Monarch of Evernight

Fort Continent was different from the other lower continents; it was only relatively barren. There was still a sizable deposit of natural resources, just not bountiful enough for the dark races and the Empire to go to war for. There were more important territories for them to fight over.

Another reason was that top experts weren’t willing to stay here for very long due to the impure origin power environment. Hence, both factions were on the fence about Fort Continent. It was a pity to abandon, yet not beneficial enough to colonize.

That was exactly why there were numerous small powers on the continent, with no lack of people claiming themselves kings and emperors. There were even those who claimed to be gods. It was just an intimidating title, anyway. True powerhouses like the Evernight Council and the Great Qin couldn’t be bothered to bicker with them. As far as local benefits were concerned, it was best if they could keep the situation under control.

Xu Jingxuan wanted Qianye to proclaim himself king and let the outside world know of his name. That was the first step toward expansion. Qianye understood the good intention, but he decided not to comment on it. At times, a leader might not want the same things as his followers. Qianye wanted a force that could support him, but he hadn’t thought it through about proclaiming himself king.

Qianye pushed this matter to the back of his mind as he walked out into the wilderness. The sun in the sky was turning darker and darker, almost as though that dark red ball of flame had been extinguished. The scenery around him became hazy, and the distant landscape was now hidden under the rising mist.

Qianye sped forward with his aura retracted. After about a quarter of an hour, he came to a sudden stop before a military boot.

Qianye picked it up and found that it was part of a Dark Flame soldier’s outfit. There was a layer of dust on it, almost as though it had been abandoned for a long time. There was a deep gash cutting through the tough leather with bloodstains around the defect. Apparently, it was left behind here after a fight.

He observed the surroundings and locked onto a distant rock, in which a broken metal ring was embedded. There were three claw marks on it as well. Qianye arrived beside the rock and, after some pondering, stabbed his fingers into it. This left clear fingerprints in the stone.

There was no mistaking it; this stone wasn’t very hard. The claw marks on it belonged to a werewolf, and the metal ring was a bracelet popular among them. Under the special environment of the new world, the wind would erode stones much faster once their surface was broken and all traces on it would disappear soon afterward.

That was also the reason why Qianye found no tracks throughout the entire chase. If Qianye had arrived one day later, the boot and bracelet would’ve disappeared as well.

With these two clues, Qianye was sure that at least one scouting party had passed by here and that they had engaged in battle. All scouting parties were a mixture of werewolves, mercenaries, and the new army, an arrangement that would allow them to adapt to unforeseen circumstances.

Qianye continued deeper into the wilderness. Before long, the scenery before him transformed completely as a forest popped out from the mist.

This forest almost seemed to appear out of nowhere since everything was shrouded in fog before. Having experienced similar situations, Qianye was able to keep walking into the woods without panicking.

As he got closer, he could see wisps of mist drifting about in the air like swimming fish. Qianye channeled his Bloodline Concealment and retracted his aura as he entered the area of those misty streaks.

The misty streaks were startled and scattered into the distance, almost as though someone had jumped into a pond of fish.

Qianye was surprised to find that his Bloodline Concealment was ineffective. This was the first time he had run into such a situation, but then again, his power wasn’t invisibility. This powerful ability was mostly used to deceive an expert’s perception, which was more useful than blocking vision in most cases.

Who would’ve thought this unknown misty streak would see through him?

Qianye paused for a moment and stood perfectly still. Those misty wisps were rather curious—they gradually calmed down after failing to sense danger, and some of them even came close to him. Qianye reached out and grabbed one of them at lightning speed. The misty streak struggled briefly but disappeared immediately afterward.

Qianye opened his palm and saw a couple of white water droplets, but the misty streak was gone. The water droplets didn’t seem alive, either. Was the misty streak dead?

He peered at the water droplets with his True Sight and found that they contained highly condensed origin power. It was practically liquefied energy. The water droplets contained nothing else—there were no remains, bones, or organs, just pure energy.

The misty streaks grew frightened after Qianye caught two of their comrades. They shot away into the distance and simply hid themselves in the forest. They looked like a group of living beings and not lifeless energy.

What was going on? Sentient origin power? Could pure energy gain intelligence?

Even though this new world had refreshed his sense of common knowledge time and again, Qianye still felt distressed by this point. On a sudden whim, he stretched out a sanguine thread and touched the water droplet in his palm.

Under the activation of his blood energy, the water droplets ignited in a flash of white and burned away. Only a drop of clear water was left behind, which very quickly evaporated due to the origin power in the environment.

