[V7C017 – In Life and In Eternal Rest]
Qianye swiftly circled the city with the Zhao clan main camp as the center. Most of the people he pa.s.sed by weren’t even aware of his presence. He would stop and ask the occasional Zhao clan soldier regarding the whereabouts of the military stronghold.
The location of the imperial military wasn’t a secret. At least, it was no longer one in these couple of days. Add to that the fact that Qianye’s status among the Zhao clan private army was high, he was able to obtain the exact location he wanted fairly quickly.
Qianye weaved through the street blocks and houses to finally arrive before an una.s.suming courtyard.
The compound wasn’t that big at first, but it had been restructured by connecting the adjacent courtyards together. It was now as large as half a street block. Located at the core region of Indomitable, the place was strictly defended and even had two cannon turrets erected within it. Taking into account the soldiers on patrol everywhere, one could say it was armed to the teeth. Although there was no signboard on the gates, anyone could tell that it was an important area.
Qianye was somewhat startled as he stood before the courtyard because there were actually two Red Scorpion soldiers among the guards on the wall. Judging from their combat strength, these fellows were either rookies or had just escaped their rookie-hood. But there were actually Red Scorpions here?
Feeling somewhat emotional, Qianye looked to another place and saw the cannoneer on the turret wearing the insignia of the Broken-Winged Angels. Such a courtyard actually involved two elite corps and ones that didn’t get along at that. Apart from the imperial family, the only other ent.i.ty capable of this would be the imperial military.
Qianye arrived before the courtyard doors in a single step and asked the guard, “Is this the military’s stronghold?
In the guard’s perception, this question was exceptionally natural and familiar. He subconsciously replied, “Of course, Sir Li Fengshui is overseeing this place personally.”
The guard felt something was wrong immediately after saying this.
The level of Qianye’s current vampire bloodline was extremely high, but he had never before used its innate ability of charming humans. Hence, the effect only lasted a split second, and it could only be used on low-ranking warriors.
After obtaining his answer, Qianye’s gaze toward the gates turned increasingly cold.
“Lil’ Five! Stop!” Zhao Yuying’s voice arrived from afar. She was already running over at top speed, but she sped up even more due to the anxiety of seeing Qianye at the stronghold doors.
Time seemed to slow down for a split second as Qianye glanced at her. He then turned to the gate and blasted it apart with a square fist!
Meanwhile, Zhao Yuying had just rushed past a street block and was still dozens of meters away from Qianye.
She suddenly realized that it wasn’t time that had slowed down—it was her. Qianye was too strong. This kind of distinct yet time-slowing cadence only appeared because his speed and strength were at a level she would never reach.
“Qianye!” she screamed once more. She wanted to charge forward, but the road ahead became so much longer than before and was now filled with countless trees and shrubs. The swaying leaves actually possessed a sharp intent which caused Zhao Yuying to slow down instinctively.
Song Zining appeared beside her and blocked her with an outstretched hand. “It’s too late.”
“But Lil’ Five is inside!”
“It’s too late!”
Zhao Yuying’s expression turned cold as she roared, “Move aside or I’ll break your domain!”
Song Zining’s eyes were filled with bitterness. “Yuying, you’re not just Qianye’s sister but also Duke You’s lineal granddaughter. You’re a core character of the Zhao clan and a future leader. If you go inside, will you stop Qianye or help him?”
Zhao Yuying was at a loss for words because it was exactly as he had said. Even if she herself didn’t pay much attention to it, her actions represented the Zhao clan to a certain degree in the eyes of outsiders. In terms of status, she was right behind the three dukes and Zhao Jundu. In fact, even Zhao Junhong was below her.
Qianye had charged straight into the military stronghold to seize Nighteye, and his crime was already at its extremes. If Zhao Yuying were to go in and help him, she would bring a catastrophe upon the Zhao clan. If not, how could she have the heart to stop him?”
“But, Lil’ Five…” Zhao Yuying stared blankly at the courtyard, tears welling up in her eyes.
The explosion reverberated throughout the entire courtyard and shook all the buildings down to their floors, walls, and roofs. The unbelievable shockwave from that one punch soon covered every corner of the courtyard, activating the dozens of defensive arrays therein. The entire place fell into chaos amidst the fluctuating origin radiance.
Qianye’s eyes lit up all of a sudden. Amidst the activated arrays, he finally sensed a familiar aura—Nighteye was here!
“Enemy a.s.sault!”
“Battle stations!”
Cries rang out amidst the chaos in the courtyard, and the two cannon turrets quickly turned their muzzles toward the direction of the commotion. The cannon spat out tongues of flame, and the high rate of fire caused the projectiles to turn into streams of metal which locked down Qianye’s path.
As expected of the Broken-Winged Angel elites, the cannoneers’ combat strengths were far above their recorded ranks. They reacted accurately in the blink of an eye by locking down Qianye’s path and restricting his range of movement. This bought time for their comrades to react.
