The Profundity Monarch sighed as he put the chess piece back into the box. “Young Friend, why do you like to force people so?”
“I guess it’s because I’ve been pushed around for too long, I think I want to see what it feels like to flip the table.”
The Profundity Monarch shook his head. A nearby duke shouted, “Zhao Qianye! Are you not afraid that your insolence will drag the Zhao clan down?”
Qianye turned glanced expressionlessly at the man. “How so? Is it like this?”
Several threads of blood shot toward the duke at extreme speed! This attack was almost unbelievable. That man could do nothing but watch the incoming strike with an ashen face. He was simply unable to evade!
At this moment, the Pointer Monarch sighed.
He appeared between Qianye and the duke, stopping the threads with a swing of his sleeves.
Having returned from the brink of death, the man pointed at Qianye, saying, “Y-You! The nerve…”
Qianye didn’t follow up with the attack and merely gazed at the Pointer Monarch.
The monarch sighed, “Can you people not let an old man rest?”
Qianye said, “I’m afraid this matter is too important for you to be enjoying peace and quiet.
He still maintained a bit of respect for the Pointer Monarch.
Someone wanted to speak but the Pointer Monarch shut him up with a wave of his hand.
“Why would you risk angering the Empire over some native tribes?”
“This isn’t entirely related to the Attawa. Even without them, I think some people will wait until I’m done fighting the Evernight to the death.”
Qianye didn’t hold back at all, eliciting unnatural reactions from quite a few people. The Pointer Monarch didn’t say anything since lying would be unbecoming for someone of his status.
Qianye said calmly, “Speaking of which, didn’t someone just say I’ll implicate the Zhao clan? Why not explain how I will implicate them?”
“That was just an angry statement, why take it seriously?”
The Profundity Monarch naturally had no fear of the Zhao clan, but that was the extent of it. The clan had deep connections to the imperial family, so trying to topple it was no easier than eliminating the Zhang clan. The one who had tried to threaten Qianye just now was one of the Profundity Monarch’s men, so he had no choice but to step in. Otherwise, there would be turmoil once this spread back to the Empire.
Qianye laughed, “No need to take it seriously?”
“No need to take it seriously.”
“Then, I don’t think I need to take Evernight seriously, either. Whatever they want to do is their business.”
“Now that’s a different matter. There’s a profound enmity between you and the other faction, how can you just sit by and watch?”
“There are some in the Empire that I hate no less. Am I not letting them do whatever they want?”
The Profundity Monarch wasn’t angry. “If you look at it from the Empire’s perspective, the military did nothing wrong back in Indomitable. Besides, Li Fengshui and the Longevity Monarch are both dead. Why would you cling onto old animosities?”
Qianye seemed angry, but his expression eventually relaxed.
He stared at the Profundity Monarch, saying, “Monarch, you’ve gotten something wrong.”
“Oh, how so?”
“You said I’m not a player in this game of chess.”
“And how is that wrong?”
“I killed the Lightless Monarch a couple of days ago.”
The Profundity Monarch narrowed his eyes, a cold gleam s.h.i.+ning through them as he did so. “As expected of a heroic youth, I’ve underestimated you.”
“It’s a bit too late if you want to kill me.”
The Profundity Monarch laughed. “Young Friend, you jest. We all fight for the Empire, there’s no way I would engage in infighting.”
Qianye said with a smile, “How true! Since we’re from the same side, we should be fighting shoulder to shoulder. How could anyone let a comrade fight on the front lines while cowering in the rear?”
No matter how restrained the man was, his expression couldn’t help but grow stiff. “What are you trying to say?”
“Simple, the Attawa are my people.”
The Pointer Monarch frowned but said nothing.
Qianye had already made his stance clear. He viewed the natives as his soldiers, so sacrificing more of them would affect Qianye’s interests.
The Profundity Monarch said calmly, “The dark races are crafty, and we still don’t know what they’re here for. It won’t be wise to make reckless moves until we have a grasp of things.”
Qianye said, “Is this your stance or the Empire’s?”
“What difference is there?”
Qianye glanced at the Pointer Monarch, but the latter remained locked in a silent frown.
“It looks like the monarch is still finding it difficult to decide. Let it be, since you’re intent on watching as I fight tooth and nail against the dark races before swooping in to claim the benefits, don’t blame me for being rude.”
“What are your plans?”
“I’m sure you’re doing everything out of consideration for the Empire, I’m a.s.suming you don’t really care about personal interests. What’s gone will be gone when it’s gone.”
“Can you speak clearer?”
Qianye said, “Affairs of the nation come first, that’s not wrong, but nothing is stopping me from taking care of personal enmity. Since you have no fear of making an enemy out of me, you should probably make preparations to take care of your offspring. Once you fail to walk out of this place alive, I will have to seek them out and uproot them one by one. That would be rather troublesome.”
The Profundity Monarch’s expression s.h.i.+fted drastically. “How dare you!”
This time, it was Qianye’s turn to be calm. “I fought the entire Evernight army alone at Blacksun Valley. What do I not dare to do?”
“Do you feel no shame?”
“What, you’ve already lost your calm over a couple of descendants? What are they compared to the Empire and the bigger picture.” Qianye sneered.
Killing intent appeared once again in the Profundity Monarch’s eyes. Meanwhile, wisps of grey energy seeped out from Qianye’s body.
The Pointer Monarch finally let out a cough. “Such a ruckus, how is this proper?”
“Indeed it is not.” There were different implications to his words.
The Profundity Monarch said coldly, “Why seek the satisfaction of winning a verbal argument? I might be old, but I can still fight!”
Qianye said, “Oh, so you do know that you’re old. If you fail to kill me today, you will have no chance once I become a heavenly monarch in three more years.”
“Three years…” The Profundity Monarch murmured.
The Pointer Monarch was finally angry. “This matter stops here!”
“No problem.” Qianye simply turned and left.
“Stop right there!” The Profundity Monarch called out.
“What other comments do you have?”
The monarch stared at Qianye and said word by word, “You’re intent on going against me, aren"t you?”