“Everyone, these are the rewards for the battle at Port City. Most of my fortune is here. After receiving the bounty, you may choose to stay or to leave, I won’t force anyone. Naturally, if you stay, you’re welcome to join me as I conquer the world again!”

These words relieved many experts, and many began calculating how much they should get. There were also some feeling excited about the latter part of the City Lord’s words.

Su Dingqian nodded at Liu Daoming who promptly brought out a booklet. “The contributions in Port City are as follows, I’ll read them out one by one. If anyone has objections, they may bring it up early. Otherwise, all the rewards will be decided according to these statistics.”

“We’ll naturally listen to the commander.”

“City Lord Su’s eyes are akin to torches, there’s no way he’ll make a mistake”

“Indeed.”

Everyone expressed their stances. Su Dingqian was stationed at the center of last night’s battle, and a divine champion’s perception was powerful enough to cover the entirety of the battlefield. Faking contributions wasn’t possible.

Liu Daoming cleared his throat and said with an odd expression, “First place in contributions, Zhao Ye. Killed over four hundred puppet warriors, a three-man team from Moonlight Demon, and countless small contributions.”

“Four hundred!”

“So many?”

“This old man fought with all he had to kill ten or so. Mr. Zhao, this really is…”

The contribution list immediately caused great commotion. Everyone knew just how hard it was to tangle with these armored puppets. Even Champions had to spend quite a bit of effort to kill one of them. To kill four hundred of these soldiers, they wouldn’t have enough origin power even if the enemy were to stand still and let them attack.

Everyone was shocked at the number of puppets killed, but Liu Daoming’s astonishment came from the three Moonlight-Demon experts. Other people only knew that Qianye had killed three champions. Although the experts from Moonlight Demons were a bit more powerful than the norm, they couldn’t compare to the shock of four hundred puppet-kills. The old man, however, knew who Qianye’s opponents were.

The three-man knight team from the Moonlight Demons was their best unit. They were highly adept at killing experts and boasted a record of killing a rank-sixteen champion. Even Liu Daoming would find it quite troublesome if pitted against this team. Yet, this group of assassins had fallen to Qianye’s blade. At this moment, Liu Daoming had placed Qianye among the list of opponents he needed to treat seriously. This sounded quite comical because the latter was only rank twelve, while the city-guard commander was a rank-seventeen expert. How could the two be discussed at the same level?

The rewards handed to Qianye consisted of three Dreameater Bugs and ten thousand gold coins’ worth of black crystals.

Looking at the Dreameater Bugs in Qianye’s hands, Su Yueyuan’s eyes flickered somewhat. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn’t dare challenge his father’s authority. Bluemoon, on the other hand, remained quietly seated and looked like her thoughts were elsewhere.

The next in contributions was Liu Daoming himself, and Bluemoon came in third. The girl looked rather weak and her cultivation was quite ordinary, but she had unexpectedly killed an enemy expert. As for the dozens of armored puppets she had killed, they seemed rather insignificant compared to Qianye’s accomplishments.

Having received generous bounties, all the remaining experts felt that this bloodbath was worth the effort. When Su Dingqian mentioned his intention to recruit them, many people immediately agreed to follow the city lord. At this point, Su Dingqian was going to rise back after the fall. Joining his banner now wasn’t the same as back in Port City. To be honest, following him now was like following a dragon.

After obtaining the Dreameater Bugs, Qianye felt that his business here was done and thus mentioned his intention to part ways. He had no interest in following kings as they conquered the world. All he wanted now was to find a quiet place to settle down with Nighteye and live a peaceful life.

Su Dingqian was highly reluctant—he repeatedly urged Qianye to stay but had no other choice when his efforts proved fruitless. Before the departure, Su Dingqian held Qianye’s hand and sighed. “Mr. Zhao is young and capable, so much more powerful than I was back in the year. Will you not consider staying? When I grow old in the future, Port City will be yours.”

Qianye was rather surprised. “Surely you jest, City Lord Su. I have no knowledge of managing territories and besides, Young Noble Yueyuan is such an outstanding person. It won’t be a problem for him to carry on your legacy. Why the need for an outsider?”

Su Yueyuan’s expression improved slightly after hearing this.

The city lord sighed. “He might be sufficiently powerful if this were the imperial continents, and it won’t be an issue for him to take over once I’m old. But this is the neutral lands where the days are filled with blood and danger, his talents are still a bit lacking here. Without me around, how can he defend this territory amidst the wolves? If I hand the city to you, you’ll definitely protect his personal livelihood out of consideration for old friendships.”

Qianye hadn’t expected Su Dingqian to be so thorough. These considerations were indeed reasonable—if even Su Dingqian couldn’t hold onto his territory, it would be more difficult for Su Yueyuan to do so than breaking through to the divine champion rank. At that time, the greater the territory, the earlier he would die.

