Chapter 667: Dark Currents
[V6C197 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Everyone looked toward this voice and saw the newly ascended prince—the one who had ignited a seal in the River of Blood—Habsburg of the Flaming Crown.
His position in the council had risen by leaps and bounds after igniting the seal. However, he spoke so rarely that people had almost forgotten his existence.
But he had actually spoken such astonishing words during the meeting. Many people knew that Habsburg had dealings with Lin Xitang before. They immediately began wondering whether he knew something.
At the level of a council member, no one would speak lies so easily. In addition to strength, reputation was also something valued by the true bigshots.
A white-haired elder spoke only after a while, “We indeed cannot exclude such a possibility, but we need to verify it.”
Everyone fell into silence at this point. Verify? How were they to verify this?
In the recent twenty years, the empire’s Twin Paragons had always been at the forefront of the factional conflict. Since Lin Xitang’s rise to fame, the Evernight Council had lost count of how many times they had suffered in the man’s hands. Be it in terms of scheming, war, or divination, countless characters from the council had taken the field but failed to gain an advantage.
Comparatively, they were more willing to fight Zhang Boqian. One could still fight a satisfying battle against Prince Greensun, but it was hard to fight against Lin Xitang even if they wanted to—they would always suffer losses for baffling reasons.
This was the most distressing point for the council members. If they had gone to verify whether or not he had ascended to the heavenly monarch rank, it was more than likely that they would be tricked instead. The odds favored them suffering a loss instead of obtaining key information.
At the thought of this, many eyes fell upon Habsburg. This matter was his suggestion, so it was expected for him to handle it. However, Habsburg of the Flaming Crown sat entirely still with no intention of accepting this mission. It was as though someone else had spoken those words just now.
The Arachne Warlord Noxus, who was presiding over the meeting, knocked on the table after a moment of inexplicable silence. “We shall return to the original topic, do we need to carry out preventive measures regarding Zhao Jundu?”
Heated debates arose once more, with one group insisting that they couldn’t allow the humans to do as they wished, while the other arguing that the dignity of the council’s bigshots had to be maintained. Attempting to assassinate a young genius was simply too low a move; was the Evernight Council so afraid of the empire? Even if the humans really produced another Martial Ancestor, the council’s three dictators were enough to suppress him.
As the arguments reached the fiercest point, someone sneered, “We’re arguing back and forth here, but it looks like those little fellows can no longer sit still. Quite a few of them should’ve run off to the floating continent, right?”
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“There are indeed seven or eight of them headed there, likely to challenge Zhao Jundu.”
At this moment, an arachne duke sneered at the demonkin grand duke sitting across from him. “To challenge Zhao Jundu? That’s not all, is it? The Demoness of your race suddenly awakened at such a time. What exactly does that mean? I thought I heard that the void was her home ground.”
The families who had juniors headed to the void continent became apprehensive. Their thoughts turned about quickly—they began contacting their subordinates outside of the council, seeking to confirm news of their juniors.
The major races within the Evernight faction had been in conflict for over ten thousand years; it could be said that nothing was going too far for them. The Masefield Demoness’ advantage in the void was matchless, and even stronger experts would usually lose to her there. If she were to hide in the void and ambush some of the young experts who were on their way to the void continent, she could bring about a generational death for their families. Those who dared to challenge Zhao Jundu at this point were the most prominent geniuses of the Evernight faction’s younger generation. If they were killed, there might not be any other opponent for her for the next couple of decades.
This wasn’t a blind guess. The demonkin race’s intention to control the Evernight world had been growing increasingly evident in recent centuries. It was just that the enmity between the races was simply too deep for any chance at cooperation. For instance, the werewolves and vampires would never work together against the demonkin. The vampires and the arachne looked harmonious, but things weren’t as simple as they looked on the surface. There were all kinds of battles going on behind the scenes, each attempting to bring the other party down a notch. All of them were hoping to take second place first before challenging the first.
The Masefield grand duke laughed in the face of the arachne’s criticism. “We really don’t need to scheme in order to kill the two spiderlings from your family.”
The arachne duke was furious. He shot up from his seat and shouted, “Does that mean you really intend to attack?”
The demonkin wasn’t shaken by this. “I’m not sure about other things, but I do know that your little spiders aren’t worth her time.”
This was undisguised disdain. Apparently, he didn’t even view these arachne scions as worthwhile opponents—they lacked even the qualifications to be potential rivals. The arachne duke secretly sighed in relief because his two descendants indeed lacked the ability to fight back against the Masefield Demoness. Judging from the pride the demonkin had formed over ten thousand years, they certainly wouldn’t attack the arachne scions after saying so.
The debates continued from dawn until dusk but no consensus was reached. None of the races were willing to give in regarding such important matters. It wasn’t uncommon for the arguments to go on for several days.
