Chapter 793: Path of No Return
Keimor’s blood rushed to his face in a fit of fury and shame. He was a vampire marquis, an expert akin to a rank-sixteen human expert and someone on a completely different level compared to Qianye. Presently, Qianye was far ahead on the Heartseeker Path while Keimor was looking pretty much exhausted. It was just as Elder Wei had said—he was far inferior to Qianye both in terms of willpower and accumulations.
With his thoughts in disarray, the crate he was carrying became even heavier and almost like a small mountain on his back. His aura became unstable, and one of his legs nearly gave way.
Caroline moved back and grabbed the crate. “Let me carry it.”
Both thankful and embarrassed, Keimor said with a bow, “Thank you for the help, Your Excellency Caroline.”
Elder Wei shook his head. “It’s no use helping a fellow who only knows how to depend on his bloodline, he definitely won’t reach the top.”
Caroline said, “He is, after all, a capable general of our neutral lands and I am its citizen. I can’t stand by and do nothing. Besides, that Qianye is so crafty and full of schemes, it’s always better to have more hands.”
Elder Wei didn’t argue with her. “I was going to take over that item after he collapses. But since you’re helping him, then I won’t be interfering anymore.”
“There’s no need, either,” Caroline retorted.
Keimor was livid—he followed the two from behind, glancing at Elder Wei from time to time with an incisive gaze.
At this point, Qianye was about two circles above the trio. Yet, the peak was still hidden within the clouds and no one knew how far away it was. The mountain path remained constant, winding upward without end. If it wasn’t for Elder Wei’s group climbing the same path from behind him, Qianye might’ve suspected whether he had fallen into an illusion and that the peak could never be reached.
Qianye was no longer relaxed at this point—his blood core was pulsing strongly, the blood throughout his body was aboil, and there were dark golden flames surging around his body. If the pressure were to increase further, it would begin draining his dark golden blood energy. By the time the latter had been completely exhausted, Qianye would not be far off from collapsing.
Qianye had no choice but to slow down his footsteps to reduce the strain on his body. Meanwhile, Caroline and Elder Wei were catching up to him at a brisk pace.
Moments later, Caroline was standing before the stone tablet. She didn’t have a very strong reaction at first, but she gasped in astonishment after reading all the words. “Pointer Monarch! It’s actually the Pointer Monarch!”
Elder Wei was watching her while she was looking at the stone table. Seeing her calm expression while looking at the tablet, Elder Wei shook his head with a sigh. “How unfortunate, I guess you’re not fated, either.”
Caroline was surprised. “What fate?”
Elder Wei replied, “When the Pointer Monarch wrote these words back in the year, he carved all of his desolation and dismay into them. Those who can comprehend them will naturally reap the rewards. But then again, this is fate can’t be forced.”
Caroline was astonished. “It works like that?”
Elder Wei replied, “The Pointer Monarch is powerful beyond imagination. This is nothing to him, only a casual move to bestow some pointers to fated juniors. Speaking of which, all human heavenly monarchs possess boundless abilities, not like those Evernight fellows who only sleep, eat, and rely on their inherent bloodline for everything.”
Elder Wei’s words were quite arrogant, and as a vampire, Keimor was naturally dissatisfied. Yet as an experienced person, he realized that Elder Wei’s words made sense. Bloodline power and physical talents were the characteristic advantages of the Evernight races. In this regard, any one of their races was stronger than the humans. However, human heavenly monarchs, with their varying abilities, were no weaker than the great dark monarchs on the battlefield. That was a widely-accepted truth.
In truth, tyrants of an era like the martial ancestor and founding ancestor could suppress any great dark monarch of their generation. Even those existences on the sacred mountains were perhaps a bit inferior to them.
Keimor didn’t dare retort in the face of Elder Wei’s might, but he was rather excited after hearing about the potential benefits from the tablet. That was a bounty from the Pointer Monarch himself—he was but a small marquis and not one of ancient bloodline, either. How could he even compare? The Pointer Monarch could crush him with his pinky finger. Without even waiting for Elder Wei’s reminder, he walked toward the stone tablet and began observing it in great detail, afraid that he would miss even a small detail.
But he gained nothing from the tablet no matter how hard he glared, nor did he reach any special state of epiphany. All he could feel was the chill of the strong mountain winds.
Elder Wei shot him a mocking glance but didn’t stop him. Caroline wasn’t satisfied, either, and went forward to look together.
Finally, Elder Wei coughed. “Comprehension can’t be forced. If you understood nothing at the beginning, that’s probably the limit.”
As a divine champion, Caroline’s willpower was firm. Although she was a bit unwilling, she dragged her eyes away from the tablet and continued toward the summit. Keimor, on the other hand, wasn’t willing to give up and remained in a contemplative state until Caroline and Elder Wei had vanished over the corner. Only then did he wake up from his reverie and chased after them.
