“Paint…” Qianye intended to listen to what Yin Qiqi had to say. Making exorbitant demands was the style of the aristocracy, but it wasn’t quite hers.

Yet her first words immediately set Qianye back. “Without our paint, this armor won’t be as outstanding. Additionally, we own the rights to this design, so you can’t use it without our permission.”

Qianye studied the design repeatedly. He couldn’t use it without permission? This armor was just a prototype idea, no more than a design concept to be frank. Naturally, a concept could be realized, but the key was the paint.

Qianye believed that the effects of the holy-tree sap were much greater than the paint.

“What do you guys want?” Qianye’s time was limited, so he had no intention of beating around the bush.

“The price of the paint will take up over half of the quoted price. Additionally, you have to ensure a steady supply of wood and holy-tree sap.”

This meant that the wood and holy-tree sap combined were valued less than this so-called mysterious paint.

Qianye was indifferent. “What are the effects of this paint?”

“It’s a secret.”

“How do you trust its effects then?”

“You just have to trust us.”

“The formula?”

“A secret as well.”

Qianye waved his hand with a smile. “Goodbye.”

Yin Qiqi laughed. “Aren’t we going to discuss any further?”

“There’s nothing to discuss if these are the terms.”

Yin Qiqi said, “Aren’t you supposed to bargain against my sky-high demands?”

“When did your people turn so similar to the Song?” Qianye shook his head. “I don’t need armor at the moment. Let’s talk when I do need them.”

“I can reduce the price, but you have to ensure the supply of holy-tree sap.”

Qianye finally looked up. “The tree sap is what you really want, right? That’s the most critical product from the new world. I’m not going to hand it to you without sufficient benefits.”

“Resources are useless if you just leave them in storage. It’s only valuable if you put them to use!”

Qianye laughed out loud. “That’s not right. There’s value in keeping it in storage as well.”

“What value?”

“Wait for appreciation, of course!”

“You… You’re no different from Song Zining!”

“We’re brothers after all.”

Yin Qiqi shrugged. “I really can’t handle you. How about this? I’ll help you out of consideration for our relationship. Our spies in Evernight claim that Evernight has found a way to utilize holy-tree sap and requires a large amount of it. The old men from our clan just want to store some to sell at a higher price when the Empire develops something similar.”

Qianye broke into a laugh. Who would’ve thought the Yin family would have the same idea? In truth, he had over ten forests and twenty trees under his control. No one could actually compare to his stash—other people were hoarding sap, but Qianye was hoarding holy trees.

It was apparent from the Moorland werewolves’ battlefield that the holy trees would normally suffer a degree of damage after each battle. This meant that the Evernight races would never be able to accumulate as much holy-tree sap as Qianye could even if they managed to conquer more forests.

Despite that, Yin Qiqi’s information was fairly important. Qianye knew that the holy-tree sap was important, but this intelligence made him attach even more importance to the scarce resource. He wasn’t going to sell it for any price before its use had been decided. The same went for that fantastic metallic stone material from the lake island.

Having come to a decision, Qianye said to Yin Qiqi, “You’re quite crafty!”

Yin Qiqi shrugged. “You can’t blame me since I’m from the Yin family, after all. I’m not going to help you if you fall for it.”

“What’s with that armor design, then?”

“Of course, it’s real, the paint is also real. The effects of the paint aren't as good as I claim, but it still makes an apparent difference.”

Qianye gave it some thought before attempting to probe her. “How about we trade 1 portion of holy-tree sap for ten portions of paint?”

Yin Qiqi sighed. “You’re still too honest. The actual price in my mind was fifty, we won’t lose even if it’s sixty. Song Zining would start bargaining at five hundred portions.”

Qianye immediately rectified his mistake. “Then let’s do fifty, but you’ll have to move the workshop to Fort Continent and produce the armaments here.”

Cutting transportation costs was their intention, to begin with, so Yin Qiqi readily agreed. She glanced at Qianye before leaving, seemingly wanting to say something.

Qianye didn’t pay attention to such minor changes since he was focused on how to deal with Sousa and the Moorland army. In theory, the werewolves of Fort Continent were far from being able to defeat Sousa’s regular army. After Qianye’s strict training regimen, outfitting, and a mixture of tactic-proficient human warriors, they finally possessed the power to hold their own.

The key element here was Sousa.

Qianye had taken everything into account—Storm, Caroline, himself, and the Martyr’s Palace together were not Sousa’s opponent. Just like a heavenly monarch, a great dark monarch was on an entirely different level.

