Chapter 175: Ambush

Moments later, Dusk emerged from the marquis’s room with a sullen expression. The meeting had been far from pleasant; she had been berated mercilessly from the start. Although the marquis did not formally charge her with desertion, he did not let her off easily. He blamed her for the deaths of the viscounts who had not returned, and said that their losses would be deducted from her military achievements.

In the end, the marquis bluntly stated that if it weren’t for the fact that Dusk was more valuable than a few viscounts combined, she would have been executed on the spot.

Throughout the entire summons, the process was half rebuke and half humiliation, leaving Dusk no face at all. Despite being from the vampire Monroe clan, her status was useless in the eyes of the marquis, who came from a noble lineage of the demon race.

Afterward, Dusk returned to her room and locked herself in, refusing to come out.

The incident quickly spread throughout the camp, and everyone began to gossip. In the dark world where strength was revered, the stigma of fleeing without a fight was intolerable. Many were secretly delighted by the downfall of a strong figure, though they did not say so openly. However, they only dared to criticize behind her back, as the marquis was the only one in the camp who could firmly suppress Dusk.

At dinner time, William lazily appeared at the entrance of the dining hall. He never arrived late for meals. However, his disheveled blond hair and dazed eyes indicated that he had just woken up from a nap and had come to the cafeteria purely out of instinct.

Before he even entered, Dusk’s cold voice suddenly rang out behind him: “Come with me.”

William’s whole body jolted, and he instantly sobered up. Without turning around, he flatly refused: “No.”

Dusk gritted her teeth: “Stop wasting time! Are you coming or not?”

William immediately retorted: “It’s dinner time. I’m not going!” However, his resolve wavered after he said this.

Dusk coldly responded: “You’ve crossed my line. If you don’t come, I might do something you won’t like.”

William sighed and reluctantly followed Dusk to her residence.

Once inside, Dusk closed the door and sat down, remaining silent for a moment before saying: “William, are you trying to completely break with me?”

William threw himself onto the sofa and said, “I just wanted to annoy you a bit. Dealing with big figures is your specialty, isn’t it? It’s not a big deal, a few explanations would have sufficed. Who knew it would turn out like this!”

Dusk remained silent, staring at William.

Suddenly, William sat up straight, lowered his voice, and asked curiously: “I heard that you didn’t defend yourself at all with the marquis, effectively accepting all the blame. Why go through all that trouble?”

“What’s it to you?” Dusk’s voice rose slightly.

William smiled and said, “I was just wondering if the secret of the Void Blink is that important.”

Hearing this, Dusk jumped to her feet, shocked: “How do you know?!”

“The ancient records in the Peak of Many Mountains are quite extensive,” William replied calmly.

Dusk’s expression fluctuated, and she slowly sat back down. Regaining her composure, she said, “It is indeed a secret, but the legacy of the Black Wing King is too ethereal. No one can be sure of obtaining it. So, the value of this secret is less than the lives of those two tribes. If you continue to cause trouble for me, I will kill them immediately.”

William’s smile faded, and his gaze sharpened. He said in a low, serious tone: “If you kill them, I will no longer hold back. Sooner or later, I will kill you. You can only pray that you train fast enough to escape my pursuit.”

“Killing me won’t save you either, Peak of Many Mountains,” Dusk sneered.

William shrugged, indifferent: “So what? You’ll already be dead anyway.”

Dusk fell silent, realizing that William was right. Even if she could avenge herself by wiping out his entire family, she would already be dead. To Dusk, only her own life mattered. Not even the entire Peak of Many Mountains was worth her life. William had hit a sore spot.

For a moment, both of them were at a stalemate, wary of each other.

After a while, Dusk’s expression softened, and she said, “This time, you’ve almost reached my limit of tolerance.”

William acknowledged it, but his lazy demeanor showed no sincerity.

Dusk coldly said, “Next time you meet Qian Ye, kill him. If you don’t, don’t think I’ll tolerate you. Maybe I won’t kill everyone in those two tribes, but I’ll pick a few to kill. What will you do then?”

This time, it was William’s turn to fall silent.

After a moment, he said, “I advise you, there’s no need to make things difficult for yourself. There are plenty of ways to gain merit. My fight with him was real.”

Dusk was startled and wanted to ask more, but William had already left, closing the door behind him.

She sat in her room, replaying the brief moment of combat with Qian Ye over and over. William’s words confirmed her suspicions. Those blood lines were the mark of the Void Blink. If the blood lines touched her, the Void Blink would activate, and Qian Ye would appear beside her in an instant, ready to deliver a devastating blow. If Qian Ye could fight William head-on, Dusk might not be able to withstand his attack.

But how did Qian Ye learn the Void Blink?

