All eyes turned to the source of the voice, where they saw the newly ascended blood prince, Harbus, whose crown of flames had ignited the long river of blood. In recent years, Harbus had become the most prominent figure among the blood race, with his might almost matching that of Prince Medanzo, the Lightless Monarch. Apart from the Queen of the Night, no one in the blood race dared claim they could definitively surpass him.
Since igniting his mark and elevating his seat in the council, Harbus had remained silent, nearly making people forget his existence within the blood race.
Yet, in this significant meeting, Harbus spoke shockingly. Many were aware of Harbus’s prior interaction with Lin Xitang, and they began to ponder if he had discovered something.
At this level of the council, no one would easily lie. Beyond power, reputation was the most treasured asset for these true great figures.
After a moment, an elderly elder stated, “This possibility cannot be ruled out, but it needs verification.”
Silence followed. How to verify?
For nearly two decades, the Twin Pillars of the Empire had been at the forefront of the conflict between the two major factions. Since Lin Xitang’s first battle, the Evernight Council had suffered countless losses at his hands. Whether in strategy, political maneuvering, or arcane duels, the mighty Evernight Council had seen many great figures take the stage, yet they rarely gained the upper hand.
In comparison, they preferred to face Zhang Boqian. At least, with the Duke of Green Sun, they could engage in a fierce battle. But against Lin Xitang, they often found themselves unable to even engage, only to mysteriously suffer. When Lin Xitang finally engaged, his opponents would find themselves at a disadvantage, from environment to military strength, leaving them with no chance of victory.
This was the headache for the council members. To verify whether Lin Xitang could advance to the rank of a celestial monarch, they risked being trapped in a scheme, gaining no key information and likely suffering a silent loss.
With this in mind, many eyes turned to Harbus. Since he had proposed this, it was natural for him to handle it. However, the Crown of Flames sat motionless, showing no intention of taking on the task, as if he had not spoken at all.
After an awkward silence, the spider demon commander, Roxa, tapped the table and said, “Let us return to the original topic. Concerning Zhao Jundu, is it necessary to take… certain measures?”
Intense debate erupted again, with one faction insisting that the human race should not grow stronger, while the other argued for maintaining the dignity of the Evernight’s great figures. Assassinating a prodigy was beneath their stature; did the council fear the Empire? Even if another martial progenitor emerged, the three overlords of the council could still suppress them.
As the argument intensified, someone coldly interjected, “While we argue here, those young ones have already grown restless. Many have probably already gone to the floating land, haven’t they?”
“Indeed, about seven or eight, likely all challenging Zhao Jundu.”
A spider demon duke, glaring at a demonic duke across the room, sneered, “Challenging Zhao Jundu? I doubt that’s all! Your sorceress just woke up. What does that mean? I heard her true arena is the void.”
The expressions of the powerful figures, who had sent their outstanding descendants to the floating land, changed. They contacted their subordinates outside the council, confirming the status of their offspring.
The internal struggles among the various races of the Evernight faction had lasted over ten thousand years, with no method left untried. The sorceress of the Messfelds was unparalleled in the void, often defeating even stronger foes. If she hid in the void and attacked the young strong ones from the families, it would cause a generational break. Those daring to challenge Zhao Jundu were the strongest geniuses of the Evernight faction. If she killed them all, there would be no one in the next few decades who could threaten her.
This was not mere speculation. Over the centuries, the demons’ intent to unify the Evernight world had become increasingly clear. However, the blood feuds between the races were too deep to reconcile. For instance, the werewolves and the blood race would never unite against the demons. The spider demons and the blood race also had a strained relationship, both vying to dominate and then challenge the top.
Facing the accusation, the Messfeld duke coldly retorted, “To kill your two little spiders, there’s no need for such a plot.”
The spider demon duke, enraged, stood up and said, “Are you saying your demons are indeed planning this?”
The demon duke remained unperturbed, replying, “I’m not sure about the rest, but I know those two little spiders aren’t worth her time.”
