Qian Ye murmured, “But he’s still alive, and his strength…”
The Bone Duke’s tactical skills were not bad; at the very least, they were worthy of his rank and the reputation he had cultivated over hundreds of years in the Emerald Sea. However, the werewolf’s natural advantage in strength was not evident in him. As a werewolf duke, his offensive power was only at the standard level for his rank, comparable to that of a Wolf King, with no significant edge.
Otherwise, Qian Ye would have struggled to withstand his attacks and use the force of those attacks to refine his own origin power. In just a short battle, he condensed the nine origin vortexes in his body into one, transforming it into an origin crystal, thus breaking through to the divine general realm.
From this perspective, although the Bone Duke was not particularly strong, he had met the standard of ducal combat power. Perhaps, his methods had some merit?
Carol saw what Qian Ye was thinking and shook her head, “It’s not like that.”
After she explained in detail, Qian Ye finally understood why the Bone Duke, who had absorbed and transplanted the bloodlines of many young werewolves, had not collapsed. The presence of the opposing human dawn origin power, which was a common enemy, temporarily unified the conflicting bloodlines, maintaining a fragile balance within his body.
This could be considered a stroke of genius, but from the current results, it was ultimately a failure. If not in a place like the Emerald Sea on Yonlend, it would have been impossible to implement.
Without external interference, the corpses of most ducal-level powerhouses can remain intact for years, making the Evernight Sacred Mountains a desirable burial ground for many. From the final state of the Bone Duke, his body was already close to complete decay, perhaps even described as a walking rotting corpse.
He maintained a semblance of stability, likely because he had not encountered any real challengers in the past few centuries. Even if Qian Ye and Carol had not appeared, the Bone Duke’s body would eventually disintegrate into a pool of pus.
This flawed secret technique came at a great cost. The bloodline donors were inevitably young geniuses from the clan. No one knew how many years the Bone Duke had managed to survive by such means—whether it was a hundred or two hundred years. It didn’t matter anymore. Given the large population of werewolves in the Emerald Sea and the Great Corridor, the number of marquises was alarmingly low. The one Qian Ye had seen in the Great Corridor had already exhausted his potential and could not advance further.
Qian Ye realized that the scarcity of werewolf marquises might not be solely due to the harsh origin power environment but also because generation after generation of true geniuses had perished at the hands of the Bone Duke!
In the dark races, the inheritance lies in bloodlines, and extreme cases of absorbing and plundering others’ bloodlines do occur. However, like the Bone Duke, who sacrificed the future of the entire clan for a meaningless, zombie-like existence, this would be entirely unthinkable in the upper continent of Evernight. The other top-tier powerhouses of each clan would never allow such a destructive practice. Yet, in this corner of Yonlend, it had quietly continued for centuries.
Looking at the rotting corpse on the ground, Qian Ye didn’t know what to say. Finally, he sighed, “For the human race, it’s a good thing, too.”
Though the Bone Duke had undoubtedly killed many humans, he had cut off the path for werewolves to advance to marquis, causing a gap in the ranks of marquises in the Emerald Sea and the Great Corridor. Otherwise, if there were a certain number of marquises, Zheng Kingdom might not have been able to hold out.
At this point, the secrets of the Bone Duke had been mostly uncovered. Qian Ye shot a stream of blood fire from his fingertips, intending to use the dark golden blood flame to dispose of the Bone Duke’s body.
As the blood flame passed, everything turned to ashes. But this time, it did not happen.
Qian Ye was surprised to see, amidst the ashes, a violently writhing mass of flesh. He examined it, and before Carol could stop him, he picked up the flesh.
The lump was the size of a fingernail, and from the traces, it should have been a remnant of the Bone Duke’s heart. To withstand the burning of Qian Ye’s dark golden blood flame, this small lump of flesh must have had incredibly tenacious vitality.
To Qian Ye, it felt somewhat similar to a dragon heart, possessing extremely terrifying life force yet devoid of consciousness. If developed properly, this small lump of flesh might prove to be of great use.
“Are you going to touch any unknown object?” Carol said as she moved closer, examining it and even touching it with her finger, even shooting a bolt of lightning. But if it could withstand Qian Ye’s dark golden blood flame, Carol’s lightning was nothing. The lump of flesh remained unscathed.
Carol sighed, “I never expected something so valuable to emerge from the end of decay. Pity that the Bone Duke’s body has completely rotted. Even if he hadn’t died, he couldn’t control this flesh. If it grows stronger, it might even consume him, becoming a new monster.”
