Void Continent, Whitetown. The battle had just ended.

Qianye took to the skies and observed the entire city, memorizing every small detail. An expert at this level possessed superior memory and could remember the entire landscape after one glance. In the next battle, he would be able to utilize the landscape without surveying it again, almost as though it were his own backyard.

After observing the geography and setup, Qianye landed next to Song Zining and asked, “What are we doing now?”

“Sleep.” Song Zining had no hesitation with his reply.

The dark race attacks so far were only probing attacks, and that was why they had retreated immediately after suffering damage. But they would soon realize the importance of this location once the Imperial army’s assault was in full swing. Moreover, they would find ways to transfer a powerful military force and uproot this place at all costs.

As long as Whitetown was there, the Evernight transports pulling back from the landing point would be under constant threat. The dark races would never tolerate this, and would very likely fight to the death. The two days that followed would be extremely hard.

Qianye went through the entire battle plan again in his head. “What’s the situation out in the void?”

Current intelligence says the first fleet of the Imperial Guard was leading the forces in the void. The Minister of the Right has returned to the void continent to take part in the battle there.

Qianye frowned. “The Minister of the Right is going to be a part of the ground battles? Which part?”

Song Zining understood Qianye’s concerns. “Don’t worry, the minister won’t be in charge of actual command, only supplies and logistics.”

Qianye felt slightly relieved, but there was a blurry shadow in his heart that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Perhaps it was because of Lin Xitang? The battle plan as well as the secret treasures for the Great Maelstrom came from him, which made it seem that everything was normal. On careful thought, however, all news regarding him had been passed on through various channels. No one had actually seen him in person.

It was at this time that a familiar figure passed through the corner of his eyes. Without a second thought, Qianye flashed behind that person and picked her up by the collar.

This person, clad in ordinary mercenary attire, turned back after being picked up. Qianye was startled. “It’s you?”

This fellow was actually the Nineteenth Princess.

Qianye’s expression sank. This princess’ intentions were dubious, and her identity was sensitive—it was best for her to remain in the Martyr’s Palace. That way, she would be easier to control and keep safe. Who would’ve thought she had managed to slip away and actually sneaked into Whitetown.

But the things on the ground had been settled and Dark Flame’s fleet had returned to the void to secure the flight paths there, preventing their own retreat path from being blocked. There was no way to call the warships back for the princess alone.

The Nineteenth Princess wasn’t at all flustered. She pulled a face, saying, “I was found out after all.”

“What are you doing here instead of staying at the Martyr’s Palace?” Qianye asked coldly.

“This place is more interesting! I have the Ji family’s blood flowing in my veins and an accomplished cultivation. How can I avoid battle?” She spoke with great righteousness and spirit.

Qianye glanced at Song Zining. Something of this measure couldn’t have escaped Song Zining’s notice even if Caroline had slipped up. As expected, Qianye saw a familiar shift in the seventh young master’s calm eyes. For some reason, he understood the intention behind this move: hostage.

The current Emperor was mediocre in terms of talent, but his royal descendants had carried on the family’s powerful bloodline and talents. The ones with outstanding maternal lineage were not at all inferior to the previous Emperor’s children, Haimi and Gaoyi. The Nineteenth Princess might be inferior because of her obscure maternal family, but there were only about five princes and princesses who were better.

If news went out that a princess with such great potential had arrived in Whitetown, all the commanding officers and marshals would find a way to rescue her. Otherwise, their crimes would be serious if she were to fall in battle, or worse, fall into enemy hands.

As for how this news would spread and how it would be confirmed, that wasn’t something to worry about. Since she had come, this news couldn’t be kept secret for long. The military would surely find out her whereabouts. At this point, it was no longer possible for them to pick her up on her own. All they could do was to fight a path through the void continent according to the original plan.

However, everyone on the battlefield would have to put their hands in fate. Such a method would only prevent people who were scheming openly.

Qianye couldn’t help but glance at the princess. Her little face was full of expectations and curiosity, not at all like someone who understood that she was a hostage.

He sighed inwardly. Such an underage princess should’ve grown up in the palace and had probably never seen the cruelties of war. Now, she had been sent straight to the dangerous frontlines.

Qianye placed the Nineteenth Princess in front of Song Zining. “Arrange a place for her.”

The girl wasn’t about to take things lying down. “I’m going to follow you?”

“For what? To drag me down?” Qianye left with a swing of his hand.

Song Zining pulled the princess back with a smile. “What’s so interesting about him? Follow me instead?”

“You? What do we do?”

Song Zining dragged the Nineteenth Princess into the air. His eyes twitched slightly when he saw that the girl could indeed fly on her own—she was a champion.

Several thoughts crossed Song Zining’s mind, but neither of them was evident on his face. The two eventually arrived at the highest point in the city, where three guards were standing by.

