Chapter 77: The Aura of an Old Acquaintance

The room was in utter disarray, cluttered with parts and tools, reminiscent of an aged weapons workshop. It was a mystery how she managed to move so many things inside in such a short time.

Qian Ye heard a noise coming from the bathroom and went over to check. There he found Nangong Xiaoniao standing before the mirror, repeatedly muttering, “The third button, the third button…”

Seeing her like this, Qian Ye felt a bit worried and couldn’t help but call out, “Xiaoniao?”

“Ah?!” Nangong Xiaoniao spun around like a whirlwind, her face pale, clearly startled. When she saw that it was Qian Ye standing in front of her, she immediately thought of what he might have seen, and nearly stumbled, almost losing her balance.

“Are you okay?” Qian Ye became even more concerned.

“I, I…” Nangong Xiaoniao’s mind seemed full of cogs, grinding away, and she didn’t know what would come out of it. Suddenly, she unfastened the third button and said to Qian Ye, “Unbuttoned!”

Looking at the deep cleavage pressing out from Nangong Xiaoniao’s chest, Qian Ye felt as if he had been hit by something incredibly forceful. Nangong Xiaoniao still seemed like that sweet and cute little rookie, and her slightly childish face combined with such a bust made the impact truly unparalleled.

“Xiaoniao, don’t do that, button it up…”

Before Qian Ye could finish, Nangong Xiaoniao repeated, “Unbuttoned!”

With no choice, Qian Ye barked, “Rookie, stand at attention!”

Nangong Xiaoniao followed the command instinctively, standing straight, but due to her already high tension, her movements were a bit too vigorous, almost causing her chest to pop out completely from her clothes. Nangong Xiaoniao looked down at her chest, then at Qian Ye, her confused expression slowly giving way to a hint of something else, as if she was beginning to understand something.

Qian Ye felt an urge to cover his face with his hand and sternly ordered, “Rookie, button your clothes properly!”

Nangong Xiaoniao looked at Qian Ye with an innocent expression and asked, “Do you not want me to unbutton another one?”

Qian Ye felt a sudden darkness in front of his eyes. He finally realized that perhaps growing up for a rookie was just a matter of a moment. He decided he couldn’t let this continue and forcibly pulled Nangong Xiaoniao’s clothes together, fastening the buttons one by one. But Qian Ye immediately regretted it; his fingers touched her skin, which was incredibly soft and elastic.

“Alright, Xiaoniao, let’s talk about serious matters. I might be going on a campaign soon, and I want to know what you plan to do during this time… Hmm? Wait!” Qian Ye suddenly sensed a familiar aura, though extremely faint. Once he noticed it, the sense of familiarity from his memory became crystal clear.

A flicker of realization passed through his mind, and he immediately used all his senses to capture this aura, finding it to be a thread of blood energy, extremely faint but not assimilated by the dark origin power in the environment.

This thread of blood energy was something Qian Ye was intimately familiar with and had once possessed. However, when the profound chapter of the Song Clan’s ancient scroll reached its peak, the golden blood energy was further purified and transformed into dark gold blood energy, and this thread of blood energy was devoured by a terrifying vortex of origin power.

Now, smelling this thread of blood energy again, although it was faint, Qian Ye instantly recognized it. This blood energy reminded him of a person, someone he thought he would never see again: Nighteye.

Qian Ye scanned the chaotic room and quickly found the source of the blood energy. It was a metallic sphere that had been opened, revealing its inner core. The core was silver, smooth like its outer shell, with several small holes on its surface.

In his true vision, Qian Ye saw the natural origin power in the surroundings being extremely active, continuously flowing into the silver core, while a faint thread of blood energy seeped out from a hole at the top.

“This is the core of an origin power formation. You opened it?” Qian Ye asked.

Nangong Xiaoniao nodded, “It wasn’t too difficult. I tried a few times and got it open. But I only knew what the core was for after opening the inner core.”

“Can you open it now?” Qian Ye asked with some urgency.

“I’ll give it a try!”

Nangong Xiaoniao rummaged through a pile of metal parts and pulled out several uniquely shaped tools. She first fixed the silver core on the workbench, then took out a set of long, thin metal needles, carefully inserting them into different parts of the core.

The surface of the silver core was as smooth as a mirror, and even Qian Ye could not see any gaps, except for the tiny holes. But using some unknown technique, Nangong Xiaoniao gently ran her fingers over the surface, then inserted the metal needles one by one.

After inserting over ten needles, Nangong Xiaoniao took out a special golden needle, tested a few spots, and chose one to insert. When the needle was mostly inserted, she gently lifted it.

Suddenly, countless origin power patterns lit up on the surface of the previously empty-looking silver core, spreading rapidly and eventually covering the entire core. With a faint cracking sound, several gaps appeared on the surface, fitting together precisely, and then opened like petals.

Watching the process of the core opening, Qian Ye was amazed. He had never imagined there could be such intricate machinery in the world.

And in Nangong Xiaoniao’s hands, the core was opened in less than three minutes. Multiple array masters had struggled for a long time and hadn’t even figured out how to open the outer shell, let alone the core. This showed that the old fellows of the Red Scorpion were willing to offend the Nangong family for her, and not without reason.

