A human heavenly monarch had broken the unspoken rule of staying away from troop battles, yet none of the great dark monarchs had spoken out. Many of the Evernight nobles began to understand how the humans must’ve felt under certain circumstances.

Most of the Empire’s warships were destroyed in that earth-shattering battle. Back on the ground, Song Zining’s assault was even more resolute, and his attacks remained fixed on the central region.

Whether or not Song Zining had figured anything out, the Evernight side could not allow him to break through into the central zone. Hence, the dark races sent numerous squads to chase after and intercept Song Zining’s Imperial forces.

Song Zining split their forces into two units led by himself and Zhao Jundu respectively. One would rest in the rear, while the other pushed forward with the attack, routing all incoming enemies with unstoppable momentum.

The dark races had dispatched elite forces, but there was no longer anyone at Jaero’s level. There were only glorious marquises or vice-dukes leading their forces, not even dukes. These people possessed the origin power rank, but none of them were from well-known clans. This also meant that their talents and weapons were all second-rate.

Naturally, Song Zining and Zhao Jundu wouldn’t put such opponents in their sights. Zhao Jundu’s current origin power was turning from azure to an odd dark color, but his combat strength had increased sharply. Ordinary vice-dukes would have to flee for their lives or they would be killed on sight.

In the span of a few days, Song Zining had pushed a few kilometers toward the central region despite moving by land. Such speed made a joke out of the dark races’ interception.

The main reason for this lay with the arachne. With Jaero’s death, the demonkin had kept their part of the promise, but the arachne hadn’t decided who would be the sacrifice. They were still wrangling amongst themselves regarding this matter.

This was the death of a duke at the very least, not a matter anyone could decide on their own. Even the Spider Queen was silent, either unable or unwilling to pass the verdict. Many among the arachne were secretly hoping to drag this out, hoping the problem would solve itself eventually.

The thought was well and good, but Song Zining took advantage of this brief opportunity to launch a crazed attack toward the central region. The effects of Jaero’s suicidal attack on the Imperial fleet were more or less gone now. In just a few days, the Empire would deliver a new batch of warships, and their army would once again regain its mobility. Song Zining would be unstoppable at that point.

Seeing that the situation was going south, the vampires and demonkin put pressure on the arachne. In the end, the latter race picked a duke so old that he was about to die on his own. They wanted to trick their way out in such a manner, but how could such a target even enter the heavenly monarchs’ eyes?

Without the need for a heavenly monarch, Song Zining and Zhao Jundu routed the duke’s forces in a pincer attack and heavily injured him. He wouldn’t have escaped if it wasn’t for his strong arachne constitution.

There was no way such an outcome would appease the vampires and demonkin, so the arachne once again fell into the process of arguing. Song Zining’s army wasn’t going to wait for them, though—it pushed forward with great momentum, breaking through several blockades and finally arriving at the heart of the central region.

At the end of the rolling hills, there was a valley of incomparable size. Were it not for the steep drop and a mysterious intuition, Song Zining might’ve mistaken this valley for a flatland, just a thousand meters lower than the rest of the landscape.

Unlike the daybreak-leaning origin power that pervaded the entire new world, this valley was filled with dark energy. The darkness origin power here was so strong and congested that it almost seemed tangible.

The darkness origin power was clearly demarcated from the strange daybreak origin power of the new world. The two weren’t mixing at all, so it looked like there was a grey dome covering the valley.

Even Song Zining and Zhao Jundu found it difficult to breathe in the face of this majestic scene. At this moment, their senses had expanded to the point of encompassing the entire valley.

The ravine was so big that it spanned hundreds of kilometers. This sudden and strong contrast almost felt like it would devour one’s soul.

“It’s so… big!” Song Zining couldn’t find the right word for a moment.

Zhao Jundu said, “Perhaps a void colossus’ vision is this wide?”

“Void colossi aren’t that big. Reportedly, the biggest void colossus that lives in the depths of the void is only around ten thousand meters in length.”

“Us not knowing doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

“True.”

Zhao Judnu pointed at the valley. “Look, what is that?”

Song Zining glanced over and saw a sinkhole at the center of the valley. It was bottomless and gave off an extremely unusual feeling. Song Zining had sensed this back at the Constellation Well of the Great Maelstrom; this should be a natural spatial tunnel.

The tunnel was constantly spewing out darkness origin power, but there was no way to sense what was on the other end. The sinkhole was surrounded by numerous hills with a dark flame burning atop each of them. Despite the great distance, Song Zining and Zhao Jundu could feel a pricking pain just by looking at them.