This process allowed Qianye to confirm that there was a disproportionate amount of daybreak origin power. Could this be a world dominated by daybreak origin power, something the human race had been looking for all this time? Qianye’s instincts told him that this wasn’t the case. At least, most of the origin power here wasn’t suitable for humans.

Qianye glanced at the forest in front and walked in with large strides.

Once he was inside, he sensed something behind him and dodged to the side without a second thought. At the same time, he also slashed backward with East Peak. With Qianye’s current strength, his every move was as fast as lightning. This slash brushed past two large trees and hacked at some unknown object—a miserable cry ensued.

Two trees fell with a loud boom and a certain beast came into view. The creature had been cut into two but was still flailing about on the ground.

Qianye found the beast rather familiar. He recognized it as a type of beast that had first appeared through the “door,” characterized by the sharp horn on its head. This creature specialized in speed and damage. Who would’ve thought it could conceal itself as well in forested regions. Qianye had only sensed it on the verge of its attack, and there was no telling when it had approached.

Qianye decided to release his aura since Bloodline Concealment was no use anyway. Flames of scarlet gold erupted from his body, and as expected, the range of his perception expanded rapidly afterward. In this environment filled with daybreak origin power, the flames of Venus Dawn drained very little of his energy. This could be considered a utilization of environmental energy.

The greatest advantage of a divine champion was the ability to utilize the origin power in the environment to strengthen oneself. The origin power of the new world was special in that it was almost inutilizable. Divine champions would need to spend time to adapt to and understand the laws here, hence greatly weakening their fighting power.

However, there was little difference in physical power between the two worlds. Qianye was proficient in close-quarter fighting. With his powerful body and strength, there wasn’t much of a discount to his fighting power.

However, the ignition of his origin power came with consequences. Qianye sensed several eyes landing on him, and some were even from the depths of the forest. It was a mystery how they were able to “see” him.

Qianye wasn’t afraid since he would be found out sooner or later. He simply walked into the heart of the forest.

A series of fluctuating sounds echoed through the woods, almost as though a giant swarm of bugs was flying about. In the blink of an eye, several black specks flew out from the trees and shot toward Qianye at speeds greater than an origin bullet!

Qianye’s feet moved slightly as he grabbed East Peak and placed it in the path of these black specks.

The impact on his hands was shockingly strong. Instead of checking what the fallen black objects were, Qianye inspected his blade first. Only after confirming that East Peak was as good as new did he heave a sigh of relief.

He flexed his numb arm and looked down at the ground. Those black dots were fist-sized creatures that looked more like insects.

Their bodies were covered in a dark grey shell, with horns as sharp as a dagger on their heads. Their lower bodies were shaped like a series of rings, which contracted in tandem to shoot out origin power. These insects did not have wings, but they were able to reach great speeds by relying on this propulsion mechanism.

It was rather unfortunate that their opponent was Qianye because normal people would never have been able to block their attacks. Qianye had chosen stillness against their movement, and with East Peak in hand, the enemies’ speed became their undoing.

It seemed like Qianye had managed to fend off this wave without much effort, but in truth, he had used a high-level combat technique. Despite having dealt with this danger perfectly, he didn’t relax a bit and became even more serious instead. He was currently traversing uncharted waters, not knowing what he would run into at the next step.

Weird whistling sounds echoed through the forest as more beasts shot toward Qianye like bullets, leaving rings of origin power in their wake. Qianye retreated in narrow bursts, East Peak moving irregularly to block every assault perfectly.

Following a series of metallic jingles, the ground around Qianye was covered in beast corpses, and the forest fell into a brief phase of silence. It was as though the beasts lurking in its shadows were shocked by this outcome.

Qianye stretched his body, emitting crackling sounds from his joints. Even Qianye felt numb and sore after blocking hundreds of suicidal attacks.

However, his ancient vampire constitution displayed its advantage in endurance. His blood energy swam to every corner of his body during this short break, clearing away all feelings of discomfort.

He had just recovered when a mix-mash of beast sounds erupted from the depths of the forest. One creature after the other charged fiercely at Qianye!

Qianye was the least afraid of this type of battle. His figure flickered toward the attacking horde—an intricate swordplay performance ensued as he fought a melee battle against countless beasts. Wherever his blade went, it would always draw blood in a flash.

More and more beasts swarmed out of the forest, forming a small army containing various troop types. Qianye was silently calculating the range of his domain and Life Plunder, all the while moving and drawing the beast army along with him.

It was at this time that Stinger crawled out of Qianye’s armor with a shrill cry, angered by the surrounding beast horde. It shot out with great ferocity and drilled into the head of a horse-like creature, emerging from behind. It then flew about and rammed through the head of a different beast.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of beasts had fallen to Stinger’s attacks. The little critter was even more ruthless than Qianye.