The stone residences of the four-armed people were tall, square, and had a hint of primitive charm to them. Different materials were used in the wall, but they were meticulously polished until the wall-surface was fairly even.

Qianye walked into one of them and found, to his surprise, that the interior was quite tidy. There were large, neatly-cut stone slabs on the walls, and the room came with a bed, table, and storage cabinets of items and weapons. There were two giant lion heads hanging over the entrance to the room, trophies to commemorate heroic accomplishments.

There was nothing to write home about the armor and weapons in the house. Of course, they would still hold a fair bit of value if brought out of the Great Maelstrom.

Qianye entered the next stone house, but the interior was exactly the same—down to the weapons and armor. It was the same for the others as well. It would seem these stone houses were more barracks than residences. It was just that they were reserved for higher-ranking officers.

Among the dozens of stone houses, two were especially big and divided into two rooms. There was a pile of leather paper in the outer room with scribbles and diagrams upon them—who knew what sort of accursed things were recorded upon them? The inner room was filled with stored food in addition to daily use items and weapons. The innards and claws of different animals might be extremely delectable to the natives, but it only filled Qianye with disgust.

There were a couple of sealed jars within the larger stone houses. Qianye held his breath and surrounded his body in sanguine flames as he opened the lid, immediately filling the room with an indescribable fishy odor. Just a whiff of it sent Qianye’s blood into an accelerated flow—his desires surged and he wanted nothing more than to grab the two ladies.

He quickly sealed the jar and used the sanguine flames to burn the odor away before he dared to breathe normally. Fortunately, only Qianye was able to do such exploration work, so Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan were left to watch the exterior. Otherwise, it would be even more trouble if they were to smell it.

After a moment, Qianye called them in, “The things sealed inside are probably related to the white fruit. They can accelerate the blood-flow, but using them will be a bit troublesome. Just a whiff of it and I almost lost control of my urges.”

Ji Tianqing produced a long needle and poked it into the sealed jar. She then observed the color of the drawn material and sniffed at it. “It definitely contains the white fruit and a number of other ingredients. If my guess is correct, this is probably their aphrodisiac wine.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Destroy it,” Li Kuanglan said. She was full of hatred for these things.

However, Qianye and Ji Tianqing objected to this course of action. Qianye carefully picked up the jars and put them into Andruil’s Mysterious Realm. Ji Tianqing’s storage space was much smaller, but she also stored two jars. These things might be able to save their lives if worse comes to worst, and in their current situation, the price was fairly acceptable.

At the thought of it, Li Kuanglan had a sudden thought. She went to pick up one of the jars and realized, to her embarrassment, that she didn’t have any spatial equipment.

When Qianye saw this, he quietly picked up the jar from her grasp and put it in Andruil’s Space.

In addition to the wine, Ji Tianqing also studied the innards, bones, and claws for a fairly long time. There were treasures everywhere in the Great Maelstrom—since the natives had carefully collected these things, there was no telling if there were priceless objects among them. After a good while, though, Ji Tianqing still couldn’t figure anything out. Storage space was highly valuable, so she couldn’t just fill it with objects of unknown significance.

Qianye, on the other hand, found a bowl-sized bone that contained an explosive amount of origin power. He put it away in passing, hoping to observe it slowly later on.

After sweeping through the stone houses, only the small clearing remained to be explored. There was a small circular space at the center of the stone houses, populated with all sorts of fruits and vegetable plants. There was also a muddy well standing beside it.

A small tree had been fenced off independently in the opening, indicating its importance to the natives. According to Ji Tianqing, this was the white fruit tree, but only half a trunk remained now—it was her work, naturally.

With how miraculous the white fruit’s effects were, the tree would probably be a treasure if brought back to the empire. However, transplanting it would be a fairly difficult endeavor, so Qianye wasn’t too regretful about the situation. The real problem was how they would get through the night.

Qianye didn’t take the fruits and vegetables in the garden, nor did he touch the cut white fruit tree. None of them knew how to raise or use them. The natives would probably return to the castle after their departure—only then would they be able to learn how to care for, or even save the white fruit tree.

Sweeping through the castle did bring about some benefits. For one, they had cleared out the native warriors and removed the threat of the four-armed people. Additionally, they had also obtained that batch of alcohol. The white fruit’s vitality-boosting effect was reduced after being made into wine, but its aphrodisiac effects were increased exponentially. However, the most important thing under the present circumstances was to survive. The alcohol would serve as an extra option when there was no other choice.

