Chapter 1371: It’s Actually You

Habsburg woke up on his throne, startled.

In his consciousness, he could hear a message from the perpetually calm River of Blood—it was a summon from the Azure King Reynold.

Ever since the Sacred River had gone quiet, the great dark monarchs and princes rarely used such an ancient method of transmission. That was because the river would often not respond, not even a ripple. Hence, they couldn’t communicate through it.

Habsburg found this matter strange, but he decided to set out immediately after replying to the call. There was one continent between him and the Azure King’s location, so he didn’t really have the time to ponder on the situation.

All of a sudden, his steps came to a halt and his figure vanished from the spot, reappearing in the corridor of the castle’s seventh basement floor.

The corridor still retained its ancient sandstone walls. It was narrow but tall with two bronze doors at its end, covered in runic carvings.

There was a person standing before the threshold. He did not possess the slightest aura of an expert, almost as though he were an ordinary person.

Yet he wasn’t just any ordinary person. A vampire castle’s underground chamber was where the blood pond and altars were located. Especially in a castle belonging to the twelve major clans, just the suppressive power alone could immobilize a youngster of the clan.

The Demon King didn’t look back after hearing the approaching person and merely looked up at the majestic door. He had been standing there for a long time, yet he never reached out to push the doors open.

Habsburg walked over slowly.

Although a vampire held the home-field advantage in his own castle, it was not more than a small inconvenience for the Demon King. There was no safe distance in the entire castle, let alone this corridor.

“A personal visit from the Demon King, what an honor.”

“I’m just here to visit him.”

Habsburg went silent. The Demon King didn’t say anything more, nor did he move. The two stood ten meters apart before the bronze door, much like stone statues.

After a good while, the doors slowly opened to reveal the boundless darkness within.

The Demon King had no intention of going in. He simply cast his gaze in that direction, where the endless darkness appeared in his eyes like a different layer.

There—in the embrace of flames darker than darkness and colder than frost—was a small mass of radiance. This glow was comparable to an eternal glacier, an entity that would not change in myriad years.

The Demon King could tell that the glow was coming from four floating origin crystals. One of them did not have a complete edge and was apparently damaged.

Gradually, the faint glow formed the silhouette of a person. He was seated in a half-lotus position with his left hand on his knees and using the spear in his right hand to support himself. Motes of starlight would leak out from his chest from time to time and revolve behind him.

However, a speck or two would drift away into the darkness occasionally and fade away into nothingness.

The Demon King watched on expressionlessly at first, but at one point, he was visibly moved. “Has his origins completely disappeared?”

Habsburg lowered his head, seemingly deep in thought. He glanced up in surprise when he heard the question, apparently puzzled as to why the Demon King would ask.

The supreme observed Habsburg’s reaction, then vanished without asking anything else.

Habsburg frowned. He glanced briefly at the realm of dark flames before following the supreme.

The Demon King stood in the void above the Sperger Clan’s castle. He raised his hand as Habsburg appeared, producing a drop of pure darkness origin power between them.

The Demon King said, “You possess the darkest flames in the world, which is closer to the darkness origins than any other blood power. It has been said that the previous Flaming Crown’s blood seal ran into problems. It wasn’t because he was lacking in strength, but rather because taking the power to the next level involved devouring one’s kin.”

Habsburg listened quietly as the Demon King mentioned something that could be considered a top-secret of the race.

The supreme said, “I can give you a law of darkness. With your ability, I’m sure it’ll greatly reduce the time needed to purify the power.”

Habsburg replied calmly, “Thank you for the kindness, but I’m happy with my current strength.”

The Demon King wasn’t angry about being refused outright, nor did he try to persuade the man. “Since that’s the case, you should fulfill your responsibility as a council member.”

At this moment, a sense of foreboding welled up in Habsburg’s heart, but he had no spare energy to figure out the source of this abnormality.

His frown relaxed as he replied, “I never refused my duties.”

The Demon King said, “There’s a council laboratory near the human borders on the Fire Beacon Continent. We’re getting ready to clean up the place, Mark will talk to you about the details.”

Habsburg couldn’t control his blood core as it skipped a beat. This location sounded too familiar.

The Demon King acted as though he hadn’t noticed it. “As for his remains, it looks like something happened. It’s slowly deteriorating even in the Everfrost environment of the darkness origin flames. We have no precise data on the body of a fallen heavenly monarch, but human divine champions certainly don’t react this way.”

The Demon King paused for a bit. “Sometimes, I remember the words he told me. Perhaps this world really cannot keep him chained, the world beyond is where he belongs.”

Habsburg didn’t really understand what the Demon King was trying to say. He chose to remain silent since he didn’t know how to continue this topic.

An irregularly-shaped crystal flew out of the Demon King’s hand and stopped beside the previous drop of origin power.