This was a blatant dismissal, clearly not considering the two spider demon descendants as worthy opponents. Yet, the spider demon duke secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Before the Messfeld sorceress, his descendants were indeed powerless. But with the pride of the demon noble house, such a statement meant they truly wouldn’t act against his descendants.
The debate continued from morning until afternoon, with no resolution. When important matters arose, no race would concede, and arguing for days and nights was common.
The Zhao stronghold of the Indestructible City buzzed with tension under a veneer of calm. Countless airships ferried immense supplies and soldiers. As the Zhang clan delineated its exclusive area within the city and began building fortresses outside, other aristocratic families tacitly accepted the Zhao clan’s leadership, starting their own construction. Even the Li family chose an area within the city to build residences, though they did not construct a separate fortress outside, symbolizing their resolve not to abandon the Mist Forest.
Each day, the Indestructible City transformed, with fortresses rising outside. Each family spared no expense, using numerous engineering airships and even dispatching family experts to participate in the construction. It seemed that in a few days, a new cluster of fortresses would be completed.
The inner city of the Indestructible City remained relatively tranquil, a residential area for high-ranking officers and aristocratic families, with facilities already complete.
As night fell, Qian Ye entered the cultivation chamber as usual, activating the origin arrays and preparing for his daily training.
Soon after the activation, the chamber filled with a white mist, so dense it seemed to drip. This was not water vapor but dawn origin energy, purified by the origin arrays. On the floating land, gathering origin energy was faster than on the continent, but it mixed with void origin energy, requiring purification before absorption. Not everyone could directly refine void origin energy like Qian Ye.
However, such purification arrays were expensive, accessible only to a few. If Qian Ye were still a brigadier general, he wouldn’t qualify for such a chamber.
Settling in, Qian Ye began to circulate the Supreme Martial Art. In the past few months, he had few opportunities for peaceful cultivation. In the Mist Forest, he could use tree sap for origin energy, but after leaving, his dawn origin energy cultivation nearly halted.
As he circulated the art, an origin vortex gradually formed, expanding and drawing in surrounding energy. The dawn origin energy condensed into mist, swirling around Qian Ye and being absorbed into his body.
Soon, the white mist in the chamber thinned, with new origin mist being generated and absorbed, leaving insufficient energy.
In the central control room, a colonel suddenly stood, exclaiming, “How can this be happening again?”
Instantly, all eyes turned to him.
On the screen in front of the colonel, a map of the inner city area showed nearly a hundred glowing points, each representing the status of an origin array. Arrays of this level could only be produced in small numbers annually by the Zhao clan. Most came from the clan’s accumulated stock, with a few from the Imperial House and other aristocrats. Such precious strategic resources were monitored by auxiliary arrays, checking their status.
Most points on the screen were blue, indicating normal operation. A few were yellow, meaning near full capacity, but one point was bright red and flashing, indicating overloading and potential damage.
Seeing this, the officers gathered, one colonel asking, “How is this possible? How many people are in that chamber?”
Each array had a limit, sufficient for generals and higher, but those near or at the god general level would exceed the capacity. However, such figures had their own facilities and wouldn’t use these chambers.
In this area, aside from Duke Zhao Xuanji, no god general-level figures existed. So, who was causing this overload?
The most likely scenario was unauthorized multiple users in a single-use chamber. This was a serious offense, as even mid-to-lower aristocratic families couldn’t afford such arrays.
Facing his colleagues, the colonel said, “When this happened a couple of days ago, I checked. There was only one person.”
“Only one?!”
“How is that possible?”
“Could it be a prince secretly visiting? Why didn’t we hear anything?”
Amid the commotion, a cold voice asked, “Who is that person?”
The residents of the mansions were a secret, unknown to most officers. Yet, the voice carried a strange force, making the colonel blurt, “It’s General Qian Ye from the Fourth Young Master’s residence.”
Realizing his mistake, the colonel shivered. Revealing such secrets was a grave offense, potentially punishable by death. He hurriedly stood, seeing a unfamiliar female lieutenant leaving.
As she left, the colonel wondered why a lieutenant was in the control room.
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