Mi Yong had never imagined that the combat arts he was so proud of couldn’t even last a brief moment against the Zhao clan’s warriors, that the opponents’ simple but powerful attacks would beat him down in just a couple of moves. Up until his collapse, he still couldn’t believe he had suffered a crus.h.i.+ng defeat, just like that.
As one of the military’s closely-observed rising elites, Mi Yong had the right to learn the imperial family’s secret arts. Despite having learned only the abridged version, it still lent him considerable power. Mi Yong held multiple records of defeating opponents of the same level during internal military drills, and his potential was well-recognized by the higher-ups.
He simply couldn’t figure out how he had lost to such crude and boorish techniques. The Zhao clan’s arts were simple, violent, and barbaric, with neither beauty nor complexity to speak of. It consisted of little more than punches and kicks, but with sufficient power, speed, and ruthlessness.
At first, Mi Yong had planned to defeat all the Zhao clan generals in his anger, and then move on to challenging Zhao Jundu. A defeat at that point couldn’t be considered a blemish to his name. He wasn’t as egotistical as to believe he could win against Zhao Jundu.
But Mi Yong was beaten to a pulp by a random person from the Zhao clan and didn’t even get the opportunity to use any of his powerful techniques.
At this moment, Zhao Jundu had already left. He didn’t even spare Mi Yong a glance or display any intention of talking to him. This frustrated the latter to no end, stoppering the words of righteousness he was preparing to speak.
That Zhao clan champion whipped out a dagger. The sharp edge of the blade sent a chill down Mi Yong’s spine as he realized that his fate had been sealed.
With all of his dreams destroyed, Mi Yong suddenly unleashed a peal of crazed laughter. “Zhao Jundu! Do you think robbing this message is enough? I’ll have you know that General Lu has sent two urgent missives at the same time. The other one is probably on its way to the Imperial Capital!”
Zhao Jundu didn’t slow down his steps. He simply walked away as though he hadn’t heard the man’s words.
The Zhao clan warrior who had stayed behind to finish things up sneered, “You think our Young Master is so easy to trick? To tell you the truth, the airs.h.i.+p flying toward the empire has already become s.p.a.ce sc.r.a.p!”
Mi Yong was shocked, having truly experienced how terrifying the Zhao clan could be. At this moment, he felt a cold sensation on his neck as his throat was slit open!
The man made unintelligible sounds, wanting to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth apart from b.l.o.o.d.y froth. He covered up the gash in vain, hoping to utter some hateful final words. It was at this moment that he gained a sudden enlightenment, realizing that all of this was Lu Saobei’s arrangement.
The general had arranged three messengers probably because he had expected the Zhao clan to intercept the missive. Additionally, the Zhao clan had always been ruthless in their operations. In order to achieve a clean outcome, they would surely silence the courier after s.n.a.t.c.hing the intelligence.
In other words, Mi Yong and the messenger going toward the Imperial Capital were expendable decoys, targets who were being disposed of. Only the one going toward the Transcendent Continent was the real messenger.
Mi Yong’s heart was full of hatred after coming to this conclusion. He immediately shouted, “There’s one more messenger heading for Transcendent Continent!” But his collapsing body was already powerless and his vision was gradually fading away.
The Zhao clan champion watched the target draw his last breath, and then hauled the corpse onto the off-road vehicle before moving both onto the airs.h.i.+p. Thus did the imperial courier and his guide vanish completely from this world.
These people had gone missing right behind Indomitable, but anything was possible in times of war. Losing a couple of people was nothing out of the ordinary.
Zhao Jundu didn’t board the vehicle prepared for him but instead walked toward Indomitable in the company of the Zhao clan experts. Everyone knew that the fourth young master had something on his mind.
The entourage walked swiftly, but it took them an hour to arrive at the warzone. Moments later, one of their impatient members asked, “Young Master, what was on the military intelligence that we have to put in so much effort?”
To everyone’s surprise, Zhao Jundu pa.s.sed the missive to them. “Look for yourself.”
The general was puzzled, but he received the letter in a hurry and scanned its contents. “General Qianye is in the neutral lands?”
“General… Qianye?”
The soldiers glanced at one another, all of them tacitly addressing him as general. Qianye’s status as Zhao Weihuang’s son was known to only a handful of people, none of whom was among the generals here. However, Qianye had fought alongside the clan for a significant length of time and received everyone’s recognition for his achievements and honesty.
Even after revealing his true vampire ident.i.ty toward the end, the soldiers who had fought every day on the front lines still considered him a true brother unto death, someone they would wholly trust to watch their backs.
A soldier’s heart was simple and realistic. They would never believe that Qianye—who had, on numerous occasions, risked life and limb to avert perilous situations for humans—was a vampire spy. The widely-accepted version of the story was that the imperial military had worked with the vampires to seize Qianye’s woman, forcing him to defect.
All the generals glanced resolutely at one another after reading the missive. That heroic general from before took a step forward and said, “Fourth Young Master, we’ve always considered Qianye as a capable general of the Zhao clan! His ident.i.ty is completely unrelated. If it wasn’t for those scheming wretches from the army, General Qianye wouldn’t have left the empire! Fourth Young Master, tell us what we need to do. As long as you say it, I, Peng Dahai, and my brothers won’t flinch even if we have to cross mountains of blades and seas of fire!”
A rare smile appeared on Zhao Jundu’s face. “You’ve all followed me for so many years, so there’s no need for me to hide this matter from you. I need a couple of people to head to the neutral lands, find Qianye, and see how he’s doing. I want this group to remain there with him and help him build a foundation in the neutral lands. I’ll come over to provide support once the war situation here has been settled.”
Pang Dahai replied, “That’s easy! But…”
Zhao Jundu raised his brows.
Pang Dahai whispered, “This… the war here is also critical. I-I’m worried about your safety after we leave. With us boorish fellows around, we can at least help you block a few blows.”
Zhao Jundu broke into a laugh and said while shaking his head, “It might not be hard to defeat me, but anyone who’s not a duke can forget about killing me.”
“But…” Pang Dahai wanted to argue.
Zhao Jundu cut him short, saying, “You guys rest a.s.sured. I have another helper here, and he’s very powerful.”
Everyone glanced at one another, unable to figure out which idle expert was worthy of Zhao Jundu’s a.s.sessment as very powerful. It wasn’t appropriate for them to say anything, but several eyes stared fixedly at Zhao Jundu. These people weren’t about to back down without getting a proper answer.
Zhao Jundu was also helpless against these proud warriors. “It’s so much effort to ask you people to do some work. That person is the seventh young master of the Song clan.”
“Seventh Young n.o.ble!?”
Song Zining was one of the most dazzling geniuses of the empire, only second to Qianye and Zhao Jundu. His most outstanding aspect wasn’t in martial prowess but strategy and warfare. Rumor in the army was that Song Seven might follow in Lin Xitang’s footsteps to become a new G.o.d of warfare.
Song Zining was working for Zhang Boqian at first, but he faded from public sight after some activity on the night of Qianye’s mishap. It has been some time since he had appeared in the army, and no one even knew whether he was still on the floating continent.
The generals would believe it if Zhao Jundu were to mention someone else, but Song Zining was a different story. Even Zhao Jundu didn’t have the power to buy out this person.
“Is the Seventh Young n.o.ble still on the void continent?” Pang Dahai was baffled. As he saw it, a genius like Song Zining not showing up in battle was something unimaginable, if he really was in the area.
Zhao Jundu replied indifferently, “Others might not be able to find him, but it’s not that easy to hide from me.”
At this point, Zhao Jundu’s expression changed somewhat. He said with a smile, “See? He’s delivering himself up right now. You guys go back first.”
Everyone asked, “Where are you going, Young Master?”
“To catch someone.” With that, Zhao Jundu rushed into the air and left like a gust of wind.
There were as many fortresses surrounding Indomitable as there were stars in the sky. The various aristocratic powers had constructed more and more of them while defending against the dark race a.s.sault. On one hand, these structures would serve as a display of might and act as a deterrent. But if the dark races were to charge them, these fortress cl.u.s.ters would turn into terrifying meat grinders.
Outside of the defensive perimeter, the flames of war had leveled the land and scorched the earth. Behind Indomitable, however, a large strip of military bases had risen up between the fortresses. These camps could be used to station troops and, at the same time, prevent the dark race scouts from sneaking in.
Camps of different sizes and shapes were scattered across the area, mostly belonging to the aristocratic families. At a glance, even the Zhao clan didn’t know how many of them had been constructed or how many soldiers they held, but they were willing to turn a blind eye as long as there was a steady stream of soldiers coming from these camps during times of war. After all, this was considered a private matter for each aristocratic family, something even the imperial family didn’t want to meddle with. Why would the Zhao clan break this custom?
There were lights still flickering in the camp of a certain lower-ranking aristocratic family. In one of the most una.s.suming tents, a certain warrior was stuffing his clothing into his backpack, seemingly about to leave on a distant journey.
This tent was fairly ordinary. If one had to point out something special, it was that the tent was occupied only by a single tenant. According to imperial customs, only officers above the colonel rank had the qualifications to occupy an entire tent during war.
That colonel was fairly meticulous in his packing, arranging all of his belongings neatly into the backpack. He looked rather calm and careful in his undertaking.
It was at this time that the tent flap was pulled open and Zhao Jundu walked in with a spurious smile. “Seventh Young n.o.ble, please stop.”