Chapter 38: Seize One

Reluctantly accepting the military order, Qian Ye pulled Song Zining to one side, grinding his teeth, “How could you bring her here?”

Song Zining, wearing an innocent face, responded, “Wasn’t she originally your deputy? Is there something wrong with her following her old superior now? Or have you, with your improved strength and new love, looked down on her? Look, although she may not be the most beautiful, she’s quite passable. A person should not be judged by their appearance alone, how could you be so shallow?”

“Be serious!” Qian Ye interrupted Song Zining’s long tirade, solemnly stating, “I am now a bloodline descendant! At least half of me is!”

Song Zining shrugged, “What’s the big deal about that? Even if you are only half bloodline, even the Lord of No Light has secret collaborations with the military. As long as the benefits are substantial, such external things are not important.”

Qian Ye fell silent for a moment, then sighed bitterly, “I understand to some extent, but… I would rather not know.”

“Ah, I really don’t know what to say about you.”

Qian Ye frowned, “What is Ji Tianqing’s true identity? Was it really wise to bring her here?”

“Whether it’s wise or not depends on what you do. Anyway, she’s already here, and it’s too late to send her back. As for her true identity, I don’t know either. You should ask her yourself!”

Seeing Song Zining shrug off all responsibility, Qian Ye felt his anger rise, clenching his teeth, “Then I will send her back tomorrow!”

Song Zining pointed at the military order in Qian Ye’s hand, speaking with a meaningful tone, “Do you think you can still send her back? That would offend the King of the Point. Think carefully, offending the military is one thing, but offending the King of the Point, regardless of other consequences, means this Valhalla won’t be yours.”

“Is it really that serious?”

“It is indeed that serious! In short, get her under control, no matter how you do it. Best to get her into bed. Only then will there be a sliver of a chance for your ancient dream of ascending to the Sacred Mountain.”

“Wait, this…”

Before Qian Ye could argue, Song Zining cut him off, giving him a significant look, “This is the only way I could think of. Besides, what’s wrong with her? The more you look at her, the prettier she’ll become.”

Unable to refute, Qian Ye could only sigh deeply.

Ji Tianqing, upon first glance, gave the impression of a somewhat pure and sweet girl, barely scraping into the category of beauty, and certainly not stunning, belonging to the type whose appearance was easily forgotten.

Revisiting her, Qian Ye realized he had almost forgotten what she looked like. This was unusual; how could Qian Ye, with his True Sight, forget someone’s appearance, especially someone close to him?

This phenomenon suggested that Ji Tianqing possessed some extremely potent secret technique, which subtly influenced others, making them forget her appearance.

As Song Zining said, since she’s already here and can’t be sent back, they might as well get along. As for why she suddenly came to this forsaken place, the Neutral Grounds, Song Zining simply said, “On a whim.”

While whispering with Song Zining, Qian Ye noticed that Ji Tianqing had again made her way to the ground dragon’s heart and the control engine, and she held several tools, looking eager to dismantle it.

“Don’t touch it!” Qian Ye rushed over, intercepting her. If she triggered the King of the Point’s traps, no one could save her.

“Why not?”

“It’s dangerous! Don’t mess around. There are hidden traps left by the King of the Point, and if you trigger them, I won’t be able to save you.”

Ji Tianqing, however, was unconcerned, “So it’s the King of the Point’s traps, then it’s no problem. Rest assured, the old man’s methods won’t work on me. You forgot, I have this, right?”

She waved the King of the Point’s personal seal in front of Qian Ye.

“Isn’t that stolen?”

Ji Tianqing pointed at the ground dragon’s heart, “It doesn’t know it’s stolen.”

“… Alright, if you think it’s fine, then it’s fine,” Qian Ye took a deep breath.

“Of course, it’s fine!” Ji Tianqing began tampering with the engine’s delicate parts, making Qian Ye’s heart race. She explained, “This engine has several hidden triggers. Do you think the military would leave it without any defenses? Here, here, and here, these are all pre-set triggers. And here, there’s surely a high-energy prime bomb. If one day, you let the engine reach a certain power output, congratulations, you’ll hear a loud bang and see a spectacular fireworks show!”

Qian Ye was stunned, “Why would it be like that?”

“Of course, it would. If it were the military, they would naturally remove these defensive measures after installation. Since you seized this engine, you wouldn’t know about them. They should have left detailed installation instructions, right?”

Qian Ye nodded, his face filled with disbelief.

“Exactly. They’re worried you wouldn’t install the engine in the ground dragon’s heart.”

At this point, Qian Ye had a deeper appreciation for the military’s cunning. If Ji Tianqing hadn’t come, perhaps when the Valhalla was completed and the ground dragon’s heart operated at full power, it would be the day of its destruction.

