Chapter 679: Land of Joy and Peace
[V6C209 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Stars fell like rain, akin to an endless stream of fireworks.
The young demonkin on the airship stared at the void continent but did not issue the order to advance. One ship after the other passed by him as they rushed toward the land. However, he remained still all the while, and the demonkin behind him stood just as silently.
Finally, one of them lost his cool. “Young Master, won’t it be too late if we don’t go now? There aren’t a lot of contribution points involved, but there is still a fair amount to be gained. Moreover, I fear that it’ll be disadvantageous to your cause if you fall behind during the critical moment.”
The young demonkin smiled. “Did you all think the contributions this time will be so easy to obtain?”
The other demonkin didn’t quite agree with this. “Apart from Zhao Jundu, who else among the younger generation is your match? Even Zhao Jundu himself is a tad too young right now. He could be considered frightening after several more years, but he’s only in his twenties at the moment.”
The young demonkin shook his head. “You’re underestimating the difficulty of this matter. The humans have been contending against the sacred races for so many years and are still expanding. How can they be so simple?”
One of the demonkin snorted immediately. “It’s all because of those vampires! If these bloodsuckers hadn’t been thinking about replacing us every day, how could humans have reached their current state?”
“It’s useless to say these things. Nothing has changed in the past ten thousand years and it won’t ever change in the next ten thousand years.” The young demonkin pointed to the void continent with a smile. “Do you all know why we’re fighting against the younger generation of the human race?”
Frowning, the others fell into deep thought.
The young demonkin said slowly, “You’ll know before long so there’s no need to hide this. The Great Maelstrom will appear again soon, and this battle will determine half the quota of people heading there.”
“Great Maelstrom?!”
“Half the quota?”
“What’s going on? Why would we use this kind of method to decide the quota?”
Clamor broke out in the cabin.
Seeing how the young demonkin didn’t reply, the others also realized that this was a secret they had no right to know. They quickly calmed down and gazed at the distant void continent.
Airships of all shapes and sizes flitted past and vanished into the void continent.
The atmosphere in Indomitable also became mysterious. The warning lights on the anti-air turrets around the city turned yellow. This meant that their defensive capabilities had been disabled, and it would take a while for them to reboot. Meanwhile, all of the kinetic towers in the city began to rumble. They began pumping out a constant stream of kinetic energy while spewing out large amounts of steam that shrouded the city in vapor.
Very soon, the kinetic towers reached a critical state, yet no one knew where the vast amounts of energy had flowed off to.
Within the control room, Zhao Jundu was gazing at the night sky with a serious expression. Stars were falling like rain in that direction.
A middle-aged brigadier general walked in quickly and performed a salute. “Fourth Young Master, all turrets have been shut down and the fortress defense output has been raised to the maximum. Everything has been arranged according to your instructions, but are we really going to do this?”
Zhao Jundu’s lips curved up into a good-looking smile. “Why shouldn’t we?”
“Indomitable is our central military hub. The entire war on the void continent will fall into a precarious situation if we lose it. Wouldn’t it be dangerous if we let those dark races into the city and they somehow lose control or cause intentional destruction?”
Zhao Jundu smiled as he looked down at the sleeping fortress below. “How can a fortress be as important as the younger generation of the Evernight faction? I’ll just round them all up if they dare break the agreement. So what if the city is ruined or even if the void continent is lost? Ten years later, we’ll be able to gain a firm foothold on a different land, and within a hundred years, we’ll be able to claim a new continent for the empire.”
At this point, Zhao Jundu turned back and said to the brigadier general, “This is the true meaning of the war of national fate!”
Shaken at heart, the general bowed solemnly and said, “This general has learned much.”
After the brigadier general left, that mysterious, black-robed lady appeared in the room once more. “Young Master, everything has been arranged and the first batch of dark races have entered the city. However, people on our side aren’t in good condition. Shall I wake them up?”
Zhao Jundu broke into a laugh. “You mean those drunkards? Let them be. This also proves that we’re working according to the agreement without any special preparations.”
The lady remained hesitant. “Young Master, they’re really drunk. I fear there will be casualties in case of an ambush.”
Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, “If they let their guard down thinking Indomitable is a land of joy, peace, and revelry, there’s nothing to feel sorry about their deaths.”
“This…” The lady was surprised.
Zhao Jundu smiled after suddenly recalling something. “Don’t underestimate those fellows, they might give us a big surprise. Especially Lil’ Five, did you all think I was treating him so well just because he’s my brother?”
“Eh…” The lady was hesitant to speak.
“If you want to say anything, just say it!” Zhao Jundu seemed to be in a good mood at the moment.
The lady replied softly, “We really thought it was just because he’s your brother.”
Zhao Jundu’s smile froze upon his face.
Moments later, he glared at the woman and said, “It looks like I’ve been treating you lot too well.”
