Monarch of Evernight (Web Novel)
chapter-145

t [Volume 3 - The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace]

A bit of light flew out of the corpse and headed straight up to the sky. Moments later, the Yin Family’s points on the ranking list at Duke Wei’s side house jumped up a great degree and entered the top twenty.

Duke Wei happened to be enjoying tea right now, and when he saw the change in the ranking list he nodded and said, “That girl’s finally willing to do some real work.”

However, the manager beside him moved closer with an odd look on his face and whispered, “I just received news that Miss Qiqi is still asleep at this time.”

Duke Wei nearly spat out the tea in his mouth. He turned to look at the time, and the gold-plated clock hand was already pointing at nine o’clock. How was she still sleeping at such a time? This was a spring hunt, not a spring outing!

Duke Wei’s face darkened as he said, “What’s with this point then?”

“Sir Duke, the Yin Family hunting team is missing a bodyguard in their main team right now. This bodyguard had ventured deep into the zone above rank six. This may be his achievement.”

When Duke Wei heard that it was a bodyguard who did it, he instantly lost interest, waved a hand, and said nothing any longer.

Right now, Zhao Junhong had paused his footsteps and cast a glance in the direction where the origin bullet had come from. He forced a line out of the gaps of his teeth, “It’s that guy!”

Qianye decided that he might as well show up. He propped Eagleshot in position, loaded a bullet, accumulated power and took aim all in one go. He calmly landed a headshot on a severely wounded rank six earth dragon. Then, he withdrew his gun, stood up and walked away.

Zhao Junhong was extremely furious, and he could no longer be bothered by the remaining earth dragons. He yelled out in a stern voice, “Chase him! Kill him!”

Several bodyguards immediately charged towards the top of the mountain at full speed. In the blink of an eye, they had already traversed over a thousand meters of distance. However, the fastest guy who had just stood on top of the mountain suddenly let out a surprised cry! That was because Qianye was kneeling just two hundred meters away, moving his muzzle slightly and aiming at him!

The bodyguard’s reaction was definitely swift. In a glance, he determined the trajectory of Qianye’s muzzle movements and immediately sidestepped to the right side. However, to his surprise, he felt something odd where his foot landed, and this time he could no longer afford another reaction in time. A terrific explosion suddenly happened beneath his feet, and a tremendous energy threw him into the air.

While the bodyguard was spinning in midair, a thought flashed through his mind, “Shit!”

Eagleshot rang once more, and this time the dark red origin bullet appeared extraordinarily thick and huge. A bloody red light erupted from the bodyguard’s body. Under the multiplicative effects of Heavy Caliber and Accurate Shooting, his chest armor shattered upon impact and an arm flew away from his torso. Meanwhile, the bodyguard himself was blasted a dozen or so meters into the air before he rolled down the hill.

The rest of the bodyguards were about to reach the mountain peak as well. They were immediately met with a terrific explosion to which they laid down and avoided it immediately. Meanwhile, Qianye had already leaped to his feet and swiftly retreated into the forest. He calmly escaped far away from the scene.

Zhao Junhong’s face was ashen. He never imagined that a mere bodyguard would dare go up against him! Although this wasn’t against the rules, and every family were definitely going to fight each other in a battle royale once the late stage of the spring hunt began, things totally shouldn’t have turned out this way!

In the mind of the Zhao household’s second young master, that battle royale should be the battle and standoff between hunting teams, and those few who had the qualifications to challenge him shouldn’t number more than a few people in the entire hunting field. This rank five guy shouldn’t show up in this list at all!

What discomforted him the most was that they failed to kill or capture him even after they had been offended so. Right now, Zhao Junhong felt as if he had been slapped right in front of a crowd!

However, there was no way such an embarrassing matter could be covered up. Zhao Junhong knew that every aristocratic family’s hunting team was followed by a concealed expert nearby. On one hand, their purpose was to observe the process of the spring hunt and prevent any possible cheating. On the other, they could appear and protect them from harm when it was necessary. If core descendants like Zhao Junhong, Song Zining, Wei Potian, and Yin Qiqi were to encounter an accident, then not even Duke Wei could justify things completely. Therefore, the whole process must have been seen by someone already.

