[V6C176 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Two shadows rushed out of the ground to intercept Qianye halfway through his charge. One of them had miscalculated Qianye’s speed and missed the attack. The other one was fairly experienced. He actually managed to pinpoint Qianye’s location in an instant and blocked the path from up front.
Qianye was absolutely furious to find that someone had actually dared block his path—intentionally or otherwise. Qianye shouted with a deep voice, “Courting death!” East Peak rose up and slashed horizontally!
This strike was unleashed from a fair distance. That vampire viscount revealed a cold smile and seemed to have no intention of dodging the empty attack. Clearly, he didn’t have Qianye’s distant sword strike in his eyes.
However, his vision blurred all of a sudden as Qianye’s figure faded and reappeared right in front of him.
East Peak’s swing was no longer an empty attack but a true killing move. The blade swept past, cutting both vampire and sword into two. Qianye then sped away without even sparing a second glance for the divided corpse.
The vampire’s upper body was able to hover in the air for a moment. He seemed to be muttering some unintelligible words as he watched the lower part of his body falling to the ground. After a while, his upper body also dropped toward the ground. A first-rank viscount’s powerful life force meant that he wouldn’t lose his life for a while. But even if he were rescued and regenerated in the blood pond, all he would retain was his life—his strength would fall drastically. To a true Evernight expert, this fate was perhaps even worse than death.
Even after his body had fallen to the ground and his exquisite face was buried in the soil, that vampire viscount was still mumbling, “How could this happen?”
He was proficient in many kinds of secret arts. Especially against combat arts like Nirvanic Rend, he could evade or destroy the strike at will. He should’ve been able to take it head on, even—the only cost should’ve been some injuries. Who would’ve thought Qianye would arrive in front of him in the blink of an eye? How could a distant attack compare to East Peak’s consolidated power?
Just like that, a first-rank viscount with great future potential was cut down into the soil.
The other person looking to intercept Qianye was also a first-rank vampire viscount. He stood dumbstruck and trembling as he watched Qianye’s receding figure. If only he was more exquisite in his combat arts, he might’ve been able to intercept Qianye accurately. If that had happened, there would be two first-rank viscounts on the ground instead of one.
He suddenly felt that being weak wasn’t so bad after all.
Qianye paid no attention to the other enemy at all. He could kill a mere first-rank viscount any time—sooner or later made no difference. The important matter was to catch up to the sniper. That person’s attack came without the slightest of warning and even Qianye was completely unaware of it. This showed that the a.s.sailant’s sniping skills were already above Eden’s.
Moreover, Qianye hadn’t managed to lock onto this person up until this point. He was merely chasing after the target from the vague traces of leftover origin power fluctuation. The slightest of delays would likely throw him off. Such an enemy had to be killed off early or there would be endless troubles later on.
The two shots had injured Wei Potian and Song Zining, and this angered Qianye even more than when he himself was shot. Moreover, the first blast was clearly aimed for him. Wei Potian had sensed it for some reason and had taken the bullet for him at the critical moment.
The fleeing a.s.sailant seemed to have sensed Qianye’s pursuit. The person’s aura became more cryptic and the routes taken grew more twisted. Qianye felt quite strained and almost lost the target on several occasions. He had no choice but to slow down a bit, lest he charges past the target.
During the game of cat and mouse, Qianye gradually formed a vague idea of who this a.s.sa.s.sin might be. Throughout his life, Bai Kongzhao was the only one who had ever forced him into such arduous chases.
He had come fairly close to catching her on several occasions in the past, but she would always escape narrowly for various reasons. This time, Qianye was determined to remove this scourge even at the expense of exposing his Spatial Flash.
Bai Kongzhao seemed to know that a great disaster was upon her. She suddenly raised her speed—this would inevitably leave more traces, but it would also make things difficult for Qianye. A single slip-up would allow her to throw Qianye off.
However, Qianye spared no blood energy for this chase. As soon as he had a feeling that he was about to be thrown off, he would immediately use Spatial Flash to intercept her from the front. Just like that, Qianye gradually forced Bai Kongzhao to circle back.
Qianye’s eyes were filled with an ice-cold blue color, knowing that this was the beginning of the end of Bai Kongzhao. She was no longer able to increase the distance between them and would be locked onto sooner or later. Qianye was determined to use Spatial Flash immediately upon discovering Bai Kongzhao, rus.h.i.+ng to her side and unleas.h.i.+ng a Sweeping Calm. At that time, East Peak’s omnipresent edge would kill her no matter how she tried to evade.
At most, she would be able to launch a desperate final attack. Qianye was prepared to receive that attack and deny her any opportunity to escape. His entire body, at this moment, was already filled with auric flame blood and no weaker than an ancient-clan count. Bai Kongzhao would be able to injure him at most, but it was really too difficult for her to kill him.
Qianye grew more patient at this point. He circled rapidly around Bai Kongzhao and, little by little, tightened the noose around her neck. Experienced hunters always exercised greater caution because a cornered prey was the fiercest.
