[V6C157 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

Qianye walked slowly toward Lu Sha’s corpse and slashed down all of a sudden, effectively removing that wide-eyed head.

Kong Fangyuan couldn’t help but cry out as the man’s head flew into the air. He was, after all, a lineal young master of the Kong family. Although he was experienced in his own right, he had rarely seen such killing methods.

After the cry, Kong Fangyuan felt his chest burn up uncomfortably, almost as though he had been holding his breath underwater for a long time. He exhaled deeply and took another deep breath before feeling somewhat better.

It turned out that he had been holding his breath since the Shot of Inception had appeared. A powerful aristocratic scion like him could sense just how terrifying the shot’s destructive power was. In the end, he was petrified on the spot and came to only just now.

Then, the other soldiers of the Kong family regained their wits and glanced at Qianye with expressions of alarm.

The forest was suddenly silent, so silent that it was stifling.

The surviving Kong family soldiers surrounded Kong Fangyuan subconsciously. After all, Lu Sha’s group was under the Kong family’s employ. Now that they had died in Qianye’s hand, there was no telling if the latter would consider them accomplices and finish them off. Although the Kong family soldiers hadn’t joined the attack when Qianye was ambushed, they didn’t try to save him, either. They merely stood watching on the side.

Qianye didn’t even look at the people from the Kong family. He produced a first-aid medicine from his pocket and sprayed it onto his wound, before injecting a shot of stimulant into his neck. Qianye looked up at Kong Fangyuan only after dealing with his injuries.

Kong Fangyuan’s heart trembled upon seeing the lack of expression in Qianye’s eyes. He said helplessly, “All of this is a misunderstanding!”

“Misunderstanding?” Qianye repeated the question while looking at the man with a wooden expression.

Beads of sweat rolled off Kong Fangyuan’s forehead. It was already quite an ordeal for him to maintain a smile and prevent his voice from going off-key. “It is, of course, a misunderstanding. Our Kong family has no enmity toward you.”

A young soldier behind Kong Fangyuan was indignant. He took a step forward and shouted, “What our family’s young master says is naturally the truth. Don’t forget that our Kong family isn’t easy to provoke, either.”

He had just started speaking when an old veteran covered his mouth and dragged him to the side. Afterward, he said something to the young man with a serious expression. That young soldier’s face was red, and he was clearly dissatisfied. However, he said nothing more after receiving strict orders to stop speaking.

Kong Fangyuan let out a sigh of relief at this point—he was feeling quite indignant despite the humble attitude just now. Then, he noticed all the dead and wounded people behind him. Finally, he realized how few those capable of fighting were. How would he dare to play things hard? With Qianye’s accomplishments in the Misty Wood, he wasn’t afraid of being surrounded at all. That was ignoring Qianye’s earth-shattering attack from just now. Kong Fangyuan knew that he couldn’t evade this powerful shot even with his many guards.

At a time like this, the Kong family’s name was completely useless. Qianye only needed to finish them off entirely, and all traces of the deed would vanish before long. Who would know it was he who did it? Kong Fangyuan was quite practical in this area. No amount of prestige was as important as survival.

Qianye remained silent for a while before speaking, “You say you have no bad intentions. Where’s your sincerity?”

“Sincerity… Ah! Yes, sincerity!” Kong Fangyuan slapped his forehead in sudden realization.

He said nothing more and immediately removed the gun from his waist. He handed the weapon to Qianye with both hands and said, “This is my personal firearm. Its name is Misty Cold. The craftsmanship is not bad and there’s a story behind it as well. The gun has always been a treasure of our Kong family, and I only managed to obtain it two years ago because of a great contribution to the clan. It’s just that my strength is insufficient to use Misty Cold freely. I saw just now that general’s twin revolvers are just a bit lacking. Treasures need to be held by worthy heroes, so I would like to gift this gun to you, hoping it’ll help strengthen your might! I hope the general won’t forget our Kong family in the future, even if you don’t remember me.”

These words were spoken with great sincerity, almost as though they came from the very depths of his being. Qianye might’ve believed them had he not been standing here all this time. These aristocratic scions were indeed extraordinary in certain aspects. Everything they say seemed like the truth, and even Qianye’s Eye of Truth couldn’t discern their authenticity.

Misty Cold was built in a simple yet elegant single-barrel design. The flowing clouds decorating the gun’s body were marvelous, clearly the work of a master. The gun’s shape was similar to the Red Spider Lily, but it looked somewhat more ephemeral. Of course, that was just a comparison of external appearance—Misty Cold had nothing on the Red Spider Lily when it came to the intrinsic spirit. One was a weapon at the peak of grade seven, while the other was a Grand Magnum of the generation. There was nothing to compare between them.

Arrays had already developed to the point where there were all kinds of origin powered firearms; moreover, their complexity was only increasing by the day. However, the most primitive single-barrel gun had never fallen into disuse since simplicity allowed for greater upgrade potential. Hence, there was no lack of famed guns left in the world, and most of them possessed formidable special powers.

