Across the pitch-black wilderness, Chen Chuan rode at a gallop. From the pouch where he carried the relic, a wisp of glowing rosy vapor drifted out and trailed behind him, coalescing into a shimmering, diffuse ribbon of light that reached all the way up into the vault of heaven, dyeing the sky in magnificent hues.
It was an extraordinary sight, yet right now it served as the clearest beacon pointing straight to his position. All along the way, harassments and assaults had been relentless; however, because he was moving so fast, he encountered only scattered attacks, and there were even stretches where he met no resistance whatsoever.
That made sense. On this boundless plain, the forces of the former imperial house were ultimately limited in number. It was impossible for them to cover every stretch of land, so they could only take up positions at key strategic points.
Moreover, the route he was traveling along was a primary corridor carved out to link with the rear lines. The former imperial army was broadly deployed along it, so as he rode, encounters were inevitable.
After riding for another hour without disturbance, the whir of propeller blades suddenly reached him from ahead. Soon, airships closed in from both the left and right. The rotary machine guns mounted on them spun up, and incendiary bombs dropped one after another ahead of him in an attempt to block his path.
The incendiary bombs exploded against the night, instantly setting the ground ablaze. Flying sparks ignited the brush and grass, forging a sprawling corridor of fire directly ahead.
Chen Chuan glanced forward. The Mind Jin over his body expanded as he spurred his mount, weaving left and darting right through the wall of flame. Slipping through by the narrowest of margins, he relied on his extraordinary spiritual power to dodge every stray cinder drifting toward him.
Under these harrowing conditions, the steed beneath him actually grew wildly exhilarated. It let out a shrill whinny, scattering beads of sweat from its mane as its hooves hammered the ground with growing fury.
Yet right then, whether because they had given up or for some other reason, the two airships that had been harrying him suddenly stopped firing their machine guns. They pulled upward, turned around, and flew off into the distance.
In truth, the crews had just received an urgent dispatch. Scouts had detected large numbers of airships and troops mobilizing at the Great Shun encampment, signaling a likely large-scale offensive at dawn.
More critically, an insider report confirmed that a contingent of troops garrisoning Center City had definitely entered the Confluence. All airships scattered across the wilderness had to be recalled to ensure they were not outmatched in the main clash.
Chen Chuan cast a glance toward the sky. With a quick turn of thought, he deduced the general situation. As he sprinted toward the garrison, the Defense Department could not have remained unaware; they must have begun moving, applying pressure to the former imperial forces on the frontline.
This also served his purpose. As he pushed through line after line and closed in on the garrison, the enemy's chances of intercepting him and seizing the relic were rapidly dwindling.
That General of State Subjugation from the former imperial house was surely already on his way here.
Even as the thought crossed his mind, the terrain ahead sloped steeply downward. From the heights on the opposite side came the groaning crack and snap of catapults, and dozens of massive fireballs came hurtling toward him.
The blazing ceramic spheres shattered against the earth with loud thuds, splashing burning oil everywhere. The surrounding ground caught fire, flames spreading outward in a rapid surge.
Chen Chuan had caught the pungent stench of fuel moments earlier, so instead of plunging straight in, he wheeled his horse around and veered off to skirt the blazing inferno.
Yet he was well aware that this was precisely what the enemy wanted him to do. There were bound to be further ambushes waiting ahead. Refusing to play into their hands, he broke away from the cleared corridors altogether and plunged straight into an uncharted zone.
The forces of the former imperial house had indeed prepared elaborate countermeasures ahead, but Chen Chuan's sudden deviation caught everyone completely off guard.
Throughout his entire journey so far, no matter how many dangers and blockades he encountered, he had never once strayed from the main routes.
And that made sense: uncharted zones teemed with all manner of perilous creatures, and their environments were exceedingly harsh. For ordinary folk, crossing such places was pure suicide, more likely to leave them trapped than anything else. Who could have guessed that he would do exactly that? In one stroke, all their meticulous preparations up ahead were rendered completely useless.
Still, with the rosy radiance pointing the way, they could track his movements. Nor was it necessarily all bad: traveling through an uncharted zone was bound to be slower than crossing open ground, which bought them time to muster their forces and close the net.
Chen Chuan was indeed somewhat hindered now. It was not because of the indigenous creatures—those could easily be driven away with spiritual power—but because the rugged, overgrown terrain prevented him from galloping as swiftly as he could across open ground.
Yet the dragon-nosed horse beneath him was worthy of its pedigree as a mount for elite shock cavalry. Even in such an environment, it bounded and leaped over obstacles, maintaining a respectable pace.
He had originally prepared to dismount and proceed on foot, but it seemed that would not be necessary.