Ji Tianqing had already begun disassembling the parts, saying, “Don’t just stand there, stop the engine. You didn’t plan on letting me work while it’s running, did you?”

Qian Ye issued a command in his mind, the ground dragon’s heart slowly ceased pulsating, the engine’s light dimmed, and countless intricate parts stopped moving.

Ji Tianqing moved swiftly, quickly removing several components, then carefully plucking a fist-sized silver cylinder from the engine’s interior and tossing it to Qian Ye, “Here, catch!”

Qian Ye was shocked; the moment the silver cylinder appeared, he sensed a wildly violent power within. If such a thing exploded, it would likely equal a hundred prime grenades, capable of severely wounding a divine general.

He immediately crouched, his movements lightning-fast, yet turning gentle at the last second, gently catching the cylinder.

Once the cylinder was in hand, Qian Ye finally relaxed, breaking out in a cold sweat.

His intuition told him that if this thing exploded, he might survive, but Song Zining would likely die, and no one else on the ship would live. Ji Tianqing, with her mysterious origins and formidable skills, might survive but would not be unscathed.

Such a dangerous item, and she threw it without any warning?

Holding the silver cylinder, Qian Ye neither wanted to throw it away nor put it down. Finally, he bit the bullet and stored it in Anduya’s mysterious space.

Ji Tianqing’s eyes lit up, “Such a high-level spatial equipment! Not bad, Qian Ye, worthy of being the thorn in the military’s side, one of the Empire’s most dazzling twin stars, and a candidate for the most handsome man of the younger generation. You have quite a few good things, don’t you? What else do you have, show me?”

Qian Ye nonchalantly refused, “Just this one, nothing else.”

“Stingy, I’m not stealing from you.” Ji Tianqing glared at Qian Ye, then reinstalled the adjusted engine parts, secured the engine cover, and clapped her hands, “Alright, now you can use it freely.”

Qian Ye issued the start command in his mind, and seeing the engine smoothly begin to run, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. This bomb had been a major concern, and now that it was removed, he felt unusually relaxed.

Ji Tianqing hopped off the engine, coming to Qian Ye’s side, smiling, “The task is complete, Qian Ye, when do we go to war?”

“War?”

“Of course! If you don’t fight in the Neutral Grounds, what’s the point of being here? It was hard enough to sneak away, no, be assigned here, so we must take advantage of our time and fight, fight big battles!”

Qian Ye’s head throbbed again; he hadn’t expected this woman to be a war fanatic. However, given Ji Tianqing’s special status, she was untouchable. To prevent her from issuing more military orders, Qian Ye turned to Song Zining for support.

However, Song Zining, this time, took a different stance, gritting his teeth, “Fight! Of course, fight, why not? Let’s start by taking down Ji Rui’s South Azure City. It’s not far from anywhere, perfect for building a fortress.”

“Starting with a siege? I like it! How many people do we have?”

“Just the three of us,” Song Zining replied.

Ji Tianqing’s smile froze, glaring at Song Zining, “Are you kidding me?”

Song Zining retorted, “Of course not! If you two don’t want to, I’ll go alone.”

Qian Ye felt a headache coming on, pulling Song Zining, and helplessly said, “Don’t be rash, alright? Ji Rui is already quite submissive, and there’s still a lot of oil to be squeezed from that fat guy. Besides, you’re not his match.”

Song Zining sneered, “To make him understand, it doesn’t always need a fight. He’s just taking advantage of your soft heart. Unfortunately, now that I, Song Zining, am in the Neutral Grounds, he won’t have it both ways. Either he submits or waits to be wiped out by us!”

“About that…” Qian Ye felt it unnecessary. But having just been scolded for being soft, and with Song Zining in a temper, he couldn’t say much.

Recalling, Song Zining had never been this angry over his own affairs.

“What should we do first?” Ji Tianqing seemed even more impatient than Song Zining.

Seeing that this war fanatic needed something to do, Qian Ye quickly recalled the expansion plans discussed with Song Zining, and said, “Let’s form a mercenary company first. Once we have our own force, we can move on to other things.”

“A mercenary company? Good idea! Let’s do it,” Ji Tianqing spoke as if she were the general and Qian Ye the deputy.

Qian Ye organized his thoughts, saying, “We need to find a base, build some basic defenses. Money isn’t an issue for now, but we need to think about the mercenaries’ equipment. Also, we’ll need Ji Rui’s cooperation to recruit fighters in places like South Azure City…”

Before Qian Ye could finish, Ji Tianqing interrupted, “Why go through all that trouble? Let’s just capture one directly!”