The tactful Edward stopped talking and gazed at the sea of clouds. He suddenly heaved an emotional sigh. Once upon a time, he was a representation of the vampire race’s future, gathering all glory and favor upon himself. The only ones he needed to compete against were people like the Demoness, Anwen, and Basil. William was still young, so he didn’t need to worry about the fellow for a good while.

How could he have expected such an outcome back then? The world was constantly changing and uncontrollable, just like the rolling sea of clouds.

Just as Edward was lost in thought, he heard Nighteye’s voice from behind him. “Why aren’t you jumping?”

Edward was startled. As a spirited warrior, he felt truly aggrieved and unwilling that he was given no choice but to return to the dust. He let out a long howl and leaped toward the sea of clouds, shooting forward over a thousand meters at the speed of lightning. It was at this moment that a powerful force locked into his body and slowed down his flow of blood energy by more than half.

Unable to keep himself afloat, Edward slowly sank down with no way of making it back to shore.

In his despair, Edward turned back and shouted, “Do you feel just a bit of regret? Is that why you’re not doing it yourself?”

Nighteye said coldly, “I just couldn’t be bothered.”

In despair, Edward fell into the clouds and disappeared thereafter.

Nighteye finally stood up and returned to the castle. Several young counts surrounded her, passing her tea and attending to her every need along the way.

These vampires were young geniuses of the race and came from respectable backgrounds, yet Nighteye had immediately tossed several of those who had been gossiping about her and Qianye into the sea of clouds. The families behind those unlucky souls didn’t dare say a word, so the others understood that none of them could afford to offend her.

The holy son of the Perth clan was a glorious marquis in rank. He had also obtained a drop of Medanzo’s origin blood, which made him half a descendant. Who else would dare provoke her when even Edward had been forced to jump into the sea of clouds? Vampires were a long-lived race. None wished to forfeit their lives when they still had a good thousand years ahead of them. All they needed was to have a sense of tact and propriety.

Hence, these young geniuses dispensed with their posturing and wouldn’t even hesitate if they had to bury their faces in the mud. They were even more devoted in attending to Nighteye than they would the Queen of the Night.

Nighteye sat down before her study window, enjoying some random snacks and tea. “Inform the Azure King, tell him that I need my armor and weapons. Also, schedule an airship to the door on Twilight Continent.”

Mustering up his courage, a young vampire said excitedly, “Are you going into battle? Can you bring me? I’m willing to die for you!”

Considering her status and looks, Nighteye could be considered the dream of every vampire. This young count even fell to his knees and begged to be taken along.

Nighteye kept sipping tea and didn’t even look up. “You guys are too ugly.”

…

Blacksun Valley in the new world. A group of people was traveling carefully through the area, avoiding the black fires scattered almost everywhere as they advanced.

Every member of this group was a divine champion, clearly the cream of the Empire’s crop. Song Zining and Zhao Jundu walked side by side at the front, and none of the dukes behind them looked dissatisfied about having to follow them.

After Duke Yuanguang’s incident, these dukes clearly understood that Song Zining, despite his young age, possessed a top-grade origin power and was extremely powerful despite his recent ascension. Zhao Jundu, on the other hand, was even stronger according to Song Zining himself. Although it was said that Zhao Jundu had come to a stop at the early divine champion stage, weren’t the other dukes the same? Besides, fighting power wasn’t dependent on rank alone.

Having passed through the black flames, the group arrived before the sinkhole. Their expressions shifted drastically as they gazed upon the black fire pillars bursting out from it.

Back when Song Zining and Zhao Jundu had seen the entire valley, the sinkhole didn’t look all that big from their angle.

Only when they were standing at its edge did they realize that it was tens of thousands of meters wide, and there seemed to be no end to the black fire spurting out from within. No one dared approach despite being divine champions as a simple contact with the fire would reduce them to ashes.

One of the dukes said, “What is this?”

“This is the dark race’s secret? T-This… What kind of secret is that? Even if there’s some sort of secret down there, there’s no way to go down and look for it.”

The experienced Duke Shunmu said, “Even a heavenly monarch might not be able to enter with these black flames around.”

Another duke chimed in, “These fires are produced by burning darkness origin power, ordinary shields won’t last long in them. I wonder what exactly is in there that would produce such vicious flames.”

Song Zining and Zhao Jundu frowned in silence. Moments later, the former said, “These black flames seem to be distorting our perception. I can barely use my divination arts here, even at the expense of efficiency.”