The two exchanged glances, each noticing the astonishment in the other’s eyes. It was obvious that they had to avoid the fire at all costs, leaving them with very few ways into the sinkhole. The widest and shortest path among them was located between two mountains, one tall and one short. Yet to be completed, and there were thousands of craftsmen buried in urgent work.

“So this is the true ‘door.’”

Zhao Jundu nodded. Looks like the dark races’ true objective is here.”

“The valley is filled with darkness origin power, that makes things difficult.”

Zhao Jundu walked over to the edge of the cliff and tried touching the black energy. “It’s fine, the dark races can’t use the darkness origin power here.”

Song Zining did the same and felt a burning pain on his fingertips, a sensation akin to dipping one’s finger in acid. “Indeed. The darkness origin power here is poisonous to all living creatures, there’s no way to use them. The dark races might have it worse in such an environment.”

Song Zining turned around and went off to assemble the troops. Although a mysterious power had allowed them to see the entire valley, it would take an entire day to get to the center even by airship.

During that brief bird’s eye view, Song Zining hadn’t noticed any dark race squads near that fortress. It would seem that the higher-ups of the council believed this place to be the safest, so they didn’t bring in any more troops.

The dark race could only bring in a certain number of troops into the new world, and most of them had been defeated by Song Zining. Perhaps they had no extra soldiers to garrison in the valley.

This was the best opportunity. The Evernight faction would not have expected the Empire to replenish its airships so quickly. The great efficiency of the Imperial engineering system was put on full display here.

“It’s not hard to take down that fortress, but what then?” Zhao Jundu asked.

“Take what we can and burn what we can’t. We must not leave a single brick.”

Zhao Jundu gazed at the massive valley. “Do we not need a base? It’s not easy to resupply in the valley. We might lose.”

“We have a chance of survival if we don’t have a base. We’ll lose for sure if we have one.”

Zhao Jundu realized things after some thought. “Turns out you want to bleed the dark races as much as you can.”

“There’s a limit to the number of forces they can bring into the new world. Also, we have one quota left, so the great dark monarchs don’t dare take action. Such a good opportunity is beyond rare, we’ll never get one again if we miss this one. That’s why I’m willing to let them have whatever treasure they’re looking for and deal their backbone forces a heavy blow in exchange. The results of our battle today will become evident thirty years later. The Empire will be able to take down an entire continent by then.”

Song Zining sighed. “Our core forces will never be able to match Evernight. They’re currently strong in numbers but not willing to let go of certain things. Someone will think it through one day. You have to know that there will never be such a good opportunity to close the gap outside of the new world. I’m already in such a state, so I need to take back my money’s worth!”

Zhao Jundu shook his head. “The other side might not be entirely ignorant of your scheme. Military power decides only one facet of war, while the experts compete for the other. If that thing really is helpful to the dark race, they might be willing to trade.”

“Let’s fight first and see. We don’t know what exactly they’re looking for, so we should just get our job done first. Let the higher-ups shoulder the heavier burdens.”

“I guess that’s all we can do.”

Moments later, the Empire’s massive fleet rose up once again and charged into the valley, making straight for the incomplete fortress.

…

In the hall of the Evernight Council, the bell signifying an urgent incident rang out once again and traveled toward the various continents.

Countless auras arrived from every direction. Several princes tore through space from great distances. They had sensed that the origin power of the three supremes was present on the Sacred Mountain, observing everything from afar.

All the members who could come rushed to the scene, knowing that something that would affect the entire Evernight World had happened.

That was indeed the case. All those who entered the hall bowed toward the Sacred Mountain in shock and awe.

The three figures atop the lofty Sacred Mountain were tall and majestic. They remained motionless as they waited for the arriving council members. This wait took an entire night and day, but this period of time was no longer than a blink for them. The long-lived races were never lacking in patience.

Finally, the Demon King slowly opened his eyes. “Those who can come have arrived, let us begin.”

The Queen of the Night nodded as well. Only the Spider Queen expressed nothing, almost as though she were an eternal statue.

A duke from one of the lower seats stood up and made a short report. He then said, “I’m sure everyone has seen the detailed report. The humans have destroyed our base in Blacksun Valley, someone has to take responsibility for that.”

Another duke said, “Who do you think is responsible?”

The duke who had made the announcement said, “Considering how important Blacksun Valley is, it won’t be excessive even if we chase this responsibility all the way to the Sacred Mountain.”

The entire hall fell silent for a moment.