Chapter 392: Shade (1/2)

Chapter 392: Shade [V5C99 - A Distance Within Reach]

Qianye, who had just experienced the forty-ninth cycle of the Combatant Formula, had come to a deeper understanding of power. His heart was burdened by some other matters as he gazed at the almost eternal night sky, namely the rules of the Iron Curtain.

It was, in truth, quite understandable why the curtain prevented people above the level of count from entering.

Take Qianye himself, for instance. He wouldn’t bother to spare a second glance at a group ants passing near his feet whether they were fighting or moving food. Even stomping them to death would only happen if the ants were to appear where his foot would land. But if a number of giant bugs were strutting around or if dogs, cats, or mice were to appear, he would be annoyed and kill them off in passing.

This understanding made Qianye uncomfortable. He thought in self-mockery that no one would be happy about being an ignored ant.

A special guest arrived in Blackflow City soon after Qianye had exited isolated cultivation. It was an imperial envoy.

The envoy, a colonel from the imperial military, came with only a handful of attendants and requested a meeting with the Blackflow City Lord. The envoy didn’t say anything else after seeing Qianye and immediately passed him an official document envelope and a bestowment order. After asking briefly about Blackflow’s defensive matters, he soon excused himself and hurried toward his next destination.

There was nothing special about Blackflow City in the eyes of the envoy, so much so that there was even some pity in his gaze. This small city was at the border frontline and located beneath the Iron Curtain—its downfall was only a matter of time once the bloody battle began.

Qianye opened the documents after the envoy had left. The contents were similar to the previous rallying order from the expeditionary army. This document was a call for all powers to mobilize for this bloody battle. It stated that the rewards would be twice as high compared to normal standards, and that there were no limitations to identity. Everyone, regardless of social status, may obtain rewards.

Additionally, the empire had constructed many temporary bases in Evernight Continent. Participants could visit them anytime with proof of contribution to receive the rewards. This spared potential participants the complicated procedures usually involved in applying for rewards. Among them, the closest base was at the county capital of Trinity River County.

There was a map accompanying the document, and on it was the range within the Iron Curtain that was currently under imperial control. That was also the scope of the upcoming battlefield. Of course, there were no rules forbidding one from leaving the Iron Curtain to fight the dark races, but there was a risk of running into true experts.

Encountering experts under the Iron Curtain wasn’t impossible, either. Some with special abilities that could hide their auras or experts who had suppressed their rank could still move about under the Iron Curtain. For instance, Zhao clan’s Count Yuyang was able to directly enter Blackflow City.

It was just that they couldn’t drag too long once they had entered combat, lest they draw Sky Demon’s attention. At that point, they wouldn’t just be suppressed by the Iron Curtain—the higher their level, the greater the chance of being attacked by Sky Demon.

Qianye unfurled the map to observe in detail. The markings on the map this time were even more detailed compared to the military intelligence he had received last week. He was greatly astonished after seeing the borders of the Iron Curtain—it had surpassed a quarter of human territory, and judging from the curvature of the external borders, most of the unmapped parts should be within dark race territory.

There was no information from the dark race side. However, an extrapolation of the known borders, assuming that the curtain was round, showed that over 20% of Evernight Continent’s surface area had been shrouded by the Iron Curtain.

Just from the size of this Iron Curtain, it was obvious that Sky Demon’s power had exceeded the limits of imagination.

After seeing his map, Qianye ventured a guess regarding the imperial upper echelon’s intentions. It was the perfect timing to attack the dark race territory under the Iron Curtain’s protection.

Qianye put down the documents and proceeded to open the rewards list at the back. Listed upon it were different rewards corresponding to different levels of dark race soldiers.

Among them, the baseline was viscount—the reward for killing a third-rank viscount was a grade-five origin gun or other military supplies of equal value. Taking firm control of a viscount’s territory and incorporating it into human-controlled territory would raise the reward to a custom-made grade-five firearm.

Just from this list, it was obvious that the empire had invested a great deal for this battle. One had to know that there were only so many technicians in the empire capable of producing armaments above grade five. That was why, in general, only a set number of grade-five weapons were produced each year. Previous military rewards came in the form of gold coins—strategic supplies could be exchanged only under special situations. Ordinary people couldn’t afford even standard high-grade firearms, to speak nothing of the custom made ones.

Qianye was inevitably moved as he flipped through the entire two pages of firearms. He currently possessed the Wings of Inception and the Twin Flowers, so even grade-six firearms weren’t of any use to him. But there were many high-ranking officers in Dark Flame. In due time, the number of soldiers capable of using grade-four or even grade-five weapons would only increase. Their combat strength would undoubtedly soar if he could swap out all of their equipment.

There was only a short sentence on the last page, but it managed to firmly draw Qianye’s gaze. It was actually the highest purity black crystal!

Black crystal was a tightly controlled strategic resource. Both the low-purity, kinetic-grade black crystals that were used as fuel and the medium-purity, industrial-grade black crystals that served as the primary material in building origin guns were in short supply all year round. Additionally, the energy-grade black crystals that were usually converted to daybreak origin power for use in cultivation only had a price tag but no set market for it. For instance, the cultivation chambers in the Song clan used such high-purity black crystals.

The empire actually allowed for the exchange of energy-grade black crystals this time. It was clear that the importance they had attached to the bloody battle on Evernight Continent was on par with the large-scale wars of the upper continents.

Qianye had just put down the rewards list when Zhao Yuying approached in a hurry.

“How went your isolated cultivation?”

“No bad. At least, I’ve come to understand my future path.”

“That’s good. How long until you break through to champion?”

Qianye laughed wryly, “At least two months. It’ll take even longer after factoring the time in battle.”