Dusk was restless, wanting to interrogate Qian Ye, but she had no confidence in capturing him, and now lacked the courage to face him. If William’s last words were true, Qian Ye’s attack would be beyond Dusk’s ability to block. She would have to dodge, but dodging in front of Qian Ye with the Void Blink was a joke.

But how did Qian Ye learn the Void Blink? The question nagged at Dusk again.

Meanwhile, Qian Ye had broken through multiple intercepts by the dark races and successfully rendezvoused with the Wei family’s private army. These soldiers were indeed elite, having held their ground against superior enemies, displaying a level of combat power far beyond their official ratings.

When Qian Ye and his group arrived, fewer than a hundred Wei family soldiers remained. In contrast, the dark races had suffered several times their number in casualties.

Under the cover of night, Qian Ye led the surviving Wei soldiers to quietly withdraw from the battlefield and move toward the Zhang family’s main force.

According to the strategy set by Song Zining, if the battle went poorly, they were to retreat into the deterrent range of the Zhang family’s fleet. This fleet was the greatest guarantee for the retreat into the Zhao family’s territory and the greatest deterrent to the dark race’s powerful fighters. The massive crossbow that had killed a vampire count in an instant was something Qian Ye had never seen or even heard of. It seemed that the Zhang family and the empire had been secretly developing many new weapons.

With the fleet’s protection, the army would head southwest and retreat into the Zhao family’s frontline fortresses, reinforcing their defenses and holding the line. When the dark army arrived and the situation became untenable, they would retreat further. By layering their defenses, they aimed to hold back the dark race’s pursuers and allow the Zhang family’s main force to withdraw to the Zhao family’s base.

According to Song Zining’s plan, the journey to the fleet should be the easiest part. After repelling William and Dusk, there were no strong dark race forces in the area that could match Qian Ye. Unless they were willing to mobilize a large number of strong fighters to encircle and kill them, which would take considerable time. With Song Zining’s domain, the Wei family’s private army moved much faster, leaving the dark races no time to gather their forces.

Initially, the journey proceeded smoothly as planned. Qian Ye led the way, breaking through multiple interception attempts. The leading viscounts, whether spider demons or werewolves, were all instantly killed by Qian Ye’s combination of Void Blink and the crushing blows of the Dongyue heavy sword. With the leaders dead, the dark race’s forces, always inferior in organization, quickly scattered.

On the ground, under Qian Ye’s leadership, the Wei family’s private army cut through the dark race’s defenses like a sharp blade, unstoppable. In just two hours, they advanced dozens of kilometers, breaking through several defensive lines. Even Qian Ye was beginning to feel the strain and grew weary.

Just as he cut down another spider demon viscount, a strange feeling suddenly arose. His intuition did not warn him, but the flow of origin energy around him seemed off, though he couldn’t pinpoint why.

While he was lost in thought, Wei Po Tian suddenly shouted, and Thousand Mountain Burst erupted, covering a dozen meters in mountain-like shadows. He sidestepped and stood beside Qian Ye, shielding him from the side.

Wei Po Tian’s body shook, and the mountains crumbled. The Thousand Mountain Burst, known for its defensive prowess, collapsed in an instant, and he was thrown backward, a spray of blood erupting from his body.

Qian Ye spun around, seeing a faint light in the distance. An origin bullet, wrapped in black tendrils, was speeding toward him. In an instant, Qian Ye judged the bullet’s trajectory and shouted, “Watch out!”

Song Zining and Zhao Yuying, who were both in intense combat, heard Qian Ye’s warning and felt a chill. They turned to see the bullet’s direction. Without hesitation, Zhao Yuying lunged forward, knocking down a wave of enemies and rolling with the dark warriors. Her experience and instincts were evident, and she reacted like lightning.

Song Zining, however, froze for a moment, and then saw an enemy’s upper body explode. A slender origin bullet flew through the flesh, and he had no time to dodge.

The enemy’s tactic was extremely sinister, first attacking their own, then seeking to harm the enemy, making it hard to defend. But Song Zining, with his numerous abilities, though unable to avoid the bullet and his domain useless, used his ever-present folding fan. It flew out and opened, blocking the bullet in front of him.

There was a loud explosion, and the fan shattered, throwing Song Zining backward, his clothes torn and his face covered in blood. However, he quickly got up, seemingly unharmed, though he looked pained at the sight of the fan’s fragments.

Only then did the sound of gunfire follow.

Qian Ye’s face was ashen, and his figure flickered, disappearing from the spot and reappearing a hundred meters away. He continued to flash, traveling a kilometer in mere moments, leaving lingering afterimages in the air. His speed in the Void Blink was almost as fast as the origin bullet!

No longer hiding, Qian Ye unleashed the full power of the Void Blink, his anger clear.