Qianye grabbed Song Zining back to his seat, saying, “Don’t be so agitated.”

The latter struggled with all his might, but he was still a human no matter how exquisite his domain was. There was simply no way for him to resist the mountainous strength bearing down on his shoulder and stand up.

Song Zining gave up in the end, but his gaze wasn’t relaxed at all. “How can I not be agitated? Do you know what you’re doing? That’s an undertaking no human has ever accomplished before! If you manage to plant your feet on the sacred mountain of Evernight, you’ll have surpassed the Grand Ancestor and Martial Ancestor. Do you think that’s even possible?”

Qianye laughed. “I’m just saying, don’t take it too seriously.”

But Song Zining didn’t laugh. “You’re not kidding, you’re serious. We’ve known each other for so many years, you can’t fool me.”

Qianye’s smile vanished as he gazed at the stars and sighed deeply. At this moment, a drifting landmass blocked out the star-studded sky and cast a shadow on Qianye’s face. “Just think of it as a dream. One has to persevere, who knows if it’ll come true one day?”

“This isn’t a dream, it’s madness. No matter how close you are to accomplishing it, taking that last step will seal your fate!” Song Zining’s voice rose higher.

“That last step is still far away, let’s discuss the matter at hand. How long do you plan to stay here? Are you not going back anymore?”

“Going back is a must, but there’s no rush at the moment. I’ve already submitted my resignation to Marshal Boqian and won’t be holding office in the army any longer. I came here to build a channel between the neutral lands and the empire, using the Ningyuan group as a foundation. I’m hoping the two sides can be of mutual assistance. Finally, I want to claim our own territory in the neutral lands or perhaps even in one of its border territories.”

At this point, he smiled radiantly and slapped Qianye’s shoulder. “Do you remember our discussion about building our own nation?”

“Of course! But, hasn’t anyone in the empire thought about doing this?”

“Naturally, they always have. But in the end, they realized that the neutral lands is a barren place without enough gains to make up for their investments. The place is simply too far from the empire. A forced expedition would strain the empire’s coffers and its people, giving the dark races an opportunity to exploit. In truth, the dark races had actually wanted to make the neutral lands their territory when it was first founded, and they nearly succeeded.”

“Why did they fail?”

“Because the empire was dragging them down at every turn. The empire assaulted them relentlessly during the several decades that the dark races were waging a remote war, adding ten provinces to its map. Even then, the latter had almost succeeded in their endeavor, if only that person on the Throne of Blood hadn’t joined the neutral lands.”

Qianye had no knowledge of this piece of history.

The person on the Throne of Blood was once a genius of the vampire race, albeit of humble origins. It went without saying that his life among the vampires—who liked to decide superiority by bloodline—wasn’t really satisfactory. Despite his combat strength far exceeding his peers, he was never able to obtain just recognition and treatment.

One day, just after he had become a marquis, a certain duke robbed him of his lover and set into motion a great scandal. He actually stole the vampire race’s supreme treasure, the Grand Magnum Shattered Moment, and shot this duke dead.

In the end, he escaped to the neutral lands and started a massacre, dealing great damage to the dark race armies there. The vampire race there was almost entirely slaughtered. All the blood and corpses in his wake was how he came to be known as the Throne of Blood.

The dark races fell into chaos following this battle. The loss of a grand magnum dealt a severe blow to the vampires in the council. If it wasn’t for the Queen of the Night bringing the situation under control, there was no telling what would happen.

The empire, on the other hand, profited deeply from the disarray. They grew sharply in power, successfully gaining a foothold on the Western Continent and building up an advantage. In the future, it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to take the entire continent into their fold and subsequently increase their national power.

From there on out, Evernight, the empire, the neutral lands, and the many small border nations fell into a delicate equilibrium. The empire would assault the dark races if they were to attack the neutral lands. And having taken great advantage of such a mistake, they themselves wouldn’t commit the same.

The neutral lands eventually became an outlying territory, but they produced enough experts throughout the generations to protect themselves.

“So, it’s impossible to take the neutral lands with external power. The only way is to settle down and expand step by step, gradually unifying all the territories.”

“You plan to take root here?”

“Of course!”

Qianye didn’t know what to say. He could only sigh because he knew he couldn’t convince the seventh young master otherwise.

Song Zining gave him a pat on the back, saying, “Where’s Nighteye? Can you still see her?”

“She’s still in the neutral lands.” Qianye hesitated for a while but explained the situation in the end. This matter had been weighing on his mind for a long while, but he had no one to confide in. It just so happened that Song Zining was here right now to give him counsel.

