Song Zining continued dressing while throwing out a random reply, “The cold hasn’t receded, but we can start working already. There’s no excuse to not try hard when we’re in such a bountiful land.”
The beautiful lady beside him rolled her eyes. “Do you only work during the daytime? I’ve never seen you doing anything properly.”
Song Zining smiled. “This young master has just arrived, and my body is frail. I can’t take as much punishment as you guys can. I might not get through the night if I go one more round, and I still want to enjoy your affection a bit longer.”
The lady smiled as she embraced Song Zining from behind. “You really know how to talk! But you just arrived, you really can’t endure the environment here. Sigh!”
Song Zining stroked her face. “Why are you sighing?”
The lady whispered, “I suddenly feel reluctant to part with you, yet I don’t want to keep you here and make you suffer the same things I did back then.”
Song Zining was already dressed at this point, but he sat down beside her and said with a smile, “There’s no rush. Tell me more about you if you’re willing.”
The lady was startled, almost as though she hadn’t imagined Song Zining to be so caring. She moved her moist eyes away and sighed once more. “It’s the same thing. I was sent into the Great Maelstrom around ten or so years ago. I was selected to join the exploration squad not long after my arrival and sent to investigate the core region. Our luck was especially bad that time, we fell into the hands of those people almost immediately after entering the area.”
“The entire group was wiped out?”
“Yes. There were eight of us, none escaped.”
Song Zining said, “No one escaped, that’s weird. Don’t tell me…”
The lady ground her teeth. “It was of course a scheme, with previous imperial captives leading the way and guiding them. How else would they know about all our retaliatory and escape methods? Half of our men had fallen in just a single exchange.”
Song Zining didn’t look surprised. “Then what about the guides?”
The woman’s eyes flickered with anger. “I endured three years of torture while the change happened, all so that I can live and get stronger. My strength had far exceeded those people after those three years, so I asked my superior to a.s.sign them under my command. I took them out on the first hunting trip and hung them all up on a tree, leaving them crying for three whole days before letting them die! Even with that, I was only able to repay a small fraction of all the agony and embarra.s.sment!”
Song Zining said after some silence, “You talked about the change, what’s that?”
The woman replied with a question, “Did my hatred scare you?”
Song Zining patted her shoulder. “After seeing your current self, I can venture a rough guess of what you went through back then. All power comes at a price, and it seems you paid a serious price for yours.”
The girl nodded. “In order to retain my memory and reason, I would stab myself secretly at night, using the pain to gain a modic.u.m of clarity as I thought back to my past, my race, and myself. Even so, I can no longer remember my own name anymore and I only remember fragments of my past.”
“You still haven’t forgotten the enmity?”
“No.”
“Looks like they deserve to die.”
The lady said, “I never understood. We’re all from the human race. Why would they treat us so ruthlessly? They’re even worse than those four-armed fellows!”
“Is it to prove their loyalty?” Song Zining probed.
The lady spat. “F*ck loyalty! Our bodies are gradually transforming in this world, and we’re no longer the same as humans. We can’t even live very long without the white-wine produced by those four-arms, so they’re not afraid of us turning traitor. The only fate that awaits betrayers is death!”
Song Zining pondered for a while. “So that’s how it is. I see that there are a fair number of humans who are similarly transformed, but I don’t remember the empire ever sending so many people into the Great Maelstrom. What’s going on?”
The lady sighed. “Those humans you saw aren’t from the empire but the descendants of transformed people like us. It’s not just with the natives, though. It’s also possible that they are the descendants of other humans or even the dark races.”
Song Zining was surprised. “You can have descendants?”
“Of course, everything is possible in this accursed place.”
Song Zining was surprised. It had long since been proven that humans and certain dark races would never be able to have offspring, arachne for example. It was also extremely difficult to produce offspring with demonkin. In the Great Maelstrom, however, it would seem everything existed for the sake of procreation. And no matter how big the intelligence gap was between the races, they would be able to leave offspring. It was just that there was no telling how the descendants would turn out.
Song Zining frowned. “Even then, the numbers are a bit too high.”
The lady replied, “Kids start growing immediately after birth and mature in five years or so. They can then start producing the next generation once they mature.”
“That fast?” Song Zining was surprised.
The woman nodded.
“If that’s the case, won’t this world be filled with these people?”