All of a sudden, a base camp appeared over the distant horizon. All camps appearing at this juncture were merely temporary bases—the problem lay in the fact that this base wasn’t small at all. Moreover, it was of human make.
Qianye’s heart was filled with a sense of alarm. He immediately sped toward the base, in a bid to get between it and Bai Kongzhao. As expected, the girl also started sprinting and made a beeline for the camp, even foregoing her concealment.
Even after such a long hunt, this was the first time Qianye had seen her frail figure. She was incredibly swift as she drifted toward the camp like a wisp of smoke. Qianye’s heart sank. Under an all-out eruption, Bai Kongzhao’s speed increased sharply to several times her normal pace. She had gone all out in an effort to throw Qianye off her tail.
Qianye immediately activated Spatial Flash. When his figure reappeared, he had closed the gap between them. Bai Kongzhao was fast, but Spatial Flash could be considered matchless in short sprints. Qianye was bound to catch up to her before she could run into the camp.
It was at this time that soaring energy erupted from the base—much like the awakening of a primordial beast, a pair of blood-thirsty eyes locked onto Qianye.
The latter was greatly alarmed. He immediately halted his charge and instilled all the origin power he could muster into East Peak.
At this moment, a fist shot out from the middle of the camp.
The fist was slender, bony, and of a sickly pale color. The bony joints were so distinct that they looked like a carved sculpture, almost unrealistically so.
The fist was surreal both in Qianye’s mind and in reality. The base was several thousand meters away from Qianye, but his vision was filled with this single fist. He couldn’t even see the owner.
This fist rose up gently and came drifting over. From the moment of its appearance, it had locked onto Qianye’s chest. The fist-intent was clear and undisguised, intent on letting the target know of its arrival and that it was undodgeable—this overbearingness was beyond rare.
The majestic attack traversed the mountains and land, carrying with it a grand momentum and boundless power. It was actually seeking to crush everything in its path.
Qianye knew that the other party would follow up with another attack even if he were to dodge; the only way was to use Spatial Flash. However, the fist’s area of effect was too large and Qianye had just learned the art. He still needed to use sanguineous threads to guide his movements instead of truly stepping through thin air. Even if he could escape the enemy’s lock-on with Spatial Flash, he would’ve lost any initiative he might’ve had.
At the juncture of life and death, Qianye calmed down all of his emotions and discarded all thoughts of running away—there was no astonishment, no anger, no confusion. His body landed firmly on the ground as he raised East Peak into the sky!
The sword trembled lightly a couple of times as his incomplete Sweeping Calm slashed out. At this moment, the several blades combined into one and, under the pressure of this great enemy before him, unleashed the most powerful sword strike of his life.
This strike sought no variations whatsoever—only pure destructive might!
The fist duly arrived, completely ignoring East Peak and making for Qianye’s chest with no attempt at evasion. Then, it collided with East Peak’s attack.
That moment, Qianye felt as though he had slashed at a mountain, a mountain cras.h.i.+ng into him at great speeds. “Boom!” Qianye’s vision grew dark, and the world spun around him as he was sent flying backward.
In the end, that fist never managed to hit its target and only froze in the air. Soon, a woman dressed in wide-sleeved robes appeared in the air. It almost seemed like the fist and the lady were two separate ent.i.ties.
Bai Aotu!
She frowned slightly as she looked at her fist. A blood scar had appeared therein, which soon tore open to reveal the flesh within and then the bones. Then, it left a deep cut extending halfway through the four finger bones before stopping.
Her bones were actually suffused with faint azure color. The jasper-like hue was a stark difference from those of ordinary people.
Her frown grew even deeper after observing the wound on her hand. It was almost as though she couldn’t understand why her fist couldn’t hit its target. She seemed to recall Qianye only at this point and looked over.
The latter had flown out a hundred meters before landing on the ground. There, he slid back over a dozen meters before stopping. Observing his body briefly, Qianye discovered that most of the bones in his body had been injured. There were more than ten fractures, and his organs had been torn in several places. His only consolation was that his crystal-filled blood core was fairly resilient and only slightly damaged.
Qianye coughed a couple of times, which exacerbated the damage to his internal organs. He would spit out a large ma.s.s of b.l.o.o.d.y froth with each cough. He couldn’t help but laugh wryly in his heart—he had been gravely injured in a single strike with no ability whatsoever to retaliate.
East Peak had fallen to his side and was stuck tilted in the soil. Qianye supported himself on the hilt and stood up slowly. “As expected, it’s you.”
Bai Aotu’s countenance was expressionless. “Naturally, but it’s quite odd that my fist couldn’t kill you. It seems you have a lot of secrets.”
Qianye stared intently at Bai Aotu while leaning on his sword. He then broke into a sudden laugh and said, “You want to kill me?”
“Not that much, actually, all I need is another punch if I want to do it.” Bai Aotu was very calm. It was almost as though she was talking about something that didn’t concern her at all.
At this moment, Zhao Yuying’s voice rang out in the distance, “Qianye!”
She rushed over and was surprised to see his chest and clothes drenched in blood. “What happened? Who injured you?”
Without waiting for Qianye, Bai Aotu replied, “That would be me.”