Monarch of Evernight

Violet flames flickered in Zhao Jundu’s eyes as he met Li Kuanglan’s gaze. “I didn’t want to, either, but I was worried some of them would escape your sloppy attack.”

Li Kuanglan’s eyes turned even harsher. “These trash were merely struggling at death’s door, not enough to escape this young master’s hands. There’s really no need for you to take the trouble.”

Zhao Jundu stood in the air with no immediate intention of leaving. He asked in a seemingly careless manner, “Is that so? I wonder which of them Young Noble Kuanglan intended to kill first?”

“Of course the two demonkin,” Li Kuanglan replied without hesitation.

Zhao Jundu was rather surprised. “Oh, Young Noble Kuanglan is so vigorous. You’re even willing to sustain some injuries, I take it?”

Both of them saw very clearly how the two demonkin viscounts were attempting to activate a secret technique. They were trying to escape in the direction where Qianye and the demonkin count were fighting. The other three vampires, on the other hand, intended to counterattack and force Li Kuanglan to yield a way out. They were ready to ignite their blood cores if they had no way of escaping, trading their lives for a heavy blow to the enemy.

If Li Kuanglan intended to kill the demonkin, she would have to take on the attacks of the three vampires. The former’s origin power level far surpassed that of his opponents, but she—like all other human champions—did not specialize in defense. Even after taking the high-grade armor and origin defenses into consideration, she could hardly avoid injuries in the face of the three viscounts’ final attacks.

Only after hearing Zhao Jundu did Li Kuanglan realize the problem in her words just now. She laughed loudly a couple of times and said, “Just who do you think this young noble is? How can a couple of vampires injure me?”

At first, Li Kuanglan thought her forced situation would elicit mockery from Zhao Jundu. She could hardly believe her ears when the latter nodded and said, “I guess that’s true.”

For a moment, Li Kuanglan was at a loss for words, and the two stood facing each other in silence.

Both of them were top figures among the younger generation of the empire, known not only for their prowess in combat, but also for their sharpness and intelligence. After the short lapse of silence, both of them noticed something off about the other—it seemed none of them had the intention to leave.

Zhao Jundu was the first to speak. “The enemy is running rampant in the castle. Please feel free to join the other battles.”

Li Kuanglan said with a hearty laugh, “This place has a commanding view over the entire place. This young noble wishes to observe the battle situation. On the other hand, why is the Zhao Fourth Young Noble wasting time here?”

At this point, both of them glanced at the rubble. As heaven-bestowed geniuses, they quickly caught onto one another’s intentions despite the subtlety of their movements.

There was a seemingly bottomless hole in the rubble. No one knew just how many floors Qianye and the demonkin count had punched through, and the berserk origin power in the depths of the hole made it impossible to probe the situation.

Zhao Jundu and Li Kuanglan had heard about each other for a long time. They didn’t quite think the other party would go so far as to launch a sneak attack, but neither was willing to leave their back open to the other given the current relationship between the Zhao and Li clans. Thus, the situation fell into an impasse.

Zhao Jundu’s tone turned cold. “Young Noble Kuanglan, I’ll be frank. Qianye is from the Zhao clan, so I’m going down to take a look. It’s inappropriate for you to remain here, please leave.”

Li Kuanglan said with a cold laugh, “Qianye never sold himself to the Zhao clan. When did he become one of yours? Any price you can offer, this young noble can match. Moreover, I insist on enjoying the scenery here. What can you do about it?”

Zhao Jundu’s expression sank as the Jade River’s edge extended outward. A chill filled the air around Li Kuanglan and gradually condensed into frost patterns.

At this moment, Qianye and the demonkin count were fighting in the depths of the castle. Amidst the rubble, East Peak could hardly exert its full strength, and the demonkin’s sword had also become more or less a burden. Despite still holding onto their weapons, both parties were actually fighting with punches and kicks for the most part.

The demonkin couldn’t help but complain after a few exchanges. Every part of Qianye’s body was as hard as steel. Every blow—be it a shoulder-bash, head-butt, elbow strike, or knee attack—felt as though he had bumped into a mountain.

The demonkin count was soon seeing stars. The bones in his body were cracking loudly, and one of his little fingers had been bent outward.

The demonkin count was clear that his weakness was the opponent’s strong point, but he had no way to turn the situation around. He couldn’t find the opportunity to extricate himself from Qianye’s torrential melee attacks, and their domains were also equally matched. The count felt as though he were in the depths of the ocean. It took him quite the effort just to stay afloat in the face of this massive downward pressure. It was impossible for him to rise into the air and put a distance between them.

The demonkin watched as his defenses weaken and start to fall apart. In his despair, the demonkin opened his vertical pupil once more, but this time, his golden eye was filled with traces of blood.

The starry-eyed python emerged again and spat out a mouthful of thick black energy which enclosed Qianye within. The demonkin turned pale after this black energy appeared. Wrinkles extended all over his face as though he had aged hundreds of years in an instant. His aura had also grown incomparably feeble.

There was a mad sense of elation in his eyes as he stared at the squirming black energy. This was the essence of his entire life’s cultivation, a power akin to the sting of a honeybee. He himself was not far from death after launching this extremely powerful attack. Even an expert three levels higher than him would turn into a skeleton in just a few minutes.