The woman chuckled with her mouth covered. “No way.”
Qianye was leaning on the wall of Wei Potian’s courtyard. He had poured himself yet another glass and was drinking his worries away.
In truth, he couldn’t tell what he was distressed about. It was just that he had a certain inexplicable emotion that was gradually expanding. Glancing at the people strewn across the courtyard floor, he realized he had inadvertently defeated everyone again. Surely, some of them would come to challenge him when they woke up on the morrow.
It turned out that being peerless was so lonesome.
Qianye broke into a laugh, feeling that it wasn’t bad to let loose his mood every once in a while. It was almost as though he could have a taste of the heavenly monarch realm in advance. No, in truth, heavenly monarchs weren’t peerless. Perhaps only the martial ancestor or the founding ancestor would be able to enjoy this kind of mental state. Who would’ve thought he would be able to garner such achievements in the domain of alcohol instead of on the battlefield?
The liquor in the glass was soon gone. The wine no longer had any special taste in Qianye’s mouth. Currently, it was only little more than slightly sweetened water—it could neither intoxicate him nor quench his thirst.
Qianye suddenly thought about Blackflow City. That was his home, and there was someone there waiting for him to return.
Amidst his thoughts, Qianye suddenly looked up and found a blurry silhouette on the wall. He could only make out that the other party was a werewolf as it had melded almost entirely into the shadows. Just from this, one could tell that the intruder was someone proficient in stealth and ambush.
The shadow wolf trembled ever so slightly as his gaze landed on Wei Potian, immediately recognizing him as the Wei clan heir. The latter’s position on the Evernight rankings wasn’t low at all, and even comparable to Qianye’s own. This wasn’t entirely due to his combat strength, but partly because of his status. As the heir of the Far East Wei Clan, Wei Potian’s identity was much more important.
The werewolf looked to the side and, to his shock, found Zhao Yuying. The latter was someone who had made her fame much earlier than Wei Potian, and she was superior to him in both status and combat strength. Now that she was so drunk, this was a golden opportunity granted by the heavens!
Bringing Wei Potian’s head back would gain him fame among the werewolves, and returning with Zhao Yuying’s was enough to gain the attention of the Evernight Council bigshots. If he could bring both, it would cause a huge sensation throughout the world of Evernight!
The werewolf made a beeline for Zhao Yuying. He naturally wanted to pocket the biggest source of contributions first. It was just that he stopped after taking a single step forward. His head was swimming as he stared at the person lying below the table.
How come Song Zining was also here? How was he supposed to calculate the contribution points!?
The assassin felt that his brain was not enough to do this calculation.
During that moment of hesitation, a number of powerful auras appeared above the courtyard.
“Oh no!” the werewolf cried out in his mind. He had actually forgotten, for a brief moment, that he wasn’t the only one who had entered Indomitable. Although he was the luckiest of them all, the others assaulting the city were geniuses of their respective races. There was no lack of characters with sharp senses, and the most terrifying among them could even cover the entirety of Indomitable with their perception. Naturally, it wasn’t hard for them to sense that many of the empire’s young experts were gathered here.
Disregarding the racial hostility, these fellows wouldn’t hold back at all in fighting for contributions. Moreover, they would harm one another without hesitation should the opportunity arise.
The werewolf rushed immediately toward Song Zining at the thought of this. The latter was one of the highest ranked characters and was worth so much more than Zhao Yuying. The assailant had given up on scooping up all the rewards and decided to focus on the single highest bounty.
The moment the shadow wolf sprinted forward, all the other Evernight experts in the vicinity also made their move. They had sensed the werewolf’s actions and, at the same time, realized the situation within the courtyard. Although they couldn’t quite see Song Zining from their angle, they knew that the werewolf wasn’t an idiot. Since he was ignoring Wei Potian and Zhao Yuying for someone under the table, it was clear that the target was someone more valuable.
These young experts had all grown up amidst battle and slaughter. How could they miss out on such an opportunity? Some of them immediately made for Wei Potian and Zhao Yuying. The two strongest ones charged tacitly toward the table, one headed for Song Zining, while the other intercepted the first werewolf. The two weakest ones, however, pounced at the group of ladies heaped up in the courtyard.
None among these girls was on the rankings list, but since they could drink in this courtyard, it could only mean that they were people of some status. Anyone from the major clans was valuable, even the pretty girls.
The two young experts consoled themselves in such a manner.
Just as they were about to reach the girls, Ji Tianqing opened her eyes all of a sudden. Her gaze was entirely unfathomable, almost like a bottomless abyss. The arachne gazed involuntarily into her eyes—in that split second, he felt as though he had fallen into an icy cavern, as though he were a small beast being targeted by its natural predator. An indefensible sense of terror swept through his soul!
A sharp cry of misery echoed throughout the entire city of Indomitable, breaking the silence of the night.