Chapter 1045: Counterattack

Qianye glanced at the two formless demonic blades and crashed into them without a second thought. The moment they came into contact, the scarlet gold flames on his body burned the blades into oblivion. What remained of the demonic energy, he could just resist with his body.

A vast path opened up before him after charging through the blockade of demonic blades. However, he had just moved when seven more blades appeared to seal off his path. Qianye used Spatial Flash without a second thought and appeared beyond the seven blades. At this point, he came to a sudden stop and flew backward, through the demonic blades.

The Demoness had appeared before him and blocked his return path.

Qianye's countenance was as calm as still water. He continued to contend with the Demoness amidst the rapidly changing fight while finding ways to control his own traces.

Andruil had brought the Spatial Flash ability to its apex. All this time, Luo Bingfeng was the only one who could grasp its trajectory, but why could the Demoness do the same? She couldn't be stronger than Luo Bingfeng.

While thinking about this, Qianye suddenly looked up at the sky and noticed that the world was a bit dimmer than he remembered. He immediately recalled that the Demoness' arrival was accompanied by a momentary shroud of darkness, which soon faded as the sky returned to normal. Now that he thought about it, the sky was still somewhat darker than before even after its recovery. This difference was almost negligible, so much so that Qianye had almost overlooked it.

A domain!

Qianye came to a realization. It turned out that he had always been inside the Demoness' domain, and that allowed her to lock onto and move toward his location. The domain also increased the Demoness' movement speed, and over short distances, she was almost as swift as Qianye's Spatial Flash.

Qianye glanced at the distant sky and found faint traces of darkness floating about. It was as though a dark dome had engulfed everyone within. The Demoness' domain was unimaginably large.

The bigger the domain, the more evident the weakness. The Demoness' domain was extremely well hidden, so much so that even Qianye almost failed to notice it. Others like Edward, Eden, Twilight, and the other vampires simply didn't know anything. Anwen was engrossed in his calculations all this time, so there was no telling whether he had noticed.

The hidden nature of the domain was a form of defense, but it would become a weakness once discovered.

Several solutions quickly appeared in Qianye's mind, but they were struck off one after the other. His current rate of expenditure was high, and he couldn't hold out much longer. Even if he could shatter the Demoness' domain, he would still need to figure out how he would deal with her afterward. At the very least, he needed to be able to escape if things turned south.

And leaving just like that wasn't Qianye's style.

Qianye changed directions and charged toward the Constellation Well. An origin gun appeared in his hand, the origin arrays on it lit up and ready to fire.

This development was far beyond everyone's expectations. The Demoness, however, was extremely fast—she personally chased after him and quickly closed the gap between them. There was also a vampire marquis blocking the path ahead. Edward himself flew in from the side after seeing Qianye. Judging from his speed, it seemed he would be able to intercept the latter before he could reach the Constellation Well.

A hint of mockery appeared in Edward's sinister eyes. The grade seven weapon in Qianye's grasp was exquisitely made—it was fairly outstanding and the origin array was meticulously calibrated, a masterpiece at the peak of grade seven. However, as someone used to top-grade weapons, even grade-eight weapons couldn't get into Edward's eyes, let alone this one.

Qianye's previous weapons—be it Heartgrave or East Peak—were enough to intimidate Edward. Heartgrave, especially, filled his heart with dread even before it was fired. Edward couldn't help but sneer now that Qianye had whipped out a grade-seven weapon instead of those powerful tools. Who was he trying to scare?

Edward didn't reduce his speed while facing Qianye, intent on intercepting the latter. As for the fierce beasts that would be drawn over by the gunshot, he really wasn't too worried. The younger generation of Evernight had largely gathered here, and their combined fighting power was comparable to an army. With the Demoness holding the fort, what kind of fierce beasts could stand against them?

Qianye pressed forward without pause. Holding the gun in one hand, a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye's back. The weapon in Qianye's grasp erupted in light, with traces of darkness mixed in. Through the reinforcement of the Wings of Inception, the gun's power increased sharply and reached grade eight from the peak of grade seven!

Much to Edward's surprise, the Misty Cold in Qianye's hand rumbled loudly!

This gun wasn't aimed at the Demoness or Edward, nor was it fired toward the intercepting marquis. Instead, the blast was aimed at the entrance of the Constellation Well.

Everyone was startled, unable to figure out what this shot was for. The Constellation Well was, speaking frankly, just a circle of cliffs. Firing at it would shave off some stone fragments at best. It would also disrupt the arachne inside the well, but that was the extent of it. This move seemed entirely meaningless.

Could it be that Qianye was trying to collapse the Constellation Well with a grade-seven gun? One had to know that not even a Grand Magnum could destroy the well.

The vampire marquis had the same thought, so he moved sideways to dodge the incoming projectile. After missing this shot, Qianye would be intercepted by Edward, not to mention the Demoness was dangerously close. If the Holy Son could stall Qianye for just a moment, the Demoness would arrive to perform a pincer attack.