Song Zining passed a sniper rifle to the Nineteenth Princess, saying, “You take up this position and snipe the enemy officers.”

The girl’s eyes lit up when she saw the massive sniper rifle. Smiling like a kid who had just gotten a new toy, she inspected the weapon with great speed and familiarity.

After settling the Nineteenth Princess in, Song Zining studied the surrounding areas for a while before leaving. No matter what intentions she had, there was no way she would be allowed to follow Qianye.

The Dark Flame soldiers grasped the time to rest and eat. As veterans, they knew that the battles would only grow fiercer and more arduous. Who knew if they would have another chance to eat if they didn’t have their fill now.

The sky eventually grew dark as twilight descended upon the small city.

There was an old mercenary sitting on one of the peripheral defensive structures. His leather combat attire was shiny from wear, and the origin handgun at his waist was an antique he had been using for many years. He was dozing off with his back against the wall and his eyes half-closed.

An officer walked into the fortification at this point. He glanced at the old mercenary, but he resisted the urge to act out. He merely asked the soldiers to remain on alert and allowed the old mercenary to keep on resting.

The officer glanced again at the old veteran as a weird restlessness came over him. It was at this time that the old soldier opened his eyes—those vertical pupils of his sent a chill down the officer’s spine.

Ignoring this superior officer, the old mercenary jumped up and rushed to the firing ports. He sniffed about here and there before shouting suddenly, “I smell werewolves!”

He hadn’t even finished speaking when a giant claw reached in through the firing port and swiped at his neck.

The old mercenary reacted rapidly, lowering his head just as the claw struck his helmet and sent sparks flying. Fortunately, the old mercenary’s neck bones were strong enough to endure the sudden impact.

The werewolf grabbed the helmet in hopes of crushing the old veteran’s head, but the man kicked the wall and flew backward, leaving only a helmet in the werewolf’s hand.

After escaping mortal danger, the man drew his ancient origin gun—charging, aiming, firing—everything happened within a split second. A shot landed on the werewolf’s arm.

The massive blast echoed through the fortifications, deafening all of the newer recruits. The origin gun spat out a long stream of origin fire, which severed the werewolf’s arm and blasted a large patch of flesh off of it.

The severed arm flew across the fortification and landed on the other side, its claw still latched onto the crushed helmet.

The hysterical cry of a werewolf in pain rang out from outside the wall. Even the fiercest of the race would find a broken limb quite hard to bear.

The loud gunshot and the wolf howl was more effective than any alarm. Within moments, the entire defensive line became alert, and those who were eating or resting picked up their weapons and rushed to their positions. A flare shot into the sky and fell down slowly, emitting a dazzling light over the entire front.

In the blink of an eye, the Dark Flame soldiers saw that the entire wilderness was filled with werewolves.

The werewolves who had been running over under the cover of the night were caught entirely off-guard. Many of them didn’t have time to close their eyes before the flare struck. Covering their eyes, they fell to the ground and rolled about in agony, while the weaker ones even started to bleed. Only the stronger ones were able to keep on charging after rubbing their eyes a couple of times.

The werewolf charge immediately fell into disarray. Their momentum also slowed down significantly, giving the defensive party precious time to prepare.

The white light from the star shell contained intense daybreak origin power and would deal great damage to the sensitive werewolves. Looking straight at it carelessly would blind them for a short while or even injure them in serious cases. Some might even be permanently blinded.

These flares cost a pretty penny for each shot. Even the Empire didn't have that many in store, and normally, they would be used in fort defense. Song Zining had spent quite a bit of money to buy them, but the effects were evident from the get-go since the dark races had never imagined they would encounter something like this. The charge of the werewolf vanguard squad was half-wasted in such a manner.

The first werewolves to touch Whitetown’s walls were shadow wolves and the stronger warriors. Their racial talent gave them an edge in concealment, but who would’ve thought the old mercenary would immediately discover their approach?

At this point, the hundreds of werewolf elites who were in charge of the surprise assault had charged into the defensive formation and were beginning their slaughter. A tall werewolf tore off a mercenary’s arm and howled fiercely at the sky.

During this short pause, three mercenaries attacked from behind at the same time, stabbing their blades into the werewolf’s body. These three mercenaries were fairly ruthless in their attack, each striking the weak points on the enemy’s spine.

Similar scenes were playing out in different parts of the defensive line. These elite werewolves were powerful, but they were at a disadvantage in numbers after charging behind enemy lines.

The mercenaries from the neutral lands were proficient in small scale battles. They could cooperate well and their attacks were ruthless, easily felling a werewolf warrior with each group attack. Meanwhile, most of the werewolves who were in charge of following up had been incapacitated and delayed by the star shell. This small difference was enough to wipe out the hundreds of elites who had charged into Whitetown.

Even so, there were still werewolves as far as the eyes could see. It was almost as though there would be no end to them.