Chapter 703: Meaning of Intention Part 1
Chapter 703: The Meaning of Intention (Part 1) [V7C020 – In Life and In Eternal Rest]
High above Indomitable, Song Zining was standing in the air and looking down at the entire city.
At this moment, the city was brightly illuminated and filled with the constant echo of ear-piercing alarms. There were waves rising everywhere in the city, each representing a combat squad or aristocratic private army.
The tides gushed toward the city center wherein lay the center of this tempest. Meanwhile, a sharp blade was cutting through these waves with indefensible momentum and making its way out of the city.
Song Zining’s figure flickered out of existence and soon appeared before Zhao Yuying. There, he named a few streets and said, “Block those places and allow no one to pass!”
Zhao Yuying was somewhat startled. Seeing Song Zining so serious—and her own mind being in a state of turmoil—she agreed without even asking about the details.
The seventh young master’s silhouette disappeared once more. He was using his domain powers to move rapidly. The effects were almost similar to Qianye’s Spatial Flash, but the range was much shorter and the drain was exceptionally high. Nonetheless, Song Zining couldn't care less about the costs at this moment. He flickered rapidly throughout the city to finally reach a street in its periphery, where he proceeded to wait in silence.
A group of aristocratic family soldiers arrived in a hurry and were surprised to find Song Zining standing at the street entrance.
The latter flashed his military insignia and said calmly, “Everyone, wait here and listen to my commands. This place is an important location where the rebel is likely to pass through. We shall station ourselves here and prevent him from escaping.”
As private soldiers from a lower-ranking aristocratic family, they were greatly astonished upon seeing Song Zining’s major general insignia. One of them cried out after recognizing Song Zining’s identity, “This is the seventh young noble, one of Marshal Boqian’s staff officers!”
The private army unit no longer had any objections regarding Song Zining’s arrangement. They didn’t really want to intercept Qianye, to begin with. They were already shocked out of their wits from hearing the distant sounds of fighting and were trying to look for a place to hide. Not everyone was blinded by their will to gain merits—one had to be alive to be able to contribute.
Before long, two more such squads came along this street and were similarly stopped by Song Zining.
The aristocratic family squads chatted amongst themselves and found that everyone’s way of thinking was fairly similar. They soon felt deep admiration for Song Zining. As expected of Marshal Boqian’s staff officer, he could even make escaping a fight sound so dignified. Reportedly, Qianye was on a killing spree and all those who had gone to intercept him had suffered grave casualties.
Just as everyone was discussing this matter spiritedly, the sound of footsteps echoed in the empty street ahead. Each and every tap rapped on the hearts of everyone present, causing their hearts to beat along with it. In just a few steps, all the soldiers—including the two champions—felt their bodies grow weak, and they couldn’t help but clutch tightly at their chests as their breathing became labored.
Qianye arrived from the ends of the street, carrying Nighteye in one hand and holding East Peak in the other. It didn’t seem like he was in much of a hurry, but he arrived before Song Zining in just a few steps and his gaze fell on the soldiers behind the latter.
Almost as though they had been struck by lightning, these warriors trembled after making eye contact with Qianye. The others lowered their heads in trepidation, no longer daring to look into his eyes. However, those at the front row saw Qianye’s East Peak when they looked down—fresh blood was flowing along the blade and dripping off of its tip. That light dribbling sound caused what little fighting spirit and resistance they had to crumble. They didn’t even dare to run.
Soon, Song Zining took a step forward and barred the two streets behind him with outstretched arms. “This path is blocked.”
Qianye stared deeply into his friend’s eyes. In the end, he didn’t charge in forcibly and instead vanished into a different street.
The group of private army soldiers caught their breath only a long while after Qianye had left. Only after coming face to face with Qianye did they realize just how terrifying he was. Just the aura around him was enough to bring them to the verge of collapse. At this moment, they felt that the seventh young noble was indeed deserving of his fame to be able to push Qianye back so calmly. This was what it meant to subdue armies without a fight.
The group of soldiers surrounded Song Zining and drowned him in flattery.
Qianye was startled as he crossed two street blocks and turned toward a certain street. In front of him, Zhao Yuying was standing at the street entrance with her handheld cannon and dozens of combat-ready Zhao clan elites gathered behind her.
Zhao Yuying was shaken when she saw Qianye. “Lil’ Five.”
Qianye said coldly, “General Yuying, are you going to stop me?”
Zhao Yuying was at a loss. She shook his head and said, “No, but Zining asked me to guard this place.”
Qianye frowned. This crossroad was fairly similar to the last one, and just like before, Zhao Yuying was also blocking two of the roads, leaving only one path open.
Qianye walked toward the only remaining path. Some of the restless soldiers behind Zhao Yuying wanted to raise their weapons, but she quickly suppressed them with a stern glare. Most of the Zhao clan soldiers, however, remained still and only watched him leave. Qianye’s prestige in the clan was fairly high. Although he was now burdened with the crime of treason, most of these soldiers simply couldn’t find the will to fight him.
