Chapter 39: The Robbery

In the deep twilight, the Valhalla soared once more, piercing through the boundless Eastern Sea amidst layers of golden sunset.

On the Valhalla, nearly a hundred crew members and craftsmen were bustling about. Most of them were brought by Song Zining for this journey.

With Qian Ye on board, not many people were needed to control the Valhalla, so most of them were craftsmen, continuously installing various equipment and improving facilities. At least now, a small enclosed area had been built around the ground dragon’s heart, and over ten lower decks had been constructed. The craftsmen no longer had to sleep in areas exposed to the elements.

The five power sails had all been installed and fine-tuned, making it much easier for Qian Ye to control the ship. He only needed to keep the Valhalla flying forward, and the crew could adjust the direction by manipulating the power sails. This was not as flexible as the Valhalla’s own capabilities, but it freed up Qian Ye from constant attention to the controls.

Ji Tianqing, seeing the dragon warship for the first time, was extremely excited. She dragged Song Zining around the ship, asking countless questions everywhere. Initially, Song Zining tried to push her to Qian Ye, but after two places, he had to face Ji Tianqing himself, as she asked about supply quantities and prices.

After a full tour of the ship, Miss Tianqing’s grand vision was finally revealed. In her mind, the Valhalla should be transformed into an invincible super battleship that would crush all existing warships of the Evernight Empire. Vessels like the Ark of the Apocalypse and the Eternal Darkness should be utterly defeated and flee in shame before the Valhalla.

Of course, Miss Tianqing wasn’t entirely satisfied with the name. She felt that “Valhalla” wasn’t imposing enough, and renaming it to “Tianqing” would make everything perfect.

When Miss Tianqing’s renovation plan was presented, its power indeed surpassed Qingyue’s original proposal. To start, the main cannon she envisioned, powered by the ground dragon’s heart and with a range exceeding fifty kilometers, capable of sinking any capital warship, had never existed in the world.

According to Miss Tianqing’s plan, this legendary cannon could be realized, but the cost would also exceed the imagination and tolerance of people. Not to mention the feasibility of some technologies, just gathering the required materials alone would cost more than the total budget of Qingyue’s original plan.

In other words, the entire budget Qian Ye had set aside for the Valhalla’s renovation would only be enough to buy one main cannon as envisioned by Miss Tianqing, and that was just for the materials. The processing fee for a main cannon often exceeded the material costs.

No wonder the more excited Ji Tianqing got, the paler Song Zining’s face became. And that was just for one main cannon. With a main cannon, supporting facilities naturally had to follow. In the end, the so-called Tianqing would need a Sky King to man it.

Such a dream-level warship would indeed be immensely powerful, capable of piercing through the Twilight Continent with its sheer force. However, the cost would rival half of the Empire’s fleet, which was the result of centuries of accumulation.

Qian Ye listened in confusion, having no idea what most of Ji Tianqing’s suggestions entailed. But Song Zining was in great distress, his heart heavy with worry.

Miss Tianqing was not just dreaming; her proposals and ideas could be realized, or at least theoretically possible. The only bottleneck was the astronomical cost.

The Song Clan prided itself on being as wealthy as the nation, and the Young Seventh had absorbed some of this mentality from a young age. He founded the Ningyuan Heavy Industries, and at a young age, managed to connect with the Empire’s twin pillars, operating it quite successfully. In terms of assets, Song Zining was the top among the Empire’s younger generation.

For the Young Seventh, the phrase “too expensive” weighed heavily, almost impossible to utter.

After listening for a while, Qian Ye finally understood and couldn’t help but interrupt Miss Tianqing’s enthusiastic discourse: “This, Tianqing, we really can’t afford it.”

“Who said you have to pay now? What are you afraid of?”

“We won’t be able to afford it in the future either.”

“If you don’t have money, go and take it. Isn’t the neutral zone meant for taking money and women?”

In the face of Miss Tianqing’s thuggish attitude, Qian Ye was left speechless.

Ji Tianqing slapped Qian Ye’s shoulder and said, “It’s decided! We can rethink the renovation plan, but let’s start by renaming the ship to Tianqing. That doesn’t cost anything.”

Qian Ye looked at her hand on his shoulder and slightly frowned. Ji Tianqing patted him again, saying, “What’s wrong? Do you want to call it an indecency?”

Qian Ye didn’t call out, instead, he fell into deep thought. Ji Tianqing pursed her lips and said, “How boring.” Then she ran around the ship, looking here and there.

Song Zining came over and patted Qian Ye’s shoulder, consoling, “Don’t think too much about it. I can’t avoid it either.”

At their level of cultivation and martial arts, they were sensitive to external objects. Unless they had no guard against each other, such intimate actions like patting each other’s shoulders would not be possible. However, Ji Tianqing’s seemingly casual pat was actually using a highly advanced secret technique, making Qian Ye and Song Zining feel no hostility and thus not react.