Zhao Jundu reached out to touch the black fire. When he pulled his finger back to observe, the skin at the point of contact had been charred black. The origin barrier he had used to resist the fire was only half effective.

After observing the wound, Zhao Jundu said, “These flames are just as damaging to the dark races. If we can’t go down, they can’t, either. But…”

Seeing his hesitation, Song Zining shot him a strange glance. “There are no strangers here, what’s there that you can’t say?”

Zhao Jundu laughed wryly. “It’s nothing really, I just didn’t want to believe it myself. It’s just a guess and might not be correct at all.”

“What’s your guess, let’s hear it?”

“Exactly, your understanding is nothing but brilliant.” The other dukes were also curious.

Zhao Jundu pointed at the sinkhole. “Look, don’t you think the sinkhole is too round and the insides too smooth?”

The dukes were puzzled. “There are a lot of round sinkholes in the Empire as well. As for the walls, the prolonged exposure to the black flames must’ve made them smooth. What’s wrong with it?”

Zhao Jundu said, “The aura here makes me feel restless, and it’s not just one type.”

At this point, Zhao Jundu had been undergoing refinement in fire for quite some time. His origin power had turned from azure to purple, and then almost entirely dark. However, he had used energy systems to explain that this wasn’t darkness origin power but a form of daybreak energy that no one had seen before. Many Imperial experts had confirmed this statement, suppressing the suspicions people had about his cultivation art.

As he went deeper and deeper into the refinement, Zhao Jundu’s combat strength increased exponentially. Not to mention an ordinary early divine champion, he might even have a chance against a superior divine champion. Even a great dark monarch might not be able to instill fear in him.

The dukes held their breath in silence, waiting for the conclusion. Although they were prepared, the final guess still shocked everyone.

“I suspect that this sinkhole didn’t exist before. It must’ve been dug out by the supremes of the Sacred Mountain.”

Duke Yuanguang swallowed hard. “Such a massive sinkhole, is that even possible?”

Each supreme of the Sacred Mountain had lived longer than the history of the Empire itself, and their might was a legend.

Some people even believed that the three of them could cut a continent in half if they so willed it. Additionally, there were also differing opinions on why the Void Valley Star had fallen down to the neutral lands.

It wouldn’t be impossible for the three supremes to work together to create this sinkhole. But what was going on with the unending stream of black flames?

Song Zining’s brows relaxed. “I’ve figured it out now that you mentioned it.”

“What did you figure out?”

“Darksun valley is so important that Jaero would risk his life to stop us from approaching, but there aren’t many soldiers here. The reason is probably because the three supremes had opened this sinkhole but couldn’t get into the passage. Hence, they focused their limited troops on expansion. That is the only way to get more troops into the new world.”

Song Zining continued, “There was no proper response even after we destroyed that fortress. This proves that they know we can’t enter, either. These black flames are fierce, but they will die out at one point. That is when the dark races will retaliate in full force.”

“Then what do we do?”

Song Zining said, “We’ll fight myriad changes with consistency, we continue bleeding the dark races. Even if we can’t get our hands on whatever is inside, we must have them pay an arm and a leg for the treasure.”

The dukes’ fighting spirit saw a sharp increase.

Song Zining said after a moment of silent calculation, “We have about three days of safe time. I’ll trouble you all to map out the surrounding landscape with as much detail as you can. Divination doesn’t work very well here, so the quality of this map will decide our fate.”

The dukes accepted their respective missions, with Zhao Jundu taking on three areas alone. His current origin power was a bit similar to the black flames, so his tolerance was much greater. Song Zining didn’t hold back, either, emboldened by the principle of letting the capable do more work.

Song Zining’s intention was clear at this point. He was seeking to use the complicated landscape to contend with the dark races, dealing as much damage as he could to their elite troops.

Only at this point did the dukes understand why Song Zining had no intention of building a base here. Being tied down to a stronghold would make it easier for the enemy to trace them. Roaming battles were currently the best tactic to bring out Song Zining’s skills.

“I wonder who the dark races will send to their deaths this time.”

“It won’t be an easy enemy for sure. The useless ones will die in our hands without even needing the heavenly monarch to take action.”

“Haha, Brother Zheng’s Thousand Bindings is a celebrated take-down art. The dark races won’t be able to escape once caught.”

“You praise it too much. If we run into a prince or a great dark monarch, it’ll only serve to restrict them for a moment. Tying them down is impossible.”

The dukes chatted happily as they left to complete their objectives.