However, Qianye’s reply was still the same. “City Lord Su is in the prime of his life and will climb even higher. What’s the rush?”

Su Dingqian stopped his persuasions after realizing Qianye’s unwavering attitude and sent the latter off personally before returning to the city.

There was no objection from the other experts, either. Just by looking at his military accomplishments, it was obvious that Qianye was far above them in terms of strength and worthy of such an honor.

There was nothing good in the little city. Su Dingqian gifted Qianye a fairly new truck and prepared enough food, water, and ammunition for his travels. The duo boarded the vehicle and drove at a leisurely pace for two days before the silhouette of a city appeared over the horizon.

This place wasn’t too far from Port City. It belonged to the Wolf King in name, but in truth, it was in a half independent state and the people here were of vastly different characters. Such a place suited Qianye’s intentions because it was easier for him to investigate Cui Yuanhai’s whereabouts.

If the old man had been captured by the Spider Emperor or the Moonlight Demons, he would likely be stationed in Port City as a master weaponsmith.

This city was called Southern Blue, a rather large place with thirty thousand residents. Qianye gained undeterred entry into the city after paying a fee at the city gates, and then rented an independent courtyard from a hotel.

After settling in, he brought out the Dreameater Bugs. “Consume them now, lest unexpected troubles arise.”

“Are you really giving them all to me? Why not leave one for yourself, it can strengthen your spirit.”

Qianye shook his head. “It’s more important to repair your spirit.”

“A hundred days have passed, yet I still haven’t forgotten you.”

Qianye felt that the current Nighteye was different from before, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was—perhaps it was her temperament. Qianye pushed back the Dreameater Bug Nighteye was passing him and said, “Your spirit-repair comes first.”

Nighteye shot Qianye a glance. There was an ineffable glow in her eyes as she said, “Really? Don’t regret it later.”

“Of course, I won’t.” Qianye found Nighteye’s words quite baffling.

The latter spoke no more and merely focused on absorbing the bug. Moments later, her body gradually heated up as wisps of blood energy seeped out of her body. This blood energy contained a foul smell and dispersed immediately after leaving the body.

After sustaining an injury to her spirit, Nighteye’s strength had decreased slightly and her blood energy was no longer as pure as before. Now that her spirit was undergoing repairs, some of the impurities in her blood were being expelled.

Qianye knew that she couldn’t be disturbed during this process. As such, he left the room quietly and sat down in front of the closed doors. He closed his eyes to rest with East Peak lying across his knees, waiting for Nighteye to finish her cultivation.

Perhaps due to the number of bugs she had absorbed this time, it took an entire two days and two nights before Nighteye walked out of the room.

Seeing Qianye guarding the door, her eyes rippled slightly but returned to normal.

“How does it feel?” Qianye inquired.

“Good, very good. But it’ll take a vast number of Dreameater Bugs to repair my spirit.”

“It’s good enough that there’s some effect! There are channels by which we can get our hands on these bugs. I’ll definitely figure out a way, rest assured.”

Nighteye shook her head. “The more Dreameater Bugs one consumes, the less effective they become. Repairing my spirit will involve a shocking number of such bugs. I have a feeling that they’ll become ineffective at some point.”

“It’s good enough that it’s effective now. No matter how many we need, even if it’s a hundred, I’ll find a way to get them.”

Nighteye sighed. “Dummy, I might need more than a hundred. Where are you going to get them? Even Su Dingqian only has a handful of them.”

Qianye smiled. “You don’t need to care about that. There’s always a way.”

Nighteye could only sigh in the end.

“Humph! If it wasn’t for Li Fengshui, you wouldn’t be suffering like this. He’s only a front-stage character, there must be military bigshots behind him. This matter won’t end here!” Qianye gnashed his teeth upon recalling the past.

Nighteye sighed lightly. “Qianye, let the past be. Isn’t our life here very good? In fact, it’s only in the neutral lands that we can stay happily together.”

“How can I release this anger in my heart if I don’t uproot all of Li Fengshui’s roots. Death was too easy for him.”

Nighteye seemed tired. “As you wish. I’m tired, I’m going to rest.

Qianye sent Nighteye back to her room and put her to sleep. Then he walked out of the courtyard to take a stroll around the city and ask about Port City.

The atmosphere in Southern Blue was tense and there were many warriors in military attire moving about. While making way for a group of soldiers, Qianye asked a passerby, “Why are things so tense?”

“Do you even need to ask? The Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons are gathered in Port City, and we’re only a couple of days away. What if they come here?”

“Isn’t the Wolf King their ally?”

The passerby snorted. “You don’t even know this? Although Southern Blue is subordinate to the Wolf King in name, we have to rely on ourselves for everything. Besides, how long will that alliance last after Su Dingqian’s escape?”

Qianye was enlightened. This passerby was actually so knowledgeable, so he immediately asked him for more information.