Chapter 1223: Sea of Jade

Training five hundred thousand werewolves was no easy task, nor was it as easy as just issuing armor.

Qianye’s requirements were that the werewolf forces had to be incorporated with the new human army. They would also have to go into battle together. Such training was much more complicated and sharply increased the selection standard for the werewolves.

The strong but bestial and disobedient could not be selected. In the past, these werewolves were an essential part of the army—they would go berserk in battle and charge with no concern for their lives, the best cards in a werewolf commander’s hands.

But Qianye seemed disdainful of such warriors, leaving no room for them in the mixed army. This meant that they would have to mobilize almost every tribe in order to hit five hundred thousand men. The work involved was astronomical.

No cannon fodder? Eiseka said nothing, mainly because he did not know how to put it. It was a good thing that Qianye wouldn’t use the werewolves as cannon fodder… but!

The new army had always used the same method to train their soldiers. Now, Qianye had toppled it entirely and decided to use the rapid method Song Zining had used to train Dark Flame. Hence, Xu Jingxuan’s work wasn’t easy, either.

At this point, the four of them were exhausted, each burdened by a mountain of things to do. Song Hui said, “Who is he going to fight with an army of such scale?”

These words woke everyone up. That was indeed the case of basic mobilization—there would be some differences in preparation depending on the opponent. The more detailed this consideration was, the greater their chances of victory and the smaller the casualties.

Song Lun glanced at Xu Jingxuan. “You’re from Fort Continent, what are your thoughts?”

Xu Jingxuan glanced at Eiseka. “My home has always been blocked by the great corridor and the Jade Sea. Two months ago, I was still wondering how to stop the next werewolf attack. There’s no way I could’ve bothered with something so distant. Ask him!”

Eiseka laughed wryly. “You guys must’ve forgotten. I’m also blocked by the Jade Sea. Our ancestral map doesn’t even have the entire Jade Sea in it. How should I know what’s there on the other side?”

“Why don’t we call the Jade Sea chiefs over and ask them?” Song Hui suggested.

“That would be best.”

Moments later, the werewolf chief with the bright feathered headdress walked into the meeting room. “You guys know that I’m the smartest chief in the Jade Sea, right? You came to the right person for your question. Oh, right… what was the question again?”

This turkey chief was rather plump, his body almost twice the girth of an ordinary werewolf. It was difficult to associate him with smart no matter how one looked at him. His past style had always been more reckless than smart. His tribe had grown powerful only because his luck was especially good.

The group exchanged glances. In the end, Eiseka asked, “Hawk, how much do you know about the other side of the Jade Sea?”

Hawk smiled in a carefree manner. “There’s nothing I don’t know. West from the Jade Sea is some werewolf and human lands. South from the Jade sea is some werewolf and human lands.”

This information was utterly useless.

Song Lun glanced at Eiseka. “Can we find a tribe that lives close to the western border?”

Eiseka shook his head. “That place is too far, the tribes there have not submitted yet.”

Xu Jingxuan’s eyes lit up. “Isn’t our objective clear? We’ll just have to take down those tribes first and see!”

Just as everyone was in a heated discussion, Qianye was gazing at the Fort Continent map and contemplating his next move. The distribution of various powers, minerals, and resources were clearly marked on this map.

Qianye had kept this copy of confidential Imperial intelligence. He would make a copy of it only when required and make plans from it.

At first, Qianye had wanted to rest and consolidate internal power after taking the Jade Sea, however, he had never imagined that so many werewolves would join him. To keep these werewolves busy, he had no choice but to hasten his expansion plans.

Several days later, the battlefield had been cleared. Qianye’s new army of soldiers and prisoners marched out toward the capital of the Jade Sea, Cerulean Wave City.

With such a large army in tow, a journey only a couple hundred kilometers long took several days. Immediately after entering the core region of the Jade Sea, a vast body of water appeared before Qianye. Even from the deck of the battlecruiser, which was hundreds of meters in the air, he could not see the end of the sea.

The bluish-green waves crashed onto the rocky shores, producing a rhythm that was soft and drawn. The shores were lined with patches of blue or green, making the clear waters seem like a giant piece of jade.

These waters were actually part of an inland lake. It was just that the lake was so big that it stretched hundreds of kilometers and was thus called the Jade Sea. The region around it was also named after it.

After marching along the shores for half a day, a majestic city appeared before the army.

This city was on a peninsula that stretched into the lake. The majestic walls were thirty meters in height, and the main building—the tallest structure—stood at almost a hundred meters tall. The giant balcony at the top overlooked the beautiful scenery of the Jade Sea. The walls were strong and thick, with bastions protruding at regular intervals. From a defensive point of view, it could be considered almost invulnerable.

The castle area was big, and outside of it was an even bigger residential area that stretched outside of the peninsula. It was just that the structures outside were small and shabby, almost like the slums by Imperial standards.

The castle was visibly chaotic as the army arrived, but the commotion soon died down.

