Monarch of Evernight (Web Novel)

“There is indeed something wrong,” Rex replied helplessly.

“What’s the matter?” Qianye asked.

“The biggest problem is that I’m already dead!”

“Eh?!” Qianye was surprised.

Not many people were strong enough to kill Rex. Only top existences like the supremes, the Black-Winged Monarch, the Eternal Flame, and the Azure King would be able to do so.

“Who? When?” Qianye’s voice trembled with killing intent.

“What? Planning to avenge me?” Rex laughed spuriously.

Qianye sighed deeply. “Time is on my side. Maybe not now, but even the Eternal Flame is not out of the question in the future.”

He understood full well the potential of his strength and chaos origin power. By the time he was a great dark monarch, even the Eternal Flame might not be his match.

“Bold claims to make, let me see what you’re capable of.”

Qianye nodded. “Wait here, I’ll summon my body.”

Rex waved his hands. “No! I’ve been dead for a long time. This spirit is extremely weak, so I cannot get close to your body.”

Qianye inquired further and found out that the current area was fairly special—anything would become highly stable within this environment; even the living origin power was quiet and tame.

After listening to the explanation, Qianye opened his left palm to reveal a projection of his heart. There were an entire five origin crystals on it. This meant that Qianye’s Daybreak side had already stepped into the divine champion realm and was only one step away from rank twenty-four, the widely accepted threshold of a heavenly monarch.

Qianye’s right hand showed the structure of his body. Someone at Rex’s level could see that Qianye’s body had been reforged from the inside out—his constitution had reached a terrifying level and had almost no flaws left. The only thing left unupgraded was the soul, blood core, and the brain.

As an Evernight expert, Rex understood that Qianye was currently at the grand duke rank, but that didn’t stop him from feeling frustrated. How could there be any grand duke as strong as this person? Even a great dark monarch was merely at the same physical strength.

If an ordinary grand duke’s physique was comparable to steel, Qianye’s was like a super-alloy that was several times stronger.

“You really are… a monster.” Rex sighed despite no longer needing to breathe.

Seeing Qianye’s actual strength, the man stopped keeping up pretenses. “You had better give up on any thoughts of avenging me. The one who killed me is… the Queen.”

“What?! Oh, you mean the Spider Queen?”

Rex destroyed any illusions Qianye might have formed. “It’s the Queen of the Night, Lilith.”

Qianye listened solemnly, curious about the reasoning.

Rex wanted to say something, but he simply sighed in the end. “The reason is related to the new world. Teacher and I wanted to stop the council’s plans, you see, and I was the one tasked with executing the critical part of the operation. Her… attack tore through the void and severed my vitality.”

“This matter ignited a fallout between Teacher and the Queen.” Rex sighed.

Qianye didn’t know how to evaluate the situation. “What exactly is in the new world that is so important?”

“It’s the darkness origins. In truth, this darkness origins…” Halfway through the conversation, Rex’s voice grew hoarse, and Qianye could no longer hear him clearly.

Rex discovered something. “Looks like all of my memories regarding the darkness origins have been erased. That’s not important, you’ll find out very soon.”

Qianye asked a couple more times, but Rex was in the same state. He couldn’t talk about anything related to the darkness origins.

At this point in the conversation, Qianye had also discovered that the current Rex was not complete. His situation was somewhat similar to the Pointer Monarch’s remnant will back in the year.

It was clear that Rex had really passed.

Having confirmed this, Qianye changed the conversation. “Since you’ve been waiting here all along, did you have anything to say to me?”

This problem was the key to opening the door.

“You must stop the council! The Attawa will help you. They’re willing to sacrifice themselves to this end.” Rex’s voice suddenly became holy and distant, a tone befitting of a deity.

“What should I do?”

“Do whatever you can to stop them! You have to kill the people they send here. The Attawa tribes have all heard this revelation, and they will be your most loyal companions. At the same time, the mother tree and the earth itself will help you, every tree here will be your eyes and ears.”

“Rex?”