It was at this point that a squad in pursuit of Qianye rushed out from the other end of the street. The mob, formed from a combination of aristocratic families and imperial soldiers, numbered close to a hundred people, and its members were clad in starkly different attires. They were clearly here for the contribution. Under the leadership of a champion, they started chasing after Qianye upon catching sight of him—it was almost as though they had been injected with chicken blood.
Qianye’s expression turned cold. He halted his steps, turned about, and slashed a perfect arc through the air. The champion was over thirty meters away when this slash arrived, and the others behind him were even further away.
Upon seeing this slash, however, the champion cried out in alarm and threw himself to the floor, no longer caring about dignity and whatnot. A wave of formless sword energy grazed past the champion’s head and left a deep groove through his back, causing blood to fly out like a scarlet flag!
The champion had reacted in time, but the mob behind him wasn’t as fast as he was. The soldiers charging at the front were cut down in quick succession, and some were even bisected on the spot!
The ones behind immediately halted their steps as the smell of blood woke them up from their dreams of making it big. They quickly recalled Qianye’s miraculous achievements on the battlefield. It was just that Qianye’s accomplishments back then were accumulated while fighting against the dark races, and hence, the impression wasn’t as deep as the present scene.
Qianye had, with a single Nirvanic Rend, badly injured a champion and killed a dozen or so pursuers. He didn’t even look back after launching that attack. Instead, he continued running toward the end of the street, soon vanishing around the corner with Nighteye in tow.
After witnessing this slash, those Zhao clan soldiers who had wanted to try their luck turned pale and were drenched in cold sweat.
At this moment, inside the Wei clan courtyard, Wei Potian was thrashing about like an ant atop a burning pot. Yet, no matter what he did, he couldn’t break through the defensive line formed from the Wei family’s experts.
“Let me out! I can’t do much anyway! What the heck are you people doing?” Wei Potian roared.
There was a grand chair placed outside of the courtyard, occupied by none other than Wei Bainian. With him guarding the courtyard personally, there was no way Wei Potian could take a step outside. After hearing the heir’s words, Wei Bainian said with a sigh, “Qiyang, you forged the clan lord’s order and elder assembly’s token, costing us most of our assets on Twilight Continent. We haven’t even settled this matter, what other problem are you thinking of stirring up? Keeping you in confinement for seven days is already being very lenient.”
“Seven days! Everything will be too late after seven days!”
Wei Bainian said indifferently, “Does that mean you’re intent on getting involved in Qianye’s matter?”
“How can Qianye betray the empire? It must be a trick! Those bastards from the military department...” Wei Potian cursed loudly. Only afterward did he notice his slip of the tongue and said hurriedly, “Ah, I mean, how can I get involved in such matters? I just wanted to go and take a look at the liveliness outside.”
Wei Bainian wasn’t moved at all. “Seven days, not one day less.”
Meanwhile in the Zhao clan main camp. Zhao Ruoxi—clad in a long, wide-sleeved robe—was slowly combing her black hair. Two maids were helping her with the grooming, but their eyes never left the young miss’ hands.
Zhao Ruoxi suddenly spoke, “You two are quite bothersome, do you know that?”
The two maids felt an ineffable chill run through their bodies as a netherworld flower blossomed before each of them! Gazing at the representation of the underworld river, the girls were shocked out of their wits and couldn’t help but scream out loud.
In a secret chamber several rooms apart, there was an exquisite gun-box with numerous locking seals upon it. Three old men were seated around this container with an origin array beneath each of them. These interconnected arrays were working together to suppress the gun at the center.
Just as the maids’ screams arrived faintly from the distance, several other-shore flowers began to wilt inside the room. The origin arrays lit up brightly and soon reached the extremes of their capacity. Before the three old men could react, the arrays burst into flames and were destroyed. The elders’ clothes even caught fire from the sudden blaze of origin power.
How could these origin flames be the same as ordinary fire? The three went pale from fright and had no choice but to suppress the conflagration with the full extent of their origin power. It was at this moment that the gun box burst open and the magnificent firearm within flew out. It shot through several walls and soon appeared in front of Zhao Ruoxi.
The girl reached for the gun with a somewhat crazed expression and leapt out of the window.
However, a smooth, snowy-white hand appeared just as she was about to reach the exit. This slender hand landed gently on the Red Spider Lily.
The dozen or so netherworld flowers carrying Zhao Ruoxi faded away and the Red Spider Lily quickly lost its glow, almost as though the gun had fallen asleep in the embrace of that gentle hand.
Zhao Ruoxi fell after losing her support, but another jade-like hand caught her and helped her land firmly on her feet.
Zhao Ruoxi exclaimed in alarm, “Mom!?”
Princess Gaoyi was dressed in plain clothes without any makeup or decorations, yet none of these could hide her temperament and noble demeanor. She sighed while stroking the Red Spider Lily. “This is not how you should use this gun.”
Zhao Ruoxi looked down and said through gritted teeth, “But they’re going to kill Qianye!”
“He’s sure to die if you go out with the grand magnum.”
Zhao Ruoxi was astonished. “Why?”
Princess Gaoyi said with a sigh, “How can those people stay still if even the Red Spider Lily has taken to the field?”