Qian Ye’s gaze fell on the opened core, which was filled with intricate origin power circuitry, a masterpiece of craftsmanship. In the center of the array was a dark crystal the size of a finger, and within the core of the crystal, a thin line of blood could be seen.

As the core opened, the aura of the central blood line grew stronger, indicating that the crystal was not sealing but cultivating and spreading the aura. Qian Ye finally confirmed that the blood line should be from Nighteye.

Why was her blood here?

Deep in thought, Qian Ye asked, “Xiaoniao, what is the purpose of this origin power array?”

Nangong Xiaoniao replied, “From the effects of the origin power array, there are four functional areas. One is to absorb dark origin power, nourish the blood, and keep it active. The second function is similar to a Blood Shackles. When the owner of the blood enters the influence area of the array, it triggers the alarm and can suppress the bloodline power represented by the blood if necessary. The last two functional areas, I’m not sure. I’ve never seen such an array before, and I need some time to experiment and maybe decipher it.”

Qian Ye’s heart sank. He had only encountered Blood Shackles once, when those blood race members chased Nighteye, using the shackles to track her and suppress her power. Now, this formation incorporated the function of Blood Shackles and contained Nighteye’s aura, indicating that the creator had ill intentions.

Thinking of their last meeting, Nighteye seemed to have become a significant figure among the blood race. Was this elaborate setup aimed at her?

After some thought, Qian Ye asked, “What is the range of influence of this origin power array?”

Nangong Xiaoniao held the core up to her eyes, selected a needle, and inserted it into the array as a reference. After a moment of silent calculation, she said, “If it is placed at a height of 300 to 500 meters, it can roughly affect an area with a radius of 200 kilometers.”

“Only 200 kilometers, then there must be many such arrays, not just one,” Qian Ye pondered. “I have another component of an origin power array, larger and more complex. If possible, can you also help me decipher its purpose?”

“Sure!” Nangong Xiaoniao agreed, puffing out her chest.

Qian Ye averted his gaze and said, “I will send someone to assist you. Let me know if you need anything.” With that, Qian Ye was about to leave.

Nangong Xiaoniao suddenly blocked his path, gathering her courage, “You see, I can still be useful. I will work hard to become even more useful! Can you… not drive me away because of the Nangong family?”

Qian Ye looked at Nangong Xiaoniao, reading bravery, determination, and anxiety in her large eyes. Sighing inwardly, he said, “Don’t worry too much about the Nangong family. This is, after all, the Evernight Domain. But if the Red Scorpion comes for you, I can’t refuse them.”

Before Qian Ye could finish, Nangong Xiaoniao’s eyes lit up brightly, and she almost jumped. She nodded eagerly, “Don’t worry, the Red Scorpion won’t. I have a way to deal with it!”

Seeing Nangong Xiaoniao’s joyful reaction, Qian Ye suddenly realized he might have made a mistake. Those old men likely doted on Nangong Xiaoniao, and if she insisted on staying, they wouldn’t have much choice.

Shaking his head, Qian Ye felt a bit of the mysterious gloom in his heart lift. He patted Nangong Xiaoniao’s head and said, “I have some business to attend to, so I’ll be off. And don’t follow Yuying’s antics, and don’t randomly unbutton your clothes, understood?”

“But it seems to work…”

“It does not!” Qian Ye tapped Nangong Xiaoniao’s head and left, not wanting to stay any longer in case this suddenly enlightened rookie decided to unbutton more buttons.

Back in his study, Qian Ye spread out a tabletop map and located the position of Green Peak Mountain, drawing a circle with a radius of 200 kilometers. Following the mountain’s terrain outward, he expanded the circle by another 200 kilometers, marking several potential locations where origin power arrays might be.

Qian Ye gazed at the map, his eyebrows gradually furrowing. The Dark Kingdom was like a hidden entity behind an iron curtain, and humans had limited knowledge of it.

When Qian Ye met Nighteye for the second time in the Earth Castle, he saw her wearing a golden mandala badge, a symbol of a high-blooded lineage from one of the twelve ancient clans, the Monro family. But beyond that, he knew nothing about her.

Whether she was still on the Evernight Continent, which clans she had conflicts with, whether the blood race and werewolves who had first pursued her were allies with the current array builders—none of these were known.

Qian Ye memorized the drawn range and the specific locations, then crumpled the map into a pile of powder.

At that moment, a long whistle sounded outside the window, and thunder rumbled in the distance as dozens of airships set sail.

Qian Ye walked to the window and saw a massive warship slowly rising from behind Blackflow City, with its origin power array flickering and the surrounding dark origin power fluctuating.

This colossal structure, almost like half a city, was the flagship of the Third Legion’s fleet. As it ascended, the escort ships, patrol ships, and transport ships took off one by one.

Soon, the entire fleet gathered in the sky above Blackflow City, and the noble ladies’ peculiar retro boats began to rise under the fleet’s protection, eventually disappearing into the horizon. With their departure, Blackflow City suddenly seemed quieter.

Just as Qian Ye was lost in thought, staring at the now-empty sky, Seventeen came to inform him that General An Shaonian of the Red Scorpion had come to visit.