In truth, on the reference map provided by Chen Bitong, these uncharted zones all contained narrow paths that allowed passage. However, without a certain caliber of spiritual power, traversing them was impossible. Thus, to say nothing of how few people even knew about them, even those who did had no way to traverse them.
Now, he put them to full use. After advancing through the area for over an hour, he located the path using the river and hill markers from the map. He even paused here to rest for half an hour, feeding the dragon-nosed horse some nutritional paste along the way.
Afterward, he remounted and galloped onward down the narrow path.
At this point, only dense flocks of scout birds followed in his wake, and trailing quietly behind those birds came Chaoming.
Three hours later, Chen Chuan burst out of the uncharted zone. Once again, he did not linger long in the open wilderness; crossing straight through, he plunged into yet another uncharted zone within twenty minutes.
Seeing that they could mount no effective interception, the various units had no choice but to transmit the news to the rear. It eventually converged aboard a massive silver-white airship.
This was the personal airship of the former imperial house's General of State Subjugation, which was currently cruising in the direction indicated by the rosy radiance.
General of State Subjugation Wei Guochan sat in the main cabin chair, his spear draped with white tassels standing upright beside his hand. Behind his visor, his dark, inscrutable gaze fixed upon the magnificent rosy clouds in the distant sky.
An officer approached, bowed, and reported, "General, word came from the rear: Yao Zhiyi of the rebel army is catching up."
Wei Guochan said nothing, merely waving a hand.
The officer bowed with clasped fists and withdrew.
The commanders flanking him heard the report as well, yet their expressions remained calm. Wei Guochan and Yao Zhiyi had clashed many times before, neither able to gain the upper hand over the other. But having gotten a head start, they would have seized the relic long before Yao Zhiyi caught up.
When the time came, there would be no way for the man to wrest it from the General.
Below, the troops saw the enormous airship glide overhead. Surprise quickly gave way to wild exhilaration, sending their morale soaring.
As telegraphs relayed the news down the line, former imperial troops stationed all along the route raised deafening, earth-shaking shouts of "Ten thousand victories!"
Meanwhile, Yao Zhiyi's personal airship had also appeared in the sky. In terms of class and build, the two vessels were quite similar. Though visible to one another in the air, a considerable distance still separated them.
Standing on his airship's observation deck, Yao Zhiyi looked down at the dense cluster of lights from the army below and listened to the roaring chants echoing into the heavens, his thick brows lifting slightly. Wei Guochan was effectively the spiritual pillar of the entire former imperial force in the Jibei Circuit, worshipped with fervor by officers and soldiers alike.
"Which is fine," he murmured.
His fingers caressed the hilt of his broadsword. If such a spiritual pillar were snapped, the morale of their entire army would surely collapse!
Below, several scout birds suddenly darted up from the ranks, seemingly attempting to approach. But as the machine guns on both sides of the airship opened fire, they were swiftly cut down. Moreover, something was coated across the gas envelope, causing any scout birds that drew near to drop dead instantly.
Two more airships appeared in the vicinity, but neither dared draw close. They trailed far behind, looking almost like an escort.
On the other side, Chen Chuan once again broke out from the dense woods of an uncharted zone. Before him lay the familiar wilderness, and for a long stretch ahead, there would be no more forests.
He had expected some sort of ambush here, yet after emerging, some time passed without any attack. It seemed the enemy was no longer trying to intercept him.
Yet he knew this was hardly a sign of surrender; rather, something far bigger was coming.
A moment later, bright, pristine daylight suddenly blanketed the earth, and the darkness of night, previously thick enough to cut, vanished in an instant.
Day had broken.
He reined in his horse. The dragon-nosed horse lifted its forehooves, snorted, and came to a halt.
The figures of rider and horse cast long shadows across the ground. Ahead stretched an endless expanse of open plain, where a headwind whipped at the red scarf wrapped about his neck.
Looking up into the distance, he saw a silver-white airship cruising toward him from the far horizon. Emblazoned upon the front of its gas envelope was the cloud-and-thunder dragon insignia of the former imperial house. The light reflecting off its surface gleamed like a star in the heavens, exceptionally dazzling.
The moment his eyes fell upon the airship, an inexplicable weight bore down upon him, momentarily seizing his breath.
He knew this was a spiritual warning.
He was certain now: that martial artist of the former imperial house was undoubtedly aboard that vessel.
Even as he watched, right at that moment, something seemed to pierce straight through the colossal airship.
Then came a thunderous boom. The gas envelope bearing the cloud-and-thunder dragon insignia was punctured front to back with a gaping hole. A violent inferno erupted, swiftly engulfing the craft in roaring flames. Moments later, the airship—now a blazing fireball—plunged from the sky.
Chapter 764