Monarch of Evernight - Chapter 776

Chapter 776: 776

The moment he came into contact with that cold intent, Qianye felt as though he was swimming in a boundless ocean of ice, one filled with snowstorms and raging waves . Compared to it, Qianye’s will was like a small boat that would capsize at any moment .

Qianye shivered as the will of the Earth Dragon left . Before this, Qianye had imagined how strong this being was, but he hadn’t expected it to be this powerful . It was already close to Sky Demon’s level and certainly not something an ordinary divine champion could contend against . That was why Su Dingqian, who had lived in the nearby Port City for so many years, was never able to approach its true body .

Although the cold intent had passed, there were still waves of remnant fluctuations left behind in the cave . This was akin to the corner of the Earth Dragon’s eyes—a single misstep might lead to being detected .

“Let’s go . Here on out, we might encounter danger at any given moment . ” Bluemoon made a forward gesture and went ahead .

The one taking point became Bluemoon after approaching the Earth Dragon’s lair . The two elders contained their origin powers firmly and were wearing tense expressions . They had formally entered the Earth Dragon’s lair from this point onward and would have to face its will at all times . Attracting its attention would mean immediate annihilation, and those with greater cultivation levels bore a greater burden here . The Earth Dragon might not pay attention to small insects crawling about, but it wouldn’t ignore a rat scuttling into its lair .

As they went on, Bluemoon came to a sudden halt and produced a queer-looking apparatus . This instrument consisted of a dial on the surface and the needle within was moving about constantly . At the end of this dial was an eye-catching red zone—Bluemoon sighed in relief after confirming that the needle never entered this red area .

The two elders seemed much more relaxed, but they still couldn’t shake off the chill .

“Here on out, we might encounter people from that side,” one of the elders reminded .

Evading experts was a completely different concept compared to avoiding fierce beasts . For instance, the two old men began installing some small instruments in some unassuming corners . These things had no destructive power but could release special fluctuations upon sensing bypassers and served as a warning to the owner . Naturally, if they could do this, others could also do the same .

The four slowed down their rate of advancement and paid attention to every corner for traps and traces of other experts .

The further they went in, the stronger the Earth Dragon’s will became . Every time it swept past them, Qianye could feel his blood energy growing restless . It would be difficult for him to proceed if it wasn’t for the purity of his origin power and the high quality of his blood energy . He would have to activate Bloodline Concealment or risk getting detected by the Earth Dragon .

The three Highbeards, including Bluemoon, had locked down their origin power and were operating with the aid of their mechanical parts . This weakened their vital fluctuations so much that they were even inferior to ordinary beasts; it was only natural that the Earth Dragon would ignore them . Comparatively, Qianye’s bloodline power became quite obvious .

After several kilometers of travel, Qianye began to feel the situation going out of control . He felt that he might be discovered by the Earth Dragon if he didn’t use Bloodline Concealment . However, this skill was one of Qianye’s hidden aces, so he wasn’t willing to use it in front of other people if he had a choice . Otherwise, his enemies might specifically target this facet of his powers, or, at the very least, they would be guarded against him .

Just as Qianye was hesitating whether or not to use Bloodline Concealment, he noticed a small, unnatural object through the corner of his eyes and quickly pulled Bluemoon to his side .

The two elders were astonished, but they kept themselves in check . It was just that some protruding objects were aimed at Qianye from under their cloaks .

Qianye gestured for them to calm down and pointed forward .

There was a pile of fragmented rocks where he was pointing, and there was a small, finger-sized rod poking out from one of them . This little pipe was painted to resemble a rock, down to the veined patterns and would be easily overlooked at a glance . If it wasn’t for Qianye’s superb visual acuity and attention to detail, he might not have noticed this small object .

There would never be a rod-like object protruding from an ordinary rock . Avoiding the small rod, one of the Highbeard elders picked up the rock and headed in the direction it was pointing . He walked all the way to the other side of the passage and put the rock down gently . By the time he was back, his breathing had grown somewhat coarse . Apparently, this movement wasn’t easy for him .

The elder explained everything to Qianye—this rock was actually a clever tripwire with a receiver on the other end . The small rod would fire a constant beam of origin power toward the receiver, which would explode once this connection was interrupted, thus alarming the owner .

Unlike the transmitting end, the receiver had been completely camouflaged . There was no way to tell which rock was the trap without cracking all the rocks open . Hence, the old man chose to move the transmitter and open up a path, ruining this trap in the process .

