Chapter 572: Old Friends Reunite
[V6C102 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
This place was Yuanshui, a small city at the borders of the empire. Presently, it had been modified into a massive frontline base that was almost as large as the one at Giant’s Repose. There were three such cities to Qianye’s knowledge—the imperial army would set out from each of these cities and march toward the void landmass via three different routes.
Additionally, there were countless more armies rushing over from the imperial hinterlands. No one knew how many of these soldiers would return after this war.
Qianye’s ears twitched just as his thoughts were wandering about. He noticed some barely discernible footsteps approaching rapidly. This person’s movement skills were fairly good and managed to merge his steps into the natural sounds of the wind and waves. He might not have discovered it if his vampire constitution and senses hadn’t been heightened following successive upgrades.
The footsteps were very fast and soon arrived outside the door. Qianye broke into a frown as he sensed some danger from it. Now, this wasn’t a common occurrence—it signified that the person outside possessed exceptional strength.
Countless notions appeared in Qianye’s mind. He went through all of his enemies one by one, but none of them should have the guts to attack him in the imperial camp. Qianye moved toward the door like a feather and waited in silence.
The visitor’s origin power erupted violently, and the door was shattered with a boom as the person crashed in!
Qianye reacted instantly, raising a sheathed East Peak and slapping down on the intruder’s back.
The air in the room turned stagnant as East Peak moved—it was as though the space here had been frozen solid. This door-crasher growled as he sensed the danger. A bright yellow light burst out from him, within which was projected the vague silhouette of numerous mountain ranges.
It felt as though East Peak had pressed down on a firm, slippery object that just wouldn’t transmit external force. Then came a powerful rebound force, poised to push East Peak to the side.
As a veteran of many battles, combat had more or less become an instinct for Qianye. He exerted greater force after discovering the abnormal sensation in his hands. Origin power poured into the blade like a raging tidal wave. Qianye’s origin power was several times greater than his peers and he also had trained in the Profound Combatant Formula; hence, these tides were extremely fierce and tyrannical. The exertion caused the intruder to let out an odd cry as his origin defenses tottered on the verge of collapse and the mountains in the yellow radiance shattered.
Qianye suddenly pulled back after seeing that the other party could no longer hold out and his origin defenses were about to crumble. “Potian, you’re growing bolder by the day. You actually smashed my door.”
That person swayed about for a while before regaining his footing. It was none other than Wei Potian. He was wearing the standard general uniform made of black and gold. It was just that his shoulder guard was decorated with the emblem of the Far East Wei Clan.
“How did you discover me?” Wei Potian’s face was a bit pale, but he wasn’t in too bad of a condition. After all, Qianye had held back and didn’t smash open his Thousand Mountains on the spot.
“You’re like an elephant when you run. How hard can it be to sense you?” Qianye replied unceremoniously.
Wei Potian scratched his head with a puzzled expression. “That’s impossible! Not many people can discover me when I hide myself, not even on the battlefield.”
“Not many means there are still people who can.”
“That’s not right!” Those who can sense me are usually three ranks higher. That’s a count-level character at least.” Wei Potian pondered hard.
Actually, Wei Potian’s concealment ability was quite good. They were currently in a silent lake-side camp. If this situation were to occur on the battlefield, it wouldn’t be so easy to discover his movements.
Qianye had never imagined that this wild boar who would usually thrash about with his Thousand Mountains had actually learned to launch sneak attacks.
Wei Potian’s brainstorming yielded no results. True to his character, he quickly stopped investing too much mental effort. His expression turned into one of satisfaction as he laughed out loud. “How’s that? My Thousand Mountains improved, didn’t it? This time, you couldn’t break it!”
He laughed a couple of times, but upon seeing Qianye’s spurious smile, his boisterous “haha” shrunk into a “heh heh”, and then trailed off. In the end, Wei Potian said furiously, “Y-You, held back?”
“Not a lot,” Qianye spoke the truth.
“Not a lot means you still did! Goddammit!” Wei Potian’s content quickly turned into depression.
Qianye gave it some thought and said seriously, “Your Thousand Mountains really did improve a lot.”
But Wei Potian didn’t cheer up. “No matter how much it improves, I just can’t compare to you.”
Qianye’s words weren’t just to comfort Wei Potian. This time, Wei Potian’s Thousand Mountains was no longer just firm but also contained some flexibility. This would increase his defensive power dramatically, even against the same level of origin power. Moreover, Wei Potian’s rank had increased to eleven and was one rank higher than Qianye’s.
If it wasn’t for Qianye’s greater improvements, he really might not be able to break through the Thousand Mountains.
Their topic of conversation changed after an exchange of greetings.
Qianye and Wei Potian were happy to be reunited, but Qianye also found it strange. “Is the Wei clan required to take part? Has the war ended in Far East Province?”
“Of course not, but the situation has stabilized, and there’s no difference whether or not I’m there. I don’t want to stay locked up in there for too long and die of boredom! That little gigolo Song Seven is living the life. He goes everywhere he wants each day. This daddy is here to experience what it feels like to charge at the head of the army and rampage through a thousand miles.”
Qianye couldn’t help but laugh after hearing this. The Far East warfront was at the border, so the battles were mostly fought around the forts. And with Wei Potian’s arts and talents, he was destined to fight at a defense region. It sounded like the heir of Marquis Bowang wasn’t too satisfied with this lot and wanted to change the situation.
