From the airship descended a middle-aged man in splendid attire, his narrow eyes exuding a faint, chilling aura. The moment he set foot on the ground, he strode straight towards the governor’s residence without a word.
Several guards stood at the entrance of the governor’s residence, one of whom instinctively approached, asking, “Who are you?”
Before he could finish, a figure suddenly darted out from behind the middle-aged man, passing by the young guard. The young guard’s expression froze, and then his head flew high into the air, blood gushing like a fountain.
The figure seemed to have more to do, circling the remaining guards. More heads flew, and the once-guarded entrance was now littered with decapitated corpses.
The middle-aged man paid no heed to the carnage, walking straight into the governor’s residence without pause.
The governor, having received the news, rushed over, falling to his knees and stammering, “I did not know of your arrival, Your Excellency. My subordinates were foolish to offend such an esteemed guest. I am truly worthy of death!”
This middle-aged man was none other than Nangong Yuanbo, the current patriarch of the Nangong Clan. Though he was inwardly irritated, he couldn’t help but feel calmed by the governor’s obsequiousness. He asked simply, “Where is he?”
The governor, wiping sweat from his brow, hurriedly replied, “Your Excellency, please follow me!”
Moments later, in the best room of the small city, the governor’s own bedroom, Nangong Yuanbo finally saw Nangong Xiaofeng. Lying on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, Nangong Xiaofeng’s presence was weak, and he didn’t react to anyone entering.
Nangong Yuanbo’s gaze fell on Nangong Xiaofeng’s maimed limbs, and his expression hardened. Turning back, he asked, “Can he be saved?”
An elder approached the bed, examined Nangong Xiaofeng thoroughly, and said, “We can use secret techniques to regenerate them, but his power will be diminished. It may be possible for him to regain his former strength, but any further breakthrough is unlikely.”
A faint smile appeared on Nangong Xiaofeng’s face, “It seems I’m still of some use.”
Suppressing his anger, Nangong Yuanbo asked, “Who did this?”
“First, I was injured in a battle with Zhao Yuying, and then I was ambushed by a boy named Qian Ye. My limbs were destroyed by him,” Nangong Xiaofeng replied, a hint of self-mockery in his tone.
Initially, he had not taken the Darkflame Mercenary Corps seriously, so he hadn’t bothered to remember their details. In the chaos, he hadn’t recognized Qian Ye. It wasn’t until he escaped that he realized he had been defeated by someone he once considered insignificant.
“Qian Ye?” Nangong Yuanbo, unable to recall, turned to his attendants, who whispered the name of the mercenary leader from Blackflow City. Pacing before the bed, his chilling aura grew stronger.
After a moment, Nangong Yuanbo stopped, saying, “Xiaofeng, do you realize the trouble you’ve caused the Nangong Clan? In just one day, Duke You has issued three edicts demanding an explanation!”
Nangong Xiaofeng laughed, “Just Duke You? You can handle that, right? Besides, hasn’t the Zhang Clan invited you to a meeting?”
Nangong Yuanbo snorted, “The Zhao Clan always looks down on others. They call us allies, but we’re merely vassals. They wouldn’t respect us much. And the Zhang Clan, how much better are they? All four clans are the same, what difference does it make?”
Nangong Xiaofeng was stunned. He understood Nangong Yuanbo’s implication and was surprised, “Are you… planning to join the Emperor’s Party?”
“Why not?”
Even Nangong Xiaofeng, with his carefree nature, was shaken by Nangong Yuanbo’s words. Looking around, he saw only Nangong Yuanbo’s trusted men. Though their expressions changed slightly, they didn’t seem overly shocked, indicating that Nangong Yuanbo had been considering this for some time.
Nangong Xiaofeng chuckled, “Most of the Emperor’s new nobles come from humble origins. Can Uncle bear their coarseness? And when His Majesty purges the great clans, what use will we be? At that time, won’t the Emperor’s Party remember that we are also a great clan?”
Nangong Yuanbo frowned, “Nonsense! Nobles and the Emperor’s Party are all serving the same master. His Majesty needs to establish his authority and eliminate those who defy him, but why would he destroy all the clans? We should serve His Majesty, not worry about the Four Clans.”
After a pause, Nangong Yuanbo sneered, “It’s time for a change in the Empire.”
“As for Qian Ye, let him disappear in the bloodshed.” Nangong Yuanbo waved his hand, leaving the matter to his subordinates.
Qian Ye had no idea that his actions had pushed the Nangong Clan to decide sooner, casting a small pebble into the grand tide of the Empire.
The Empire’s situation was too vast and distant for Qian Ye. He knew only that, whether facing the iron curtain or the noble clans, strength was his sole reliance. Thus, he intensified his training before the storm, striving for a breakthrough.