There was nervousness amidst the tranquility in Indomitable. Airships came and went every day, moving vast amounts of resources and troops into the stronghold. The Zhang clan had claimed its territory in the inner circle of the city and started building dedicated fortresses outside. Soon, the other aristocratic families followed suit—they tacitly acknowledged the Zhao clan’s leading position as they began constructing all kinds of facilities nearby. Even the Li family had picked an area inside the city to construct a courtyard. It was just that they didn’t build independent fortresses outside the city, a firm display of their determination to hold the Misty Wood.
Indomitable was transforming with each passing day as the fortifications outside of the city rose steadily. All the families made steep investments, utilizing large numbers of airships and even mobilizing experts for the construction project. At this rate, a new cluster of fortresses would appear in a matter of days.
The inner region of Indomitable was relatively quiet. This was where the highest ranking officers and aristocracy lived, and the facilities here had long since been constructed.
Early in the night, Qianye entered the cultivation chamber as usual and activated the origin array, prepared to begin his cultivation for the day.
Before long, the room was suffused with white mist that almost dripped on one’s hands. This wasn’t steam but the daybreak origin power condensed by the array. The aggregation of origin power on the void continent was much quicker than on the main continents. However, the energy here was contaminated with a fair amount of void origin power—it couldn’t be absorbed directly and had to be refined via special arrays.
Such a refinement array was fairly expensive and only available for a handful of important people. If Qianye’s treatment was still at the brigadier general grade, he wouldn’t be able to use this chamber at all.
After taking his seat in the chamber, Qianye began circulating the Profound Combatant Formula. It had been several months since he had the time to cultivate at ease. He could supply his origin power requirements with tree sap back in the Misty Wood, but his daybreak origin power cultivation had stagnated after leaving it.
Just like the days prior, an origin vortex would gradually form and expand as he circulated the Profound Combatant Formula. The suction force produced therein would draw upon the origin power in the vicinity. Within the cultivation chamber, the mist formed of daybreak origin power started to spin and was gradually absorbed into his body.
Moments later, the white mist in the chamber grew sparse as the newly formed origin power was continuously absorbed into his body. It wasn’t enough for use at all.
At this moment, a colonel in the control room shot up from his seat and exclaimed, “Why is it like this again?”
All eyes moved instantly toward him.
On the projection in front of him was a simplified diagram of the entire inner city. There were close to a hundred light spots, each one representing an origin array. This number was the result of many years of accumulation since even the Zhao clan could only produce a number of them each year. A small number of them were provided by the imperial clan and other aristocratic families. Since they were a precious strategic resource, the Zhao clan had included supplementary arrays during their installation to measure their condition at all times.
At the moment, most of the nodes on the projection were blue, indicating that they were normal. A small number of them were different shades of yellow which indicated that these arrays were converting origin power at close to full capacity. However, there was one node that was bright red and flickering continuously—this signified that the origin array was overloaded and might suffer damage.
All the officers in the room crowded over after seeing this. “How can this be? Just how many people did they stuff inside?”
All origin arrays had an upper limit to their operation, but they should have no problem serving an expert at the rank of lieutenant general or even higher. Only those close to or at the divine champion level could cause them to be overloaded. However, experts at that level were all major characters. They usually possessed their own cultivation facilities and weren’t likely to use these cultivation chambers.
Apart from Duke You Zhao Xuanji, there weren’t any divine champion level experts either in this area. Duke You’s residence wouldn’t be on the surveillance grid, either. Then, who was this person? Who was actually pushing the highest-grade origin array to its limits?
The greatest possibility was that some people were secretly sharing this cultivation chamber meant for a single expert above the lieutenant general rank. This was a fairly serious crime because even middle and lower ranking aristocratic families couldn’t afford the price of a single array.
In the face of his colleague’s guess, the colonel responded helplessly, “I’ve sent people to check a couple of days ago. There’s only one person in there.”
“A single person?!”
“How is that possible?”
“Could that person have come over secretly? Why did we not receive any news?”
Gasps of astonishment rose and fell in the room. As this was the core region of the Zhao clan, it would be a serious matter if any divine champion level expert were to sneak inside.
Someone asked amidst the cries of surprise, “Who is this person you speak of?”
The identity of the residents in each courtyard was supposed to be a secret, and most of the officers in the control room didn’t have access to this information. However, that voice seemed to contain a bizarre power, which forced the colonel to reply subconsciously, “General Qianye from the Fourth Young Master’s residence.”
Trembling, the colonel suddenly woke up after saying this. Leaking secrets was a major crime especially during these important times, one that could lose him his head. He got up quickly and saw a female lieutenant walking away.
Only after she had left through the door did the colonel remember something. Why was there a lieutenant in the control room?