Qianye felt William’s remorse in those words. As the leader of one of the four major races and an entity only one step away from the Sacred Mountain, the Wolf Sovereign stood far above the other great dark monarchs. Yet his reason for sending away a rare genius was so that they wouldn’t fall out with the other three races.

How was the current situation different from hostility?

William glanced at Qianye and seemed to have guessed his thoughts. “You’re too optimistic. The Wolf Sovereign isn’t afraid that they’ll bully us. He’s afraid that they’ll bully us so badly that we’ll have no choice but to counterattack. You understand?”

So it was fine to slap as long as they didn’t slap too hard?

Qianye found it difficult to understand. How could the werewolves be so cowardly?

William wasn’t willing to talk about it anymore. “This is something for the higher-ups to worry about, nothing to do with small people like us. They don’t want us to get involved, either.”

“What are your plans? Looks like you won’t be able to return before the expansion in the new world ends.”

William nodded. “I gave it a lot of thought, I guess I can only hang out with you now.”

“You’re welcome to stay, of course, but I’m currently fighting against the Moorland werewolves. Won’t you feel a bit awkward?”

“Awkward?” William sneered. “All the compromise was because the Wolf Ancestor made repeated concessions and even turned around to suppress the Wolf Sovereign. That old thing is getting more and more fearful of death with each passing year. Our werewolf race wouldn’t have fallen to this state if it wasn’t for him.”

“What kind of compromise?” Qianye was most concerned about this.

The humans had managed to grow through the gaps between the Evernight races to reach their current strength. Qianye was now trying to find a neutral foothold between the two factions, so any kind of compromise or alliance between major powers could mean danger for him. He needed to treat them rather seriously.

William said, “The werewolves will stop expanding in the new world and only maintain their current territory. All holy tree sap will be handed to the Evernight Council. We must muster an army of five hundred thousand, including experts at various levels, and place them under the council’s command in the new world. They also gave us a list of tactical resources that we’ll need to fulfill.”

“And what will you get in return?”

"After the expansion succeeds, we will be given a territory befitting of our status.”

“Such an empty promise?”

“It’s quite practical, is it not? What status do we have, if any at all?” William laughed self-deprecatingly.

“Then let’s talk about the present, what do you plan to do?”

William gave it some thought. “I want a piece of land. I was too stubborn in the past, so now, it’s time for me to learn how to manage my own territory.”

“No problem.” Qianye possessed both land and population. He was only lacking experts.

William said, “I won’t take it for free. I’ll repay you with military contributions as we go along. Also, I haven’t been to the new world after all this time. Take me along if you need help with your expansion.”

Qianye was delighted.

A genius like William was far superior to an ordinary duke. Even against Qianye, he might not be weaker if both parties refrained from using their ultimate moves.

Qianye possessed both blood energy and daybreak origin power, but William was still one rank higher. Rank wasn’t equal to fighting power, but the gap would still affect things in a contest between geniuses. However, William wouldn’t be a match once Qianye accumulated enough blood energy to ascend to the duke rank.

In addition to accumulating enough blood energy, Qianye would need to modify his body as well. Only after his entire skeleton had been modified would he be able to advance to the next rank. He was currently just one-third of the way there.

With William’s help, not only would he be able to suppress the Flame Duke and obtain yet another piece of territory, but he would also gain tens of millions more werewolf subjects. William would also serve to suppress the Moorland werewolves in the new world. After all, he held a certain status among the werewolves and few would want to go up against him.

The two were once again tipsy at this point. A drinking competition ensued, and it went on until Qianye had to drag William back to the duke’s residence like a dead dog.

The werewolf slept for an entire day and night before waking up. He immediately went to see Qianye and started making plans for his territory. How miserable was it that the successor of the great Summit of Peaks was now interested in a place like Fort Continent?

Qianye didn’t look down on him because of that. Instead, he brought out the territorial map and began discussing the matter in earnest.

Qianye wanted to give him land around the door and Cerulean Wave City at first, but William was eager to break new ground.

At this point, the expansion process in the new world had become a routine matter. Qianye was almost invisible after obtaining the goodwill of the holy trees, so bringing William along would actually make things less convenient. It just so happened that the great werewolf army here had completed their training but couldn’t obtain enough holy tree sap medicine to enter the new world. Since they were going to be idle anyway, Qianye lent a hundred thousand soldiers to William and assigned him the Flame Duke’s territory.

William was going by the Empire’s methods where the major clans would capture their own territory. William agreed to hand over two-thirds of the captured territory and keep a third for himself. Of course, Qianye had no objections to this.

Qianye didn’t want to give William any pushback when he was so proactive about this territorial game.

He currently had enough land and people under his rule, with one million outfitted soldiers. What he needed to do now was digest everything—increase the prosperity of his territories and expand in the new world. A bit of land on Fort Continent was no longer as important.