The glow in Rex’s eyes disappeared as he returned to his holy form. He glanced at Qianye with a surprised expression, saying, “You actually managed to get here?”

Everyone seemed to have returned to before. Rex was like a looping machine that had been reset.

Speechless, Qianye went through all the questions again in hopes of finding out more from Rex. This projection possessed a part of Rex’s intelligence—it could still see through Qianye’s Wings of Inception and remembered quite a lot of secrets. Apparently, he couldn’t forget it even before his death.

In the end, Qianye understood that Rex had left this consciousness in preparation for the Evernight Council’s invasion of the new world. He wanted to round up experts to foil the council’s plan with the help of the Attawa.

Realizing that there wasn’t anything left to ask and feeling fatigued in spirit, Qianye made ready to return to his body. It was at this time that a sudden glow ignited in the depths of Rex’s eyes. A figure rose in the depths of those pupils, almost as though it had just woken up from a deep slumber.

“So it’s you,” he said in a gloomy voice.

Qianye glanced back. “I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“No, I’ve seen you before.”

“When?”

Rex paused for a bit. “It should be… in the depths of space-time turbulence. I only saw a fragment of fate, but I’ve been waiting for this day all along.”

“Who are you at the moment?”

“I’m Rex, a consciousness left behind in the holy spirit’s will. The reason for my existence is to tell you one thing, all the answers you seek are in the holy mountain.”

“Why go through all this trouble?”

“That’s because some secrets must be kept eternally. They cannot be described, nor even remembered. They can only be stored in a certain state,” Rex said implicatively.

Qianye understood that it was probably something related to the darkness origins. It could not be spoken of nor remembered, only placed in a certain location. What the people needed to do was to remember that location.

Having completed his mission, the glow in Rex’s eyes faded away, and the silhouette began to disappear.

Qianye glanced around briefly before heading back to the altar on the ground. Once inside, his consciousness immediately felt relaxed. It would seem that the suppression exerted by the living origin power was quite strong outside.

Qianye’s body was still leaning against the altar. He moved his body about after his return and felt relieved after finding that everything was fine.

The elder knelt on the floor, saying, “The Sperger tribe of the Attawa is willing to destroy the invading demons at all costs!”

The other warriors also fell on their knees and repeated the elder’s words.

Qianye allowed them to stand and proceeded to ask about the Sperger clan’s territories, distribution, and military power.

The thirteen Attawa tribes were fairly similar in their structure and development. The Sperger tribe was also supported by the dozen or so giant wargods, fairly similar to the Monroe.

Back then, the Monroe tribe had sacrificed life and limb to pave the way to Progia, ultimately weakening his defensive field. The effect wasn’t that great, either. It was far below expectations. Progia had fled immediately because Qianye’s shot was much more powerful than he had expected.

That battle wiped out hundreds of Attawa soldiers; not a single person survived. Over half of them had lost their lives as soon as the battle began.

Now that he had a choice, Qianye didn’t really want the Attawa soldiers to just throw their lives away.

After thinking for a long while, Qianye said, “Have some of your men take me to the holy mountain, the rest should go back to the tribe and prepare for war.”

The elder tasked the same three soldiers who had led Qianye here to take him to the holy mountain. He himself gathered the other tribesmen and left for their stronghold.

Having assigned the missions, Qianye set out with his guides. As for the elder, he probably would never receive the order to mobilize.

Things were different on their way to the holy mountain. Two of the soldiers walked in front and one brought up the rear, ready to fight to the death at any moment.

It was one runday’s distance to the holy mountain. Chatting along the way, Qianye noticed that the three Attawa soldiers hated the council’s soldiers, but they were neutral toward humans and vampires. Now that was interesting.

Qianye asked them why, but they couldn’t explain it clearly, either. All they kept saying was that the demons would destroy this world.

Since there was no answer, Qianye decided to stop asking. He would see the secret Rex had left behind when he arrived at the holy mountain. Perhaps it would tell him what exactly the darkness origins were—something that could even make Andruil and Lilith fall out.