Chapter 505: Comrades (1/2)

[V6C35 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

Qianye didn’t rush up to the treetop. Instead, he produced East Peak and instilled energy into it. The sword was quickly suffused with a faint scarlet splendor and several silver lines glimmered upon the blade.

East Peak’s might had increased significantly after incorporating the Heavenly Dew Silver and Dark Thread Crystals. It had long since surpassed the standards of an ordinary grade-seven weapon. The trunk of this peculiar tree was sturdy, but it wasn’t at the level of a vehicle plate armor. How could it block East Peak’s slash? With just a slight effort from Qianye, East Peak had made a deep gash in the tree-trunk.

The tree shook briefly as though it were crying out in agony, and ripples spread out rapidly from the dark purple sludge around the roots. The scene was incomparably eerie. It looked as though this big tree, including the dark purple substance covering the entire forest, was alive.

However, with his True Sight, Qianye was able to see that the flow of origin power within was disrupted by the cut, and the circulatory system inside was in chaos. That was the reason for the resultant scene. The tree’s root system extended fairly wide, and the origin power waves were being transmitted along it to produce the many ripples.

A white fluid with a light fragrance oozed out from the gap, emitting strands of origin power in the process. Qianye stuck a finger into the liquid and brought it into his mouth for a taste.

As expected, it was origin distillate!

It was just that the attribute of this natural origin distillate leaned toward void origin power. It fell between Evernight and Daybreak with some bias toward the dark side. Compared to the Marrow Cleansing Pond of the Zhao clan, this kind of natural origin distillate would require the addition of numerous ingredients and an array of refinements in order to remove the darkness origin power. Only then could it be utilized by Daybreak Cultivators.

However, it was already quite shocking even in its present state. Even a peak major clan like the Zhao clan required three months to brew a Marrow Cleansing Pond. This meant that the origin distillate produced by a single tree was likely worth several thousand gold coins. Moreover, the forest here was boundlessly vast with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of such trees. This forest alone was worth the empire fighting this war.

Qianye sighed emotionally. This was only a small area of this landmass. There might be even more regions with treasures hidden within them.

It was no wonder that the Evernight Council and the empire could never tire of exploring and conquering new continents. The clan and family lords who possessed skill and strategic foresight would also choose to pioneer new frontiers despite the great risk and inevitable sacrifices.

New territories meant greater resources, and greater resources meant faster development. That was how the human race had gained space and managed to survive in this world covered in darkness.

At this moment, Qianye suddenly discovered that the transmitted wave had disappeared at a certain point.

Someone’s here!

Qianye immediately activated his True Sight and glanced over in the direction of the altered vibratory waves. There he saw a shadow flicker and disappear.

That figure was extremely fast and even Qianye couldn’t capture its tracks. He immediately drew East Peak, withdrew his aura, and walked over in the direction where the shadow had disappeared.

That silhouette never appeared again in Qianye’s vision and seemed to have left for the next target.

Qianye sniffed a bloody odor just as he was about to arrive where the shadow had flickered. He hastened his steps and flitted across the dark purple substance without stirring up a single wave.

Qianye was startled as he circled past a large tree where he discovered several corpses in Zhao clan uniform.

Qianye recognized most of these Zhao clan experts. All of them were elites from the bloody battle who had been dispatched to investigate this land. Now, they had all died here before they had even reached the core region.

His expression changed slightly, and it felt as though his internal organs had been doused with cold water. He calmed himself down first without checking the corpses. Instead, he activated his Eye of Truth to scan the surrounding ground and trees one after the other.

There were strangely few traces of combat left behind at the scene. However, there was no sign of the Blue Firmament or West Pole Violet Qi, which meant that Zhao Jundu wasn’t with them.

Qianye exhaled lightly as his tense nerves relaxed somewhat. He then knelt down and flipped over the corpse beside his feet, whereupon his expression darkened.

Not only had he seen this person before, but he had also gotten acquainted with him under the Iron Curtain. Qianye had once rescued a Zhao clan squad after returning to the Iron Curtain. Back then, the unit was in a precarious situation. As a champion, this person had the power to escape, but he fought on relentlessly against a force many times his own until Qianye arrived.

It was because of this contribution that he was recognized by the family, who decided to pour resources into nurturing him.

He didn’t die even while completely surrounded under the Iron Curtain. Who would’ve thought he would fall in this eerie forest? He was still so young, yet all of his dreams were now gone with the wind.

Qianye’s felt an inexplicable weight in his heart like a stone dragging down on it. The cruel bloody battle under the Iron Curtain had polished a batch of elite warriors and also made it easier to acknowledge those fighting alongside each other. Despite the short period of interaction, Qianye had recognized those Zhao clan warriors he had fought alongside with as comrades.

Comrade: the weight of this word was even above a friend.

Qianye ran his hand over the body, then opened up the battle armor to examine the wound. There was only one lethal point on the side of the neck, an extremely clean-cut blade wound. The stab was quick, steady, and cut right through his cervical spine to kill him with a single blow.