News of the Whitebone Duke’s demise and the defeat of the allied tribal army had already reached Cerulean Wave City. Eiseka had also sent an envoy ahead to pacify them. The world of the werewolves was where the strong preyed on the weak, where the strongest was king. With the Whitebone Duke dead, Qianye was now considered the new ruler. The lower-ranking werewolves now had a new object of worship, and thus, life was no different from before.

The vanguard battalion spread out just outside Cerulean Wave City. When Qianye walked out of the warship, hundreds of werewolves were standing respectfully on each side.

These werewolves were all titled experts. Although they were mostly knights and barons, it was already a force that couldn’t be scoffed at. They were all well-dressed, with carvings and bright patterns on their weapons and armor. These wealthy and respectable people were either chiefs, shamans, or people from powerful clans in the city.

These werewolves exchanged puzzled glances after seeing Qianye, not knowing what to do. From his image and momentum, Qianye was someone they should be waiting upon respectfully.

But he was simply too young! This was actual youth, not just because of good care and complexion. Additionally, they couldn’t sense a single wisp of origin power from Qianye’s body. He looked just like an ordinary person at a glance, but the pressure coming off of him was so strong that it was difficult to breathe in his presence.

Realizing this, Eiseka whispered, “Sire, your aura!”

Qianye came to and released a wisp of dark golden blood energy. In the blink of an eye, the profound aura from the River of Blood rushed into the depths of every werewolf’s bloodline, causing them to tremble uncontrollably. With a plop, the werewolf chief closest to Qianye fell to his knees, followed closely by one werewolf after the other. They threw themselves to the ground, prostrating in great reverence.

Caroline’s expression shifted briefly, and her gaze toward him became abstruse.

At this moment, the feeling Qianye gave her was different again. It was emptier, fleeting, and harder to grasp. That deep, cryptic sensation was akin to a bottomless abyss. After his battle with the Whitebone Duke, Qianye seemed to be improving constantly and at all times. Every other day, his aura would be different from before, and there was no telling how far his strength had advanced.

Looking at the kneeling werewolves, Qianye withdrew his aura and returned to being an ordinary person. “Get up, everyone, take me into the city for a tour.”

The werewolves remained immobile, only daring to get up and follow when Qianye walked past them. The suppression of bloodline origins was highly evident among the dark races, and the tremendous disparity in status canceled out the antagonism between races. To these werewolf experts, what little defiance they felt toward blood energy vanished after experiencing Qianye’s terrifying pressure.

A white-haired shaman walked up to Qianye’s side and said, “I was the great shaman of the city when the duke was still alive, I’ve been in this post for over three hundred years. Every little change in this city is carved deep in my soul. As such, I’ll be the one to explain things to you from here on out. Please don’t hesitate to ask me if you have any questions.”

Qianye nodded.

From outside of the city to the gates was a main road that was ten meters wide, a grand pathway paved from crushed stones. However, the buildings on either side were nothing but small shacks. They didn’t look so bad from afar, but up close, they were made of nothing more than wooden poles and thatched walls. They were so crude that they didn’t even have windows and doors. All they could do was barely keep the wind and rain away.

The furnishings inside them were also extremely crude. Most of them did not have beds; instead, there was only hay on the floor, and not every house had a cabinet. The visible tables and chairs were badly damaged, often missing legs and replaced with tree branches.

There was a vomit-inducing stench permeating the slums area. The primitive werewolves had no idea, but the humans couldn’t stand it.

Qianye was unfazed as an origin power barrier covered his entire body to block out the odor. Those mercenary generals, however, did not have this ability. They were grimacing and looking as though they could cry very soon. Song Hui was looking especially pale, almost as though she would puke any moment.

Seeing this, Qianye could only send her back to the battlecruiser to rest. Xu Jingxuan and the mercenaries did not have this fortune, though. They could only brace themselves and follow Qianye into the city.

This road into the city was so long that it seemed endless. More and more werewolves appeared from the shacks and stood on either side of the road, observing the entourage in silence. Their expressions were numb and their bodies filthy, completely devoid of the bloodthirst common to their race. The only thing they possessed was weakness and decay.

“Who would’ve thought there would be such werewolves?” One of the generals said in a whisper.

Eiseka’s ears were sharp. In the end, he said, “The poor exist everywhere, the werewolves are no exception.”

“Why don’t they go to the great corridor?”

“Going there means death, which is worse than living here in this state. At the very least, they have a chance to reach the skies in one go.”

After asking more about it, the general found out that the Whitebone Duke would pick a batch of young werewolves every year. In name, it was to gather disciples, but in truth, most of them were just servants in the residence. Those who became guards would have to thank the heavens.

Even becoming a servant was a big upgrade to these lowly werewolves, despite the Whitebone Duke appearing less than once a year. As such, these werewolves were gathered outside of the city just for this small opportunity once every year.

Normally, when the shamans and chiefs in the city required manpower, these werewolves would serve as manual labor or even cannon fodder. And just like that, hundreds of thousands of werewolves lived on the food scraps from those powerful people.

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