Perhaps due to his bold assault on the Nangong Clan, Qian Ye’s cultivation of the Martial Tide Technique advanced rapidly, breaking through to forty-nine cycles, just one step shy of the legendary Zhang Boqian.
At this level, Qian Ye realized the sheer power of Zhang Boqian’s fifty-cycle technique. Each additional cycle after forty-five equaled the sum of the previous nine, with the tides sweeping through every part of his body, resonating with all his origin nodes, and his bloodline surging like a tidal wave, as if the entire world had vanished, leaving only a roaring torrent.
As the tides of the Martial Tide Technique grew stronger, a thread of dawn origin force inexplicably emerged from the void. This pure dawn origin was closer to its source than anything Qian Ye had condensed using the Song Clan’s ancient texts. As it entered his body, his nine nodes resonated, echoing with thunderous rumbles.
Even with his vampiric constitution and enhanced and protected by dark golden and purple blood, Qian Ye reached his limit at the forty-ninth cycle, with signs of physical collapse. At the peak of the forty-ninth cycle, Qian Ye sensed something about to emerge from the tides filling the universe.
It took Qian Ye twice the usual time to calm the tides of the Martial Tide Technique. Reflecting on his training, he was certain his final sensation was not a delusion. If he reached the fiftieth cycle, there might be a shocking transformation, though the counter-force of the tides would be beyond his current capacity.
He marveled at Zhang Boqian’s talent. Even with his superior physique, far beyond that of a typical vampire viscount, he still couldn’t match Zhang Boqian. This man, whose youthful prowess already rivaled the Heavenly Kings, truly deserved his title, unreachable by others.
Despite Zhang Boqian’s ascension to Heavenly King, he never planned to relinquish the title of “Empire’s Twin Gems.” When a well-meaning official suggested to the Emperor during a grand assembly that Lin Xitang was unworthy of sharing the title with a Heavenly King, Zhang Boqian sternly rebuked him. This misguided flattery offended both, becoming a laughing matter in the Empire.
After a brief rest, Qian Ye inspected his body. The dawn origin force he had gained midway through his training was equivalent to half a month of arduous cultivation, but no second thread appeared. It seemed, for now, it was a rare occurrence.
The forty-nine-cycle Martial Tide Technique absorbed origin force from the heavens and earth like a whale gulping the sea, far surpassing even the secret techniques of the great clans. Perhaps only the core techniques of the Four Clans and the Imperial Family could match its speed. Soon, the surrounding dawn origin was depleted, drawing in dark origin as well.
For another, this would require effort to block or expel, but Qian Ye had no such issue. The dark origin, under the pressure of the tides, automatically converged towards his heart, consumed by the concentrated blood energy.
In theory, the resonance of nodes signaled the threshold of a general. However, Qian Ye found his situation unique. Despite the extraordinary speed of the Martial Tide Technique, the purity refined by the Song Clan’s ancient texts reduced the quantity significantly. Thus, while full origin overflow for vortex formation seemed close, it would take more time than usual.
The benefits of pure origin, however, meant he could break through directly when full, without suppression. He reminisced about the Song Clan’s cultivation chamber, where he experienced a truly liberating session.
Though the Song Clan’s cultivation sessions were precious, limited to a few days a year, one session was worth half a year’s work. The accumulated advantages of the great clans became insurmountable barriers over time.
After several days of intensive cultivation, Qian Ye discovered another hurdle for his advancement to general. The Song Clan’s ancient texts required a balance between dark and dawn origin, neither deviating too much. As dawn origin reached the general stage, dark origin needed to reach viscount.
The paths of dark races and humans diverged greatly. On the side of Evernight, regardless of the race, the hallmark of a viscount was an origin core. For vampires, a blood core; for demonkind, a dark core; for spider demons, a web crystal. Advancement was often a natural process, occurring when the time was ripe.
Pondering this, Qian Ye felt a sudden unease. Could he form a blood core within himself? It seemed likely, given the tri-colored blood energies taking root in his heart. The purple blood altered his constitution, while the dark golden strengthened his heart. This process, a transformation, could indeed lead to a blood core.
Uncertain whether he was human or vampire, Qian Ye sighed, setting aside this troubling thought.
Advancing the blood energy was not easy. While drinking blood was a shortcut, the consumption was equally terrifying, and the Black Tome and the Primordial Wings also demanded sustenance, their voracity uncontrollable. Thus, increasing dark origin was as difficult as dawn origin.
Qian Ye stepped out of his chamber, gazing at the unchanging, dark sky. He was determined: to advance, he must cultivate through battle.
The iron curtain’s sky was unusually still, the twin Alpha stars unseen, a reminder that the bloodshed could erupt at any moment.
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