Monarch of Evernight (Web Novel)
chapter-283

t [Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict]

An azure hexagonal door suddenly appeared in the sky over a certain uninhabited mountain region. Qianye rushed out headfirst from it only to find that he was hundreds of meters in the air.

At this moment, the luminous wings on his back dimmed and dissipated into specks of light. Qianye paused for a split second in the air before falling rapidly toward the ground. Below him was a dense forest region—amidst a series of rustles, he broke several large branches on his way down before slamming into the grass.

Although Qianye’s body was quite sturdy, he couldn’t help but become completely dazed after falling hundreds of meters. He came to only after a good while, after which he slowly dragged himself up with the help of a nearby tree. He observed his surroundings and, finding that he had landed at the edge of a forest, began to advance toward the exterior.

Qianye exited the woods moments later and came to a vast clearing. He was currently standing halfway up a mountain, and before him was a gentle slope covered by a green meadow. It was like a piece of brocade extending toward the distant valley. Within that valley, there was a small river which snaked toward the horizon, joined by numerous streams flowing down from the mountains on both sides.

Qianye was moved because the small river suddenly became extremely clear in his vision. So much that he could even see numerous fish under the translucent water surface swimming up against the current with all their might. The fish inhabiting the mountain streams were palm-sized with a transverse golden line running along their sides. Qianye saw all of these with extreme clarity.

However, Qianye was a full thousand meters away from that small river.

Greatly astonished, he gradually swept this gaze over the entire valley. The already picturesque landscape of the valley seemed to have come alive at that moment. He could see the leaves swaying in the wind, the birds moving about their nests, and even that unidentified green bug being blown off from atop the leaf.

All the details and secrets in this whole valley were reflected in Qianye’s eyes despite him standing a thousand meters away.

A certain realization came over him. Was this Super Vision? If that was so, then what kind of ability was the Eye of Truth?

Just as Qianye was thinking, his eyes once again became a deep blue color and the world within it transformed. It seemed as if all the colors were stripped away, leaving only black and white.

In truth, the colors were still intact, but every inch of Qianye’s vision was suffused with a layer of faint black mist which seemingly covered up all the colors. The black mist was everywhere, but it was incorporeal and couldn’t be touched.

Strands of white mist would shoot through the air from time to time and collide against the all-encompassing black mist before gradually fading away. Strands of white mist were born, eliminated, and then the cycle began anew.

Qianye couldn’t help but feel that he had seen this scene somewhere. He pondered momentarily and soon recalled what it was. Back in the empty city, he had seen such white mist emerging from the air and spraying onto the vampire viscounts during battle.

Qianye, once again, sensed the changes and finally confirmed his theory. The white mist emerging in the air was actually daybreak origin power, and the diffuse black mist that filled the air was darkness origin power.

Was this the True Sight? To one’s surprise, it could display the distribution of origin power.

It wouldn’t be too excessive no matter how one described the significance of such an ability capable of identifying origin power. At least for the current Qianye, he would be able to render many of the dark race’s inherent concealment abilities completely ineffective. Most camouflage abilities could deceive one’s vision, but it was impossible to change one’s fundamental origin power attributes.

Qianye had a vague feeling that his True Sight would gain the frightening ability to see the truth of the world after continuous strengthening. True Sight was likely just an initial manifestation of the Eye of Truth’s power.

The scene he had witnessed just now served to confirm the vague feeling he had before. It seemed darkness origin power was everywhere on the continent. In comparison, daybreak origin power was much thinner. No wonder human experts required all kinds of supplementary methods when cultivating, from specialized cultivation chambers to the various secret medicines. Meanwhile, the dark races would see a corresponding increase in strength with natural growth.

At least on this Flaming Beacon Continent, humans who had to cultivate daybreak origin power were at a great disadvantage.

After trying out his True Sight, the only thing left was Eye Ability: Control.

Qianye’s gaze shifted toward a plump hare hiding within the bushes not so far away. As though it had sensed the sudden danger, the hare leapt out from the shrubbery and fled swiftly into the distance. However, its figure had already appeared in Qianye’s eyes.

The hare seemed startled as it leapt away with all its strength. But it suddenly fell midair, smashed heavily onto the ground, and stopped moving after a few twitches. Qianye picked up the rabbit and dissected its abdomen. He found that the hare was completely unharmed externally, but its innards were a mess, and its heart had directly transformed into a puddle of blood.

This was Eye Ability: Control. Where his gaze falls, lies his domain of control.

That drop of Andruil’s origin blood helped Qianye lift all restrictions on the Wings of Inception, activating it completely. Contrary to what people believed, it wasn’t a core array for an origin gun. After fusing with its owner, the Wings of Inception was perhaps better described as a gun spirit.

It could be annexed to any origin gun to raise its firepower, the magnitude of which was decided by the wielder’s own strength. This also meant that its boost in firepower would increase without any upper limit as Qianye grew stronger. It was likely that powerful new abilities would awaken in the Wings of Inception as it matured, giving Qianye the chance to obtain all of Andruil’s special abilities like Spatial Flash, Penetrative Darkness, etc.

All in all, the Wings of Inception was a gun spirit with unlimited potential for growth. Presently, it was still in its nascent stage and Qianye’s bloodline would serve as an incubator for its growth. After reaching complete maturity in the future, the Wings of Inception would separate and materialize. Only then would a new Grand Magnum truly appear.

