After releasing Su Shi, Qian Ye did not immediately leave but instead took out a piece of paper and drew a map based on Su Shi’s description. He then scrutinized the map carefully, only to frown soon after.
The Atuwa had only rudimentary civilization; their mathematics and cartography were at the most basic level, limited to simple calculations. Their understanding of space and terrain came entirely from their formidable senses and overwhelming strength.
Therefore, the geographical descriptions provided by Su Shi contained many contradictions. While they seemed plausible when spoken, drawing them on a map revealed inconsistencies. The inner world was so vast that even a slight deviation on the map could translate to hundreds of kilometers in reality.
Qian Ye managed to draw the map, but it was of little use, serving merely as a rough reference.
This led to another mystery. The Atuwa tribe was so powerful, yet their civilization and wisdom were so low. For any species, once a certain threshold of strength is surpassed, intelligence should see a qualitative improvement. For instance, any void beast possesses intelligence far surpassing that of the four dark races and humans. However, civilization is the result of countless individuals over many years, and since void beasts are few and scattered, they do not form a civilization.
Yet, the combined population of the thirteen Atuwa tribes numbered nearly 100,000, which should be sufficient for a basic civilization. It didn’t make sense.
However, these deeper questions, Qian Ye supposed, Su Shi would be unable to answer. He decided to observe and find the answers in due time.
Setting aside his doubts, Qian Ye sat down in the cave, extended his finger, and tore open a rift in the void, beginning to absorb the void origin power for cultivation. Even casual hunting in the inner world had allowed him to accumulate a vast amount of essence blood, replenishing the supply on the side of Evernight.
Though he had the Book of Darkness, which converted both the Dawnforce and the dark golden blood force into more potent chaos origin power, Qian Ye still habitually maintained a balance between the two poles.
In the inner world, the Dawnforce was extremely scarce, but fortunately, he could still tear through the void and absorb the void origin power. The Supreme Martial Scripture was also incredibly domineering, able to convert the void origin power into Dawnforce, ensuring a steady supply on the Dawn side.
He spent the entire night cultivating until the Dawnforce was fully replenished. Next, he planned to slowly convert the powers in the Book of Darkness or, if time permitted, refine them with the two chapters of Xuan Yao to accelerate the generation of chaos origin power.
Having finished his cultivation, Qian Ye pondered his mission in the inner world.
His primary objective was to prevent the dark races from accessing the dark source, a piece of information from An Wen, which might be somewhat reliable.
But what was the dark source, and what did the dark races intend to do? Qian Ye was still in the dark. Why would An Wen be so kind as to inform him?
Putting aside An Wen’s motives, Qian Ye prepared to return to where the demonic race was constructing the tower to look for an opportunity. Even the Lord of Mesfield, if ambushed by Qian Ye’s Dragon Burial, would likely be injured. The Lord of Mesfield, Parocia, was already wounded and probably not fully recovered. If further injured and with the Empire’s Celestial Kings lying in wait, it was possible for him to fall in the inner world.
The more Qian Ye thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Even if the first shot missed, Parocia would be like a bird startled by a bow, at least potentially slowing down the construction of the tower.
Resolved to act, Qian Ye spent another day preparing. His preparation was simple: he infused three powerful origin bullets, two with chaos origin power and one with Dawnforce.
Materials capable of bearing Qian Ye’s origin power were rare. Before entering the inner world, he scoured all his possessions and managed to gather enough for two and a half bullets. The third bullet, made of physical material, could barely contain the chaos origin power but couldn’t withstand the amplification of the Primordial Wings, so he had to settle for using Dawnforce instead.
Fortunately, Dawnforce was highly potent and had a strong restraining effect on the dark races, its power not much less than that of chaos origin power.
With the three origin bullets ready, Qian Ye checked his equipment and left the cave, heading toward the demonic tower.
He did not move too quickly, searching carefully along the way for any traces of the dark races, looking for any lone squads in the vicinity. If possible, Qian Ye did not mind taking out a few demonic warriors.
When he had come, Qian Ye followed the Atuwa warriors, pushing himself to the limit, covering vast distances in an instant. On the return, he slowed down, carefully searching, which might take several days.
One day later, Qian Ye suddenly saw a fallen tree.
The trees in the inner world were as hard as steel. To topple such a tree required a very powerful individual. Qian Ye’s pupils contracted, and he scanned the surroundings, first observing for any signs of activity, then approaching the fallen tree to inspect the marks.
The broken trunk was divided into two parts, one smooth and the other roughly torn. From the marks, it seemed someone had slashed the tree, cutting through most of it before a massive force caused it to break.
