On the void continent, the only imperial land outside of the Zhao clan’s defensive zone was the Li clan’s small territory in the Misty Wood. It was just that their fortress was also in bad condition, surrounded to the point of having to battle right after stepping out the gates.
No one among them could control Eden after Qianye’s departure. This demonkin n.o.ble was an impossible problem inside the Misty Wood and was only restrained after Li Kuanglan’s eventual arrival on the battlefield. Even then, it involved much strenuous effort.
Li Kuanglan’s ident.i.ty was special. It could be said that the entire base wouldn’t have an easy time if something were to happen to her. Hence, the commander position here became a hot potato that no one wanted to take. In the end, the Li clan lord personally appointed a disgraced elder here, someone who needed to atone for his crime with contributions. Every time Li Kuanglan went into battle, the occupants of the fortress would be left in great suspense.
Those with sufficient news channels knew how much the empress doted on Li Kuanglan. They also understood how powerful an angry empress could be.
At this point, everyone in the Misty Wood began to miss Qianye. After all, Li Kuanglan wasn’t as well-adapted to the forest as Qianye was and had to be extremely cautious. More often than not, she would lose in a fight against Eden. Qianye, on the other hand, was capable of hunting Eden down with overwhelming momentum, at least that was the case during the latter part of their confrontation. No one noticed it back then. Only when Qianye had left did they understand what a reversal of tides meant.
Fortunately, the Great Maelstrom was about to open. The younger generations of Evernight were starting to preserve their strength for battle, appearing less and less frequently in skirmishes. Eden was reportedly also on the list of candidates, and this allowed the Li family to heave a sigh of relief.
The war on the floating continent remained in a deadlock at the moment. At first, Zhao Jundu’s defensive region was one of the most dangerous, but the fourth young master went all-out at the critical juncture. Utilizing a combination of a famed weapon and True Shot, he actually killed the enemy commander, a demonkin marquis, from thousands of meters away!
Thus did the dark races face a grave defeat, ceding numerous occupied territories in the process. The dark races became incomparably cautious about Zhao Jundu following that skirmish. At the very least, no commander or marquis dared to appear in front of Zhao Jundu any longer, even if there was a large army between the two sides.
Evernight had always revered the powerful. With the commander cowering in fear, it was only natural that the other warriors would feel the same. This lowered the morale of the entire army, making it impossible for them to occupy new territory.
Additionally, Zhao Jundu belonged to the younger generation. So, those duke-level characters couldn’t lower their status to fight it out with him.
The war that was truly keeping the void continent situation in check was in the void. The imperial fleets had appeared in full-force—including the reserve forces of the imperial family and the palace guards—launching numerous major battles in s.p.a.ce. This stopped the dark races from landing troops and supplies at will, resulting in the current sustained impa.s.se.
Both fleets sustained heavy casualties following several b.l.o.o.d.y battles, and neither side was in a condition for another showdown. Hence, a stalemate returned to the void as well with the empire gaining the relative initiative this time.
The war on the floating continent appeared to be s.h.i.+fting away from a decisive showdown, with the two factions maintaining a weird equilibrium. There was no imminent peril at this point since the heavenly monarchs and dark monarchs were yet to join the fray.
It was reasonable for the empire since they had a very limited number of heavenly monarchs, but the Evernight faction’s movements were truly puzzling. The usually overbearing dark races were actually holding back from fielding their great dark monarchs despite the repeated defeats.
Only the arachne warlord would make brief appearances on the front line to indicate that he was still around, and then vanish soon afterward. No other great monarch was ever seen. It was almost as though they had returned to the depths of their respective home continents for some unknown business.
Duke You became even more cautious under the current circ.u.mstances. He pushed forward steadily, consolidating power and defenses along the way as he probed the dark race’s bottom line. All those imperial military members became bloodthirsty characters during this period, causing a loud ruckus about pursuing the retreating enemy. Duke You, however, paid them no heed, simply suppressing them whenever they became too disruptive.
Li Fengshui’s branch had suffered severe losses and was almost destroyed entirely under the Zhao clan’s previous scheme. How could they have any manpower left to fight the dark races on their own? Hence, the only thing they could do was to submit memorials and secret letters, criticizing the Zhao clan’s actions at every turn.
At its peak, there were ten such memorials flowing toward the military stronghold in the Imperial Capital. Yet, they had as much effect as a stone falling into the sea—neither the imperial family nor the numerous bigshots of the military seemed aware of these matters.
On the borders of the floating continent, an airs.h.i.+p flew in like a specter, circling past the security lines of either faction and landing on the outskirts of the Zhao clan war zone. This airs.h.i.+p was outstanding both in terms of speed and concealment abilities, a vessel used specifically as a long-distance transport and messenger for intelligence.
After parking at the designated spot, a thirty-year-old officer jumped out from the airs.h.i.+ps and glanced about with a gloomy expression. “Is this the only place I can land? I have urgent military intel on me!”
The colonel in charge of reception said, “I’m sorry, but there’s really no other way. The Zhao clan has issued a flight ban. No airs.h.i.+p is allowed to fly over the city and its surrounding airs.p.a.ce. All those who break the law will be shot down.”
