The young miss’ voice was clear, resounding, and highly penetrative. It not only covered the entire weapons factory but also rang through half of Tidehark.

The result was easily imaginable.

Chaos ensued in the entire arms workshop. Like startled wasps, countless soldiers flooded out from every unexpected corner, and the snowy white light from the glaring origin lamps swept through the entire compound, leaving no dead angle untouched.

Tidehark’s reaction was a step slower, but the cannon turrets were already responding. The giant ballista loaded with homing bolts was slowly turning around toward the weapons factory.

The swift reaction truly made one sigh in admiration. In addition to the airtight defenses in the factory interior, the surrounding cannon turrets were also well-thought-out and capable of covering the air above the factory. If someone wanted to escape from the weapons factory, they would suffer at least two rounds of ballista-fire even if they fled into the air.

Add to that the spying experts in the shadows, it could be said that no one below the divine champion realm would be having an easy time here.

The weapons factory itself wasn’t a treasure trove. Its true value lay in its employed talents, intricate machinery, and excellent working environment. Robbing this place wasn’t worth the effort unless one could move everything away.

After unleashing that shout, Ji Tianqing stood in the air, allowing the beams of snowy light to sweep past her in a show of extreme arrogance.

Only at this point did Qianye understand that the surprise attack she was talking about was highly literal. Actually, her actions could no longer be summed up by the word “surprise attack” since she was giving her enemies ample time to react.

Finally, there were people dissatisfied with Ji Tianqing’s arrogance. Three somber auras shot up abruptly from each corner of the factory, powerful and overflowing with killing intent. It was an impressive lineup of rank-fifteen experts. There was a faint resonance between these three, which indicated that they had cultivated a certain cooperative secret art that could amplify each other’s power.

The three auras were like three giant nets that blocked their retreat in every direction, leaving only one empty spot. And that direction led straight to Luo Bingfeng’s residence. Any intruder with half a brain would avoid diving headfirst into such a trap.

Seeing that the enemy had fully assembled, Qianye sighed in secret. He knew his plans today had gone awry. If the true experts of Tidehark were to arrive, it wasn’t a certainty if the two of them could escape, let alone rescue the prisoner.

Qianye reached out to pull Ji Tianqing, hoping to escape with her. Although this young miss had foiled his plans, he couldn’t just sit by and watch her fall into enemy hands.

However, Qianye’s hands struck empty air!

Ji Tianqiang drifted toward the weapons factory, almost like a weightless leaf or cotton thread. She had evaded Qianye’s grab with such a simple floating movement.

“I’ve found him! Stop the enemy!” Saying thus, Ji Tianqing descended rapidly and vanished into the chaos of the factory.

Qianye knew not how she had managed to find Cui Yuanhai, but there was no time to ask. The only thing he could do now was to trust her words.

Three figures shooting out from each corner of the factory were startled. They were locked onto Ji Tianqing at first, but they suddenly lost track of her—it was as though the original existence was merely an illusion. Frantic, they scanned the weapons factory with their perception in hopes of finding her.

Qianye, of course, couldn’t let them do as they wished. He whipped out his sniper rifle and fired four rounds, a pair of wings unfurling behind him as he did so!

Empowered by the Wings of Inception, one of the origin bullets whistled toward an empty area. The other three brushed past one of the experts, shocking him out of his wits and effectively alerting the trio of Qianye’s existence. It was just that the marksmanship was seemingly quite poor, and the projectiles were so far off their mark that the experts didn’t feel the need to evade.

Four balls of flame erupted in the night sky. The explosions came from the four cannon turrets surrounding the weapons factory, explosions so violent that they actually flung the cannons away. Four giant blazes shot into the air, shattering the darkness of the night and illuminating half of Tidehark City.

Only then did the three men realize that Qianye wasn’t aiming at them but at the turrets instead.

Embarrassed and angry, they gave up on finding Ji Tianqing and pounced toward Qianye. Each of them delivered a punch along the way, the resultant deluge of origin power converged to form a formless net over Qianye.

As expected, they had cultivated a mutually empowering secret art and could work together without a single opening. Hence, the pressure while facing off against the trio wasn’t inferior to Ji Rui.

Qianye had never fought such enemies before. Having made a quick decision, East Peak appeared almost instantly in his hands with flames shrouding its sharp edge. He wanted to borrow the might of his sword to tear open the origin power net.

Although a melee fight was advantageous for him, Qianye instinctively wanted to avoid entering the workshops, opting instead to fight in the air where he was relatively weaker.