Zhao Junhong slowly climbed up the mountain peak Qianye had hidden himself in earlier.

A bodyguard next to him advised, “Young master, it may be prudent to be more careful. That guy is extraordinarily cunning. There may be more traps.”

“Hmph! This place has been blown apart once already; where on earth would you find a trap? He has to be escaping now while he still can, or are you suggesting that he stayed back to commit suicide?”

Zhao Junhong hadn’t finished when a red light suddenly flashed across his vision! Qianye actually hadn’t left, and he fired a shot from about a thousand meters away!

Zhao Junhon’s reactions were incredibly swift, and he instantly laid down amidst the rubble. The bodyguard immediately jumped above Zhao Junhong and used his body as a shield.

The shot wasn’t aimed at them but a large rock at the side. The giant rock abruptly burst apart in an earthshaking explosion and sprayed large amounts of smelly, corrosive liquid everywhere!

The might of this poisonous liquid was very average. It could only corrode normal cloth and do nothing to the Zhao household’s refined battle armor at all. However, the second it came into contact with air it immediately emitted an impossibly vile stench. Its ability to disgust someone was top class. After that moment of surprise, the bodyguard didn’t dare to stand up immediately. He was afraid that there might be other traps set up on this mountain peak.

Zhao Junhong nearly fainted from anger while he was pressed down amidst flying dust and his nostrils filled with a repulsive stench. He yelled angrily, “Let me up! Bunch of garbage!”

Several bodyguards beneath the hill ran over madly and began searching around the area. Someone said, “Young master, please allow me to inspect the surrounding area first. That guy may still be around…”

The bodyguard had just said this when he heard several gunshots ringing from afar. It was the sound of a large caliber firearm sniper rifle.

At first, Zhao Junhong was a little puzzled. The might of this kind of sniper rifle was too weak, and there was no way it could shoot through their battle armor from this range. So what was it used for? Suddenly, a thought flashed across his mind. He immediately recalled the dying earth dragons!

Zhao Junhong abruptly pushed away his bodyguards, leaped up a large rock and looked towards the valley. As expected, three rank five earth dragons lay dead at the edge of the nests as the last bit of light flew towards the airship in the air. There was no need for doubt. Those points absolutely didn’t belong to the Zhao household.

Zhao Junhong nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The Zhao household bodyguards had discovered this earth dragon nest and spent more than half a day to lay down all the necessary preparations. However, Qianye had taken advantage of his range and killed all of the earth dragons. They could do nothing but watch as the hundreds or so points slipped out of their grasps. Moreover, his loss would only benefit the enemy. This one battle alone caused the point gap between the Zhao household and the Yin Family to shrink by three to four hundred points.

“That damnable guy!” Zhao Junhong suddenly grabbed the collar of one of the bodyguards beside him and said angrily, “Chase him down! I don’t care what methods you use, just find him and kill him! I want to see his head by tomorrow this time!”

The bodyguard’s expression straightened as he said solemnly, “Yes, young master!”

This bodyguard observed the surroundings, confirmed the location Qianye last opened fire from and chased towards that direction. His specialty was none other than mountain warfare and he was the one who did most of the exploration work of the earth dragon’s nest. Therefore, he was already very familiar with the surrounding terrain. That reckless guy was only at rank five. The fact that he fired Eagleshot three times in a row was already an unbelievable feat. Right now he should be at a weakened state, so as long as he sought out his tracks and kept his eyes firmly on the opponent’s escape route, it was only a matter of time before the guy fell into his hands.

Zhao Junhong had obviously figured this out too, which was why he had ordered the bodyguard to chase after him. He stood at the same spot without moving or relaxing his features before asking suddenly, “What is that guy called?”

The bodyguard thought for a moment before answering, “I think his surname is Qian, Qian Xiaoye. There is only one person who’s rank five in the Yin Family hunting team.”

