Chapter 1303: Dragonsgrave
What had destroyed Dragonspring in battle? Information like this had always been a top-level secret. Since the eunuch was willing to tell him, Qianye paid rapt attention to the old man. He needed to know since the gun’s body was now in his hand.
According to the eunuch, Dragonspring had faced off against three enemies. If it could hold its ground under such circ.u.mstances, the weapon’s t.i.tle wouldn’t just stop at being a magnum—it would probably sit among the top three.
Although the gun was ultimately destroyed, the gun’s body and bolt remained intact, while the origin array on it had only suffered some damage. Whatever parts remained could have been easily used for a rare supreme treasure.
Qianye found it unbelievable that a gun part that had only existed in the legends would land in his hands. There was no need to think too hard to know that the Imperial family’s shadows were behind this matter. However, Qianye wasn’t about to refuse such a gift since he was currently pioneering land in a chaotic world.
Since Dragonspring and Heartgrave had been combined, Qianye had to know all of its strengths and weaknesses. He wouldn’t even have tears to cry if this weapon were to be destroyed again in his hands.
Eunuch Liu seemed to have sunk into old memories, waking up only after a good while.
“The state teacher who crafted Dragonspring was a peerless talent in divination arts, but his strength was somewhat limited. He barely managed to break through to the divine champion realm and had no future prospects. Dragonspring used up several treasures from the Imperial treasury, one of which the Founding Ancestor obtained from the depths of the Great Maelstrom. This component required extremely powerful origin power to temper. The state teacher did his utmost, but it was still not enough—a tiny blemish remained in the material. Even the craftsman himself had no idea about this imperfection, let alone an outsider.
“Yet even the tiniest flaws became a trap in a battle of that scale, so much so that Dragonspring finally broke apart. They only found out about this after studying the damaged parts after the battle. The state teacher, who was already in a weak state from crafting Dragonspring, succ.u.mbed to the remorse soon afterward. Before his pa.s.sing, the man contributed his entire life’s savings to the Empire in exchange for a powerful cultivation art. With the state teacher dead and his family and properties scattered, outsiders didn’t find it in them to blame him.”
Qianye couldn’t help but sigh. “How many guns can even contend against three Grand Magnums in the hands of the Martial Emperor?”
After lamenting the story, Qianye asked, “Even though the gun is gone, the remaining body is still a supreme treasure. The Empire has no shortage of geniuses, so repairing the weapon shouldn’t be a problem. Why give it to me so easily?”
“There are two main reasons.”
“Eunuch, please explain.”
“The Martial Ancestor pa.s.sed away less than ten years after that battle, he wasn’t even old at that time. How could someone of his cultivation leave so early? Most of the civil and military ministers guessed that the ancestor must’ve sustained some hidden injury that reduced his lifespan. Since then, Dragonspring was considered a weapon of calamity and left in a corner of the treasury.”
Qianye sighed softly. “How can that be?”
Eunuch Liu nodded slightly. “The second reason is that Dragonspring’s foundations and gun-body were still intact. Repairing it would require a divine champion with skills comparable to the state teacher. These two requirements make the endeavor quite difficult.”
Qianye’s eyes lit up. “Then you…”
Eunuch Liu sighed. “The state teacher back then is my ancestor. He abandoned his wealth and life in exchange for a powerful cultivation art that his descendants could use to pave a path forward. I followed the previous Emperor since he was just a prince, fighting everywhere around the Empire. Later on, when he ascended the throne, I simply joined the palace to protect his descendants. Although there were other reasons as well, this can be considered me doing what I can to compensate for my ancestor’s failure.”
“The state teacher’s merits were much greater than his mistakes, no?”
Eunuch Liu shook his head. “The ancestor admitted that he had felt something was off back then, but he had hoped the worst wouldn’t come to be. Who would’ve thought that the unthinkable would indeed happen at the most critical juncture? This shows that the ancestor made a mistake, a big one at that. If such an accident hadn’t occurred, the Martial Ancestor wouldn’t have been injured. It wouldn’t have been this serious even if he were.”
“These are just guesses, there’s no way to prove anything.”
Eunuch Liu laughed out loud. “True… it seems I still can’t let go of what happened with the ancestor back then. What’s the use of thinking about those things when I’m one foot in the grave? Try out the gun and see if it’s a good fit.”
Qianye was barely holding back, to begin with. He was delighted after obtaining permission to test-fire the new weapon.
He had just poured in his origin power when an attractive force appeared from the gun, drawing on his Venus Dawn origin power and blood energy at the same time. Shocked out of his wits, Qianye’s hands trembled ever so slightly as he made ready to cut off the connection.
It was at this time that a dark golden glow emerged on the gun’s body. Although it was extremely faint, Qianye of course recognized that it was born of his dark golden blood energy.
Calming down somewhat, he allowed the origin gun to freely absorb his origin power and blood energy. Using Heartgrave alone placed a great deal of strain on him, but things were much easier now that the gun was using both sources of energy.
