Chapter 1363: Call of the River of Blood (Part 1)

At the imperial military department, a simple-looking car had just come to a stop before Song Zining.

The seventh young master was now a marshal in terms of strength and authority, so his transportation was also fairly grand. Even in the capital, a jeep would lead the way and serve as an escort. There were a total of ten guards assigned to him at all times.

These ten guards weren’t there to defeat enemies as they were far inferior to a divine champion marshal. Their duty was to take a bullet for him at the critical moment, earning him a split second to act.

The motorcade slowly left the capital under Song Zining’s orders and headed toward the suburbs where they entered an elegant courtyard district. The independent compounds here were neatly arranged—they were well-knit but not crowded, and the area was secluded and peaceful. It was definitely a great place.

The entire district was rather quiet. There were few cars and people on the streets, and there weren’t any checkpoints or guards at the entrances. Instead, there were military police standing guard.

Song Zining’s entourage entered without any obstruction, all the way until they arrived at a small courtyard. The aide checked the number plate and said, “Number 67. We’ve arrived, Sire.”

“You guys wait here.” With that, Song Zining left the car and entered the compound.

The courtyard wasn’t big, but it still had a front and back entrance. Song Zining walked through the central hall and arrived at the rear courtyard. Wei Potian was standing beside the pond, lazily scattering fish feed into the pond.

Wei Potian never sensed Song Zining’s arrival. He picked up another handful of fish feed with his left hand and tossed them clumsily into the water.

After watching for a while, Song Zining said, “General Wei, you’re living quite the comfortable life, aren’t you?”

Shocked out of his wits, Wei Potian flickered away almost immediately. After seeing that it was Song Zining, he patted his chest, saying, “Goddammit you scared me, why do you always like to play this game?”

He hadn’t finished speaking when a hard slap landed on his face! The slap was so strong and swift that even the Thousand Mountains couldn’t stop it in time. All he could see were stars.

“What are you doing man?!” Wei Potian was both shocked and angry. Half of his face was swollen all of a sudden.

Song Zining roared with a cold expression, “How can I be in the mood to play with you?! Qianye is gone now, yet you’re living comfortably here!”

Wei Potian was stunned. “Gone?” Realizing something, his voice started to tremble. “What?! Qianye’s gone? How is this possible?!”

They were currently in the Imperial Hospital’s recuperation district. Wei Potian had just received a new arm and was currently under observation. The place was serene, but there was no way to obtain battle reports firsthand. Moreover, all records about the last battle in Blacksun Valley had been wiped away, so Wei Potian still had no idea what had happened.

Song Zining immediately realized this and understood that Wei Potian wasn’t acting. But this did little to ease the anger in his heart. The scenery in the courtyard shifted with a wave of his sleeves, locking all sounds inside his domain.

After setting up the domain, Song Zining said through gritted teeth, “If you hadn’t gone to Qianye, there was no way he would’ve gone to battle! Now he and Nighteye have died together in Blacksun Valley. Are you satisfied now?”

Wei Potian stood frozen in place, almost as though he had been struck by lightning. “Died together? H-How did this happen? I only wanted him to stop her for a bit.”

Song Zining’s eyes were red as he roared, “What the fuck do you know about all the strings being pulled in this matter? You bumbling idiot! What else do you expect Qianye to do after pushing him onto the battlefield? You forced both of them off the cliff! I wronged Nighteye in many ways because of the things I did for Qianye, and I’m willing to die for that. I woke up so many times in between, did I go and find Qianye?! Zhao Jundu almost died in her hands, did he call Qianye? Even we didn’t speak out, do we need an idiot like you to meddle?! Is losing an arm that important?!”

At the mention of this hateful topic, Song Zining grabbed the sword at Wei Potian’s waist and shouted, “You ran over to Fort Continent with a lost arm. Of course, Qianye wouldn’t just sit by and do nothing. You actually dragged him back with that lost arm of yours, I’ll make sure you lose it forever!!!”

Song Zining slashed at Wei Potian’s left arm!

The latter stood there, ashen-faced, and didn’t try to evade.

Song Zining stopped the swift strike as soon as it had entered the flesh, cursing Wei Potian to his face. “Goddammit! Dodge, come on! What are you doing?”

Wei Potian said, “You’re right, Qianye wouldn’t have come back if I hadn’t lost an arm. He came back for me. I killed him. Please cut me down!”

Song Zining’s hands trembled, causing the blade to cut through the flesh and drawing a stream of blood. He drew back the blade and said, “Qianye lost his life for you, losing an arm is letting you off too easy. I have my reasons as well. Wait until I’ve cleaned up all the bad karma. I will come to find you and take your worthless life, then we’ll all go and meet Qianye!”

Wei Potian remained silent. He reached out to grab the sword and dragged it down forcibly. Ignoring the massive flow of blood, he twisted the sword and dragged it toward his heart.

“What are you doing?!” Shocked, Song Zining grabbed the man’s wrist.

Wei Potian struggled a few times but to no avail. “It’s my fault, I killed him. I’ll go see him now and kowtow in apology!”