This process sounded so mysterious that it was almost magical. No wonder Andruil viewed this as his supreme masterpiece. It also wasn’t surprising that the Evernight Council spared no effort and even initiated a continent-wide total war in order to obtain it.

Qianye exhaled and picked up the Twin Flowers—they were both grade-five guns now that their origin arrays had been perfectly restored. The left-handed and right-handed revolvers could now be distinguished. The former, known as the Bloody Datura, sought victory through pure power, while the latter, called the Mystic Spider Lily, was capable of overlaying its attacks with special effects.

After having the origin array restored to flawless perfection by the maker Andruil himself, the gun’s firepower could be increased by an entire grade after activating the Wings of Inception.

Looking up at the sky and gazing toward his surroundings, Qianye suddenly began to appreciate the incomparable vastness of the world with its tall skies and faint clouds.

The uninhabited mountainous region was completely quiet with only the occasional indigenous animal scuttling about and no signs of dark race activity. Qianye relaxed somewhat—the luminous path via which he was sent out had consecutively activated a dozen-odd Spatial Flashes. At this moment, he was almost a thousand kilometers away from his original position and should already have escaped the dark races’ search perimeter.

Qianye was in no hurry to leave. Instead, he rested for a couple of days in the forest and only began to determine his location after he was fully recovered.

Previously, he was already at the end of the Fallen Star Mountain Range, the middle segment of the Blue Dream Mountain Belt’s three-peak-one-river geography. He would arrive at the empire’s borders as long as he traveled along the mountain toward the southeast.

Several days passed by in a flash. The panorama of a gentle plain entered Qianye’s vision as he ascended yet another mountain ridge. He surveyed the land and found, in the distance, a river traversing the plains and a city towering over its bank.

The city wasn’t very large, but it possessed tall walls, deep trenches, and strict fortifications. Judging from its style, it was likely a human border fort. Its appearance proved that the area was already within imperial territory. A surge of delight rose in Qianye’s heart as he hastened his steps and ran toward the city.

Although the place was a border fort, it wasn’t a barren land. There were large patches of fertile agricultural land surrounding the city with crisscrossing canals for irrigation.

Ten-odd villages of varying sizes stood around the city, each of them located behind heavily fortified stone walls that were several meters in height. During war, these villages would be able to depend on each other and work together in a wide consolidated defense.

There were roads connecting each village to the city. Although crudely built, they were at least even and could easily allow a jeep to drive through at high speeds. On the other side of the city, there were two highways stretching separately into the distance.

From the villages, roads, and farmlands, one could see the how flourishing this domain was. The feudal lord of the city was able to govern these lands with such order and make it thrive like so. In comparison, the human cities of Evernight Continent were like rundown villages.

Atop a faraway tower, Qianye could see two flags dancing in the wind—one was naturally the empire’s flag, and the other depicted an armored horse galloping in the clouds. That was the insignia of the Swallow Cloud Zhao Clan, and signified that the city was a Zhao clan enfeoffment.

Qianye had no Zhao clan residential identity and thus would have to pay tax to enter the city. What amazed him was that the guards let him pass after he paid the tax. They didn’t make things difficult for him, neither did they pay particular attention to outsiders.

Hundreds of people had passed through the gates within mere moments and among them were small to mid-scaled trade caravans. Just from the flow of merchants, one could see that this city, although a border fort, was even more flourishing than certain county capitals on Evernight Continent.

The great river flowing past the city was known as the Dark River, and thus this city built upon its shore was called Darkshore City.

The first few things Qianye did after entering the city was finding a detailed regional map and confirming that he was at the border of the Zhao Clan’s Southern Swallow Province. Darkshore City was just adjacent to Mount Pugou. The soil there was quite special, and both the flora and fauna yielded significant amounts of precious products. Thus, Darkshore City became a fairly famous distribution center within the region.

After entering the city, Qianye originally intended to board a public airship toward the Zhao clan capital. From there, he would backtrack along the Taihang Mountain Range and return to Evernight via that small nameless village in Silentflame Steppes.

But flights toward the Zhao clan capital didn’t operate every day in this small border city. The earliest flight would set out only several days later. Thus, Qianye decided to tour Darkshore City during the several days of idleness.

He unexpectedly discovered, after asking the inn owner about the region’s specialty, that the most famous in this city was the bone of the fragrant cloud deer. After the fragrant cloud deer bone was burned using a secret method and ground into powder, it could be used as the main ingredient of the secret medicine, the Origin Construction Incense. The effects of the Origin Construction Incense were similar to the Vermillion Countenance Blood. It would afford a fighter at the fifth rank and above increased sensitivity to origin power during cultivation, thus increasing their progress.

The main ingredient of such a medicine didn’t seem too rare in the region of production, but its price would soar several times after reaching Evernight Continent. This was more than just an issue of shipping costs—the safety of the cargo during transport also had to be factored in.

The journey between the great continents was full of peril. Not just because of the flames of war raging everywhere, but also due to the astrological phenomenon that would occur without warning. It was already considered acceptable if seven out of every ten caravans setting out from Darkshore City reached Evernight Continent.