent word to the Li clan: “If you don’t cough up the Storm Pearl, I’ll come and get it with my army!”
These words left not the slightest leeway nor face for the Li family. The Li family from top to bottom was in turmoil. Zhao Jundu was merely a kid in the eyes of many elders—how dare he act so arrogant? How could his words represent the Zhao clan? Some people immediately cried out, “We’re the empress’ clan, why must we fear a fight with the Zhao?”
In truth, even Li Tianquan looked down upon those who shouted the loudest. If a battle were to break out, these people would be among the first to run. Not to mention other things, how many of them had actually joined the battlefield after all this time on the floating continent?
At this moment, the Li family lord suddenly announced that the Storm Pearl must be handed to Qianye without delay. Moreover, he had used his yearly veto-power to bypass the elder assembly and finalize this order.
Criticisms immediately echoed throughout the family. Many old fellows cried bitterly and banged their heads on the wall to express their shame for the clan lord’s decision.
As expected, the noisiest ones were the ones who had never fought. Most of the people who had been in the Misty Wood kept their silence because only they knew the meaning behind those cold numbers depicting Qianye’s contribution points. It wasn’t just his unfathomable combat strength—it implied just how many imperial lives were preserved because of him.
Before long, however, Zhao Jundu fought that earth-shattering battle and Zhang Boqian’s evaluation of him was spread throughout the empire. The Li family’s criticisms all disappeared, and all those who had been crying and cursing out loud seemed to have forgotten about all that they had done.
Li Tianquan had another problem on his hands. He had once announced that he would add Stillwater Rebirth to Qianye’s prize if he could take first place on the rankings. This matter caused a huge ruckus, so everyone knew about it. Li Tianquan really couldn’t renege on his words right now.
But the problem was, where was he going to find a Stillwater Rebirth?
A divine life-saving medicine like Stillwater Rebirth was naturally priceless during times of war. The Li family’s current stock already had owners to them, and even the ones under production had been reserved. How could there be any extra portions for Li Tianquan to gamble?
The only way Li Tianquan could think of right now was to compensate Qianye with something of equal value. However, even his entire family’s fortune wasn’t enough for a Stillwater Rebirth.
This worry was enough for him to smash a dozen more teapots.
Compared to the floating continent, the chaos of the Evernight Continent felt like a holy land. It was so calm that one would hardly be able to adapt.
It was afternoon, the sunniest time of the day on Evernight Continent. Nighteye was in the courtyard reading a book when her brows suddenly creased together. She glanced at the gates.
A light knock came from the door at that moment. The rhythmic tap was neither too fast nor too slow, and merely maintained a constant frequency.
After some thought, Nighteye got up to open the doors. There, she saw a man in his thirties, clad in an imperial military uniform devoid of military ranks or insignia. Nighteye had never seen him before, but unrelated personnel weren’t allowed in the Dark Flame Headquarters.
This man looked calm on the surface, but he was like a raging volcano inside. His origin power surged wildly, and his gaze was practically overflowing with killing intent.
A single meeting told Nighteye he was someone who had walked through seas of blood and mountains of corpses, the most dangerous kind of person. Moreover, she couldn’t see through this man’s strength at all, only that he was a champion. Nighteye’s eye ability leaned toward slaughter and was a bit different from Qianye’s Eye of Truth that could see through the world. Hers was somewhat lacking in the perception department.
But Nighteye was dazed for only a moment. She immediately said with a smile, “Do you need anything?”
The man was also startled upon seeing Nighteye, almost as though he hadn’t expected to see this ordinary looking girl with no origin power. He asked in uncertainty, “Is this General Qianye’s residence?”
“Yes, it is. But Qianye isn’t home.”
The man sighed in relief. “That’s great, I come bearing a letter from General Qianye.”
With that, he very carefully produced Qianye’s letter from his pocket. He seemed afraid of causing even the slightest damage to it.
After receiving the letter, Nighteye smiled upon recognizing Qianye’s writing on the envelope. “It’s written by Qianye, thank you! Do you want to sit for a while?”
The man exhaled. “No, thank you. I must report back.”
With that, he bowed deeply at Nighteye and left. In the blink of an eye, he had made a turn around the corner and vanished.
Nanhua arrived hurriedly at that moment, brushing past that man along the way. She actually shivered as though she had sensed something, but by the time she had come to, the man had already disappeared.
Nanhua stood at the courtyard gates and asked, “Did that man come to see you?”
Nighteye nodded. “Qianye wrote me a letter, and that man brought it to me.”
“Delivering a letter!? Such a person delivering a letter? This… isn’t this too extravagant?!” Nanhua found it unbelievable. She felt that the man’s strength was as deep and unfathomable as the ocean.
Nighteye said indifferently, “I don’t know. The letter was written by Qianye, and that’s enough for me.”
Nanhua said, “Qianye’s writing? That bastard finally writes you a letter. How many months has it been!?”
Nighteye smiled faintly. “The battles over there must’ve come to a pause. He won’t be telling me all this if he’s busy fighting every day.”
Nanhua sighed lightly. “He’s afraid you’ll be worried about him? How blissful!”
Nighteye accepted these words with a calm nod.
“Then I won’t disturb you anymore. You take your time reading the letter. This is the first time I’ve seen one that thick.” Nanhua left with a chuckle.
Nighteye returned to her room, opened the letter, and began reading through it in detail.
The letter was about the special places Qianye had visited recently. After describing the place in detail, he would always add “I should bring you here to see”. Perhaps he himself hadn’t noticed it, but these words were the most repeated in the entire letter.
The letter was like a stack of clumsy travel notes. It sounded like his footsteps had covered every corner of the floating continent, and that he wanted to bring her to see all the pause-worthy places.
Just like that, she kept on reading and reading, revealing a knowing smile from time to time. She read until the sun had set, the lanterns were lit, the stars filled the sky, and up until the first rays of dawn broke through the horizon.
By the time the light dawn washed over the Evernight Continent, that man had returned to the floating continent and was standing before the mysterious woman. “I managed not to disgrace your command.”
He was looking quite miserable at this moment—his uniform was torn in many places, and there was an evident scratch mark on his face. Clearly, traveling back and forth between the void landmass and Evernight continent was extremely arduous.
As though she hadn’t seen his condition, the female lieutenant merely nodded and said, “You may leave.”
The man bowed respectfully, exited the room, and locked the doors behind him. He didn’t leave immediately and, instead, stared vacantly at the closed doors. Only after a long while did he breathe a long sigh and vanish into the darkness.
This door had never opened for him, and it never would.
Inside the room, the lady sat silently before a thick stack of documents. It was a mystery what she was thinking. The information in front of her was only related to two people: Qianye and Li Kuanglan.
Her finger brushed over Li Kuanglan’s name as she whispered, “I’ve returned. Come fight me again, let me see how you’ll win this time.”