Chapter 674: We Drink Tonight!
[V6C204 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Qianye’s senses were sharp, but the same couldn’t be said for Wei Potian. How could he, in his high spirits, sense the subtle changes in the surrounding? He stepped into the courtyard while laughing loudly. Very quickly, his guffaw came to a screeching halt as he stared at Ji Tianqing with a vacant expression.
The lady had never moved from her place, but she did not exist at all in Wei Potian’s perception. It was still the same even when they were standing face to face. This kind of sensation was almost illusory.
Wei Potian rubbed the back of his head. Then, he actually closed his eyes, rubbed them, and opened them again. This time, he didn’t just see Ji Tianqing but could also sense her existence perfectly well. Whether it was in his eyes or perception, Ji Tianqing was just an ordinary major with a mediocre foundation. He even suspected she had been promoted as an exception.
He rubbed his eyes hard, but this ordinary-looking Ji Tianqing was still standing there just as before. Her appearance was fairly ordinary—delicate and pretty but not exactly beautiful. There wasn’t anything outstanding about her cultivation, either. The peculiarity from just now was nowhere to be found.
This time, Wei Potian was baffled. “Don’t tell me I’m seeing things? I slept quite well last night.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Qianye dragged the man into the courtyard and pushed him into a chair. “What are you doing here without recuperating obediently?”
“This daddy’s wounds have healed long ago. How can this little injury hinder me? It’s just that my movements aren’t very smooth yet. It doesn’t affect anything.”
Qianye didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. “Even your movements are strained. Go back and recuperate well. We’ll talk more after a couple of days!”
“Recuperate my ass! I’m going to get sick from the boredom. I’m going to get moldy if I don’t drink. You’re not allowed to go anywhere tonight, you must drink with me. I’ll introduce you to some beautiful ladies. They’ve wanted to know you for a long time! And all of them are young misses from aristocratic families!”
Growing increasingly excited as he spoke, Wei Potian completely ignored Qianye’s expression. He grabbed the latter’s shoulder and said, “Heh, heh! This time I can finally let you have a taste of what I went through back then!”
It was at this time that Ji Tianqing suddenly “appeared” in Wei Potian’s vision. Moreover, her existence grew extremely strong and became almost impossible to ignore, immediately grabbing Wei Potian’s attention.
The fellow felt that something was wrong, but had no idea what it was. He said to Qianye, “She is...”
“My aide-de-camp dispatched by the military department,” Qianye explained thus, hoping Wei Potian would understand the illogical part in all this.
“Aide? Your aide? A mere major!?” Wei Potian threw Qianye’s painstaking effort down the drain.
“Ah, eh?” Ji Tianqing smiled harmlessly and even looked a bit wronged—it was almost as though she was frightened of Wei Potian.
Qianye sighed in secret and reached for East Peak’s hilt. He was prepared to engage in a big fight if he had to, on the off chance that Ji Tianqing suddenly attacked. Qianye already had a fair understanding of her strength after sparring with her for some time.
Ji Tianqing’s most terrifying aspect was her secret art—it was both wondrous and extremely powerful. In terms of grade, it was far superior to any inherited art Qianye had ever seen. Qianye might be able to take advantage of his powerful physique to endure a sudden attack from her, but Wei Potian definitely couldn’t.
Just as Qianye was in an entirely guarded state, Wei Potian suddenly reached out and patted the girl’s shoulder, saying in a sympathetic voice, “How can a little major be this fellow’s aide? I don’t think this is a good position. This bastard fights like there’s no tomorrow, you won’t survive long if you follow him! Not to mention a major, even a major general like me was nearly killed.”
His boasting was truly a bit overboard, and Qianye couldn’t help but set him back a bit. “Aren’t you still some distance away from being a major general?”
Wei Potian kept up his big talk. “Just one step away, I can cross over anytime.”
What could Qianye say in the face of Wei Potian’s heroism when the latter was treating a promotion like eating and drinking? After a heroic speech, the fellow said to Ji Tianqing, “This position is simply courting death, you can’t stand here for long. How about this? We seem to be fated. You can come to me, and I’ll secure a less dangerous post for you in the Wei clan’s private army. Your origin power is fairly mediocre and sparse, definitely not suited for the front lines.”
This plot twist was too sudden. Ji Tianqing was momentarily startled and could no longer launch that killing move she had been preparing just now. She suddenly performed a smiling salute and said, “Many thanks to the Wei clan heir!”
“How did you know who I am?” Wei Potian couldn’t figure it out.
“You’re so famous, who wouldn’t know you? It’s very normal that you don’t know me. It’s enough that I know you.”
Wei Potian scratched his head, feeling that this major was quite cute. He laughed out loud and said, “Ah, is this daddy here so famous? Well, that’s not impossible. Hehe, Hahahahaha!”
After the dumb laugh, Wei Potian slapped Qianye’s shoulder and said, “Enough with the rubbish, we drink tonight!”
“Wait, I have something to do tonight.”
“It’s settled!” Wei Potian thus swaggered off.
After the man left, Ji Tianqing also smacked Qianye’s shoulder and said in an unquestionable tone, “We drink tonight!”
Qianye shook his head helplessly. It would seem the night’s activity was a calamity he simply couldn’t escape.