Edward naturally understood the importance of his role. He took a step forward and blocked Qianye's path at a critical location. Just as he was about to attack, the Holy Son noticed Qianye's killing intent and determination. He was shocked!

Qianye was already at the end of his wits, and it looked like he couldn't even use Spatial Flash so easily anymore. He would be completely cornered after being intercepted by Edward. Everyone knew Qianye was still hiding his killing moves. Back in Indomitable, he had used three Shots of Inception to force the Demoness into deep slumber. Now that he had advanced another step, who was to say he wouldn't fire thrice again?

If the three Shots of Inception were to land on Edward, even the proud vampire Holy Son would perish without a doubt.

Edward's movements slowed momentarily as this thought flickered through his mind. This slight delay was enough for the Demoness to arrive for the pincer attack, sparing him from intercepting Qianye alone. The opportunity lost due to this brief delay wasn't enough for Qianye to escape his fate.

Just as things were going as planned, the Holy Son noticed a fantastic sensation wash over the area. The sky seemed to have brightened up a bit, as though a layer of spiderwebs had been peeled off from their clothes. Although no one noticed the burden, this sudden change filled them with a sense of freedom.

Edward immediately became cautious. He looked back just in time to see the Demoness' swiftness declining sharply, and his blood core also skipped a beat.

Qianye let out a long laugh, tossing out a metallic tube as he made for the sky. His figure then appeared on the other side of the Constellation Well and quickly moved away.

The Demoness stopped after realizing this. She merely stood across Edward, gazing at the falling metallic tube instead of chasing after Qianye.

No one knew what she was thinking.

Within the Constellation Well, Basil was drenched in sweat and his massive body was trembling slightly. Some fragmented rocks had fallen from the well entrance, and a fair number of them had struck his body. He wasn't afraid of danger, but this startled him quite a bit. One had to know that the well was guarded by experts like the Demoness, Anwen, and Eden, as well as Edward and his group of vampire guards. How could anyone shoot at the well under such circumstances?

Wouldn't Basil become a sheep waiting to be slaughtered?

He didn't really fear death, but this was far from a meaningful way to die. In his fright, a fair bit of the starlight accumulating on the spider egg dispersed immediately. The egg was entirely soft at this point, and most of it had turned into grey liquid. By the time the entire egg had turned into liquid, it would become a drop of origin blood that could upgrade the arachne's bloodline power. Now, the accumulation process would be somewhat delayed because he was startled during the procedure.

Basil noticed that he was too distracted just now. He would need to focus on the condensation procedure if he didn't want to return empty-handed.

Should he give up or continue? The ferocity in Basil's blood won the conflict. He clenched his teeth and shut off his own perception. The process was at its most important juncture. The origin blood would be completed in just three more minutes. Besides, he didn't have much power left to spare. He knew he had to speed up because he wouldn't be able to hold out for very long.

It was at this time that an earth-shattering rumble came from the well entrance. Even the cliff walls in the depths of the wall were trembling somewhat.

Despite sealing off his senses, Basil was still woken up by the tremendous explosion.

Soon, shattered rocks of all shapes and sizes fell down from the massive defect at the entrance to the Constellation Well. The shearing forces inside the well weren't quite effective against these native rocks. Gravel fell like rain and pitter-pattered on Basil's body, and there was even a large table-sized rock that smashed him down a bit.

Basil wanted to cry but had no tears. The bulging spider egg before him was spinning as countless specks of starlight flowed out from it. This drop of near-completed origin blood had been ruined.

Realizing that there was no way to reverse this development, he began moving back with a gloomy expression. He really wanted to know what exactly was happening up there, for him to suffer repeated disruptions despite the powerful guard force.

The entrance to the Constellation Well was in utter chaos.

Edward was covered in dirt, his robes torn in many different places, and his body full of small wounds. The flesh wounds weren't that big of a deal, but his dark purple blood energy was also quite weak now, and it would surely take him half a day to recover. Twilight was checking on the vampire marquis on the ground, feeding him a drop of origin blood.

The Demoness was nowhere to be found. Only a string of her afterimages remained in the air, but no one knew which one was real. Anwen and Eden stood in the distance with an expression of shock.

A massive pit had appeared on the ground, close to a hundred meters in radius. One could see how terrifying the explosion was to have destroyed the rocks in the Great Maelstrom to this extent.

Basil climbed out of the well and looked around, quickly realizing what had transpired. He glanced at Anwen, Eden, and then Edward with a cold smile, "The demonkin and vampires are truly powerful!"

Anwen looked embarrassed, while Eden responded with a poker face. The ragged Edward maintained a poker face, and no one knew what he was thinking.

After the taunt, Basil said, "I was startled, I need to rest. You guys handle things on your own for the next day."

With that, he vanished into the forest and never looked back.