As Kong Fangyuan’s beloved weapon, this Misty Cold was naturally special. In addition to its extraordinary artistic value, a shot from it would engulf the surrounding thirty-meters in surging clouds—the scene was extremely romantic, almost as though the shooter were standing in a dreamy immortal realm.

This wasn’t just for decoration, though. In truth, these clouds could suppress all origin power within its range. This was a powerful weapon in group combat and seemed to be extremely effective in clearing away minor enemy troops. However, its true use was domain suppression. The clouds produced by this gun was highly damaging to domains. If two combatants of the same realm were to cross swords, the one holding Misty Cold would gain a considerable advantage.

Kong Fangyuan bringing this weapon out was a huge sacrifice—he was buying his life.

Qianye took Misty Cold and played around with the gun before putting it away. It was a good gun indeed. The weapon itself was at the peak of grade seven, but its special ability was worth even more.

At full force, Qianye’s Oceanic Vortex would break down enemy domains that were even slightly inferior. Misty Cold thus held little meaning for him. Moreover, the Twin Flowers was a set of weapons personally modified by Andruil, and there might be other secrets hidden within them. Just the fact that this gun could bear the Shot of Inception without sustaining damage was worth looking into. Qianye had no intention of switching them out.

These things, Qianye naturally wouldn’t tell Kong Fangyuan. Even if he couldn’t use it personally, he could give it to other people. Qianye felt that the gun was fairly suited for Song Zining. This seventh young master was always quite specific about grace, regardless of time and place. This might be one of the reasons why Song Zining couldn’t beat Qianye in recent years—more often than not, he was wiping the floor before he could finish posturing.

Qianye could imagine Song Zining waving his fan in one hand and holding Misty Cold in the other. Winds and clouds would stir around him, filling the area with an ephemeral ambiance. Who knows, maybe Song Zining’s origin power would even increase if there was a group of beauties cheering him on at that time.

Ah, it would be even more interesting if Wei Potian was in that scene. With him as an antagonist, it would set off the seventh young master’s godly elegance even more.

At the thought of this, an odd notion appeared in Qianye’s mind. Would Song Zining drag Wei Potian into battle just because of this?

Unbeknownst to Qianye, Song Zining was on an airship far away. He was reading a battle report and analyzing all the names there one by one.

He had just reached Wei Potian’s page. The Wei-clan heir had produced great results during this time. At least, it was enough for his name to appear on the report. Comparatively, Qianye’s report was missing from the imperial military’s records because he was hunting for the Li clan as an independent expert.

Song Zining opened and closed his folding fan repeatedly, seemingly deep in thought. “Mm, this fellow has some redeeming qualities after all. He’s managed to train his Thousand Mountain to a stage where it possesses both form and soul. It’s rather eye-catching when he uses it. This young master’s Three Thousand Flying Leaves domain has great sceneries, and I’m only lacking a decorative mountain.”

Qianye had no idea that his random guess was spot on, and neither did he know that Song Zining had even deeper plans.

“This wild boar has thick skin, so it’ll be great to have him block dangerous attacks at the front.” Song Zining’s thoughts were full of evil intentions.

In the Misty Wood, Kong Fangyuan sighed in relief after seeing Qianye accept Misty Cold. The muscles on his face were no longer as tense. Things were still negotiable as long as Qianye was willing to take the item—at the very least, his life was ensured.

As expected of an aristocratic scion, he immediately struck while the iron was hot. “I wonder if General Qianye has any other instructions?”

Qianye searched the remains of Lu Sha’s group Instead of replying. However, he found nothing of value on them, nor did he find any proof that a “major character” was trying to kill him. It was easy to imagine that such information wouldn’t exist on paper.

Qianye pondered for a moment before coming to a conclusion. He already had a good idea of who it was behind this assassination and might still be able to find some clues back at the base. As long as he could confirm who the target was, it was up to him how to seek revenge—proof wasn’t all that important.

Qianye pointed at the corpses of Lu Sha’s men and asked, “Would Young Master Kong be interested in their gear?”

Kong Fangyuan was startled for a moment. “Yes, of course!”

Kong Fangyuan understood after some thought that Qianye wanted to toss the weapons to him. Perhaps it wasn’t convenient for him to deal with the equipment, or maybe he just wasn’t in the mood to do so. Qianye’s own gear wasn’t lacking. Young Dragon and East Peak were extraordinary items, so he probably wasn’t interested in Lu Sha’s belongings. This much was clear from Qianye’s indifference toward Misty Cold.

The fact that these items couldn’t impress Qianye didn’t mean they were inferior. The entire fortune of these lone experts was in their equipment, which were all grade six to grade seven. After all, they needed to be alive in order to spend the money they earn. There was really nothing special about the grade seven ones, but some of the grade six items were premium goods with special abilities. The latter might prove to be powerful weapons when used correctly in the battlefield and were thus more useful than ordinary grade-seven gear.

Kong Fangyuan himself couldn’t use them, but it was very well suited for the elite experts under him. So, he immediately agreed to it.

There was also a different reason for this—Kong Fangyuan knew that Misty Cold wasn’t enough to buy his life since Qianye could take the weapon all the same after killing him. Now, things were just about right after taking these items in.

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