A lieutenant colonel snorted and said through clenched teeth, “Aren’t the Zhao clan’s own airs.h.i.+ps moving in and out at will?”
The colonel laughed wryly. “They say it’s to patrol for violators.”
The lieutenant colonel was even more dissatisfied. “The Zhang, Bai, and Song clan airs.h.i.+ps are also moving freely, why don’t I see the Zhao clan stopping them? Even some aristocratic families are getting through.”
“Their pa.s.sengers are all major characters. What can the Zhao clan say to them?”
At this point, the officer who had just alighted the airs.h.i.+p realized what was going on. He said with an unsightly expression, “Does that mean they’re targeting only the military?”
The colonel was clearly unwilling to let relations.h.i.+ps turn sour. He said with a laugh, “It’s the same for some other small aristocratic families.”
“How can the military be discussed on the same level!? Even the four major clans should be ranked behind the military! These clans will be the end of the empire! I, Mi Yong, will definitely uproot the Zhao clan and return a bright world to His Majesty the Emperor!” The officer was furious.
Despite his age, Mi Yong was well over rank-eleven in his cultivation and his origin power quality was not bad, either. The young man’s future prospects in the army were quite good, so the colonel didn’t dare say anything despite him crossing the line with his words.
As a radical, the lieutenant colonel was full of praise for Mi Yong. “General Mi is correct! These clans looking down on us is the same as looking down on the imperial military. As I see it, even the imperial court isn’t much to them.”
Mi Yong nodded. Only the colonel was left muttering secretly about how the Zhao clan wouldn’t even consider these people to be representative of the military, at most a factional power within it.
Mi Yong glanced at the sky. “How long to the imperial military’s stronghold?”
The colonel replied, “Three hundred kilometers, you’ll need four hours to cover this distance.”
“Let’s go then, don’t dilly-dally.”
Mi Yong jumped onto an offroad vehicle, unwilling to linger even a while longer. Moments later, three such vehicles whizzed out of the airs.h.i.+p port.
It had to be said that the Zhao clan"s defensive zone was managed attentively. The roads were wide and even, allowing the jeeps to charge forward at their maximum speed. This improved Mi Yong’s mood somewhat.
However, the caravan hadn’t left very far when the sound of engines rumbled across the sky and bright spotlights fell upon the vehicles.
The three jeeps almost went off the road. Fortunately, the drivers were skilled enough—they swerved about in a cloud of dust before finally bringing the cars to a stop.
The car at the front braked so suddenly that the two behind were almost caught off guard. They were just one step away from cras.h.i.+ng.
Mi Yong’s spun about and banged his head on the roof. Due to his strong origin power, the man’s head remained unharmed even after the roof became deformed. Despite being fine physically, he was greatly embarra.s.sed and angry. He glanced out just in time to see an airs.h.i.+p landing across the road up front, blocking it off completely. The first jeep had almost crashed into the large vessel.
Mi Yong jumped off the car and roared, “Who’s so bold as to block my path!? Do you know who I am? Let me tell you, you won’t get off so easily if you delay military matters!”
A number of people walked down from the airs.h.i.+p at this point, all of them sneering at Mi Yong. The first person pointed at the Zhao clan emblem and said, “Are you blind? Can’t you see such a big insignia?”
The lieutenant colonel came down to smooth things out. “It’s just a misunderstanding. Which excellency is overseeing the airs.h.i.+p? Maybe we might know him.”
Mi Yong was unwilling. “It’s bad enough that you’re stopping airs.h.i.+ps. Why are you stopping us from heading to the military stronghold by car? What is this? Do you think the military is that easy to bully?”
Toward the end, Mi Yong’s voice was already quite harsh.
At this moment, a handsome young man walked out of the Zhao-clan crowd and said indifferently, “What urgent business do you have? What intelligence is it? Let me see.”
“Not just anyone can see an urgent missive… you!!!” Mi Yong hadn’t even finished speaking when his vision turned blurry and his mind went blank. Before he knew it, the folder containing the military intelligence was already in the young man’s hands.
Shocked out of his wits, he was just about to s.n.a.t.c.h the doc.u.ments back when he found his body unable to circulate origin power or even move. It was almost as though he was being locked down by countless chains.
The young man tore open the envelope, fished out the papers inside, and began looking through them.
A chill ran down Mi Yong’s entire body. Livid, he cried, “How dare you open a military doc.u.ment! This is a crime worthy of familial extermination!”
By the time he had finished reading, a gloomy expression appeared briefly on the young man’s countenance. He said indifferently, “I knew it. There can’t be anything good coming from the neutral lands. You people still refuse to let this go after such a long time. Humph!”
Someone asked, “What shall we do with these people?”
The young man replied, “Make it so that we never saw them.”
The Zhao clan people were shrouded in killing intent. “We understand.”
Mi Yong was startled. “You dare kill a member of the military?”
The young man smiled faintly. “You? You hardly count as a member of the military. So what if I, Zhao Jundu, want to kill you? What can you do?”