Song Zining glared at Wei Potian. “You idiot! You’ll just make him angrier if you go see him. Since you want to die so much, help me do some things so that you don’t die in vain.”

“I owe Qianye, not you!” Wei Potian didn’t have any good impression of Song Zining.

The latter said, “Qianye has just left, but someone’s already eyeing his land.”

Wei Potian was furious. “Who’s so bold?! I’ll kill him!”

“Kill? How?” Song Zining sneered. “The other party is a heavenly monarch!”

“So what? At most I’ll die!”

“That’s why I say you have no brains! What’s the point of dying like that? All you’ll get are some positive comments about brotherly loyalty.”

Wei Potian finally calmed down. “What do you need?”

Song Zining said, “I heard your Wei clan has a few suicidal soldiers. Transfer a thousand of them over to Fort Continent and have them contact Caroline. I’ll give them their orders later on.”

Wei Potian said, “These soldiers do not fear sacrifice, but their death must be worth it.”

Song Zining said coldly, “They’re all unfamiliar faces, so it’s easier to clean up afterward. Just send the men over and tell me how to give them their orders.”

“Don’t I need to go?”

“What for? To let everyone know it’s your doing?”

“Then what do I do?”

“Stay here and recuperate.”

Wei Potian knew he was far inferior in terms of strategy, so he fished out a command token and said, “This is the Wei clan’s secret command token. You can use it to command the suicide soldiers.” He then explained how to activate the origin array.

Song Zining picked up the token and left.

…

In the depths of the endless darkness of the void, a faint voice echoed, “Qianye, Qianye…”

The call reverberated through space, spreading far and wide.

A consciousness slowly awakened in the darkness and listened intently at the distant summoning. After an unknown length of time, a single thought emerged: “So dark…”

He thus opened his eyes and saw that it wasn’t just endless darkness before him. There were small specks of light floating in the air, but his reactions were so sluggish that he couldn’t see what they were or how far they were from him.

That calling grew clearer and clearer.

And just like that, a second thought emerged: “I am Qianye…”

As though he had woken up from a dream, everything before him became clearer. He saw the endless void before him. However, the void wasn’t entirely empty; there were many strange things floating around. There were mountain peaks, giant skeletons, and what looked like the remains of mechanical fortresses, their damaged surfaces revealing the warped steel beams within. It was as though a certain giant had torn it apart.

Qianye wanted to move over to examine the ruins. This fortress was even bigger than a mountain range; the Martyr’s Palace was like an ant compared to it. It could probably fit a small chunk of the Empire’s population if it were complete.

With this thought, Qianye soared into the air and flew toward the ruins. He looked down and saw that he was still in the void and only then did he realize that he had no physical body.

He raised his head again and saw that the ruins were moving away rapidly. The distance between them was even greater than before. The giant rock, the skeletons, and the mountain peaks, everything was moving at unimaginable speeds. How could he ever catch up?

After some hesitation, Qianye gave up any thought of flying over. He had a feeling that things would go really bad if he were to crash into anything.

Qianye turned toward the direction of the call and flew over. The summoning gave him an inherent feeling of familiarity.

It was just that he couldn’t reach the source of that call even after flying endlessly. He couldn’t figure out whether he had actually moved because there was nothing to reference in this endless void.

All he could do was keep flying with all his might.

As time went on, even this incorporeal consciousness began to feel some exhaustion. Qianye suddenly noticed a pair of giant golden eyes slowly open. The eyes merely shot him a glance, but that was enough to send his world spinning. The scenery before him had changed completely when he regained control.

Before him was a raging river. He could not tell whence this giant river stemmed from or where it went; all he knew was that the source of the summoning call came from upstream.

With this thought, Qianye flew along the river.

This time, he knew he was flying. The river gradually became narrower, and the waters turned red, dark red, and then a hint of gold began to appear within. In the blink of an eye, the river had narrowed down to the size of a stream, with golden light flowing between its banks.

The calling grew even clearer; it was coming from the source of the river.

Qianye suddenly realized what he was seeing. This was the River of Blood!

…

Glorious Marquis Margo was enjoying his tea under a big courtyard umbrella. The fragrant flowers and the sunlight shining through the leaves did little to improve his mood.

This was his own territory back at the clan, located on Fire Beacon Continent. Although the land here was small and squeezed up against human territory, it was a good beginning for his family.

Margo was the last batch of experts to be transferred out of Blacksun Valley. He had been feeling sullen for many days, but his mood worsened after returning to Evernight. The showdown on that mountain peak never appeared in any of the records.

He realized what was going on after someone explained it to him. That last battle and its relevant contributions were still under inspection. The process was now half completed, and the rest was in a pending state.

Margo happened to be among the half that was being investigated. He didn’t have much to say since he was captured in the fight, and he didn’t want to wait on Twilight Continent. So, he simply cited injuries and returned to his territory.

Noticing something was off, Margo looked around all of a sudden. Two demonkin had appeared at the entrance to his courtyard.

The marquis recognized the two. He stood up and said in puzzlement, “Your Excellencies Anwen and Eden?!” His expression then shifted drastically. “Eden, what are you doing?!”

