Chapter 19: The Great Transformation

A moment later, Qian Ye and Song Zining settled down in the study. Recently, there had been many events in the Iron Curtain, the Empire, and Dark Flow City. Both of them had experienced a lot, and it took over an hour to share important intelligence.

Song Zining’s situation was quite favorable. During his campaign, he reconnected with the wolfmen whom Qian Ye had subjugated during his previous westward expedition. The Fanged Tribe had been devastated in the blood battles, leaving only a third of their population. They ultimately left the Blue Peak Mountain, where they had lived for generations.

Vice Duke Brutto, the werewolf, had become cautious after being hit by Qian Ye last time, keeping his core territory stable and avoiding entanglement in the blood battles. He retained most of his strength and even absorbed the remaining Fanged Tribe into his territory.

Upon hearing this, Qian Ye thought of William and sighed. Although Song Zining had returned to Dark Flow City, he had left numerous backdoors in the areas he swept through. Once the blood battles ended and the dark races from the upper continent withdrew, those places would eventually be incorporated into the Dark Flow City war zone.

At the same time, the human race would flood in, just like the merchants, adventurers, and all the others seeking a place to settle on the streets outside. Perhaps, in a few years, one or several new cities would rise. However, that also meant the compression of the dark races’ living space. Even if Qian Ye allowed them to remain on his territory in the future, it would not change the overall trend.

This was the essence of the conflict between the Evernight and Dawn factions: land and resources determined the survival and proliferation of the races.

However, what interested Song Zining more was the profit brought by the war. In his words, land, resources, and population meant opportunities for trade, and if the variety of population was rich, the opportunities would multiply. Therefore, the neutral lands would be a good direction for development.

Qian Ye watched Song Zining throw out a series of dazzling numbers with great enthusiasm, feeling somewhat overwhelmed. According to Song Zining, the substantial military merit rewards from the Empire and the family premium could barely match the profits from the various transactions made by the Ningyuan Group during this period.

Qian Ye smiled, suddenly thinking of the Song Family and understanding why such a vast family had gradually come to this point. The profits from trade were too enormous, so much so that people slowly forgot what the foundation of the trade was, forgetting that commodities came from resources and fairness from power. The reverse did not hold true.

In comparison, Qian Ye’s gains from the blood battles were relatively simple: some rare materials obtained from the Zhao Family, including precious herbs needed for battle generals. To his surprise, Song Zining said he had no use for them as he never used any drugs to aid in his advancement.

Qian Ye was a bit surprised. When humans first awakened their origin power a thousand years ago, there was no such thing as cultivation potions. However, after a long time and to make more humans combat-ready, various auxiliary items like machinery and drugs seemed to have become as natural as breathing.

As they spoke, Song Zining suddenly asked, “Apart from the Xuan Chapter and the Yao Chapter, didn’t you see any other cultivation techniques in the Song Family Ancient Scrolls?”

Qian Ye replied, “There were four or five more, but the origin power routes and meridian points mentioned in them couldn’t be found.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

Recalling the origin power manipulation methods he saw in the Song Family Ancient Scrolls, Qian Ye took out the jade slips and activated them one by one, showing Song Zining.

At this moment, Qian Ye suddenly realized that a few more techniques could be activated from the Song Family Ancient Scrolls. He stared at the jade slip for a while, then looked up at Song Zining, “I remember you said that only those who have awakened the Dawnlight Enlightenment can cultivate the Song Family Ancient Scrolls.”

Song Zining examined the inscribed jade slips carefully, without lifting his head, “Isn’t your talent Dawnlight Enlightenment?”

Qian Ye was dumbfounded, opening his mouth but unable to refute.

The initial Dawnlight Enlightenment came from the simulation of golden blood energy, but later, the Song Family Ancient Scrolls condensed it away. During his advancement in the Zhao Family’s Marrow Cleansing Pool, although he did not see any anomalies, the origin power array used to test talents and the several Zhao Family divine generals all confirmed it was Dawnlight Enlightenment. Could they all have been wrong? Qian Ye suddenly realized even he was unsure.

“But you said a master had deduced…”

Song Zining laughed, proudly pointing at himself, “Me, a mere me, am I not worthy of being called a master?!”

“You mean, you…” Qian Ye was speechless.

When Qian Ye and Song Zining left the study, it was past midnight.

After returning to his quarters, Song Zining did not rest immediately. He sat on the bed, deep in thought, tossing a jade slip casually. The jade slip was dull in color, appearing ordinary at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it was actually lustrous, not a common object, and made of the same material as the Song Family Ancient Scrolls.

The jade slip was thrown up again, flying unusually high, almost touching the ceiling before rolling down. Midway, it began to disintegrate, breaking into glowing spots, all of which fell into Song Zining’s palm.

In the room, still immersed in the night without any light source, the air suddenly flickered several times.

The luminescent spots in Song Zining’s hand had almost disappeared, illuminating his handsome face, drawing a particularly gentle outline. Yet, his expression and eyes were as indifferent as emptiness, as if he stood in another world.

Now, Song Zining had another origin power vortex; he had reached level eleven.

The next few days were unusually leisurely for Qian Ye, except for the bustling city streets outside the Dark Flame base. He eventually couldn’t escape Song Zining’s invitation to watch the Hidden Spring Merchant Guild’s performance, but he managed to refuse the offer of additional beautiful guards around him.

Early one morning, Qian Ye felt restless, as if something was about to happen. This feeling persisted until evening, when he decided to leave the city to check on the movements of the dark armies. Song Zining did not object, as he also felt something, though he was certain the unrest was not from the dark armies.

Qian Ye left the city and ran through the wilderness at top speed, heading deeper into the Iron Curtain. Suddenly, he felt something and stopped.

He looked down at the ground, which seemed unchanged, but the soil suddenly began to stir. Countless insects and small animals that had survived the war emerged from their hiding places, fleeing onto the surface, running aimlessly.

Deep in the earth, there was a faint tremor, spreading outward continuously.

The vibration was extremely weak, so weak that Qian Ye might have ignored it if he hadn’t focused. But when he tried to sense it, he was shaken, his blood nearly freezing!

The moment his consciousness touched the vibration, Qian Ye sensed an immense will, cold, indifferent, and brutal, seemingly having existed for countless ages. Before it, Qian Ye was insignificant, like a drop of water compared to an ocean.

This sea of willpower did not react to Qian Ye’s touch, perhaps because it was too vast, or perhaps because Qian Ye was too tiny.

Qian Ye’s blood core and heart started pounding wildly. He immediately retracted his perception, not daring to probe the strange vibrations in the earth any further.

But the brief contact had already consumed a great deal of his essence blood, almost depleting his reserves.

Qian Ye was filled with apprehension. If his perception was correct, it meant there was a profound secret hidden deep beneath the Evernight Continent. This might be why the Sky Devil appeared on the Evernight Continent, deploying the Iron Curtain and declaring its domain.

However, the recent contact clearly indicated that this secret was beyond Qian Ye’s level to uncover. Just the touch of that ancient will could crush him. At least a Divine General would be needed to confront that will, and only the supreme beings like Human Emperors and Great Dark Monarchs would qualify for a direct confrontation.

Why, then, was that ancient will revealing itself now?

Qian Ye shivered, looking up to see the Iron Curtain, once omnipresent in the sky, receding like a tide, revealing the deep, starry sky. In some places, the Iron Curtain regenerated, but more areas were now free. The stars gradually connected into a continuous expanse.

Qian Ye gazed in disbelief, finding it hard to believe what he was seeing.

The Iron Curtain had vanished?

This meant that the blood battles, which had lasted for months and caused countless casualties on both sides, had finally come to an end. But upon deeper reflection, it wasn’t so simple.

The Iron Curtain was the domain of the Sky Devil. When the Sky Devil withdrew its domain, it might mean it had found what it wanted. However, according to William’s information, the Evernight Council’s giants would never allow the Sky Devil to easily take that item. If the top-tier powerhouses of the Evernight side acted, the Human Emperors would not sit idly by, surely intervening.

Thus, the withdrawal of the Iron Curtain implied that the supreme beings of both camps had already engaged the Sky Devil in battle.

Without the tangible pressure, just the thought of it was suffocating.

The ground beneath Qian Ye’s feet began to tremble, growing stronger. He could see the earth undulating like waves! Meanwhile, countless fissures appeared on the ground, the entire plain seeming to split into several unconnected regions, moving in different directions, with the cracks widening and lengthening.

Suddenly, a deafening roar sounded a kilometer ahead, and a piece of land shot up, rising hundreds of meters before stopping, forming a cliff before Qian Ye.

Further away, lava spewed from the ground fissures, reaching a thousand meters, then falling, creating vast plumes of smoke that obscured part of the sky.

Qian Ye spread his light wings and took to the air, soaring high, looking down at the earth.

Everywhere on the Evernight Continent, the ground was shaking, with cracks resembling horrific wounds spreading in all directions. Some of the fissures were a kilometer wide, stretching for hundreds of kilometers, impossibly deep. Qian Ye saw a city of the dark races splitting in two, with flames erupting from its center.

In the sky, burning clouds of fire gradually replaced the Iron Curtain, covering the Evernight sky, a deep crimson hue spreading across the land, dispelling the night.

From the depths of the void, waves of origin power surged from far away, passing Qian Ye, rushing towards the distance.

Suddenly, a resonance was triggered within Qian Ye, and the Taixuan Martial Tactics slowly began to operate. Clenching his fists, he did not stop it but instead attached his consciousness to it, trying to follow the rhythm of the Taixuan Martial Tactics, aiming to control it.