Song Zining frowned. “This won’t do, let me go and talk to her.”

Qianye was shocked. “Are you looking to die?”

“Of course not! I might not be able to defeat her, but don’t tell me you think I can’t escape? I know her strength very well.”

“No, you do not.” Qianye laughed wryly. “Not to mention you, even I am not so confident about an escape at this point. Even the two of us combined might not be her match, either. I don’t understand her current temperament at all. Are you willing to go and meet an unfamiliar high vampire?”

Song Zining’s expression was serious, apparently not expecting such a development. In the end, he sighed. “Let it be, there are so many women in this world, why would you want to hang yourself on a dead tree? Just follow me in the future and there’ll be no lack of women!”

Qianye shook his head. “I have no interest right now. Oh yeah, I have something to show you.”

“What?”

“A new nation.”

Moments later, two jeeps left Southern Blue in succession and drove toward the border of the continent.

Qianye drove the first personally and had Whirlwind follow in the other. The latter’s vehicle was loaded with goods, equipment, and autocannons.

Song Zining had made himself quite comfortable in the passenger’s seat, with his back reclined and his feet on the dashboard. “Even after riding so many airships, a jeep is still the best. It’s just so full of life.”

Qianye laughed loudly and stomped down on the accelerator. The vehicle roared loudly as it charged forward like an angry lion.

The reckless driving didn’t last too long as several trucks appeared on the road ahead. These cars were small cargo trucks modified into armed vehicles, each manned by several mercenaries. They were either sitting or standing on the cars, drinking and laughing loudly all the while.

The trucks were playing deafening blasts of music as they moved forward slowly in a horizontal row that blocked the road.

The mercenaries seemed to have no intention of making way for the rapidly approaching jeep. They pointed at the incoming vehicles as they drank, laughed, and cursed. Some actually removed their trousers and made obscene movements.

“You’d best cover your ears,” Qianye said. Song Zining hadn’t come to when Qianye suddenly pulled open a valve.

High-temperature steam gushed out from the pressurized pipe, spraying out of the nozzle with a resounding scream. This was a special steam whistle normally used on ships and large cargo trucks. Someone had actually installed it on this small offroad vehicle. The sound from this whistle was deafening even from the outside. Those in the car would feel even more uncomfortable.

Even with his profound cultivation, the seventh young master was shocked out of his wits.

The abrupt shriek of the whistle startled the mercenaries up front. The one who had removed his trousers lost his grip and pissed all over his pants.

The mercenaries were furious; how could they let this go? They immediately slowed their pace down and firmly blocked the road. These fellows had already picked up their weapons and taken aim at Qianye’s jeep. This wasn’t a threat; they were already filled with killing intent and were ready to shoot.

These were the neutral lands, a land where, more often than not, murder was the answer to conflict.

Song Zining let out a long sigh. He pulled back his legs and spread his palms, prepared to unleash his domain and interfere with the other party’s line of sight. Before he could do that, however, the jeep roared and shot forward, almost as though it had been kicked hard from behind. They were heading for a head-on collision!

“No! You’re crazy!” The seventh young master cried in astonishment. He barely had enough time to grab the armrest when the jeep crashed into the rear end of the truck in front!

The two armored cars were sent flying sideways, crashing into those on the side. Qianye wasn’t about to stop there. He stood up, kicked away the deformed door, and stomped on the nearby armored car!

With a whoosh, the armored car and the dozens of mercenaries on it were flung away, rolling several times on the ground before coming to a stop. Those in the driver’s compartment were also badly bruised and bleeding.

Fortunately, they weren’t too weak. Most of them only sustained flesh injuries but didn’t lose their lives.

Qianye’s figure flickered to the side of the other armored car and kicked it away. Only then did he return to his still-moving jeep and jumped onto it.

Whirlwind stretched out from the jeep behind him and aimed the dark muzzle of his autocannon at the mercenaries. A dazed mercenary began cursing ferociously without figuring out the situation, but one of his comrades quickly covered his mouth.

Qianye stretched out his left hand and fired four rounds from the Bloody Datura, blasting the engines of the four armored vehicles. Only then did he swagger off with a snort.

Whirlwind revealed a sinister smile as his autocannon spat out a tongue of flames, tearing the armored vehicles into shreds. Fortunately, the soldiers in the car had been flung away, and this actually saved their lives.

The mercenaries remained frozen in shock until the jeeps had vanished into the distance. It was only much later that they dared to start looking for their possessions under the debris.