The muzzle of Eden’s rifle was staring at him in the face. Margo knew Eden’s special power quite well, and despite being a level higher, he knew it was impossible to escape unscathed.

Eden said calmly, “My apologies, Your Excellency Margo, we’re on a mission. Please return with us.”

Margo said furiously, “If I have to take responsibility, it should be toward Twilight Continent! What’s the meaning of this?”

Incidences of high-ranking experts being captured were few and far between, but it wasn’t as though there weren’t any examples. The exchange of prisoners and ransom couldn’t be made public, but there were always parties operating in the dark.

As for submission, it was naturally impossible between factions. Things, however, could get a bit messy once there was a neutral power involved. For such cases, the council would allow the individual races to settle the matter on their own and only observe the results later on.

Margo had sensed something bad after the battle at Blacksun Valley, but he wasn’t too worried. He was ready to get thrown into another war, but who would’ve thought the council would interfere before the vampire race’s punishment had arrived?

Eden didn’t say anything to him and simply pulled the trigger.

Margo’s hair stood on end as he entered a state of bloodboil. Without a care for the potential damage, he immediately transformed into a shadow and fled. His speed was even faster than an origin bullet!

However, he ran into an invisible wall before he could escape the courtyard. Wisps of dark energy appeared before him as Anwen appeared nearby. The demonkin then captured Margo with his domain as though he were catching an insect.

Margo attacked at the speed of lightning, using his vampiric blade to cleave an escape path on the wall of demonic energy.

Eden’s bullet tore through Margo’s back at that moment. Anwen and his domain suddenly disappeared just before a large shadowy mass flew in and engulfed the vampire marquis.

The vampire castle outside was also in chaos at this point. Large batches of Evernight council soldiers poured in and started massacring everyone in the stronghold. All of them were titled experts who could reap a life with a single strike.

Several transports landed at the borders of the territory, their escort warships still hovering in the air. There were supply crates scattered on the ground and several technicians were busy setting up large equipment on the unoccupied land.

The shadow that had devoured Margo was fired from a cannon-like installation from this place. That dark mass didn’t disperse after engulfing the vampire marquis and instead remained erect on the ground.

Only high-ranking demonkin nobles could clearly see the dissection process that was going on inside. The vampire marquis was being separated into different tissues and broken down into blood energy, which was then converted into pure darkness origin power.

In the end, Margo was reduced to a single blood core and a large cloud of essence, containing half blood energy and half darkness origin power.

During this process, a serious-looking demonkin elder was busy recording the data onto a piece of parchment paper.

At this point, Anwen turned around and said to someone in his guard squad, “Your Excellency, you can go back now that you’ve observed the scene. His Majesty will worry if you run out here like this.”

That tall, soldierly man was Predica.

Predica watched the old demonkin disperse the demonic energy and collect the blood core into a special receptacle. He couldn’t help but rub his chin, saying, “Your matter extraction methods are getting more and more accurate.”

The demonkin nodded and said with a bow, “For darkness and glory. Thank you for the praise, Your Excellency. This is the most cutting-edge extraction method under development. The error control is within half an energy unit and works with any energy system. Well, of course, we still haven’t grasped enough data on void origin power.”

Predica shook his head. “But I feel that His Majesty won’t be willing to offer up that person for such an analysis.”

The old demonkin knew sufficient inside information. “If it’s just for reference data, adding two more provinces under the daybreak system should suffice. We’ve already handed the calculation results to His Majesty Anwen last night. Things turned out quite well. We need to clear away the little insects tainted by darkness origins anyway. It makes little difference if we do it now or later.”

Predica and Anwen exchanged glances, but neither of them said anything. The two were just observers; the decision-making would be left to the other great dark monarchs and princes. Before this senior warlock of the research institute, they had to be careful no matter how high their statuses were.

A soldier arrived at this moment. He bowed first and said, “Lords, there’s a food pen inside with humans among the stock.”

The old demonkin waved at him. “No need to pick them out especially. Daybreak food doesn’t affect the overall data.”

The soldier had just turned around to leave when Predica said, “Wait, I want to take a look. I haven’t seen human commoners before.”

Predica returned after a while and was duly dragged onto the return flight by Anwen.

This time, the demonkin didn’t try to dilly-dally. It was just that he kept gazing out the window after the airship had taken off. After a long while, he asked in puzzlement, “That marshal’s people, are you sure they’re not different species?

Anwen felt that there was a lot to say, but at the same time, he had nothing to say.

Predica’s identity was special, so he had received strict protection from the demonkin race. Even among the upper echelons of the dark races, not many knew of his existence. He rarely left the race’s territory, and even his experience-excursions were limited to special zones that were far away from the daybreak continents.

Also, what did his people mean? What was the power of bloodlines?

Back on the ground, Eden was standing quietly on high ground with his gun.

The territory belonging to a vampire clan was now being leveled rapidly before him. Everything was disappearing—life, castle, and even the lay of the land. Everything was being reduced to thin air and transformed into sets of data in the researchers’ notebooks.

After the entire territory had been wiped clean, the transports shipped over a mountain of equipment. Then, they began assembling a massive entity made of metal, stone, and other unknown materials.

A giant shadow was thus cast over the great land.