With Ji Tianqing’s abilities, instantly boosting her origin power to the extreme was no problem, meaning she could easily inflict serious damage on Qian Ye and Song Zining in an instant.

The Young Seventh seemed to have accepted this, so he came to comfort Qian Ye.

Unexpectedly, Qian Ye gave him a sidelong glance and said, “You can’t avoid it, but I never said I can’t avoid it.”

Song Zining was taken aback and asked, “Then why do you look so defeated?”

“To get her to shut up.”

“… Qian Ye, you’ve gone bad.”

The Valhalla quietly sailed in the deep twilight, and without noticing, they reached the sky above Nanqing City. It hovered at the edge of the void, even beyond the perception of a divine general.

Three figures flew out from the Valhalla. Ji Tianqing, Qian Ye, and Song Zining leaped down, heading towards Nanqing.

Initially, all three were falling at full speed. When they were less than a kilometer from the ground, Song Zining unfolded his fan, and a soft, gentle spring breeze appeared around them, gently supporting their bodies and slowing their descent.

However, their fall was too violent, and the Young Seventh, wanting to show off, soon turned pale from overexertion.

Qian Ye snorted, and his domain appeared intermittently. His sea vortex force, solid as a mountain, now slowed their descent. The intermittent vortex force gently cushioned their fall, showing a surprising gentleness.

In terms of gentleness, Qian Ye was far inferior to Song Zining. However, the 3000 Floating Leaves originally emphasized softness like spring water, nurturing without sound. Qian Ye’s sea vortex, though powerful, could be used so softly that even Ji Tianqing was surprised.

Though surprised, Miss Tianqing had no intention of helping. She clung to Qian Ye, as if determined to die together.

During such a high-speed free fall, carrying someone was neither too costly nor too negligible. Qian Ye, helpless, let her use him as a beast of burden.

The three descended to about a hundred meters from Nanqing City, and Qian Ye’s domain suddenly erupted. The sea vortex tilted almost vertically, and the immense force altered their descent, sending them flying horizontally towards the city.

As Qian Ye’s domain burst, two auras rose from the city lord’s mansion, one strong and one weak. The strong one was Ji Rui, and the weaker one was Guan Zhongliu, who seemed to have suffered injuries from the last encounter with the Wolf King.

Qian Ye wanted to respond, but Song Zining coldly said, “Ignore them!”

“Exactly!” Ji Tianqing always loved chaos.

Helplessly, Qian Ye stood mid-air, his sharp gaze sweeping over Nanqing City, quickly locking onto a target.

Many mercenary groups had their headquarters in Nanqing City, establishing bases. These bases were essentially large courtyards, with few able to install fixed gun turrets, especially those requiring power towers.

A quick glance, and Qian Ye had a clear understanding of the distribution of the mercenary bases, quickly selecting several candidates. Just as he was about to compare them with the data in his memory, Song Zining had already dived down.

“Let’s go, what are you spacing out for?” Ji Tianqing dragged Qian Ye, following Song Zining.

“Have you already chosen a target?” Qian Ye, who felt his strategic vision had improved recently, was somewhat disheartened.

“What’s to choose? Pick the biggest one!”

Qian Ye was even more disheartened. Perhaps thinking too much was also wrong.

The Ice Wolf Mercenary Group was one of the most famous in Nanqing City. Their leader, the Ice Wolf, was always proud of this. However, he was also aware that his fame was limited to Nanqing City. Outside, he was nothing.

Thus, he focused on steady progress, closely following the city lord’s footsteps, only dealing with major merchants in the city. Although the profit was small, the risk was also minimal. Over the years, the Ice Wolves had grown, expanding their courtyard twice. The Ice Wolf had been pondering whether to build two gun turrets, not so much for defense, but to display power.

On his table, there were two miniature models of gun turrets, made very realistically. The models could be disassembled, revealing the internal structure, with clear markings of adjustable and non-adjustable parts.

Looking at the turrets, he was both happy and worried.

Just as he was hesitating, a loud bang resounded, and the door was kicked open!

This sudden change, with no prior warning, caught the Ice Wolf, a Level 13 expert, completely off guard. The door was forcibly opened.

Startled, he instinctively took a step back, tripping over a chair and nearly falling. This was not due to his lack of combat ability, but the shock was too sudden.

As the door opened, Ji Tianqing lowered her leg, striding in with a bandit’s air. Looking around, she said, “Not bad, looks tidy!”

The Ice Wolf retreated two steps, leaning against the wall, carefully asking, “May I ask, who are you…?”

Regardless of who entered, he knew he was no match.

“Here to rob you,” Miss Tianqing declared.