At Indomitable’s airship port, a rather magnificent looking airship was in a slow descent. There were numerous traces of damage to the vessel’s body. Apparently, its journey here wasn’t all that peaceful.
The moment this airship landed, an officer came up and checked the family emblem imprint. After the registration procedure, he said to the middle-aged man who had just walked out of the airship, “Is Marquis Smallmountain doing well? If it wasn’t for the elder saving me back then, I wouldn’t be here today.”
The middle-aged man replied with a smile, “The elderly marquis is doing quite well. He’s been cultivating single-mindedly these days in hopes of breaking through a major bottleneck. That’s why I was sent to escort the young miss in his stead.”
The Zhao clan officer asked curiously, “This is a place of war. Whatever shall we do if something happens to the young miss?”
“The business here is important, so we have to come even despite the perils.”
The middle-aged man wasn’t willing to say anymore. The Zhao clan officer could only let it be although he was still quite curious.
Eventually, the middle-aged man and his entourage went on their way and his airship was towed to its parking spot. At this moment, another airship issued a landing signal. The officer’s eyesight was keen enough to see the family emblem on the vessel. “Count Yian? How come he’s here too?”
At this moment, Song Zining was in his office, reading a report with a deep frown on his face. “Marquis Smallmountain and Count Yian are also here? What kind of liveliness are they here for?”
For many years, Marquis Smallmountain had been in secluded training in order to break through to the divine champion rank. He simply paid no heed to the matters of the mundane world. Meanwhile, Count Yian was a regional count who was supposed to be occupied in a fierce war against the dark races—he couldn’t even spare any troops for the void continent battle. It was probably not a coincidence that these two forces had arrived in quick succession.
Song Zining flipped through even more reports and saw that a total of nine minor aristocratic families had come to the floating continent, with even more scheduled to arrive in the coming days.
The seventh young master studied the information regarding these families over and over before putting the documents back on the table. He muttered to himself with a frown, “Could they be here for that? Just who leaked this information?”
At this moment, a shadow flitted past his window. Yet another airship was descending slowly toward the airship port.
Similarly, a shadow spread across Song Zining’s heart.
The vast wilderness of the floating continent was no longer as desolate as in the past as a large patch of fortresses rose up around Indomitable. Those giant workshops the Zhao clan had set up beforehand played an important role, bringing to life the distinct large-scale production that the Zhao clan was known for. They churned out a steady stream of basic components required for the construction of defensive structures and delivered them to all the construction sites. This gave an exponential boost to their working speed.
At present, even the aristocratic families who harbored grudges against the Zhao clan couldn’t help but admit that the latter had quite the foresight. While everyone was busy claiming cities and land on the frontlines, they had been constructing fortifications and production lines in the rear. Without these giant workshops, the fortress clusters wouldn’t have been completed so quickly.
The dark race army contracted to the borders of the wilderness after suffering defeat in Zhao Jundu’s hands. They retreated almost up to the point where they had started chasing the Zhang clan army and reorganized for several days before advancing once more.
Although the great dark race army had begun moving forward, it was still far away from Indomitable. Their small units made up of independent experts, however, had already reached the vicinity to scout and harass—signs of their activity could be found everywhere.
A frail, ghost-like figure swept through the undulating landscape of the wilderness. Just as she was running past a yellowed bush, a werewolf suddenly rushed out and bit at her neck!
The young girl leaned forward and passed right by the werewolf’s bite before sprinting ahead. Meanwhile, the werewolf staggered as though he were drunk—he struggled for a good while before falling to the ground, blood pouring out from below his collapsed body.
The girl kept on running as before, but there was a trace of blood on her disproportionately large cleaver.
She looked back time and again as she fled, her face full of terror. As she ran on and on, she took a sharp turn around a giant rock and vanished behind it. She appeared, moments later, over a thousand meters away, her shadow so faint that only a patch of haziness remained. There, she changed directions once more and faded away into the distance.
The only one who could flee in such an eerie manner was, of course, Bai Kongzhao. At the moment, her face was pale, and her clothes were tattered. The visible portion of her legs was filled with scratches and wounds. Apparently, she had been running in quite a miserable state without any opportunity to rest.
That werewolf wasn’t the only one in the wilderness. There were quite a few dark race members scattered throughout the area. Those with sharp senses would occasionally sense Bai Kongzhao and quickly reveal their desire to hunt her down. This wasn’t normal because Bai Kongzhao would usually emit a faintly discernible aura of terror that intimidated most of the dark races.
Now, though, she no longer dared to release her aura of massacre and had no choice but to endure the harassment of the dark races. Apparently, she was so terrified of her assailant that she didn’t dare expose even a little bit of her aura, lest she be found out. She was also exhausted and could no longer maintain a perfect state of concealment.
Just like that, she snaked haphazardly across the wilderness.
Zhao Ruoxi’s figure suddenly appeared in the wilderness just as Bai Kongzhao disappeared over the horizon. With the Red Spider Lily in her grasp, she was humming a relaxed and delightful tune as she flew at a steady pace.
She was flying straight forward at first but soon made a sharp turn toward a different direction. Coincidentally, Bai Kongzhao also changed directions far off in the distance.