Monarch of Evernight (Web Novel)
chapter-664

The Li family brigadier general left hurriedly after handing Qianye the Storm Pearl. Although no one knew what the pearl’s real function was, it was common knowledge that the object was a priceless treasure. Qianye simply passed the Storm Pearl to Zhao Jundu for safekeeping since he had no time to keep watch every day. It could be assumed that no one in the clan would dare steal the fourth young master’s things.

After handling the affairs related to the pearl, a lieutenant colonel arrived to lead Qianye to his residence. Qianye’s assigned lodging was quite close to the area reserved for the aristocracy. The environment was beautiful, secluded, and was entirely free from the ambiance of war. Walking through the gates, Qianye realized that it was an independent courtyard with a high-grade cultivation chamber attached to it. In the military-focused city of Indomitable, this kind of treatment was clearly above that of a brigadier general and almost at the level of a lieutenant general.

After looking through the courtyard, Qianye asked, “Are you sure this place is for me?”

“I am. General Qianye has made great contributions, so this kind of treatment is only right and proper. Someone will arrive to adjust the cultivation chamber array for you very soon. You’ll be able to use it by nightfall. Additionally, there’s a manual in your room on Indomitable and its functions. There are also men posted outside of the courtyard, simply call for them if there’s anything you need. I’ll excuse myself now if there’s nothing else.”

After the lieutenant colonel had left, Qianye sat down in front of the window with his eyes closed and began to rest. He wasn’t in a big rush to cultivate at the moment. The most pressing issue was to digest the knowledge he had gained from the river of blood and meditate over his latest battle experiences.

Qianye had a strong suspicion in his heart that the demonkin count was deeply affected by the river of blood. The latter was so apprehensive that his reactions had slowed down significantly, allowing Qianye to kill him in one move. Otherwise, he would have to use all of his trump cards, including the Shot of Inception, in order to finish off the opponent.

Qianye was bewildered about something. If the River of Blood could intimidate the demonkin like so, how had this race with no evident advantage in manpower or top-experts managed to suppress the vampires and occupy the top position in the Evernight world?

From the two times he had come into contact with the River of Blood, he could tell that the vampire race would exist as long as the River of Blood remained. Herein lay the problem—what exactly was the River of Blood? Just where was it? How was it guiding the vampires and their inheritances? Why was the gap between the present-day vampire ranks and the ancient ones so large?

No one could give him an answer to these questions. Perhaps Nighteye might be able to, but Qianye didn’t want to remind her of the past or arouse any memories related to the vampire race. It would be for the best if she could live on in the empire as a peaceful, ordinary lady.

The reason Qianye was fighting so hard was because he wanted to use his contributions to build a safe harbor for her. Status, power, ranks—these things weren’t important at all for Qianye. However, he would fight for them if they could ensure him a peaceful life.

At the thought of Nighteye, Qianye’s heart couldn’t help but skip a bit. He spread out a sheet of paper in a bid to write a letter to her, but he didn’t really know what to say after picking up the pen. The paper was by no means big, but it seemed impossible to fill no matter how many words he spoke.

Qianye picked up the pen and dropped it again countless times, but couldn’t leave a single word on the paper. At this moment, the thin pen felt countless times heavier than East Peak, and even holding it was quite exhausting.

After a fair period of torment, Qianye clenched his teeth and emptied his mind. He decided he would write anything that came to mind.

“The battle is finally over, and I can take a short break. Life here is fairly simple with almost no changes day to day. But the place I’m staying right now is quite nice. There’s a pond of clear water under the bright sunlight. I should bring you here to see.”

He could no longer stop once he had begun, and very soon, he had unknowingly filled seven to eight sheets of paper with his correspondence. Only after using up all the paper did Qianye realize he had written too much. There was no mention of the war in the letter; only the little day-to-day matters and things he had heard or seen.

Qianye folded the thick stack of letters and barely managed to stuff it into the envelope. Then, he rang the bell beneath the table and summoned an orderly to deliver the letter.

A tall, elegant female lieutenant entered the room. Seeing the envelope that was close to bursting at the seams, she was first surprised and then broke into an audible chuckle.

Qianye said in a slightly awkward manner, “This… I’ll trouble you to deliver this. It’s a bit heavy.”

The lieutenant suppressed her giggle as she made to receive the envelope from Qianye’s hands. Looking at Qianye’s odd expression, she couldn’t help but smile. “General!”

Qianye replied vacantly, “What’s the matter?”

“You need to let go!”

Only then did Qianye realize that he had been grabbing onto the envelope. Without him letting go, even several champions wouldn’t be able to pry the letter away from him, to say nothing of a lieutenant.

Qianye released his grip hurriedly. The short moment of fluster caused the lady to giggle endlessly.

The lieutenant raised the letter in her hands and said, “General, please rest assured. I’ll definitely have it delivered safely.”

Qianye nodded and watched as she left through the door. After closing the door, he let out a long sigh and realized he was drenched in sweat.

This was his first letter to Nighteye. From picking up the pen to having it sent, the entire process was rather difficult. It was even more arduous than killing a virtuous count, and perhaps even as tiring as killing a marquis.