Nonetheless, running against the Earth Dragon’s suppressive might consumed his blood energy at an intense rate. By the time he had caught up to Elder Wei and Caroline, his face was deathly pale and his aura was in chaos. This sprint had probably reduced his maximum climb by one circle.
Elder Wei was too lazy to look at the panting vampire, opting to ignore his existence altogether. Caroline was still marching steadily forward with that heavy box in tow. This went to show just how powerful she was.
In the blink of an eye, they had made several circles around the mountain and was only one lap away from Qianye. The two parties could already catch glimpses of one another at certain angles. It was just that this peak was special—one could only see and not attack one another since they were in different dimensional planes. Caroline was naturally dissatisfied and attempted several whipping motions. Nonetheless, Qianye remained perfectly unharmed despite the sparks and wastage of origin power.
After several setbacks in this peculiar land, even someone like her didn’t dare waste origin power for no good reason. The joke would be on her if she couldn’t get to the top. It was already quite evident that the two parties would truly meet only after reaching the summit. Everything they did along the way was just a waste of time and energy.
Caroline wasn’t the least worried that she wouldn’t get to the top. All she needed to do was avoid stupid mistakes. Even though her strength had been affected by the previous injuries, she was confident in reaching the end with Elder Wei’s help.
Those who couldn’t reach the top would die along the way. Their only chance of survival was for someone to reach the summit and break the suppression. As Caroline saw it, it would be too easy for Qianye if he were to die along the way.
After discovering that Caroline could do nothing to him, Qianye regained his calm and kept on climbing at his own pace. He was slower than Caroline, but the difference was very limited. The two parties did three laps around the mountain before the distance between them shortened slightly.
At this moment, the pressure from the Earth Dragon had grown so unbearable that even Keimor could no longer withstand it. He was like a staggering old man taking half a day for each step. Unable to keep up with the group’s pace, he had long since fallen behind and was only hanging in there by his sheer will to survive.
Qianye glanced back, his gaze stopping on Keimor for a while before moving toward Elder Wei. He was indifferent toward Caroline—he had never associated with her before, nor did he have any special opinion about her. Since she wanted revenge for her dead brother, all he needed to do was to fight her.
That wasn’t the same for the old man since he came from the imperial military and the troops under his wing were elites from the central command. It was just that Qianye couldn’t tell what his relationship with Li Fengshui was. But he was certainly no weaker than the latter and his status seemed higher.
Now that the two parties were in a deadlock, Qianye had to eliminate the old man for a chance at survival. And all of that was in addition to the deep enmity between him and the imperial military.
Qianye shot a deep glance at Elder Wei and continued his ascent, hastening his steps slightly to keep up with the old man’s.
Even a schemer like Elder Wei couldn’t help but frown as he took a deep breath and quickened his pace. All of a sudden, he found, to his surprise, that he had been drawn into Qianye’s tempo. Could it be that he had long since considered this person a powerful enemy?
At the realization of this, Elder Wei regained his calm and steady speed. Caroline asked in astonishment, “Doesn’t this mean we won’t ever catch up to that kid?”
“The Earth Dragon’s suppression will only grow stronger. Besides, with your cultivation and mine, do you think we can’t afford to wear him down?”
Elder Wei’s words made sense, so Caroline did not insist and merely kept on ascending. She kept Qianye in her vision at all times, in a bid to pressure him. If the two parties were to maintain this distance until the summit, she could whip the latter to pieces as soon as the barrier vanished.
Another circle went by, but Qianye’s speed never changed. He was still moving at the same rate as the two people behind him. At this point, even Caroline couldn’t help but admire Qianye. In terms of willpower alone, she really might not win against the latter. Her relative ease in traveling upward was only due to her high cultivation.
All of a sudden, a thought popped up in Caroline’s head. “Say, do you think that Qianye has comprehended something from the Pointer Monarch’s tablet?”
This question threw Elder Wei into a lapse of silence. “Very likely.”
Caroline exclaimed in surprise, and her gaze toward Qianye became even more complicated. What kind of talent was he to have comprehended the Pointer Monarch’s words? Even Caroline herself had to give up.
One more circle later, the clouds suddenly thinned out quite a bit and the vague outline of the mountain peak was revealed. With the destination in sight, both Qianye and Caroline became more spirited. Only Elder Wei glanced at the former with a serious expression.
The summit seemed near, but it was actually a dozen more circles at the very least. The clouds around them dispersed after one more circle upward, revealing a vast, clear sky.
However, the Earth Dragon’s pressure increased sharply as soon as the skies cleared up, and there were wisps of grey energy flowing down like rain—the suppressive might had become tangible!