They still had some time, so Qianye brought the two girls into the depths of the forest to continue their exploration. It would seem that the natives had their own territory, but after a wide search, they found that all traces led back to the stone keep. After a long while of exploration, the sky had started to turn dark.

Feeling quite helpless, the three returned to camp. The next day, they would have to decide whether to explore a different direction or to abandon the camp and expand their search radius.

The problem was, how would they get through the night?

…

At this moment, a massive warship had appeared in the void outside of the neutral lands. Its sharp bow looked both elegant and sinister, and the large thorned-castle insignia on it announced the identity of its owner to all.

This vampire warship—one even bigger than the imperial motherships—was the flagship of the Lightless Monarch Medanzo.

Two more giant ships jumped out of the void behind the monarch’s own, and one could see that they all belonged to dukes. Afterward, a dense formation of smaller warships swarmed toward the neutral lands.

The hundreds of vampire warships mostly wore the insignia of the Dracula and Lakins clans. There were also some that belonged to the other old clans.

The massive vampire warship slowed down at one point in the void as two other fleets approached rapidly from each side. To the left was the arachne fleet, and the leading flagship was no smaller than Medanzo’s vessel. Before the fleet had even closed in, a deep voice echoed in the void, “Old friend, we meet again.”

Medanzo’s gentle voice replied, “It hasn’t been that long. Compared to our long lives, the bloody battle is just like yesterday. Noxus, what are the Spider Queen’s plans?”

The Arachne Warlord Noxus didn’t give a straight reply. “The mighty Spider Queen has her own designs, I only came to take a look.”

Medanzo snorted skeptically.

The arachne and vampire fleets came to a stop, leaving a safe distance between one another. Apparently, neither could trust the other party. The fleet to the right side wasn’t very big, but it arrived rapidly and came to a halt outside of the other fleets’ firing range.

This action gave the vampires and arachne no relief. Noxus was the first to speak up, “You guys are too close. Either move back or go forward.”

Medanzo said, “The neutral lands aren’t suitable for your race. Are the demonkin prepared to make steep sacrifices?”

A medium-sized warship drove out from the fleet, atop which stood a man in black battle-robes. There were dark flames flickering around him, distorting everything within its range and hiding his true appearance. He said in a raspy voice, “Even if I want to launch a sneak attack, I’m not a match for your combined forces. What, are the Great Warlord and Lightless Monarch afraid of me?”

The demonkin warships’ firing range was greater than that of the arachne and vampires. They had also stopped right where they could bombard the other two fleets without suffering retaliatory fire. It was just that the demonkin fleet was on the smaller side, with its biggest vessel barely at the duke level. They had no warship at the level of a great dark monarch’s.

Comparatively, the arachne and vampires had their own advantage. The former touted powerful defense and endurance. The vampire war vessels, on the other hand, were balanced in every aspect and their pilots were usually more skilled than the other races. That was why Noxus and Medanzo didn’t really view the demonkin as a threat. The arachne warlord had only spoken out because he felt his dignity being threatened.

After seeing the demonkin, however, the two great monarchs had no choice but to appear in person.

Medanzo bowed slightly, an apologetic gesture for what he had said earlier. “So it’s His Excellency the Eternal Flame. What made you come here personally?”

The Eternal Flame was one of the true bigwigs of the demonkin race, one who had fought Sky Demon alongside Lilith. Back when the Demonkin Emperor was in secluded cultivation, he would appear as the demonkin representative in most cases. In addition to his status, the Eternal Flame was also a level stronger than Noxus and Medanzo. This was the reason he could command the latter’s respect.

The Eternal Flame didn’t reciprocate the gesture. “The environment outside the Great Maelstrom doesn’t suit us, but that doesn’t mean the inside is the same. I will make any unsuitable environment suitable.”

Noxus and Medanzo exchanged glances. “Your Excellency, the demonkin were the first to move on the Great Maelstrom passage and the fleet was led by Linken herself. But now, she was defeated by a nameless junior and even lost her warship. It can be said that the reason we lost the passage is because of your race. You were given the chance but failed to take it, so the quotas cannot be changed after we take back the passage.”

The Eternal Flame sneered, “Even with me around?”

Noxus glanced at Medanzo, and after seeing him nod, he said resolutely, “No.”