Qian Ye materialized out of the void, looking around. He found himself in an empty space, with nothing but emptiness in all directions. There was no sign of the anticipated attacks or any ambush.
Turning back, he saw that the entrance to the passage still existed, continuously spewing active dark primordial force. Once this active primordial force entered the Evernight world, it would go berserk, fighting with every type of primordial force it encountered, most prominently with the Dawn primordial force.
Qian Ye had the patience to stop and observe the process of the primordial forces clashing.
The active dark primordial force behaved like a wild beast that had not fully developed, greedily devouring all the primordial force it came across. However, after swallowing, it could not digest; if it devoured dark primordial force, it would expel even more dark primordial force. If it devoured Dawn primordial force, both would annihilate each other, turning into nothingness.
Seeing this, Qian Ye became curious. When the Dawn and Evernight primordial forces collided and ultimately annihilated each other, was there nothing left? If so, the world should end up without either Dawn or Evernight. But reality was clearly not like that.
So, how did primordial force come into being?
Qian Ye knew he couldn’t answer this question. It was one of the most fundamental questions of the Evernight world, perhaps An Wen could find the answer in the future.
At this moment, Qian Ye looked up, peering into the depths of the void. A flying boat emerged from there, with a person standing at the bow. In an instant, Qian Ye felt as if he were back on that night in the Evernight garbage dump, watching the same flying boat hovering in the air, as Lin Xitang descended and extended his hand to him.
The daze lasted only a moment, and Qian Ye quickly composed himself, saying, “I never thought it would be you.”
The boat belonged to Lin Xitang, but the figure at the bow was no longer Lin Xitang, but Song Zining. At this moment, he seemed to have gone through the baptism of blood and fire, losing much of his flamboyance and gaining a deep, wise aura, like a piece of exquisite jade, with inner brilliance.
“Who else could it be if not me?” Song Zining smiled.
“Anyone else would be fine, right?”
“Isn’t it because they’re afraid you might start fighting over a single word? Your hand is so heavy, few can withstand your blows now.”
“I have good control.”
“Mm, I know, you won’t kill them outright, just leave them half-dead at worst.”
Qian Ye couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head, saying, “Alright, stop being flippant. Tell me, why are you here?”
Song Zining said, “Let’s talk on the boat.”
“Fine.” Qian Ye stepped onto the boat and followed Song Zining into the cabin, then sat down at a table by the window.
Qian Ye carefully surveyed his surroundings.
Song Zining said, “When Commander Lin found you in the Evernight garbage dump, he was playing chess with Master Gu Tuohai here.”
“Which seat was Father Lin’s, and which was Master Gu’s?”
“You’re sitting in Commander Lin’s spot.”
“How do you know?” A glint flashed in Qian Ye’s eyes.
“For those who study the Art of Celestial Mechanics, a glance is enough to know. It’s not that my skills are better than Commander Lin’s, but he didn’t mind letting me see, so he didn’t erase the traces.”
Qian Ye scrutinized Song Zining, his gaze piercing through him. After a while, he asked, “You chose the Art of Celestial Mechanics?”
“Yes.”
“You know the cost.”
“Of course.”
“Why did you still do it?”
“Someone has to do these dirty and tiring jobs.”
Qian Ye fell silent, then said, “You know, I really dislike the Art of Celestial Mechanics now.”
Song Zining raised his eyebrows, “Oh, is that so?”
Qian Ye lifted his hand. As he raised it, everything seemed normal, but as he lifted it, he felt a subtle restraint, as if many spider threads were sticking to his hand, hindering his movements.
Spider threads appeared out of nowhere, shimmering with brilliant light. Only Song Zining and Qian Ye could see these threads.
Song Zining showed a hint of surprise, “You can actually make the Fate Lines visible?”
“You taught me the Art of Celestial Mechanics, and I still remember a bit of it,” Qian Ye said.
“What else do you know?”
“I also know which lines are naturally there and which ones were added later.” Qian Ye’s hand trembled slightly, causing ripples in all the threads. Some of them broke easily, but a few stubbornly held on.
Song Zining’s eyes narrowed, “It seems you’ve gained quite a lot.”
“Gaining something was part of the arrangement, but the one who arranged it probably didn’t expect me to gain so much.”
Song Zining reached out and picked one of the remaining threads, “Can you break this one?”
“Why not?” A black point appeared at the tip of Qian Ye’s finger, and with a touch, the Fate Line snapped in two.
Seeing the line break, Song Zining breathed a sigh of relief, smiling, “If those people saw you cut it so easily, they probably wouldn’t dare to do many things.”
“Is it that hard?” Qian Ye didn’t think breaking this line was any harder than breaking a real spider thread.
“Doing it with such ease is truly difficult. I doubt there are more than five people in the Empire who can make Fate Lines visible, let alone break them. How do you feel now?”
Qian Ye carefully sensed, then said, “I feel much lighter. What does this line represent?”
Song Zining smiled, “You’ll know soon enough.”
Qian Ye looked around, “Speaking of which, why is there no one here? Doesn’t the Empire know the exit is here?”
“Those who can fight you are busy with other things, and those who can’t fight you are useless here.”
“Why isn’t anyone from the Evernight side here?”
“For the same reason.”
Qian Ye finally understood. Both the Evernight and the Empire knew he was coming back, so they had withdrawn their people to avoid being slaughtered by him.
But Qian Ye fixed his gaze on Song Zining, saying slowly, “It’s understandable for the Evernight to fear me, but why is the Empire also afraid? What have you done that you dare not even appear before me?”
“Aren’t I here?”
“You don’t count as a person.”
Song Zining wanted to laugh but seeing Qian Ye’s piercing gaze, his smile faded, and he sighed, “I came to tell you something.”
“Go ahead.”
“You have to promise me that you won’t get angry or lash out. Even if you do, you must control yourself.”
“After you say that, do you think I’ll be angry?” Qian Ye retorted.
Song Zining sighed, “Can you at least make some concessions for me?”
“Fine, as long as it doesn’t involve Yen Pupil, I’ll try to spare a few lives even if I’m angry.”
Song Zining fell silent.
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