Qian Ye touched the break, and when he pulled his hand back, his fingertips were tainted with a bit of dark origin power. This dark origin power was not the active power of the inner world but belonged to a powerful figure from Evernight. It was pure, resilient even against the continuous erosion of the inner world’s active power.
The remaining dark origin power was only the essence, making it impossible to determine whether it belonged to a demon, spider mage, or werewolf. But it was certain it came from a powerful figure of Evernight.
Had the powerful figures of Evernight already searched this far?
Qian Ye stood up and surveyed the area again, quickly discovering traces of battle. Despite the erosion of the active origin power, these traces persisted, indicating the intensity of the fight.
The battle traces extended into the forest, and soon Qian Ye spotted blood. He looked up and saw the corpse of an Atuwa warrior impaled through the head and nailed to a tree with a wooden spear.
The spear, originally an Atuwa weapon, had been used by the enemy as a tool of slaughter.
Further ahead, he found a section of the forest almost flattened, with all the ancient trees radiating outward as if hit by a hurricane.
Among the tree trunks, several more Atuwa warriors lay dead, all in the same direction as the fallen trees. The twisted and deformed bodies matched the destruction around them.
Qian Ye moved to the center of the storm, where only a small shrub stood. He reached out and touched the shrub, causing its branches to sway.
The shrub was nothing special, surviving only because it was at the eye of the storm. But on one leaf, Qian Ye found a drop of congealed blood. It was not the faintly glowing green blood of the Atuwa warriors but the blood of a powerful figure from Evernight.
Qian Ye sensed that the blood belonged to a demon.
Kneeling, he sniffed the blood, then looked up, seeing more drops on a nearby tree trunk.
In an instant, Qian Ye appeared before the bloodstains, inspected them, and determined the direction the demon had gone. He leaped and flew in pursuit.
Not far away, Qian Ye discovered another battlefield, or rather, a slaughterhouse.
Dozens of Atuwa warriors lay scattered, many with incomplete limbs. But what caught Qian Ye’s attention was a giant lying on the ground.
The giant’s hand was deeply buried in the earth, maintaining his last fighting posture, his face etched with fury and pain.
Qian Ye circled the giant’s corpse like a ghost.
The giant had clearly fought a fierce battle, covered in hundreds of wounds, many circular from the impact of origin bullets. One leg joint bore over a dozen gunshots, nearly severing the limb.
At this point, the weakness of the Atuwa’s freely moving joints became apparent: they lacked strength.
Though the giant fought bravely, he was clearly overwhelmed by the dark races’ powerful attackers, ultimately succumbing to the relentless gunfire.
Although Qian Ye had fought to a stalemate with the first giant, it was because he relied solely on brute force, using minimal combat techniques. If he had used all his skills, including the Primordial Wings, Dragon Burial, and chaos origin power bullets, a single shot could have killed the giant. Let’s not forget, Qian Ye also wielded the Manjushaka.
In a true fight to the death, even a few giants combined would be no match for Qian Ye. In terms of physical strength, the giants were comparable to grand dukes, but their lack of civilization and equipment meant their actual combat power was only half, or even less, of their peers.
Given the disparity, a grand duke of Evernight could easily defeat two or three giants.
From the giant’s death, it was clear he had been overwhelmed by several powerful figures from Evernight, making his demise not unjust.
The giant’s death site was the main battlefield. Qian Ye found another gruesome scene. A spider mage, a Marquis of Glory, knelt on one knee at the center, his fierce face eyes wide, but lifeless.
The fatal wound was a broken spear in the back of his head. Additionally, over a dozen other spears of varying lengths pierced his body, each leaving multiple wounds.
The marquis held a heavy shield in his left hand, with a sharp cone protruding from the shield, deeply embedded in the ground. The shield was pinned with dozens of throwing spears, indicating the intense assault he had faced.
However, even the most powerful spear only just penetrated, showing a bit of the tip. Most others were merely embedded in the shield. Many more throwing spears, with bent and shattered tips, littered the ground, failing to pierce the shield.
The marquis’s wounds were similarly shallow. Despite being impaled by dozens of spears, most penetrated only his armor, leaving minor flesh wounds, with the spear tips mostly exposed. The spider mage’s robust body made these shallow cuts insignificant.
Qian Ye picked up a throwing spear, examined it, and placed it back on the ground.
The Atuwa’s spears were crude, with metallurgy at a rudimentary level, inferior even to the human race’s pre-awakening craftsmanship.
The spider mage’s strength was not much greater than the Atuwa’s, only a level above a first-tier warrior. Yet, the significant equipment gap led to vastly different casualties.
Around the spider mage lay the corpses of nearly a hundred elite Atuwa warriors.
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