The demonkin propped himself up and looked on with wide eyes. He had to watch Qianye turn into a corpse before passing away.

The black energy began squirming violently all of a sudden as several beams of dark golden light shot out. They revolved around the black energy like sharp blades and produced a series of openings on it. Fresh blood flowed out from the demonkin’s vertical pupil and quickly flowed into his eyes—he could hardly believe what he was seeing in the scarlet world.

That black energy, the accumulation of his life’s talents, was actually a type of special origin power just like the dark golden light. This implied that his demonic qi had failed utterly in a contest of origin power. In the entire human camp, only a handful of the most powerful legendary bloodlines was capable of this.

A pair of hands appeared through the black energy and tore it into two! That mass of squirming black energy let out a miserable cry as though it was sentient, and the demonkin’s body also began to tremble, seemingly suffering the same agony.

Qianye’s robes were in tatters as he walked out of the demonic qi—several large holes had appeared on his armor, revealing the badly mangled flesh underneath. But after winning the contest of origin power, these were merely superficial wounds that would heal in no time.

As expected, a dark golden light emerged around Qianye’s body. The dense golden mist around his injuries washed off the remnant demonic qi completely, and his bone-deep wounds began growing back rapidly. There was no way this kind of regeneration would appear on a human.

The demon trembled as he pointed at the dark golden light. “You, you’re not human! Vampire, primo!!! You despicable…”

Only at this point did the demonkin count discover that the dark golden light wasn’t daybreak origin power—it was blood energy! A type of blood energy he had never heard of before. Its quality was so high that it could easily crush his innate demonic qi. Being powers from the same side, the resistance of demonic qi to blood energy was even stronger than that of daybreak attributes.

The demonkin’s loud voice came to a screeching halt as Qianye took a step forward and plunged his vampiric blade into the former’s origin furnace. The count’s expression was full of shock, hatred, and unwillingness, but he could no longer produce a single sound. The color in his eyes gradually dimmed. At this moment, inky blood dripped down from his vertical pupil as he passed away.

A drop of essence blood flowed through the vampiric blade.

This drop of blood was so heavy that Qianye could almost feel his vampiric blade sink downward. It felt as though a drop of burning quicksilver had entered his body, causing his blood to boil wherever it passed. Even the dark golden blood energy became incomparably excited and immediately entered a state of blood boil.

Qianye opened his mouth to spit out the impure air in his chest, but he actually spat out a fireball instead!

Qianye felt as though every corner of his body was burning. That drop of essence blood from the count had dissolved in the raging blood and merged into his flesh. Qianye’s blood core began pulsing under its stimulation. Wisps of golden blood poured out continuously and spread throughout his body.

An unbearable sensation of numbness emerged suddenly from his blood core. It was as though something was about to sprout from the earth after the heavy rain.

Qianye focused his consciousness into his body and saw new crystals being formed continuously in the depths of his blood core. The blood core itself, as well as the crystalline granules embedded on it, were also growing larger and had expanded by a third at the very least. The ancient essence fragment which was blocking the outlet had shrunk slightly. Apparently, a part of it had been absorbed by the blood core.

The scorching sensation in Qianye’s body slowly calmed down after the blood core’s growth drew to a close. He moved his body around and found himself full of explosive strength. A casual swipe of his hand immediately snapped off a sturdy stone slab as though it were tofu, which he then crushed into fine powder between his fingers. Moreover, he hadn’t exerted strength consciously during this entire process.

“Ba-dump!” The abrupt systole of the blood core sent Qianye into a daze—his consciousness seeped into a familiar space, and the River of Blood appeared before his eyes. Accompanied by a wisp of profound power, countless inheritances and knowledge poured into his mind with tidal momentum.

Above the ruins, the expressions of Li Kuanglan and Zhao Jundu transformed drastically as they looked up at the sky. It was as though a mysterious doorway had opened above the firmament and in the void with an inexplicably ancient aura of grim savagery pouring down from it.

This aura caused even people like them to tremble. It was cold, powerful, and stained with the passage of millions of years.

At this moment, on the distant Twilight continent, the glass in Habsburg’s hand suddenly shattered, and the scarlet wine within splashed onto his exquisitely crafted clothes. Something like this happening to Prince Habsburg of the Flaming Crown went to show just how shocked he was.

The hall fell into a deathly silence as all eyes fell onto Habsburg. The brief fluctuation in Flaming Crown’s blood energy was like an invisible storm which almost stifled the guests in the hall.

There was a prestigious vampire elder in the group closest to Habsburg. Although only a marquis, he was a family attendant who had watched the prince grow up. Amidst the solemn atmosphere, only he dared take two steps forward before asking, “Your Majesty, what is the matter?”

Habsburg glanced around and saw everyone looking at him. He pondered for a moment and then said, “I don’t know if this is good news or bad news. I sensed the aura of the River of Blood just now, but it remains a mystery who actually activated the power of the sacred river.”

The hall erupted in immediate clamor!

[1] Now this is a tricky one. The literal translation is “feel free to do what you want”, but it’s clear here that Zhao Jundu is asking Li Kuanglan to leave in an overly polite manner.