Sousa hadn’t chased after him back then, but that wasn’t a perpetual certainty. Qianye had adapted to the new world at shocking speed, but there was no guarantee that the great dark monarchs of Evernight wouldn’t follow suit.

He hadn’t expected to encounter powers from other continents so soon. Since the enemy powerhouse had already made his appearance, everything would now depend on the Pointer Monarch’s stance.

Qianye made some arrangements for the affairs in hand, then headed back into the new world to conquer more forests with the Martyr’s Palace. After taking down the four-holy-tree forest and the two subsequent ones with two holy trees, the formless pressure lingering around him had eased up quite a bit. The force would lessen each time he subdued a forest, and his adaptation to the new world would increase.

After taking down several forests in Moorland’s direction, the holy trees began to resonate and reinforce Qianye. Instead of being crippled in the new world, his strength began to rise. He was now one level stronger here than he was on Fort Continent.

It was this finding that led him to hasten his reaping of the six-armed commanders. Every ounce of extra strength was an additional wisp of hope for his survival against Sousa.

Qin Continent, just outside of the door. A pillar of killing intent shot up from the rolling mist, sending a chill down everyone’s spine. The more cowardly people fell to the floor!

In the blink of an eye, alarms blared throughout the fortress, and all soldiers ran to their positions. The ballistae atop the cannon towers lit up with origin power.

All soldiers held their breath as countless weapons took aim at the door. No one dared to be careless because there was no telling what would emerge from the portal.

Zhao Jundu had ordered them to keep their weapons pointed at the door at all times. Even an army of ten thousand could easily be wiped out in the new world.

The men in charge of guarding the fortress were elites who had been transferred from all corners of the Empire. They had seen all kinds of powerful enemies in battle, yet the killing intent surging out from the door was comparable to princes and dukes rampaging across the field. That was why even the most experienced veterans were quite tense.

The white mist parted all of a sudden, forming a path as a figure walked out from within. This person was holding a long spear, and his steps were as steady as the mountains.

His every step caused the earth to tremble and the mist to part in his wake. Even the most powerful beasts couldn’t force the mist to recede. This was no ordinary mist but a tangible form of the new world’s origin power.

Some new soldiers began to sweat, and their fingers began to tremble on the trigger. There was a gunshot all of a sudden! Someone had succumbed to the pressure and accidentally pulled the trigger.

A large caliber origin bullet whistled toward the figure’s forehead.

The man looked fairly relaxed. He casually reached out to pluck the projectile from its trajectory and tossed it to the side after a glance. “Good aim but lacking in willpower.”

Hearing this raspy voice, a general stood up and shouted, “Everyone, hold your fire! It’s Sire Jundu!”

The person walking out from the mist was indeed Zhao Jundu. It was just that his appearance shocked everyone at the scene. That general from the Zhao clan rushed over and said, “Sire… W-What happened to you?”

Zhao Jundu’s head was in a mess—most of his long hair had been cut short, and his clothes were covered in mud. His armor was in tatters as well, with pieces of plating dangling from certain parts. That perfectly handsome face of his was now decorated with numerous scars, one of which shot through his brows and across half his face.

Only his eyes remained bright and clear.

Seeing the tense and dumbstruck soldiers on the defensive line, he realized what was wrong and slowly retracted his aura. Many soldiers heaved a sigh of relief and collapsed to the floor, exhausted.

Zhao Jundu said to the generals, “I’m fine, it’s just a bit of injury. There’s nothing to be alarmed about.”

With that, he tossed the spear to one of his subordinates. “Forge one just like this, double the weight. Goddammit, that Song Zining’s weapons are too light, they’re so hard to use.”

Everyone was stunned.

Zhao Jundu laughed. “What are you looking at? Haven’t you seen this general curse before? Get me a change of clothes, my current set is unusable.”

Most of these generals were veterans from the Zhao clan. Even they were inclined to believe that this Zhao Jundu was an imposter had they not seen him in person.

Moments later, the servants had placed a large tub of hot water in the central hall. Zhao Jundu entered with a satisfied groan, and the clear water immediately turned red from the blood seeping out of his countless wounds.

He paid no heed and only closed his eyes, almost as though he had fallen asleep. The maid nearby was scared, but she drummed up the courage to ask, “Sire Jundu, shall I call the doctor?”

Zhao Jundu opened his eyes. “No need, just bring a towel over.”

Moments later, Zhao Jundu walked out of the bathroom and sat down in his study. This short journey stained his robe with blood in several areas.

He glanced at the time and muttered, “It’s about time, where is he?”

“Waiting for this daddy, eh? Hahaha!” Coarse laughter rang out from the hallway, after which the study doors were kicked open.