The Demon King said, “You can control that minor realm, so you should know how to use this shadow fragment.” With that, he nodded at Habsburg as a gesture of farewell before vanishing into the void.

The council chairman was waiting at the borders of the Twilight Continent.

“Dear Mark, go and investigate if there were any abnormalities among the humans following Lin Xitang’s death.”

These words came out of nowhere. The council chairman asked, “Your Supreme Majesty, your instructions are rather unusual…”

The Demon King said, “I just have a bad feeling about it.”

The Demon King’s premonition wasn’t something that could be ignored. Mark replied, “I understand. I’ll start investigating their divine champions and work my way down.”

With that, the group faded away into the void.

In the air above the Sperger Castle, Habsburg was observing the two things before him.

That grey crystal looked unassuming, but after careful contact with his origin power, the prince realized that there was a realm within. An attribute that lay between the demonkin and the arachne was rather strange, and probing with his perception, he felt that the realm inside was like a mirror image.

Habsburg had heard of this before. Reportedly, the arachne possessed a Shadow World, and the fragments that fell off from this world could form miniature realms of their own. They were holy items highly sought over in the black market. It was a wonder where the Demon King had gotten his hands on one.

The Everfrost attribute of his origin flames could freeze space, but it could barely freeze time, resulting in the slow deterioration of Lin Xitang’s remains. This breakdown was extremely slow and would take hundreds of years to destroy an origin crystal.

Things would be completely different with the addition of the minor shadow realm. It was like a mirror reflection of this world—the other side of the coin—capable of locking down everything on this side.

Habsburg didn’t think further before putting the minor shadow realm away. The moment he touched the drop of darkness origin power, though, the Demon King’s aura spread out to form a scene.

A young human was looking in this direction, his long, black hair hanging loosely in front of his chest. The background was a forest.

Habsburg found that the young man wasn’t all that young when their gazes met. There was starlight flowing in the latter’s eyes, almost as though they were reflecting the world.

“The starry skies outside of this world are vast and magnificent. To this day, I still cannot see its ends.”

“I, for one, can see the ends of my world… it’s sixty years.”

“Such a lifespan is much longer than ordinary civilians, enough for me to do many things I want to do.”

“Yeah, that’s why we cannot explore…”

The scene stopped at this moment, and the drop of origin power dispersed into thin mist.

This was a fragment of the Demon King’s memory that was related to Lin Xitang.

That smiling man—one of such indifference that he seemed devoid of emotions—ultimately failed to live out his sixty years.

Habsburg calmed himself and looked down at his ancestral territory. His gaze scanned everything from nearby to a fair distance; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Yet, he still couldn’t forget that moment of abnormality from just now.

Habsburg sank his consciousness into the River of Blood. The waters were as calm and quiet as a mirror’s surface. The Azure King’s message had long since vanished without a trace. He stretched his perception toward the source of the river and the twenty half-floating seals gradually appeared.

The seal belonging to the Azure King wasn’t the brightest since he wasn’t in his usual active phase. Habsburg observed the seals for a while, but he couldn’t figure out which one was abnormal. After some thought, he decided to head over to where the Azure King was.

By the time Habsburg arrived at the secret realm, the Azure King’s ancient castle was in ruins, and the valley had been entirely deformed. There were strong traces of daybreak origin power everywhere, so much so that even Habsburg couldn’t find any clues.

There was only a single wisp of violet blood energy pointing in a certain direction. That was a mark Medanzo had left behind.

Habsburg frowned as he glanced at the rubble. He looked thoughtfully in the direction of the Lightless Monarch’s marking, but ultimately, he turned back to Twilight Continent instead of following it.

…

The Blacksun Valley was no longer flooded in the flames of war. The Empire and Evernight were now building fortresses on either side of the valley. They might not be far, but neither side interfered with the other’s construction work. The patrols also kept their distance from one another, so there was little chance of a misfire.

Judging from the scale of the strongholds, however, this peace was merely temporary.

The Evernight stronghold was a colossal structure being built upon the original foundations. Following the suppression of the Imperial Guard fleet, the dark races reflected on their pain and began adding defensive firepower to the fortress. One cannon turret after another rose up in the fortress, almost like a stone forest. Even the strongest fleet would feel their scalp grow numb at the sight of it.

The Empire wasn’t willing to be outdone, either. Although their fortress was newly constructed, the number of defensive turrets wasn’t too far behind the enemy stronghold. Most of the turrets were ground-target weapons and homing ballistae for targeting experts.

Just like that, the two factions engaged in a construction race while targeting the other’s weakness.

Song Zining was the idlest one in the fortress. Every day, he had nothing else to do but read through some battle reports. He could see the black pillar of fire from his window, growing weaker by the day. It might disappear completely in a matter of days.