The glow on the rifle faded, and it suddenly died out after it was one-third full. Yet, the dim and silent weapon sent a chill down Qianye’s spine.
No ordinary situation could give Qianye a sense of serious danger.
And why was this gun able to absorb his dark golden blood energy?
Seeing Qianye glance at him, Eunuch Liu said with a smile, “Although it goes against common sense, I noticed that you possess both daybreak and evernight powers. Since this weapon is yours to use, it has to suit the actual circ.u.mstances to maximize its power. That’s why I modified it a bit.”
“This is simply brilliant!” Qianye offered his heartfelt praise.
The highest grade weapons of Daybreak and Evernight weren’t usable by the opposing attribute. The main reason lay in the origin array. Weaponsmiths would surely have to study all kinds of arrays, but then again, knowledge and application involved very different levels of difficulty.
Eunuch Liu pointed at the gun. “A bullet has formed in the gun, and it can hold two at most. The bullet will possess different properties depending on the ratio of origin power and blood energy you pour into the gun. In general, blood energy will increase the penetration power while daybreak origin power will increase its damage. You’ll need to figure out the details by yourself. Oh, right… it has no name yet. Think of one.”
Qianye said respectfully, “This gun is your masterpiece, so you should be the one to name it.”
“Dragonspring was crafted by my ancestor, and Heartgrave was the fruit of the Pointer Monarch’s painstaking efforts. I merely combined the two, so how can it be considered my masterpiece?”
Eunuch Liu was being humble. Fitting the two parts together perfectly and modifying them to accommodate different energy attributes required nothing short of supreme craftsmans.h.i.+p. He wasn’t too far off from the state teacher back then.
After Qianye refused several times, Eunuch Liu said, “This old man is far from creative. The gun’s body is Dragonspring and the barrel is Heartgrave, so let’s call it Dragonsgrave. How’s that?”
Qianye said repeatedly, “Good, good!”
He was greatly satisfied with this extremely powerful and long-ranged sniper rifle. It could also hold two bullets, greatly increasing its burst firepower. Just in terms of firepower, it wasn’t that far off from a Grand Magnum. The only thing it lacked was the miraculous special powers typical of these supreme weapons.
Qianye caressed Dragonsgrave to get a feel of it. “I love simple and fierce weapons like this!”
Eunuch Liu shook his head with a laugh. “Seriously… Since Dragonsgrave has been a.s.sembled successfully, you should find a place to try it out.”
“Where should we try it out?” Qianye was surprised.
Eunuch Liu stroked his chin and said wisely, “The best place to test the gun is the new world. No ordinary opponent will suffice as a test subject for Dragonsgrave. Why not just try it out on Sousa?”
“Sousa?” Qianye was startled. Despite owning Dragonsgrave, he still didn’t have the confidence to face a great dark monarch. He was already having a hard time hiding from the werewolf monarch, but now, he was supposed to go and knock on the enemy’s doors? Wasn’t that somewhat inappropriate? It would be rather troublesome if Qianye really angered the werewolf overlord to the point where he would ignore the dangers and give chase to the end.
Eunuch Liu said, “Of course, it’s Sousa. Who else is there? But rest a.s.sured, since I’m the one who made Dragonsgrave, I’ll be around when you try it out. It just so happened that I’ve never been in your famous Martyr’s Palace. I’ll take this opportunity to stay there for a couple of days.”
“You’re most welcome!” Qianye said sincerely.
That afternoon, a fully-resupplied Martyr’s Palace took to the air. Its tremendous frame pa.s.sed through the door and once again entered the new world.
Once inside, the palace made straight for the Moorland werewolves’ door.
After a day and night of flight, they finally arrived near their destination. The vague outline of a forest appeared in front. Qianye remembered that this was a forest with two holy trees, and a couple of hundred meters ahead was the door leading to Moorland.
Qianye had some reservations at this point. They were heading into the werewolf stronghold, where Sousa had the greatest degree of freedom to move. He might even be able to go all-out.
It was at this time that Qianye’s eyes lit up. He saw a werewolf base under construction outside of the distant forest. This base was fairly mediocre in terms of features and scale—it was even inferior to Qianye’s forward base outside of the forest with three holy trees.
“Eunuch Liu, look, there’s a werewolf base over there. We might be able to lure Sousa out if we attack it first. What do you think?”
Eunuch Liu narrowed his eyes. “That might work. As expected, werewolves never think too far ahead. An entire continent’s worth of resources, and yet their base still can’t compare to yours.”
Qianye laughed. “I dealt him a heavy blow a while back. Not only did I destroy most of his fortress but also plundered his resources and equipment. I think he lost most of his stock to me.”
Eunuch Liu nodded. “If that’s the case, you should be more careful. Sousa might appear faster than you think.”
“Got it.”
Qianye drove the Martyr’s Palace toward the werewolf base. Landsinker rumbled from a great distance, firing a gigantic ballista bolt toward the werewolf fortress.
In the blink of an eye, a gigantic fireball slowly curled up from the base as the newly-erected kinetic tower collapsed with a boom.