Qianye was full of admiration after learning about this . The design of this tripwire was genius and easy to trigger . If it wasn’t for Qianye’s shocking eyesight, even the Highbeards would’ve tripped it .

The tripwire’s presence warned everyone that they had reached the operation zone of the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons .

Bluemoon fished out a long silver needle and flicked it toward the ground . In Qianye’s perception, he could sense an inaudible sound wave spreading out in all directions . These waves were weak but exceptionally penetrative, even capable of going through some of the thinner rock walls .

Bluemoon listened intently for the echoes bouncing back from some directions . There was an odd-looking apparatus on her right ear, apparently for catching the echoes . She pointed at a certain direction and gestured that someone was there .

The four retracted their auras and moved slowly toward the target . Before long, some faint voices could be heard up ahead .

It was a naturally formed cave, and the two sentries guarding the entrance were chatting with one another .

One of them yawned . “So boring . Old Li, don’t tell me we have to guard this place for an entire month? There’s not even a single ghost here . ”

“Don’t tell me you want to go deeper?”

“You’re not that bored, are you?”

The other guard snorted . “You think that’s a good job? The headman said it’ll be lucky if half the people in there return alive . I had to pay a lot to get assigned to this post . The only reason you’re standing here is because you shared a large part of the costs . ”

The tall guard laughed along . “Isn’t the headman your uncle? Who’s he going to look after if not you? I only tagged along on the fortune . But guarding these disgusting things is getting really unbearable in the long run . ”

“Being alive is better than anything . ”

Just as he was affirming the statement, the tall guard noticed his partner’s eyes lose focus as the man collapsed silently . At the same time, he felt a sharp object pressed against his waist . “Don’t move if you want to live!”

This guard was no warrior of steel, to begin with . He immediately raised his hands and said, “I’ll cooperate, I’ll cooperate!”

He did indeed cooperate, even reducing his voice to a whisper .

Bluemoon arrived before him and performed a detailed interrogation . However, this guard knew little because he had been assigned to guard the entrance not long after coming in with the unit . Even the squad with which he had come was only one of the many that had gone underground .

Seeing that there was nothing more to gain from him, a cold gleam flickered in Bluemoon’s hand as her dagger slashed the man’s neck open .

The group went further into the cave, hoping to see what was being set up inside . They had just entered when an intense smell of blood rushed at their faces . Qianye broke into a frown because his sharp senses told him that it was the smell of fresh blood, and such intensity couldn't be produced by just a dozen people .

He entered the cave in brisk steps, but there was anger on his face .

There was a stone altar at the center of the cave, roughly ten square meters in size, and upon it were several metallic plates that formed its origin array . The altar was covered in hundreds of human corpses, all of them cut up into small, precise pieces to maximize the outflow of blood .

The blood from hundreds of people was enough to make a pool of blood, yet not a drop of it flowed out of the altar due to the origin array—it was as though the altar was surrounded by a transparent wall . The blood here wasn’t very warm, but it was boiling constantly and the bits of flesh inside were rolling about .

Bluemoon glanced at the two elders . “So, that’s how it is . ”

“What’s going on?” asked Qianye . This altar was fairly disturbing to look at and reminded him of the dark races’ blood feast . He strode forward with his sword, ready to slash this altar apart .

“No!” Bluemoon stopped Qianye .

Qianye glanced at her for an explanation .

Bluemoon replied, “This blood sacrifice is the key component in their pacification of the Earth Dragon . Once destroyed, the Earth Dragon will not only regain its perception but become even more sensitive . At that point, we can forget about leaving this place alive!”

“What?”

Bluemoon pointed at the sanguineous line at the center of the blood pool . “Look, they’re using the origin array in this blood altar to refine the essence of fresh blood and pacify the Earth Dragon’s will . As long as there are enough sufficient altars, it’ll give the Earth Dragon a false sense of satiety . Void colossi like the Earth Dragon will become less active once it’s full and become half-asleep . ”

Qianye glanced at Bluemoon and said meaningfully, “You seem to know quite a lot about this . ”

Bluemoon lowered her gaze, avoiding eye contact with Qianye . “Don’t forget that my ancestor has explored this lair before . He naturally knows a lot of secrets, including how to pacify the dragon . In truth, there are three ways to pacify the Earth Dragon, and the blood altar is only one of them . ”

“How did the Spider Emperor and the others know about these secrets? Don’t tell me they’re also being aided by Highbeards?”