Volume 6 - 559: Scheme

[V6C89 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

Qianye took a couple of steps after him but Zhao Jundu was nowhere to be found. Only then did he discover that he didn’t quite know where Song Zining’s tent was in this new camp. He couldn’t help but scratch his head as he went over to Duke You’s aide-de-camp to inquire about the staff office’s location.

Zhao Jundu was much faster. A flash of violet energy flitted through the camp and soon arrived before the central command camp. Moments later, he found Song Zining in a separate tent within the staff office area.

Song Zining was standing before the desk, composing a painting of a fierce tiger under the moon. The last brush stroke fell just as Zhao Jundu entered the room. He glanced at the serious looking Zhao Jundu and said, “I knew a bad guest would come today. Speak, what do you want?”

“I want a favor from you to give to Li Kuanglan.” Zhao Jundu got right to the point.

Song Zining’s expression turned beyond ugly. “Can’t you demand something else? Does it have to be her?”

“It must be her.”

“Absolutely not! It’s not like you don’t know her identity.” Song Zining refused decisively.

Zhao Jundu flexed his fingers and said, “I’m not here to negotiate. I’m only here to inform you.”

Song Zining sneered, “You want to attack? Do it, I won’t even fight back. This is the central command area. You’ll also get into trouble if you kill me.”

Zhao Jundu’s eyes were suffused with frost as he thrust a finger at Song Zining’s throat. The latter didn’t evade at all, so much so that he didn’t even activate his origin defenses. Zhao Jundu’s finger barely stopped at Song Zining’s throat and produced a small red dot therein. Just a slight forward push would have punched a hole through his throat.

Anger flashed through Zhao Jundu’s eyes as he said, “I never expected the stately Song clan seventh young noble to actually be so shameless.”

Song Zining broke into a laugh. “Likewise, likewise. So the Zhao Fourth Young Noble also has times where he can’t quite force people to do things. Speaking of which, it’s quite the honor to be able to act shamelessly before you.”

“You must give Li Kuanglan this favor.”

Song Zining smiled calmly. “I don’t even know how much this favor of mine is worth, but why haven’t you given her one?”

“I have.”

An “Ah” escaped Song Zining’s lips as he clearly wasn’t expecting this. He retracted his frivolous attitude and said with a serious expression, “You do know how much trouble this will be, don't you? And you still dare gift her a favor? Naturally, you and I aren’t the same. Your name is clean, but the same can’t be said of my reputation. How will I dare get involved in this trouble?”

Zhao Jundu said, “It was Qianye who owed her these favors at first.”

Song Zining’s expression shifted. “Qianye?! What did Li Kuanglan originally want? Why did he ask you to shoulder it for him?”

Zhao Jundu discerned some clues from these words. “Do you know how Qianye came to owe her these favors?”

Song Zining laughed wryly. “Qianye used a bottle of her ‘Stillwater Rebirth’ while exploring Giant’s Repose. I would have never expected Li Kuanglan to make such a blatant demand. There probably aren’t a lot of things that would strike her fancy.”

Zhao Jundu broke into a frown as he briefly recounted the exchange of favors. Song Zining’s expression suddenly became mysterious as he muttered, “It’s not a problem if it’s just a life and death battle…”

Zhao Jundu cut the latter short without the slightest bit of hesitation. “No, Qianye mustn’t get involved with the Jingtang Li Clan.”

The two stared at each other for a good while before Song Zining finally sighed. “Since that’s the case, then I’ll agree.”

Zhao Jundu nodded and turned to leave.

“Wait a minute,” Song Zining stopped him, “my favor has to be worth something, right? Aren’t you going to give me any benefits at all?”

Zhao Jundu didn’t even look back. “Is the dignified Seventh Young Noble asking for money?”

Song Zining said indignantly, “Why can’t I? I still have a family to feed.”

Zhao Jundu didn’t slow down his footsteps at all. He just pretended not to hear anything.

Song Zining chuckled. “Looks like Qianye’s status in the Zhao clan is just so-so. Rather than have him live a sneaky life… why not return him to me?”

Zhao Jundu glanced back with a cold glint in his eyes.

Song Zining seemed to not have noticed the frosty killing intent. He simply opened his folding fan with a swoosh and closed it back after a couple of flaps. “My meager properties might not be impressive in your eyes, but Qianye is still half an owner here. It should be much better than being someone’s restricted vassal...”

His words hadn’t even ended when a violent gale blew into his face. A muffled bang rang out as Song Zining was struck in the abdomen and flung out of the tent.

Zhao Jundu was startled because he knew how much force he had applied. He had attacked rapidly and withdrawn the force just as fast—it was enough to inflict pain, but not to the extent of blowing the victim flying. Such a development wasn’t possible even if Song Zining didn’t use his defenses. Zhao Jundu stepped out of the tent with a frown.

The commotion wasn’t that great, but it wasn’t non-existent, either. There were occasional passers-by in the distance, but none of them stopped to look. However, there were four or five high-ranking Zhang clan officers, two of whom Zhao Jundu knew personally.

Zhang Muyi roared furiously as he helped Song Zining up. “Who dares fight in the command center?!” He was shocked into silence as he glanced back at the person walking out of the tent.