William left hurriedly after confirming territorial matters and returned with some werewolves. These experts were all at the marquis realm. Their auras were well-contained, without the unbridled characteristics that were commonly seen among werewolves. It was easy to see that they were nobles who specialized in administration.

Qianye couldn’t help but glance at them a couple of times. This changed his common impression of the race as a whole. Although every race had its own characteristics, it would seem that there were still a lot of similarities in certain areas. This was quite interesting.

William said, “These men work under the Wolf Sovereign, in charge of technology, trade, and supplies respectively. I brought them here to see if we have areas we can work together in.”

One of the marquises bowed, saying, “Honorable Son of Darkness, pioneer of the new world, lord of all the tribes on Fort Continent…”

All these titles made Qianye dizzy; he simply had no idea when he had gained so many names. The only title missing was the king of the universe.

The werewolf marquis went on, “Your great accomplishments have spread throughout the Evernight World. Your legends flow through every tribal village, and upon the ancestral altars of countless werewolves…”

Qianye wanted to stop the marquis, but all of a sudden, he felt a mysterious energy descend upon him.

It was similar to the mysterious power produced when the werewolves of the Jade Sea had submitted to him. It served to upgrade the essence of his bloodline by removing impurities. This was a rare occasion since it was already quite difficult for him to improve the quality of his superior bloodline. He wouldn’t have known there were impurities in his dark golden blood energy if it wasn’t for this mysterious energy.

As such, Qianye simply stood there and listened to the werewolf’s verbose citation. The marquis spent an entire hour before coming to a stop, and there was no repetition at all during the process. He even dug out Qianye’s exploits back in Yellow Springs and sang praises about it.

He finally ran out of things to praise toward the end and started bringing out Qianye’s physical appearance—not short, not tall, not thin, not fat, every description available to him.

By the time the marquis finally shut up, Qianye’s bloodline strength had increased a bit more.

William was greatly surprised. “You really can sense the power of the Ancestral Spirit Sea!”

“What’s an Ancestral Spirit Sea?”

“Our powerful werewolf ancestors remain in spirit form after death, retaining a part of their strength, inheritances, and knowledge. The Spirit Sea is where their spirits return. To undergo Spiritual Awakening is to communicate with this power and use it to improve one’s bloodline. If I didn’t know full well that you have nothing to do with the werewolf bloodline, I’d think you’re the descendant of some powerful ancestor.”

It turned out that this mysterious energy was the power of the Ancestral Spirit Sea. It sounded rather similar to the River of Blood, an intangible existence that could only be sensed. No one had ever reached that place before.

Qianye realized that the marquis’ lengthy praise wasn’t without meaning.

The marquis was sweating, pale, and weakened after the hour-long discourse. Apparently, drawing upon the Spirit Sea was quite draining.

This marquis said, “At first, we were worried whether you could receive it. This proves that the legends in the tribal villages are true, and that Prophet Sadine’s scrying eyes can truly see through space and time. Sire Qianye, this is the Summit of Peak’s gift to you. In order to obtain the power from the Spirit Sea, one has to gain the recognition of the ancestral spirits who reside therein. That was why I had to recite your deeds to them, so that they’ll be willing to pour more of the sea’s power into you.”

Qianye finally understood why the marquis had sung his praises like an aria.

The werewolf said with a smile, “Who would’ve thought Sire Qianye would accomplish so much at such a young age? The ancestors were so moved that each of them poured out quite a bit of power from the Spirit Sea. The results were unexpectedly good. The most important factor was that Sire Qianye had gained the devotion and loyalty of countless werewolf subjects. The ancestors saw this and believed that you would not abuse them despite being of a different race.”

Qianye said, “Since they have given me their loyalty, I have a responsibility to take care of them. This gift is too valuable, how can I repay the Summit of Peaks?”

The marquis said, “We are very much interested in your training regimen. If you don’t mind, we hope to send some new recruits here for training. We’ll also dispatch some military instructors to learn and work for you.”

This was actually a sensitive issue, but the power of the Spiritual Sea just now was just as priceless, so Qianye agreed after some thought.

He knew that this would constitute half an alliance between him and the Summit of Peaks, but this wasn’t a bad thing if he could divide the Evernight Faction.

Qianye would’ve never imagined that he would run his own country one day and that all kinds of races would be living together in it. This went against all reason, but it had actually happened. Qianye felt a sense of self-deprecation—it would seem that the outcasts and marginalized people from all races were gathering in his land.

Just like that, troops from the Summit of Peaks began to arrive in Fort Continent. The instructors had already assembled here ahead of time.

In the beginning, the elites from the Summit of Peaks looked down upon their peers from Fort Continent. In fact, they didn’t even think of the werewolves here as their kin. They weren’t used to mixed-race training and cooperative warfare, either.

It was deeply ingrained within their minds that the humans should only appear on the opposite side of the battlefield.

This proved to be a headache for both parties. In order to solve this problem, Qianye decided to have his human-werewolf army fight a mock battle against the werewolves from the Summit of Peaks.