Chapter 643: Counterattack [V6C173 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

With the help of Song Zining’s domain, Qianye and the others managed to assemble and escape toward the Zhang clan army.

The battlefield was absolutely chaotic at this moment—with the successive arrival of the dark race elites, one could run into an enemy at any given moment. Flying through the air under such circumstances was nothing short of suicidal, so all they could do was run on the ground.

As for the Wei family’s private soldiers, Song Zining had already ordered them to find an advantageous position to defend and await reinforcements.

After running for a fair distance, Song Zining’s face became abnormally flushed as he spat out a mouthful of blood. “My domain has been destroyed.”

Wei Potian looked straight into Song Zining’s eyes and said unwillingly, “Your domain has some uses after all.”

Qianye, however, felt that it was much more than just a bit useful. Being able to trap so many powerful enemies on its own after the operator had fled was simply unbelievable.

If one were to claim Qianye’s Oceanic Might as the extreme of destructive might, then Song Zining’s domain was the apex of ingenuity. The two had developed in very different directions and were thus difficult to compare. The common quality was that they were at the pinnacle among experts of the same level.

Several figures came rushing over from the distance. In addition to the vampire count, Twilight, and William, there were several other viscount-grade experts. Additionally, two high-speed airships emerged from the clouds and began charging at them.

However, Song Zining’s domain had put several thousand meters between the two parties. Both he and Zhao Yuying specialized in speed. Wei Potian was the slowest of the bunch, but Qianye quietly gave him a lift from behind, allowing him to remain on Song Zining’s tail. The distance thus increased gradually.

Seeing that the four were about to escape, that vampire count unleashed a shrill howl and actually rose into the air. He flew forward at great speeds, quickly closing the gap between them.

Song Zining’s expression changed. “He’s courting death! Let’s speed up. Qianye, stop helping him secretly. Take Wei Potian and run!”

Qianye nodded as he finally unleashed the entirety of his great power. Darting about through the mountainous terrain, he covered ten meters with every step and was soon far off into the distance.

Song Zining remembered to unleash his domain only after a momentary daze. A strong wind kicked up around him and Zhao Yuying, pushing the two forward and increasing their speed by twenty percent. Although he couldn’t beat the vampire count’s flying speed, the difference was quite slim and the latter couldn’t catch up so easily. Qianye, on the other hand, was simply too fast. He had completely suppressed Song Zining’s domain, and the distance between them was only growing larger and larger—two hundred meters, five hundred meters, and in the blink of an eye, a thousand.

A dead leaf flew past Qianye’s eyes and out of it came Song Zining’s flustered voice. “Qianye! Don’t run that fast or we’ll really lose him!”

Startled, Qianye quickly slowed down his footsteps and waited for Song Zining and Zhao Yuying to catch up. Then, they maintained a hundred meters of distance from one another. Strong winds surrounded the duo—it would seem they were at their limits because none of them had the breath to speak. No more flying messenger leaves appeared, either.

The distance between the escapees and the pursuers gradually shortened. The vampire count’s eyes were bloodshot and his blood energy was aboil, leaving a stream of rolling red clouds as he flew through the sky. The two parties passed over several hills and ran dozens of kilometers. Soon, the Zhang clan’s frigates could be seen over the distant horizon.

It was at this time that one of the warships suddenly spun about and flew over. Its speed was abnormally fast and soon arrived within several kilometers of Qianye’s group. Afterward, the entire vessel trembled as it shot out a giant arrow suffused with dark-green radiance!

The arrow was two meters long and as quick as lightning. The recoil from the shot jolted the airship and caused its speed to decrease drastically—one could see just how powerful it was!

Qianye’s pupils constricted. He had immediately sensed that this giant ballista was extraordinary and that its true weight far exceeded its appearance.

The vampire count was shocked out of his wits upon seeing the huge projectile coming straight at him. He screamed oddly and made an all-out attempt to sidestep the attack. However, the ballista bolt made a turn, locked back onto the count, and blasted onto him!

Following a miserable scream, the vampire count exploded into a cloud of bloody mist. The giant ballista bolt also erupted with dazzling silvery brilliance. This light caused the mist to produce clouds of black smoke as though it had been splashed with strong acid.

A pained scream emerged once again from the sanguineous mist as a red gaseous mass shot out of the silvery light and flew into the distance. Qianye immediately saw through the gas with his True Sight and found that it was actually hiding the count’s blood core.

The count was indeed difficult to deal with and seemed to possess an abundance of secret arts. He was able to flee even after being blasted until only his blood core was left. No wonder Zhao Yuying was hunted down.

He might’ve really escaped if he were up against any other opponent. Then, he might be able to reform a new body at the blood pond. He could only blame his bad fortune for meeting Qianye and his True Sight. The latter lifted the Thunderbolt, locked onto the blood core after a brief aim, and blasted it to smithereens.

The airship circled about to confirm the outcome before flying back to join the fleet.

The blood core’s destruction was marked by an immediate rain of scarlet, which dyed a large area of the desolate land. Watching the splattering blood droplets, Qianye couldn’t help but ask, “Yuying, what exactly did you do that made him hate you so much? He was hell-bent on killing you even at the cost of his life.”

