Qianye cast his thoughts to the side. “This will be a long process with many variables…”

“Evernight and the Empire have fought for a thousand years, yet the humans grow stronger and stronger instead of being destroyed. Why do you think that is?”

This problem was a complex one. Countless scholars had studied this topic, but there were many different answers. Qianye himself knew of five different theories, including bloodline, heavenly intervention, natural selection, etc.

With Qianye’s experience in leading a pioneering force on Fort Continent, he felt that the Empire produced intelligent people at every level of society and that was something Evernight could not hope to match. In addition to that, there was no lack of people willing to die for the cause when necessary. There were people like Lin Xitang who had decided the Void Continent war single-handedly, with Song Zining picking up the marshal’s flag in Blacksun Valley.

By the time Evernight had dispatched Nighteye to defeat the Empire, Zhao Jundu and Song Zining stepped forward to hold the last line of defense. Meanwhile, Qianye raised a royal banner to challenge Evernight—that was how that earth-shattering battle began. Finally, the Empire gained the right to set foot in the new world.

After the war in Blacksun Valley, word in the Empire was that the new generation of generals had taken up the mantle of the Empire’s paragons and become pillars of the nation.

Yet, Qianye knew that relying on generals and talented experts wouldn’t solve the problem of a millennium-long war. There were too many unpredictable factors—those “heroes” were heroes whether they won or lost. The thousand years of the Empire’s history could not be placed in the hands of a select few. If the discussion was about heroes, Evernight produced a steady stream of them as well.

After some thought, Qianye simply couldn’t come up with a perfect explanation. “I don’t know.”

Andruil smiled. “That’s only normal. Countless scholars have tried to explain this throughout the years, yet they were never able to produce a satisfactory answer. Whatever the explanation is, the coincidence is too uncanny. Perhaps coincidence itself is the real explanation. There can only be one reason for all these coincidences happening at the same time… it’s fate, this is how it should be.”

“This… isn’t right, is it?” Qianye had never imagined that the great Black-Winged Monarch was a believer of fate. In truth, the Evernight Council prophets were the ones who believed the least in fate, especially Predica’s faction.

“You only need to look back at the rise of the human race to see that there were all too many coincidences. A single broken link in the chain of events would’ve led to the elimination of the human race, yet the Empire had breezed through the crises and remained standing. Isn’t that good fortune?”

Qianye didn’t know how to respond.

Andruil replied, “Take yourself, for instance. The humans would have nothing to do with the inner world if you hadn’t appeared. That would inevitably lead to their eventual fall. Isn’t it fortunate?”

Qianye said, “I don’t have that much of an effect, do I?”

Andruil said, “Oh but you do, so much more than you think. Think of it this way, fate was always on the humans’ side at every critical juncture. Once, twice, or even for hundreds of years is not an issue, but it has been this way for a thousand years. Now that’s not normal, is it?”

Qianye was stunned. He also found it rather inconceivable after some thought. The chances of this happening was even lower than a sudden rock from the sky killing the Demon King in his home.

Andruil said, “That’s why there can only be one conclusion. Humans have a way to control fate, and at the very least, we still don’t know what that is. Centuries have passed by, and yet the so-called prophets of the council are like barbarians compared to the human experts.”

Qianye didn’t know what to say. From his standpoint, he would never help think of a plan to destroy the human race. On the other hand, he was not privy to the secrets of the Empire since he was never an official part of the upper echelons.

“That’s why it's definitely not practical to try and exterminate the human race, or even stop their rise. The supremes came to this conclusion several hundred years ago. The power of fate is too mysterious and unpredictable; it’s almost impossible to set it to work in that direction. And quite frankly, they want to destroy their archenemies more than they wanted to destroy the Empire.” At this point, Andruil laughed self-deprecatingly. “Even if I were in their shoes, I’d prioritize destroying the werewolves instead of the humans.”

Infighting was an old problem for the dark races. Only after becoming a vampire did Qianye realize that this so-called in-fighting was something the Empire saw from its perspective. For each of the dark races, any race other than their own was an outsider.

“That being said, humans are still a common enemy of the dark races. The supremes won’t mind working together temporarily to destroy them.”

Qianye frowned. “I refuse to believe that different races cannot coexist. In fact, my territory on Fort Continent is home to werewolves and humans, there are also people from other races. Everyone lives a fairly good life.”

Andruil smiled. “You’re still young and lacking experience. Those old fellas from the Sacred Mountain are different. Even the youngest Demon King is so much older than the oldest human. They have seen too many things, and that has made them very stubborn. It’s almost impossible to persuade them. At the very least, their stance is the same with regards to wiping out the humans.”

“Didn’t you say humans cannot be exterminated?”

“It’s definitely hard to destroy a race that can secretly control fate itself. After all, something would always disrupt the flow of things at the most critical juncture. There is, however, something that can overpower fate itself.”

Qiuanye asked in surprise, “What is that?”

“Humans are the only daybreak lifeforms, and their existence relies on it. The best way to exterminate the human race isn’t to kill all of them, but to wipe away all daybreak origin power.”

“How is that even possible?!” Qianye couldn’t believe what he had just heard. This would be even more difficult than killing off every human in the world. This was a natural law!

“It’s impossible under normal circumstances, but the darkness origins can make that a possibility. Look, do you see daybreak origin power in the inner world?”

“Of course there’s… hmm?” Qianye stopped halfway through.

Andruil chuckled. “You’ve finally realized it? This world can actually exist without any daybreak origin power.”

This was different from what Qianye had learned since childhood. What he knew was that daybreak and darkness existed alongside one another, maintaining a mutual balance that was the foundation of this world. Even the Song Clan Ancient Scroll was hinting at this logic.