Wei Potian was speaking heroically, but both of them knew it wasn’t that simple. Song Zining’s accomplishments involved outstanding strategy and a fair degree of luck. It just so happened that this luck was always on the side of Song Zining and his Three Thousand Flying Leaves Art. The same, however, couldn’t be said of Wei Potian. This was also why Wei Potian was indignant.
Qianye’s expression was solemn. “They’re even recruiting troops from the Far East Wei Clan. Is this battle that important?”
“Far East is but a single province, but this void landmass is a battle of national fate, so of course, it’s different. Moreover, we’ve fought those black blooded bastards for over a year but never gained the advantage. Maybe they’ll also need to transfer troops over when the war here picks up the pace.”
Qianye nodded. It would seem the situation in other parts of the empire were more or less the same.
Wei Potian whisked out a map and spread it out on the table. He then pointed to a point on the map and asked, “Qianye, which warzone are you going to this time? Are you still with the Zhao clan?”
“No, I’ll choose to hunt independently.”
Wei Potian whistled. “Ambitious! I like that. I’ll go with you after making arrangements for my troops.”
Qianye said with a smile, “I’m fine with that, but are you sure you can leave your private army?”
Wei Potian raised his hands. “Why not? Uncle Bainian is the real leader. I may be a good soldier, but a good general I am not.”
“I’ve never seen you admitting to being inferior, especially in leading troops.”
Wei Potian shrugged. “That’s just to prevent Song Seven from stepping over my head. Now I’ve joined the battlefield, and for such a long time, too. There’s no room for boasting in that accursed place. Talking big will lead to death, and that’s not very high on my wishlist. I don’t want my subordinates to die, either, so I keep my boasting limited. Losing to Song Seven is really nothing. That brat is annoying, but there’s really no shortage of people who are even more hateful.”
With that, Wei Potian knocked on the map and said, “Our Wei clan’s warzone is there!”
Qianye glanced at the location. “Land of Frost? That’s not a good place.”
It was the only highland on the floating continent covered in frost year round. In addition to the adverse weather conditions, the empire hadn’t found any valuable resources there, either.
However, Wei Potian had a different opinion. “You’re wrong, this place is a great place. The most uncomfortable places on the battlefield are where you’ll encounter the least enemies. I’m fine either way, but that’ll allow many of my subordinate brothers to survive. Enough with these things. I’ll come find you after I settle down in the Land of Frost.
“Not a problem.” With that, Qianye pointed on the map and said, “I’ll be operating around these parts during the early phases.”
The area he had pointed out was the strange forest covered in purple substance. Later on, the empire named it Misty Woods.
The value of the natural origin distillate in Misty Woods hadn’t yet been determined, but the empire had already noticed its dangers. Even with the information provided by the experts who had explored this place during the search for ancient essence fragments, the exploration teams who had arrived later on were still wiped out in this area.
“This kind of place makes me really uncomfortable,” Wei Potian said with a frown. He hated the place since, without Qianye’s True Sight, his visual range was no different from an ordinary expert.
But to Qianye, this was the most favorable environment. Qianye hadn’t encountered anyone during the previous exploration of Giant’s Repose with a longer visual range. Nighteye was the only exception.
Moreover, the empire’s investigation revealed that the Misty Forest was much bigger than the area Qianye had passed through. It was probably distributed around the underground world formed of the void colossus’ spine. All in all, one would have to pass through this area in order to get to the central region. There was no need to worry about the lack of battles here.
Wei Potian mumbled and complained for a while, but gave up after seeing Qianye remain unmoved. It would seem that the latter had no intention of changing his destination.
The geography of the void landmass was complicated. There were deserts, wastelands, forests, prairies, and mountain ranges. Moreover, they had also found a giant underground river flowing through the entire continent. The empire had divided the floating landmass into seven regions depending on the geography and natural paths.
Under such circumstances, there was no way the empire could lock down the entire landmass and keep the dark races out. The strategic focus of this operation wasn’t to prevent them from landing but to reduce their strength with a fleet battle in the void, and then fight a territorial battle with them on land. The aim was to bleed the dark races repeatedly until they were forced to abandon this land.
This strategy signified the coming of a protracted war.
Wei Potian suddenly recalled something. He moved toward Qianye and said in a hushed tone, “My old man said this war might last quite a while, so ammunition will be in short supply toward the end. I got my hands on two crates of mithril bullets, you can have one.”
“No need. I’ve already made preparations.”
Only then did Wei Potian notice the sniper rifle and armor lying in the room. His eyes lit up immediately. “Thunderbolt? Iron Wall? You actually have such good items?! Did the Zhao clan give them to you? Their treatment isn't bad, I must say.”
Wei Potian had said thus because neither Thunderbolt nor Iron Wall was something ordinary experts could buy. Even his armaments, as the heir of the Wei clan, were only a bit better.
Qianye said with a smile, “I exchanged them with military contributions, but the Zhao clan does treat me quite well. I received a lot of resources from them.”
Wei Potian nodded. “Then I won’t insist anymore. Heh, heh! Major clans are always richer than us aristocratic families. It’s fine to let them fork out a bit more.”
Wei Potian recalled something at this point. “Oh, right. Who’s coming from the Zhao clan this time? Is that troublemaker Zhao Yuying here?”
His words hadn’t even ended when a loud voice echoed outside the door. “Who’s so concerned about this mommy? Are you looking for a beating?”