The top floor of the ruined structure was covered in countless sanguine threads as pale Evernight experts collapsed one after the other.

Roaring thunderously, the werewolf count struggled with all his might, but that only served to attract more of the bloody threads. He had already jumped halfway up when he was bound to the ground once more. This time, the collapsed count no longer had the strength to jump, and his roars slowly faded away.

The demonkin marquis let out a shrill scream as his body erupted into demonic flames. Then, he tore through the sanguine threads with brute force and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Qianye didn’t go after the man. He merely drew East Peak and swung it a couple of times, drowning the struggling dark race experts in violent waves of oceanic power.

Chasing after an injured marquis involved too many variables, so he decided to consolidate his victory instead. These titled experts made up the foundation of the dark races—killing them all in one go was still a huge blow to the enemy army, and it would also serve to reduce the risk they posed while sweeping the battlefield.

With the leaders killed, the retreating dark race soldiers fell into chaos and began to scatter randomly.

Dark Flame had the entire place surrounded, but they had intentionally left small openings for the fleeing soldiers. They would then attack from the side and rear, inflicting great damage to the enemy forces. This was a minor tactic frequently employed by mercenaries—it might not be effective in a head-on battle, but it was highly useful in chaotic situations like this.

After leaving the neutral lands, Dark Flame’s mercenaries were able to put their ferocity on full display. Their individual fighting prowess was far above that of ordinary Evernight and Empire soldiers. They used to be limited by inferior equipment and tactical command, but now, they were able to bare their fangs after Qianye and Song Zining had supplemented their deficiencies.

The battle ended as quickly as it had begun. Although some dark race soldiers managed to escape, most of them fell during their outward charge. The mercenaries of the neutral lands brought out their ferocity and craftiness without restraint, causing shocking damage during the final phase of the battle. Any commanding officer would’ve opted against breaking out, had they known what would happen. They would much rather have defended their post until reinforcements arrived.

Compared to the accomplishments of the battle, Dark Flame’s losses were unbelievably low. That was also because the top-experts of the defending force were wiped out by Qianye.

Song Zining entered the city against the advice of his officers and went around in person. This trip allowed him to drag out several dark race snipers hidden in various parts of the city. With Worldly Prosperity in hand, there was no sharpshooter who could actually take aim at the seventh young master.

After observing the layout of the city and integrating the information with earlier geographical surveys, Song Zining set up several defensive lines outside of the city to prevent a dark race counterattack. Then, he began dividing the city into districts and made plans to construct a new defense system.

The place was called Whitetown. The buildings here, built using stones from the nearby mountains, were all white, and hence the name.

The town was originally built as a landing point for the dark races, so the initial layout was similar to a fortress. As the dark races gained an increasing advantage on the continent, the role of their rear logistics gradually diminished and civilian structures popped up eventually.

That was why Whitetown possessed a complete defensive system that could be utilized with minimal modifications. That saved Song Zining quite a bit of trouble.

Qianye had it much easier. Instructing his aides not to disturb him, he sat down in a quiet spot and began recovering.

The dark races reacted swiftly—Song Zining had just finished setting up the outer defensive perimeter when the counterattack force arrived. However, these forces were dispatched in a hurry and without an aerial advantage. They were badly beaten and had no choice but to retreat with great casualties.

After gaining the advantage, Song Zining stopped the troops from chasing the enemy. Instead, he ordered them to complete the defensive structures the enemy had left behind. The seventh young master didn’t hold back at all with the construction work. It seemed as though he intended to fill every corner and building with death traps.

The sky gradually darkened with the arrival of dusk.

Qianye opened his eyes, ending a phase of his cultivation. A good part of the essence blood in his body had been converted, allowing for more space to use Life Plunder.

There was no light in the building after dark. All energy had been routed to power the city defenses. Illumination was limited in the barracks as well, and even the officers were only given candles. The candle flame could barely light up a corner of the room, making everything quite blurry and eerie.

Qianye had no complaints about Song Zining’s extreme habits in resource management. This brightness didn’t quite affect his vision, either.

As Qianye walked out of the building, a rich meaty fragrance filled his nostrils. A young mercenary nearby passed him a tray with two bowls of stewed meat. The stimulating fragrance told him that this was stewed beast meat, something reserved for officers above the champion level. The meat could provide a large amount of energy, so ordinary soldiers simply didn’t dare to eat it. Without sufficient cultivation, the meat would turn into poison.

These two bowls contained five times the amount available to a high-ranking officer, but Qianye was only half full after eating it. He called for three more bowls of meat before feeling satisfied.

Their landing was a success, and it was also time for the other attack routes to make their move. Soon, the Empire would face fierce retaliation from half a continent’s worth of enemy forces. This might actually be the last peaceful meal available to them.

Qianye placed the bowls onto the tray and ordered the young mercenary to return them to the kitchen. He himself headed onto the roof to observe the situation throughout the town.