A handsome and spirited major general reacted much faster than Zhang Muyi. He had already taken a step forward before Zhao Jundu had even exited the tent, blocking Song Zining as well as his comrades behind. “Brother Jundu.”

Zhao Jundu reciprocated the gesture. “Brother Munian.”

This person was the leader of the Zhang clan’s younger generation, Zhang Munian. Although not as celebrated as Bai Aotu and Zhao Jundu, he was still the central pillar of the family.

Zhang Munian glanced back at Song Zining’s sorry figure and inquired in a puzzled tone, “Was there some misunderstanding between you two?”

Zhao Jundu immediately realized that he had fallen into Song Zining’s scheme.

Zhang Munian wasn’t one to meddle in other people’s affairs, much less that of the Zhao and Song clans. However, his current tone made clear his intentions to mediate this matter, meaning that Song Zining had a certain level of importance before him. It would seem that the rumors were true—this seventh young noble had not only entered Zhang Boqian’s command but also gained the recognition of the Zhang clan’s younger generation. Even Zhao Jundu had to acknowledge the man’s expertise in the ways of the world.

The reason behind this scheme today was very clear. Almost all of Song Zining’s military contributions during the bloody battle had gone to the Zhao clan. Although it was under the pretext of a deal, there were definitely some who were in doubt of his stance. Now that he was in open conflict with Zhao Jundu in the presence of the Zhang clan’s core descendants like Zhang Munian and Zhang Muyi, all of his previous connections to the Zhao clan would be wiped away.

Meanwhile, Song Zining’s breakaway from the Song clan was already an open secret among the upper echelons of the empire. As a capable young expert with no affiliation, he would likely receive much more attention from the Zhang clan thereafter.

Zhao Jundu sneered in his heart. Song Zining’s favor was indeed difficult to secure. Despite his ire, he could only sigh in admiration at the latter’s opportunistic move. Zhao Jundu didn’t immediately respond to Zhang Munian’s question but stared intently at Song Zining instead.

Song Zining smiled wryly and said, “It’s just a private matter, nothing important.”

Zhang Munian turned toward Zhao Jundu and said, “Since that’s the case, I hope brother Jundu can, for the sake of my humble self, accept Song Zining’s apology.”

Zhao Jundu scanned Song Zining coldly. “Fine, we’re even now.”

Song Zining had achieved his objective and heard the implication in Zhao Jundu’s words. But even then, he didn’t reveal a single opening and merely stood up with his eyes lowered. Zhang Munian’s expression grew even more relaxed upon seeing Zhao Jundu’s unexpectedly accommodating attitude. The two were old acquaintances, so they naturally proceeded to exchange pleasantries.

At this moment, a certain person rushed in from outside the camp. Zhao Jundu and Song Zining recognized Qianye’s silhouette from afar and couldn’t help but glance at one another.

Song Zining shrugged and said with a resigned tone, “I’ll explain it to him.” With Qianye’s appearance, Song Zining quickly realized that this so-called exchange of favors was done against Qianye’s will. Since he had already taken advantage of Zhao Jundu, he might as well play the good guy until the end.

Foregoing how Song Zining explained matters to Qianye, the imperial army commenced a cleanup operation throughout the entire battlefield in the days that followed and began building temporary defensive measures in preparation for a counterattack. The entire army was extremely busy. People at Qianye’s level, on the other hand, had nothing to do for several days except recuperate. He would be able to check his contributions after the battlefield had been cleaned up and the casualties confirmed.

Something actually puzzled Qianye quite a bit. The empire had paid a steep price to conquer the Evernight camp, so according to reason, they should be building solid defenses here to seek long-term entrenchment. But all Qianye saw were temporary structures, which made it clear that the empire had no intention of staying here for long.

Even Song Zining, with his position in the staff office, hadn’t heard anything about the policies of those Zhang clan bigshots. Qianye didn’t understand it, but he had no desire to get to the bottom of things, either. His current mission was to start cultivating his daybreak origin power as soon as possible in order to maintain a balance between the two sides.

In the void outside of Evernight Continent, a long rainbow stretched across half the continent and fell into an ancient castle atop Mount White.

This place was a millennia-old castle located in the depths of the Dark Nation. The human race didn’t even have written records of that ancient era. The passage of time had left unerasable traces on the old castle but still hadn’t managed to cause its collapse. On the contrary, it grew increasingly grand due to the expansion and renovations carried out by the successive generation of vampires.

The main building of the castle was a long complex of interconnected buildings covering the highest peak of the mountain, and it was connected to the four lesser complexes on the surrounding mountaintops via archways and airships.

Every archway spanned thousands of meters over the bottomless ravine below, supported entirely by massive air-battleships which never moved the whole year round. From a distance, it looked nothing short of a miracle.

There was a passage on top of the main complex which stretched hundreds of meters toward a moderately-sized plaza. Both structures, however, were floating above the deep abyss without any airship support.

There were dozens of vivid statues around the plaza’s periphery, and presently, there was an airship approaching it slowly. This plaza was surprisingly an airship anchorage. It was just that the port here was thousands of meters in the air.