Qianye felt a faint p.r.i.c.k at his back. He was quite familiar with this sense of danger and knew that two Red Scorpion soldiers had locked their stingers onto him. Moreover, they were charging up skills similar to Heavy Caliber and Accurate Fire.
The other soldiers were only a bit slower than the Red Scorpion and Broken-Winged Angel elites. They emerged like bamboo shoots after the spring ring, occupying the rooftops, walls, and every other advantageous terrain. Meanwhile, in the courtyard, there was a large number of warriors rus.h.i.+ng out from the building with even more gearing-up in the rooms and bas.e.m.e.nts.
In the blink of an eye, the entire military stronghold had turned into a tiger’s den.
The shattered pieces of the courtyard gate were just fluttering down at this moment.
Qianye took a sudden step forward, cras.h.i.+ng straight into the fiery stream from the cannon turrets! In mere moments, he had taken hundreds of autocannon rounds, the severe impact of the blast causing him to sway slightly. With a deep growl, he actually rushed out of the flaming stream and shot through the courtyard toward the second set of gates.
Qianye’s combat robes were riddled with bullet holes, and several of the projectiles were embedded in his flesh. Yet all of them scattered onto the ground with a shake of his body.
All the guards were stunned, and the commanding officers almost forget to issue the interception order. The two autocannons used to defend the military stronghold were large caliber weapons with an especially high rate-of-fire, and the ammunition was also specially made to penetrate origin power defenses. Even Li Fengshui wouldn’t be able to last that long under the barrage.
Yet, the two intersecting torrents of fire had only scratched him!?
The cannon turrets were manned by top shooters from the Broken-Winged Angels. They remained startled for only a split second before sending the flaming whips after Qianye. In the blink of an eye, they had landed several dozen more shots on his back.
The latter had no intention to evade. He borrowed the forward impact to blast through the gates and rush into the inner courtyard.
The moment he stepped in, a dagger each went for his back from the left and the right. This attack was well-coordinated—there were no openings to speak of, and the method was extremely vicious. The blade edge was suffused with origin power and was capable of destroying everything… almost everything.
Qianye didn’t evade this, either, and simply used his body to resist the two blades. This time, the daggers did pierce into his body, but they couldn’t reach any deeper after a couple of centimeters. The a.s.sailants felt that this wasn’t a body of flesh and blood but instead a piece of strong metal alloy. They felt that things weren’t going quite as planned and wanted to abandon their weapons and flee. However, East Peak whizzed over and sent them flying through the air, bones cracking and blood gus.h.i.+ng out of their mouths. They fell to the ground with heavy injuries and could no longer get up.
Qianye continued onward after crippling two champions in one strike.
The second courtyard was merely a dozen or so meters long, but countless ma.s.ses of origin power erupted on Qianye’s body during this short distance. The soldiers on the walls were going all-out. A hail of bullets descended upon the intruder and exploded on his body. These soldiers were either from elite corps or fairly close in terms of power—every shot was fast, fierce, and ruthless.
Qianye traversed the courtyard through the torrent of bullets. With a single punch, the second courtyard, along with its gate tower, was blasted apart. The soldiers on top were sent flying from the impact and collapsed entirely upon landing.
Some injuries finally appeared on Qianye’s body. Although most of the injuries would close up on their own, there were simply too many bullets. The wounds would close and then open up once more, turning from small scratches to light injuries.
Qianye seemed completely oblivious to the wounds on his body. He didn’t stop to rest after blasting the gate tower and charged straight into the inner courtyard.
The inner courtyard was already filled with soldiers from Broken-Winged Angel and Red Scorpion, all equipped with heavy s.h.i.+elds and sharp blades. As Qianye stepped into the compound, one campion from each army corps walked out to block his path.
Qianye was somewhat dazed after glancing at the Red Scorpion champion. The Tiger Scorpion Battalion’s insignia was carved on that brigadier general’s armor. That was the first unit Qianye had been a.s.signed to after joining Red Scorpion. Later on, the Tiger Scorpions were completely wiped out at the battle in that small, unknown city. Who would’ve thought the battalion had been reformed after so many years?
Despite his sentiments, Qianye knew that the true fighting power of the two elite corps couldn’t be measured with simple ranks. On the complicated battlefield, it was nothing out of the ordinary for one of these elites to fight against two opponents of the same rank.
The Broken-Winged Angel champion roared, “Zhao Qianye, you’re trespa.s.sing an important location of the imperial military. Is this a rebellion?”
This question was fairly intentional. Qianye’s eyes turned cold as he shouted, “My surname is not Zhao. Now, scram!”
The shout hadn’t even trailed off, but Qianye had already taken a step forward.
That Broken-Winged Angel champion roared and thrust his sword at Qianye’s heart. Meanwhile, the Red-Scorpion champion circled around and swung his heavy sword at the intruder’s back.