East Peak drew an arc of scarlet radiance through the night sky, ripping the large net of origin power into two.

He then shot out from the opening like a cannonball and duly escaped the cage.

It was at this moment that a certain gaze arrived on Qianye’s body. As though his entire body had been drenched in cold water, he froze up and fell sharply to the ground.

This felt similar to when he was locked onto by the mysterious existence in the Eastern Sea, the only difference being their intensity.

Qianye’s body fell like a leaden rock and looked like it would smash into the central courtyard of the factory. A series of dark red patterns appeared on the ground at this moment, apparently a major origin array. Qianye’s instincts were screaming at him to leave this place. One could easily imagine that the outcome of falling into the array wasn’t going to be good.

During this moment of danger, the dark golden blood energy in his body erupted like an infuriated beast and unleashed a penetrative howl!

In the blink of an eye, the dark golden blood energy swept over his entire body like a raging tide and wiped away the effects of the cold gaze on his body. It was an extremely tyrannical display.

It was just that the dark golden energy arrived a tad too late. Qianye was no more than ten meters from the ground at this moment, and the fully-activated array dragged him downward.

Ji Tianqing’s figure flickered into vision just as he was about to fall into the array, wrapping an arm around Qianye as she tread gently on the center of the array. Rings of faint light spread dozens of meters outward, turning the red color of the array dark green wherever it passed. Even the operational rules of the array were modified.

In the blink of an eye, that terrifying attractive force turned into a surging propulsion that hurled them hundreds of meters into the air and over the walls of Tidehark. She tugged on a long black cord during the ascent, dragging a black silhouette on the other end of the cable along with them.

The development was so sudden that neither the guards, the three overseeing experts, nor the arriving reinforcements could do anything. It seemed like they would fly out of the city just like that.

The geography around Tidehark City was fairly complicated with rising hills and falling slopes. If these two people could sneak in quietly, it proved that they could leave just as easily. No one was confident about finding them in the dark night.

“Humph!” It was at this time that everyone heard a faint, almost angry sound. Their hearts skipped a beat.

The cold gaze that had caused Qianye to fall from the sky appeared from a distant mountaintop, encompassing Qianye and Ji Tianqing like a giant net.

Qianye’s brows rose up as he retrieved Heartgrave from his back and made to confront the enemy with the Pointer Monarch’s weapon!

However, Ji Tianqing hugged Qianye tightly and made a half-turn, bringing her in direct sight of the cold intent. She neither dodged nor blocked, but instead brought out a command token which she waved at the distant mountaintop.

With a vague interjection of surprise, the killing intent within the cold gaze immediately dispersed.

Ji Tianqing put away the command token and shouted, “Fly away, quick!”

Qianye naturally wouldn’t let go of such a good opportunity—he circulated his origin power and sped away, leaving a trail of scarlet sparks.

In the span of a few breaths, two figures suddenly appeared in the air where Qianye and Ji Tianqing had been standing—a man of imposing demeanor and a lady possessing outstanding beauty and elegance.

The man snorted. “What a sly junior, I actually fell for their trick! Humph, do they think I can’t capture them?”

At this moment, Qianye had already left with Ji Tianqing, leaving only specks of scarlet light in the air. Having seen through Qianye with his lightning-sharp eyes, the man turned toward the direction in which they had fled.

The lady didn’t seem angry, however. She picked up a plume of scarlet flame and began observing it curiously. The lingering plume of Venus Dawn lit up in her hand and attracted hundreds of others—the dancing lights flew around her, adding a bit of mystique to her refined beauty.

Seeing the man probing around, she smiled faintly. “It’s probably too late if you give chase now. You’ll be giving that man a reason to laugh at you if you fail. That’s not good for your reputation.”

The man’s eyes turned cold. “These two juniors seem to know that I can’t leave this place. This matter is highly important, and only a few people know about it. How did they find out? I must investigate this matter thoroughly once I get back!”

The girl smiled. “It has been so many years, but your temper still hasn’t improved. Those two are quite interesting, it’ll be a pity if you chase them down and kill them. Look carefully, do you see what this is?”

Only at this point did he notice the scarlet spark in the lady’s hands. His eyes froze as he gave the object a careful look. “Venus Dawn!?”

The lady sighed. “Indeed it is, and its purity is far above my own. You can say that this spark is my life’s dream, but unfortunately, it doesn’t belong to me.”

The man said in a gloomy voice, “Since that’s the case, let’s capture him and make him spit out his cultivation art!”