The lady didn’t agree. “These fellows are extremely weak, and their fate is to be slaughtered most of the time. They can never beat a four-armed warrior even if they form a group. Whenever they go out to hunt, they would lose several men in order to obtain results.”
Song Zining frowned restlessly. Perhaps there was some great secret hidden in the depths of this world.
The lady glanced at the sky and blushed as her hand ran over Song Zining’s body. The latter smiled wryly, “I can’t handle anymore.”
The woman handed him a bottle of wine. “There’s some wine here. Drink it and you’ll have the strength.”
Song Zining didn’t take it immediately. “No, what will you do if I take that?”
“I’ll go hunt and obtain more prey.”
Song Zining pushed the wine back warmly but resolutely. “No, I won’t let you risk your life for me.”
“My life is not worth anything. If I hadn’t met you, I would’ve forgotten the past entirely after a while.”
Song Zining said, “How about this? I’m very much interested in the weapons you use. Can you help me procure some good ones?”
The lady shot to her feet. “This won’t be a problem. I’ll go back to the castle and challenge some of those cowards. They might not be good at fighting, but they’re skilled in making weapons. Just wait here, I’ll win some back very soon!”
Song Zining nodded slightly.
The lady jumped up against the intense gravity and shot away with some borrowed force from the branches. That was a powerful leap indeed.
She returned before long with a wound on her face, but the camp was already empty.
Dazed, she dropped the weapons she was carrying onto the ground. All of a sudden, she noticed a small jar of wine on the ground that she hadn’t seen before. She opened the container and noticed a wave of fragrance rus.h.i.+ng at her face.
It was Song Zining who had left this jar of wine for her.
The Constellation Well soon became lively as Qianye and Edward’s group stood off yet again.
Twilight pointed at the well. “We did find the other well opening, but it’s not as good as this one. We want to use it.”
Qianye was quite straightforward. “Sure,” he paused slightly, “but do you dare?”
Twilight and Edward’s expressions were unsightly since Qianye’s rhetorical question contained evil intentions.
Among the vampire experts, everyone apart from Twilight and Edward had been injured. That mysterious black-robed man was actually a bit stronger than Twilight, but he never recovered after being injured by Ji Tianqing.
Qianye would easily rampage through the group if Twilight were to enter the well, and then the three of them could surround Edward. It would be even worse if Edward were to enter the well. Qianye would likely wipe out the entire vampire force on his own and block the exit from the well, forcing the Holy Son to his death inside the well.
Regardless of the scenario, the situation would collapse for the vampires if they fell out with Qianye. Not to mention the grave losses, they would never get the origin blood if the one entering the well were to fall. All they could do was hope that Qianye would keep his word, yet pinning one’s hopes entirely on an enemy was never a wise course of action, neither between human families nor between the dark races.
Edward’s countenance became more and more unsightly. At the root of it, their dilemma was born of their side’s weakness. He simply couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t suppress Qianye, even though he possessed blood energy with a great dark monarch’s aura. As for the chances of him being ranked lower than Qianye in the River of Blood, that was something he had never considered.
Seeing the vampires unresponsive, Qianye pushed on with a smile. “We’ve let out the well, aren’t you going in?”
With the Constellation Well just within arm’s reach, Edward’s expression grew increasingly gloomy. Qianye opened the path to the well, but how could they walk into it? A promise was important, but not as important as a Holy Son.
Anwen’s voice suddenly rang out amidst the deadlock. “Oh? Vampires can use the Constellation Well?”
Edward looked back. “Anwen!”
Anwen was quite nonchalant. He said with a smile, “It’s me, probably one of the people you don’t want to see the most.”
Edward snorted in tacit agreement. He moved his hand behind him, gesturing for Twilight to move. The latter scanned the battlefield, her gaze pausing somewhat on Qianye as she prepared to leave. They could still consider making a deal with the human race, but they couldn’t trust the demonkin at all under the same circ.u.mstances.
Twilight had just started to move when an icy cold intent covered her entire body, making her afraid to even move.
She turned back to find that Bai Kongzhao had appeared behind her at some point, her large eyes darting about her vitals. Wherever the little girl’s gaze fell, Twilight would feel as though she had been p.r.i.c.ked by needles. It was as though she didn’t even have any defensive power.