Zhao Yuying shrugged. “This mommy didn’t do much. I just destroyed all of the other transport and supply vessels in his sub-fleet.”

At this point, Zhao Yuying rubbed her chin pensively and said, “By the looks of it, his entire family must’ve been on those transports. I might’ve wiped them all out in one fell swoop.”

“That’s very possible,” Song Zining chimed in. He said while clapping his hands, “Okay, we should rest a while first. We still have to go back and help those Wei clan soldiers. Someone’s going to fight it out with me if more of them die.”

Wei Potian’s expression was solemn. It was rare to see him not in a rush to argue with Song Zining. “It looks like we won’t have that chance. That werewolf alone might be beyond our power.”

The seriousness in Wei Potian’s voice was evident. It was clear that he treated those men seriously, but there were experts converging upon them. Even after finishing off the count, they were still no match for the hunting party. William alone was completely unfathomable. After a period of fighting alongside one another, Wei Potian understood Song Zining and Zhao Yuying quite well. He knew that they might not win against William even when working together, not to mention there was also Twilight and her powerful subordinates. No one knew how many more dark race experts were on their way.

Wei Potian knew that the outcome would be dire once they had been surrounded.

At this moment, Qianye patted Wei Potian’s shoulder and said, “I’ll keep the werewolf busy, I’ll count on you guys for the others.”

“Impossible,” Wei Potian cried out reflexively.

It wasn’t just Wei Potian, both Song Zining and Zhao Yuying were also looking at Qianye. The clash just now was brief, but they had all realized just how terrifying William was. In a one-on-one battle, only Song Zining might have a chance at escaping because of his domain.

Qianye raised a hand, stopping Zhao Yuying who was just about to speak. “What Zining said is true, now is not the time to hide our powers. Rest assured, just leave the werewolf to me and deal with the other people.”

Song Zining knew that now was not the time to drag things on. He made a prompt decision and said, “Very well, let’s do it your way.”

The four turned around and charged back into the fray.

William was running across the land at a leisurely pace. It didn’t seem like he was on the battlefield at all. On the contrary, it looked like he was stretching his limbs under the radiant afternoon sun. Twilight’s expression was ashen as she ran along in silence. There were vampire warriors appearing frequently behind them, forming a wide arc to outflank the targets.

She turned to William and said with a harsh tone, “They’ll reach the fleet if this goes on! Why aren’t you chasing?!”

William said lazily, “Hmm? I’m not running any slower than you are, though.”

Twilight ground her teeth in ire. One could easily see that William wasn’t trying hard at all. She, on the other hand, was already at her limits. The only way left to go faster was to fly into the air, but she really didn’t want to court death in a sniper-infested place like this.

With a livid expression, Twilight began thinking about how she should report William after the battle. She just had to make him feel some pain.

William’s expression changed as he suddenly reduced his speed. Twilight, who was lost in her own thoughts, quickly shot ahead. She turned back and shouted with a furious expression, “What now?!”

William’s steps gradually came to a halt, after which he proceeded to stare forward with a serious expression. Only then did Twilight realize that a dense mist had appeared in front and cut off the road ahead.

Qianye walked out slowly from the mist. “William, I really didn’t want to meet you under such circumstances.”

William scratched his head and sighed. “Me neither, but what can we do? This is unavoidable.”

Qianye replied, “Since we can’t avoid it, then let’s get down to business.”

William’s eyes lit up after some thought. “You’re right, it’s time to try fighting you. We’ve never had a proper battle before.”

Twilight’s expression transformed rapidly. She was used to being the focus of all attention, but now, these two men were actually ignoring her. It was just that Twilight, for some reason, felt something inexplicable in Qianye—it was actually a vague feeling of trepidation. Hence, she decided to endure the humiliation and allow them to fight it out. Everything else could be decided after seeing how strong Qianye was.

William was fairly straightforward. He rushed toward Qianye in large strides and immediately threw a punch at his chest.

Qianye’s expression was serious. He reached out with both hands and leaned sideways, effectively locking William’s fist. The two thus entered a deadlock.

Twilight, who was watching from the side, nearly spat out blood. What the heck was this?

William’s punch was neither fast nor powerful; there wasn’t even any origin power. It was no different from an ordinary person who didn’t know how to fight. Qianye’s defense was also beyond common and couldn’t even be considered a basic self-defense technique. Any random dark race warrior could leave Qianye in the dust in terms of aggressiveness and might.

How was this a battle between the two top young experts of each faction?

As it happened, the two were displaying an abundance of expressions—William’s face was flushed red as though he was using all of his strength, and Qianye’s expression was one of solemn concentration. It was almost as though that attack to his chest was a peerless divine art requiring his full power to defend against.

Did they have to act so blatantly?! It almost seemed as though they were afraid of not being found out.

“So powerful!” William just had to cry out as he retreated to the side. By the looks of it, he had already fought enough.

Qianye was also shameless. He actually said in a serious tone, “You too.“ Judging from his expression, it almost looked like those words came from the bottom of his heart.

In her anger, Twilight felt all the blood rush to her head and even her vision went dark.