Qian Ye gazed at the flesh, suddenly asking, “Could it be that the void beasts are created in this way?”
Carol was taken aback, unable to answer. She didn’t know where Qian Ye’s train of thought had come from.
Flesh forged from a ducal-level decaying body using dark golden blood flame was undoubtedly a treasure, though its use was unknown. Besides, the Bone Duke, after years of accumulation, had many valuable items on him. However, in the region of the Emerald Sea in Yonlend, there were no notable resources, and the werewolf tribes lacked advanced processing technology. Hence, as the name suggested, most were natural materials, predominantly beast bones.
His bone armor was extremely sturdy, likely on par with eighth-rank equipment, far surpassing ordinary alloy armor. Such naturally defensive properties could only come from a void beast. The helmet was even more miraculous, with a faint sense of life when touched. In a sense, the bone was still alive.
The craftsmen of old cleverly utilized the shape of the skull, turning it into a helmet, and added many exquisite origin power arrays to utilize the life force within. The helmet’s most prominent function was to greatly expand the domain range, allowing the Bone Duke to dominate Qian Ye and Carol in terms of domain area.
Void beasts are full of treasures, and living flesh and bones are even more precious. The most typical example is Qian Ye’s dragon ship. Recently, this giant vessel has begun to grow flesh on its own, and its previously weak consciousness has gradually become more distinct, showing more of the dragon’s original form as it travels through the void.
Apart from the bone armor, the Bone Duke had several rings that enhanced various attributes. There were also bone knives and swords, and a few stone weapons. With the East Peak in hand, Qian Ye naturally had no interest in bone weapons, but the stone weapons caught his attention. Especially a dagger, entirely ink-green with brownish rust spots on its surface, gave him a mysterious feeling.
In identifying treasures, Carol was more experienced than Qian Ye. She lit a bolt of lightning and grasped the dagger’s blade. Despite the intense lightning, the blade remained unaffected, showing no signs of melting. She then bent the blade slightly, and it formed a clear arc, returning to its original shape when released.
Carol handed the dagger to Qian Ye, saying, “It’s not very durable, but it can withstand extremely high temperatures and block lightning. This is just in its raw form. If fully refined, its properties should be even stronger.”
“Is this material useful?”
“As a weapon, it’s not very meaningful, which is why the Bone Duke never used it. But the material itself has great potential. Its ability to withstand high temperatures alone makes it the best material for making floating warship engines.”
Qian Ye understood. The alloy formula obtained by Song Zining had similar properties. This alloy was classified as top-secret by the Empire and was extremely difficult to produce, only available on the home soil.
If this new material could be used in engines, it would undoubtedly elevate engine performance, which would be of immense significance to the Empire. Possessing this material would, in a sense, be holding the Empire’s lifeline. Although Qian Ye had no intention of using it as leverage, it would be a good self-protection measure.
Qian Ye took the dagger and carefully stored it. After the situation in the Emerald Sea stabilized, he would find out the source of the dagger’s material.
Other than that, the remaining items on the Bone Duke were not particularly impressive, with nothing that caught Qian Ye’s eye.
Overall, the loot was decent, but compared to other dukes, the Bone Duke’s wealth was far less, as he didn’t even have a single ninth-rank equipment worth mentioning.
After inspecting the spoils, Qian Ye regained some of his energy and could maintain his radiant appearance for a while longer. He decided to head to the command room of the warship.
The generals were already seated in the command room. The atmosphere was tense, with a mix of humans and werewolves, the latter making up about a third of the total.
The human generals sat on one side, while the werewolves sat on the other, a clear division. The only ones sitting next to each other were Xu Jingxuan and Eska. Both were bandaged and covered in blood, looking like kindred spirits in their misfortune.
The mercenary generals wore standardized armor and equipment, and Xu Jingxuan and his two deputies wore similar gear, all using Zheng Kingdom military equipment. On the werewolf side, the attire was varied, reflecting their tribal affiliations. Some were colorful, others drab, and some even had feathers in their hair, looking like enormous, self-satisfied turkeys, believing they outshone everyone else.
Seeing such a scene, Qian Ye felt both amused and helpless.
Everyone stood up to greet him. After Qian Ye took his seat, he motioned for everyone to sit, leaving Eska standing, and began introducing the newly joined werewolves.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage