Qianye didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. There was no telling which poor bloke would be the next victim of these two fellows. He could only hope they understood that the neutral lands wasn’t a place they could do everything as they wished.
Qianye didn’t want to go out, anyway—the journey to the continent border and the many days of subsequent wandering had left him exhausted in both body and mind. He returned to his room and, after ordering people not to disturb him, fell into a deep sleep.
Qianye rarely slept since his cultivation surpa.s.sed the champion realm. The Song Clan Ancient Scroll was as gentle and gradual as the spring rain, easily capable of subst.i.tuting for sleep.
But now, Qianye felt really tired and sleep was all that he wanted.
The darkness was just that deep, just that lonesome.
An unknown length of time had pa.s.sed by the time Qianye opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the blinding rays of the sun slipping through the cracks in the window, a rare sight in the usually gloomy days of the neutral lands.
Qianye lay quietly, gazing at the ceiling with dispirited eyes.
He jumped up all of a sudden and opened up the curtains, allowing the fierce sunbeams to wash over his face. His eyes narrowed from the brightness.
The weather was indeed wonderful. Just outside his window was a lively construction site where hundreds of mercenaries were busy with work. A champion-level expert walked step by step into the yard with a stone weighing several tons in his grasp. Then, with a loud cry, his muscles bulged out as he thrust the stone into the foundation. Thus, a stone pillar was erected.
This stone pillar stood ramrod straight without the slightest deviation. Several mercenaries began reinforcing the base of this pillar while the champion turned away to pick up another one.
Qianye was feeling quite slow at the moment, and it took him a moment to realize that this person was Frost Wolf, the former master of this courtyard. Who would’ve thought he would be working with such pa.s.sion—was it because of his trip to Tidehark?
Qianye walked out with a smile and saw two soldiers standing guard dutifully.
“How long have I been sleeping?”
“Three days, sire!” One of the guards replied clearly. The man was already starting to show some imperial-level discipline, apparently the evil work of Young Miss Ji.
“Three days!?” Qianye stretched his body. “Who’s managing Dark Flame right now? Take me to see him.”
Qianye met several people throughout the morning. These smart people were once mercenary corps commanders who had been handpicked for management roles after the upheaval in Southern Blue.
Qianye gained a better understanding of the current situation after listening to their responsibilities.
Lunchtime was fairly short, and everyone was back at work after twenty minutes.
Within the storehouse, Frost Wolf leaned over and threw a newly polished pillar onto his shoulder amidst loud cheers from the nearby mercenaries.
Although he was no longer the leader, his strength would still give him preferential treatment wherever he went. Lowering himself to work alongside the other mercenaries won him a fair bit of love and respect.
It was at this time that he noticed a familiar figure through the corner of his eyes. That person was standing beside a pile of steel beams, questioning a nearby person. “Are all of these being moved to a single construction site?”
“Y-Yes, Sir!” The soldier stammered. Frost Wolf was also astonished as he recognized Qianye.
The latter was wearing a set of poorly-fitted leather armor that looked like it had been rummaged out of an old storehouse. He hauled up one beam after another onto his shoulder, and only stopped after he was carrying eight of them.
Qianye arrived beside Frost Wolf and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“Sire, y-you…”
“Working.”
“But…”
“But what? Aren’t you tired just standing with that pillar on your shoulder?”
Frost Wolf swallowed hard and proceeded to lead the way without saying anything else. The beams on Qianye’s shoulder weren’t very thick, but they actually weighed several tons. With so many on his shoulder at the same time, he needed to circulate his origin power so that he wouldn’t sink into the ground while walking.
This period of working lasted from noon to midnight. Qianye and Frost Wolf’s partic.i.p.ation sharply accelerated the construction process, and by midnight, a new weapons cache had been erected.
Even Frost Wolf was a bit pale and lightheaded after an entire day of work. Qianye, on the other hand, was as steady as a pillar and showed no changes.
Frost Wolf asked cautiously after the mercenaries had gone back to rest, “Sire, the work’s all done, why don’t we go for a drink?”
To his surprise, Qianye agreed delightfully, “Why not?”
After an entire day of exhausting work, the taverns of Southern Blue were full to the brim with mercenaries. They didn’t even bother was.h.i.+ng off the dust and sweat on their bodies before going for a drink.