Zhao Junhong’s expression darkened again. The Yin Family? Not a single upper-rank aristocratic family such as the Zhang household and the Song household had rank five bodyguards in them!

The bodyguard tracking after Qianye’s footsteps ran unhurriedly in the forest. He knew very well that patience was an incredibly important element in dealing with a warrior with high outdoor mobility like Qianye. His biggest advantage right now was his immense origin power. Therefore, he had to fully bring out his advantage.

After chasing for half an hour, the bodyguard suddenly caught a strange object from the corner of his eyes. He immediately ran towards it and discovered the corpses of four rank five wild beasts beneath some wilted branches. These corpses were as dry as a mummy, and all the blood inside had been sucked away.

Vampires! The bodyguard felt a shiver in his heart. He recalled that this place was already connected to the outer zone of the black circle. It would seem that there were vampires operating around the area.

However, Zhao Junhong was protected by bodyguards, and the man himself was the number one expert in the hunting team. He himself was extremely experienced when it came to dealing with vampires, so he wasn’t afraid of them at all even in a mountainous terrain that was clearly advantageous to the dark race.

He continued to chase Qianye. Half an hour passed, and he realized that Qianye’s tracks were growing clearer and clearer. It was obvious that his opponent’s origin power was about to be completely depleted, and it was very difficult for him to eliminate his tracks already. As expected, the bodyguard ran up a high spot and just happened to find Qianye passing through a ravine a thousand meters or so away. Qianye turned around and immediately discovered the bodyguard behind him. He immediately moved faster and vanished into the gorge.

The bodyguard immediately sped up. He didn’t pass through the canyon and instead climbed up a ridge from the sides. When he stood up on a high spot, to his surprise, a rather spacious tall slope greeted him. There were clusters of greeneries up here and several dozens of naturally formed stone pillars as well. Qianye had disappeared since a long time ago.

However, the bodyguard didn’t believe that Qianye could escape beyond his vision so quickly. Even if he entered the forest halfway, he had to have left behind some tracks. He narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze across every suspicious corner. Suddenly, he saw an extraordinary black dot in between a clump of wild grass that was above a man’s waist.

The black dot abruptly blossomed with bloody light before he could take a closer glance! Next, the bodyguard was blasted backwards involuntarily as if he had been struck by a hammer. His ears were filled with the sound of rumbling, and the sensation was indescribably unpleasant.

The bodyguard only had one thought in his mind, “How could he still use Eagleshot?”

Qianye lay on the same spot and didn’t give chase. Instead, he loaded another origin bullet into Eagleshot and buffed it steadily with the ability Heavy Caliber. At the same time, he activated Accurate Shooting and pointed it firmly at where the bodyguard’s body had fallen.

Qianye knew that the bodyguard would most likely have thought that he couldn’t use Eagleshot any longer. Therefore, the wisest choice his opponent could pick was to use a stimulant, jump to his feet and immediately run to safety before treating his wounds.

Qianye hadn’t imbued his first shot with any special abilities, so the bodyguard was probably just moderately hurt. A rank seven Fighter protected by a combat household’s battle armor had defensive power that was not far behind a rank six earth dragon.

As expected, the bodyguard immediately jumped from the ground in his sight and just happened to pass through the center of the cross-shaped front sight. Qianye’s fingers had already pushed the trigger to the critical point beforehand, so a soft push was all that was needed for Eagleshot to let out a thunder-like boom as the origin power struck the back of the bodyguard’s heart firmly!

Several pieces of broken armor bounced into the air, and the bodyguard was blasted away after he let out a bloodcurdling scream. He was very tenacious and was capable of escaping even in this situation. The body that was collapsing towards the front abruptly jumped to its feet again and instantly vanished into the forest’s depths.

It was only now Qianye sensed the emptiness in his body. He stood up from his hiding spot and walked towards the dense forest too.

As for that bodyguard, he had taken two Eagleshot hits and the last shot was even imbued with two abilities. Even if he wasn’t dead he would be grievously injured already. Even if he could survive and return to the Zhao household camp, it would take him a very long time to recuperate. At the very least, he had no choice but to quit this spring hunt.