The young mercenary suddenly lost his footing as he walked out of the door, dropping all the bowls to the ground.

The entire town quaked, then a deafening rumble arrived from afar. For a moment, nothing else could be heard except for the explosion.

Qianye rushed out to check the surroundings and saw a cloud of dust, from which half a building had been flung out. He could even see human silhouettes dropping out from the windows from time to time.

This shocking explosion had blasted half a building dozens of meters into the air and tilted all the structures nearby.

Such explosive power was comparable to a cruiser main-cannon. Ordinary land-based cannons would not have such an effect.

Qianye immediately looked up to find a massive Evernight warship passing slowly over Whitetown. A dozen or so of Dark Flame’s gunships and transports were scattering in all directions. These old neutral-land airship models were good for bullying ground troops, but they weren’t good enough for aerial battles. Even if ten of them charged together, they would still be picked off by the Evernight cruiser.

However, this Evernight cruiser seemed to have rushed over to claim merits without knowing the situation. It actually dared to maintain low-altitude flight over Whitetown.

Before Qianye could attack, a large ball of light erupted on the cruiser’s hull, tearing away a block of the vessel’s enclosure. Additionally, the impact tilted the massive airship, pushing it back dozens of meters and drastically reducing its speed.

Only the Empire’s battlecruiser could produce such damage. As expected, an elegant airship rose into the air and made a swift turn, placing its several dozen side-cannons in range of the enemy cruiser. Fiery flowers blossomed on the enemy cruiser as it was blasted to the verge of collapse.

Several Evernight warships appeared behind this Evernight cruiser, but none of them was a match for the Imperial battlecruiser. The latter paid no heed to these small vessels and focused only on the fleeing cruiser, almost as though it wouldn’t relent until the enemy had been destroyed.

The Evernight fleet hadn’t imagined that they would encounter such a devastating frontal assault. The warships at the rear lost their formation after witnessing the scene. It seemed as though the captains were beginning to hesitate whether or not to charge over and save their flagship.

The Imperial battlecruiser was too powerful. The dark race cruiser was dealt a lethal blow immediately upon arrival, and chances of it escaping were quite slim. Against this cutting-edge Imperial battlecruiser, a failed rescue would surely drag them down as well.

At this moment, several Imperial corvettes appeared through the air and charged at the Evernight warships. This time, the warships turned to flee without the slightest hesitation. They had no intention of exchanging direct fire or getting tangled up with those corvettes. No one would be able to escape once that battlecruiser could spare its attention.

As for the cruiser flagship, it would have to pray for the best.

Not long after the Evernight fleet’s dispersion, the dark race cruiser erupted in flames and tilted toward the mountains. Soon, a massive ball of fire rose up from the crash and slowly climbed into the sky.

The aerial battle was successful, but pillars of fire soon erupted from within Whitetown. The ground forces of the Evernight army had arrived and were blasting the city with heavy cannons.

An attack of this degree posed no threat at all. At Song Zining’s order, the scattered gunships came together to bombard the enemy ground forces.

There were dark race experts firing with long-range origin power weaponry, but none of them dared to fly up without sufficient covering fire.

This exposed the cannon formation behind the dark race squad to gunship fire. The constant suppression finally broke down enemy morale—before long, the enemy squads fell into chaos, and the front lines suffered heavy casualties from the combination of land and air attacks.

With no other choice in sight, the Evernight commander sounded the bugle cry to retreat.

Song Zining did not go to extremes. After the dark races were out of firing range, he recalled the gunships and sent them back into the void along with the transports.

As expected, the Evernight mobile fleet appeared not long after the first squadron was pushed back. This unit was led by two cruisers, and the rest were destroyers. All of them were newer, high-speed models with fierce firepower. Those old antique gunships from the neutral lands would definitely suffer against such a fleet.

Song Zining calmly ordered the battlecruiser to the front, with three corvettes covering the rear.

This Evernight squadron was clearly different from the one they had just sent running, the only similarity being their late intelligence. They immediately stopped their charge after seeing the airship formation above Whitetown.

The difference in fighting power between the two forces was quite clear.

If they were to attack, that single Dark Flame battlecruiser could rely on its speed and firepower advantage to circle around and cause constant damage, kiting them until they were entirely destroyed. Even if the Evernight fleet were to go all out, they could take down some corvettes at most. In return, they would lose an even greater number of destroyers.

After a momentary stalemate, the Evernight mobile fleet decided to edge back and leave the battlefield.

…

Far away on the Great Qin mainland.

Following a flash of lightning, a tall figure appeared in the plaza in front of the Divination Pavilion.

Zhang Boqian glanced up at the nine-strata building and walked straight in.

On the other side of the city, Lingyun Hall of the Unending Palace was engulfed in a solemn atmosphere. It was halfway through the court assembly when an attendant scuttled out from the rear and rushed to the Emperor’s side, ignoring the ministers who were currently making their report.

The Emperor immediately stood up while swinging his sleeve.