For an ordinary mercenary, this was a well-paying job and, despite the exhaustion, involved no mortal risk. The experienced soldiers, on the other hand, saw Dark Flame’s future prospects from the scale of ongoing construction work. A mediocre mercenary corps had no use for four different warehouses or airs.h.i.+p repair facilities.
Most mercenaries in the neutral lands possessed the basic wisdom required for survival, and everyone knew the importance of clinging to important people. Now Qianye, Ji Tianqing, and Song Zining had shown them different facets of how powerful Dark Flame was. At least it was able to suppress Ji Rui with relative ease. Most of these people couldn’t even join the city guard, to begin with. Who would work as a mercenary if they could have an easy life there? That was, except for a handful of true daredevils.
Hence, those coming from small mercenary corps put in 120% of their power into constructing the new base. They were mostly cannon fodder on the battlefield and would hardly make a name even if they were to risk their lives. No one was going to give up the opportunity to impress the higher-ups just by doing some manual labor.
When Qianye and Frost Wolf walked into the tavern, the clamorous atmosphere within turned silent all of a sudden. Frost Wolf was already an unreachable character in the eyes of ordinary mercenaries, even more so the commander of Dark Flame, Qianye.
Yet, a tavern was the best place to mingle with people. The soldiers let loose after the initial phase of restraint, and one gla.s.s after the other caused the atmosphere to warm up. They quickly forgot about Qianye’s ident.i.ty, and all that remained was the opponent across the wine table.
The night went on gradually, and the clamor inside the tavern once again returned to silence. There were mercenaries strewn across the floor and stacked atop one another, snoring thunderously in deep sleep.
It was at this time that Frost Wolf crawled out from under one of the tables, groaning while holding his head. It felt as though his head had been blasted by an origin gun—even his vision was somewhat shaky.
“Sire… Qianye?” Frost Wolf got up with some difficulty and looked around.
“He’s already left, and he also paid for everyone,” the owner replied.
Frost Wolf poured a gla.s.s of cold water onto his head, in hopes of sobering himself up. He glanced at the floor full of mercenaries and asked incredulously, “Wait, do you mean he outdrank all of us?”
The owner rolled his eyes. “What else?”
“... That’s the commander for you.”
In the days that followed, Qianye immersed himself in the construction site like an ordinary mercenary and only returned late at night.
With the corps commander himself putting in so much effort, none of those former leaders dared to put on airs; everyone obediently went to work at the site. With the addition of so many experts, the construction was propelled forward like a powerful engine.
At this moment, Song Zining and Ji Tianqing were hiding on a mountain peak near the border of the continent, cautiously poking their heads out from behind a rock.
“What are we here for?” Song Zining hadn’t even finished speaking when he was caught by the neck and pushed into the snow.
A mosquito-like sound entered his ears. “Shut up if you don’t want to die!”
Song Zining was surprised because he had never seen Ji Tianqing so nervous. He wanted to camouflage himself with the Three-Thousand Flying Leaves art, but he felt his neck tighten all of a sudden. “Don’t use domains!”
He was left with no other choice but to bury half his body in the snow and move forward inch by inch.
The two of them finally arrived beside the cliff and gazed into the distance.
Before the precipice was a vast plain, and on the far end of which was an airs.h.i.+p. It seemed like a vampire wars.h.i.+p belonging to a glorious marquis at least.
Song Zining was surprised by the appearance of a vampire wars.h.i.+p in the Eastern Sea. As clever as he was, he connected the dots to what Qianye had told him and realized the origins of this wars.h.i.+p.
Ji Tianqing stared fixedly at the distant wars.h.i.+p, and even Song Zining had no idea what she was studying.
At a glance, they could see a busy figure on the airs.h.i.+p performing repairs on the damaged parts. Even at such a distance, Song Zining could sense how strong that vampire was. If such a powerful vampire was following her willingly, the current Nighteye was probably at a level far beyond that which they could handle.
After a long while of silent observation, Ji Tianqing gestured at Song Zining, and the two descended the peak cautiously.
“That airs.h.i.+p…” Song Zining inquired.
“She’s in there, I can sense her.”
“How did you know it’s her?”
“That’s none of your business, I have my ways.”
Song Zining shook his head helplessly. “So this is what you meant by collecting resources.”
“The reason isn’t important, is it?”
The current Ji Tianqing was somewhat odd, so Song Zining simply followed her without saying anything. However, they continued along the edge of the continent instead of going back to Southern Blue.