After taking the effort to calm down the irregular beating of his blood core, Qianye suddenly recalled that the female officer from just now was too powerful for a lieutenant. But after some thought, he couldn’t quite recall how high her cultivation was. Was it rank three, six, or possibly even rank-eight?

After this thought, Qianye found, to his surprise, that he actually hadn’t seen through her strength—this wasn’t normal at all. As the owner of the Eye of Truth, Qianye’s eyesight wasn’t something ordinary people could compare to, even when he wasn’t channeling its powers. Being able to escape Qianye’s perception meant that this female officer possessed secret arts superior to the core scions of a superior aristocratic family.

But Qianye felt more relieved after further thought. This was Indomitable, the core of the Zhao clan’s forces, and also the empire’s final base of operations on the floating continent. It was only natural for the Zhao clan to have hidden agents distributed among the personnel. This female officer must be such an agent who had been transferred in from some other place. With how big the Zhao clan was, it was normal for Qianye not to know her.

After walking out of the courtyard, that lieutenant was greeted by a man dressed in imperial uniform but without any clan insignias.

She passed the letter in her hand to the man and said, “Deliver this letter to the intended address. Do this personally and without fail.”

The person performed a salutation. “Understood, I will handle it appropriately.”

The lady nodded. “Be on your way then, don’t delay.”

That man stepped back and vanished in the blink of an eye. His movement arts were as eerie as they were agile. Despite his strength, he was incomparably respectful toward the female officer and actually didn’t dare turn around in front of her.

This champion’s strength was outstanding, but the lady didn’t put him in her eyes at all and merely kept on thinking about her own matters. Soon, she broke into a charming smile, and the distant frost on her face came melting down. “He’s so different from what the documents say! He’s so dumb, it’s cute!”

The dark race main army paused its chase after the vanguard forces suffered a major setback. At this moment, the Zhang clan army had already reached the Zhao clan lands. The enemy could no longer catch up even if they wanted to. The dark army had sustained this pursuit for over a long distance with neither rest nor reorganization—no race, no matter how strong, could handle such exhaustion. Naturally, they didn’t want to run into the Zhao clan’s long-entrenched fortifications. Hence, they simply pulled back from the barren region and began regrouping their forces. Their next arrival would be an all-out battle with the Zhao clan.

This gave the Zhao clan's defensive region a rare period of calmness. The floating continent also saw a short respite from the ongoing flames of war.

At this moment, the Zhao clan’s defensive region was the empire’s only intact warzone. Half of the Song clan’s Full Moon Plains had been occupied, and the Li clan was struggling to hold onto the Misty Wood. Presently, Eden had already become everyone’s nightmare. His accomplishments amounted to half of all human losses in the Misty Wood. Any combat squad running into him, no matter from which family it was, was bound to suffer a disaster.

Since the imperial aristocratic families were forming combat squads, Eden—as the scion of a famed demonkin clan—wasn’t lacking in subordinates, either. He now led a group of close to a hundred elite soldiers in the Misty Wood. Not to mention his absolute visual range advantage, he could even take out isolated aristocratic combat squads in head-to-head combat. He was individually powerful and backed by a famed clan. There was nothing the Li clan could do against this kind of near-flawless existence.

Only at this point did the people from the Li clan remember the advantages of having Qianye around. The others were able to enjoy an easy hunt because Qianye had been keeping that demonkin busy.

Perhaps the most distressed person in the entire base was Elder Li Tianquan.

Casualty rates among the aristocracy were rising by the day, so much so that some of the forces were wavering about whether or not they should continue this fight. No matter how bountiful the Li family’s rewards were, there was no point if the elites of their respective families were all dead. As for the Storm Pearl, it was indeed a priceless treasure, but there was only one in each phase. Only the few families at the top of the pyramid stood any chance. There was only one person like Qianye, and even then, it was later revealed that he had the support of the Zhao clan.

As such, many aristocratic family combat squads began considering a retreat. This wasn’t less alarming to Li Tianquan than a bolt of lighting out of the blue. He was privy to the core secrets of the family and understood what these aristocratic families, who had come for their leaderboard, meant to them. Without these forces holding the fort, how could the Li clan defend such a large warzone on their own?

Once they had lost the warzone, the Li family would have no choice but to retreat to the Zhao clan warzone like the Zhang and Bai clans. On one hand, it was expected for guests to follow the wishes of the host. On the other hand, the Zhao clan’s fighting power was largely intact, and it would be all too easy for them to deal with these routed aristocratic forces. Hence, all the aristocratic families would look to the Zhao clan to lead.

The others were fine, but the Li family had fallen out with the Zhao clan during the fight for the empress’ position. Handing control over to the Zhao clan was the last thing they wanted to do. Moreover, whether or not they could hold the Misty Wood was related to a hundred years of their Li clan’s prosperity and decline. If they could defend it until the end, the Li clan would become an aristocratic family that had managed to protect every inch of their land, just like the Zhao. This also meant that they would be second, if not first, in terms of contribution and rewards. At that point, they would have reached the threshold of a major clan.

If the Misty Wood was lost, Li Tianquan’s elder position would come to a definite end, regardless of the family’s future.