According to the agreement between those behind the curtain, a new round of battles would begin after the flames completely disappeared.

It was at this moment that a knock came from the door, quite urgent from the sound of it.

Song Zining was startled as he opened the door. “General Zhang Zhao, what brings you here?”

The man was indeed Zhang Zhao. He looked rather worn with sunken eyes that spoke of his nonstop journey. The man fell to his knees immediately, crying, “Marshal Song, please save me!”

Song Zining helped him up quickly. “Stand up first, what’s so urgent?”

“You’re injured?” Song Zining realized this as he was helping the man up.

Zhang Zhao said, “Just a minor wound, not a big deal. I came here because I had no other choice. Please give me some advice.”

“Get up first and we’ll talk.” Song Zining helped the man to a seat and returned to his own, waiting for the continuation.

Zhang Zhao said, “The prince dispatched a thousand elites and dozens of experts to Fort Continent to secretly await your arrival. Who would’ve thought we would run into an ambush immediately after our arrival. There were enemies everywhere! In the end, only a couple of comrades and I managed to break free. The others have all…”

Song Zining said, “They’re the prince’s elites?”

“Most of them used to be the prince’s followers, people who had received instruction from the monarch himself. The unit was made up of three thousand men, but we lost two-thirds in a single fight.”

“If the unit is made up of elites, why did so few make it out alive?”

Zhang Zhao had calmed down at this point. “Things happened all of a sudden, we were surrounded as soon as we landed. There were simply too many of them, spanning all across the wilderness and mountains. There’s also a duke among them! Commander Yang was injured soon after the battle began and had no choice but to flee. We still don’t know his fate.”

Song Zining nodded. “Looks like there was a leak. What do you want with me now?”

Zhang Zhao said, “The only method left is for you to go personally and take back the Martyr’s Palace. I received news that the palace has returned to Cerulean Wave City and is right outside the city.”

Song Zining stood up and patted Zhang Zhao on the shoulder. “General Zhang, looks like you’re confused. This marshal is in charge of Blacksun Valley, how important do you think this place is? How can I leave just like that? As for how you’ll explain your blunder to the prince, that’s none of my concern. I wouldn’t care about a divine champion, let alone a small general like you.”

Zhang Zhao was stunned. “Marshal Song, what do you mean?”

“What you should know is that you escaped not because of your own ability, but because I told them to let you go. You didn’t dare face the prince, so you came to me instead. Well, since you’re here, you should get some good rest. Your wounds are about to act up anyway, you won’t live long.”

Zhang Zhao was shaken at the sudden realization. “It’s you!”

He hadn’t finished speaking when he spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed. Only then did he recall that Song Zining had patted him on the shoulder just now, but that realization came too late.

Song Zining opened the door and shouted, “Men! General Zhang’s wounds have acted up, give him emergency treatment!”

Some aides rushed over and carried Zhang Zhao away.

Moments later, one of them hurried back to report, “Sire, we were incapable. General Zhang’s injuries were too severe, he sacrificed himself for the country.”

Song Zining said with a frown, “What did he say before his death?”

“General Zhang was delirious. He kept repeating ‘Werewolves! So many werewolves!’ Nothing else.”

Song Zining said, “General Zhang traveled ten thousand miles to get here. Unfortunately, he left before he could say a word. This matter is of utmost importance, you’ll be in charge of reporting everything to the military. Don’t hide anything, understand?”

The aide left to perform his duties.

Song Zining heaved a sigh afterward, knowing that he had resolved one worry. Next up was to read the detailed battle report from Fort Continent and wait for the military’s response.

Zhang Zhao was truly useless, and even as a lobbyist, his words were full of loopholes. Song Zining couldn’t be bothered to leave him running around. He hoped the next one would be more intelligent.

Heavenly Monarchs would only oversee the battle and not lead troops after breaking through. If those elite troops had indeed fought alongside the Profundity Monarch, they would have to be seventy years old at the very least. It was doubtful whether or not they could still hold a sword. A different possibility was that they were honor guards assigned to the heavenly monarch at a later date. Ignoring whether or not the monarch would have the spare time to instruct these soldiers, the maximum number of honor guards was one thousand and five hundred men.

Even someone like Prince Greensun who had just retired from an elite army corps only had two thousand honor guards, men reformed from his old unit. If Zhang Zhao’s troops were indeed old honor guards called back to duty, losing well over a thousand of them would no doubt cause quite the ruckus.

Song Zining was in no rush to figure out the truth. Waiting patiently for the enemy to exhaust themselves was a great strategy. It would save him the trouble of figuring things out. It would seem the upper echelons of the werewolf race were also seeing some change. He decided to borrow the heavenly monarch’s name for a bit, whether it was real or not.