In the sky above a sinister valley on the border between the Yuan Nation and the Han Nation:
“How could it be like this? What poison is this? I have never lost before. No!” Chang Ming flew weakly.
Chang Ming’s entire body had turned green. After fleeing for some time, he fainted in the sky on his way back to Northern Expedition City.
Bang!
The unconscious Chang Ming landed in the valley, sending many leaves into the air.
“There’s food? Hahaha! Huh? It’s a spirit-assimilated person?” An aged voice suddenly rang out in the valley.
After some time, Chang Ming slowly opened his eyes, regaining consciousness.
Chang Ming found himself in a dark valley with countless rotting leaves. The sky was overcast, and the wet walls were covered in talisman scripts, which had four chains coming out of them, binding a filthy, wild-looking man with messy hair and tattered clothes.
“I…I must be dreaming. I am such a graceful person, and yet I ended up in hell?” Chang Ming felt startled.
“Little babe, stop dreaming. It is still too early for that. Hehe! Spirit-assimilated person? Furthermore, a second-generation spirit-assimilated person?” the filthy, wild-looking man said.
“Who…who are you? What do you want?” the wide-eyed Chang Ming asked in horror.
“Why are you afraid of me? If not for me, you would have been dead from the poison long ago. Little fellow, you are very fortunate!” That wild-looking man smiled.
“Poison? My poison is gone? How can that be possible? I’m a Heavenly Palace Realm expert. Why couldn’t I suppress that poison?” Chang Ming said in shock.
“Expert, my ass. Merely brat who just reached the Heavenly Palace Realm, and you dare call yourself an expert? Do you know what poison that was? That was a prime’s poison. Only a handful of people possess such poison in this world. You are already very fortunate to survive, yet you actually wanted to suppress it? Heh!” that wild-looking man sneered.
“Oh? That poison was incredible?”
“Haha! Incredible? If I guess right, it was snake venom. Ha! Furthermore, not to mention you, even Middle Heavenly Palace Realm cultivators would be quickly poisoned to death by such a level of snake venom. Aren’t you fortunate to survive until now?” the wild-looking man sneered.
“Huh? Is that so?” Chang Ming felt slightly startled.
“Brat, wise up. This old man saved you. Take me as your master, and this old man will pass on powerful abilities! I am about to reincarnate,” that wild-looking man said.
“Huh? You will pass me abilities? What can you pass on to me? I am of the blood race. Do I need you to pass on abilities to me?” Chang Ming asked in disdain.
“Blood race, my ass! Isn’t it just your father being spirit-assimilated by a bat spirit? His mortal soul was already swapped out, so his descendants are all vampires. Furthermore, your mortal souls will forever be controlled by that bat spirit. He is your primogenitor. If he wants you to die, you have to die!” that wild-looking man sneered.
“Huh?” Chang Ming frowned slightly.
“Don’t worry. This old man is also a spirit-assimilated cultivator. However, I killed my primogenitor. I have more than enough to teach a brat like you,” that wild-looking man said indifferently.
“You will teach me? Why?”
“Because someone—no, a beast—crippled this old man. Damn it, I got trapped here for one thousand years and cannot progress in any way. There is no difference from death,” that wild-looking man said.
“Ah? These chains? Shall I help you to remove them?”
“Ha! Remove, my ass! Do you know what these are? Alright. Cut the crap. After I have a successor, I can go and reincarnate. Then, I can take my revenge. Look into my eyes!” that wild-looking man called out.
“Alright!” Chang Ming turned his head to look.
Buzz!
The wild-looking man’s eyes seemed to have some mystical powers, immediately radiating a strange light. Chang Ming was instantly entranced, unable to move.
Buzz!
A red light shot into Chang Ming’s eyes, and his body turned transparent.
A clump of light in the shape of a black bat squirmed at the back of Chang Ming’s head.
“Little fellow, I am re-refining your mortal soul. Now, that bat spirit no longer controls your mortal soul. However, if you want it to be perfect, you need to kill that bat spirit and consume its mortal soul to make up for your mortal soul’s deficiency,” the wild-looking man said.
“Argh!” Chang Ming screamed in pain.
This continued for two hours.
Buzz!
Chang Ming’s mind trembled before recovering to normal. Then, he raised his head to look at the wild-looking man.
At this moment, the wild-looking man was already so skinny that he looked like a bag of bones.
“You…you…you directly implanted these cultivation techniques into my mind? Who…who are you?” Chang Ming stared in shock at the wild-looking man on his last breath.
“Who am I? Hehe! That no longer matters. I have had enough of this life, and my body is crippled. At least I fulfilled the wish that I had for the past one thousand years by leaving a successor. Damn it! I waited for one thousand years before a vampire finally came!” the wild-looking man snickered.
“Senior, the cultivation techniques that you imparted to me seem to be cultivation techniques of my blood race. Are you from the blood race as well?”
“What nonsense! This old man is not some vampire. If you want to know about me, it’s pretty simple. Hehe! You will come to know in the future. After receiving my inheritance, you will also receive a powerful enemy. This is for you. That beast will come looking for you sooner or later!” that wild-looking man said with a cold smile.
After speaking, the wild-looking man spat out a black pearl.
This pearl looked ordinary. However, it had to be an extraordinary treasure for the wild-looking man to value it so much.
“What is this?”
“Study this thing by yourself. When that enemy comes to find you, just hold out until my reincarnation returns. I’m going now.” The wild-looking man’s figure started scattering.
Chang Ming held the pearl, showing a confused expression. “Se…senior? Alright, then. Master, you have to tell me who your enemy is at least?”
“He is called the Mosquito Daoist! This pearl is called the Primal Essence Pearl!” The wild-looking man left behind these final words.
Whoosh!
The wild-looking man suddenly vanished. The chains and talisman scripts on the valley’s walls scattered along with him.
This left Chang Ming standing in a daze as he held the Primal Essence Pearl.
“The sixteenth of the top sixteen ancient treasures, the Primal Essence Pearl?” Chang Ming appeared shocked as he looked at the black pearl in his hand.
This was the Primal Essence Pearl that took the sixteenth rank among all treasures since ancient times. When news of it spread, it would shake the world, pushing many people into action.
Even the strongest people in the world, including the Qian Heavenly Emperor, would not be able to resist the temptation.
“Who is this Mosquito Daoist? I’ve never heard of him before. The Primal Essence Pearl? Is this really the Primal Essence Pearl? Damn, what luck! I got very lucky. I thought that my trip to Chaoge City was very unfortunate. To think that I obtained such a treasure. Damn! There are actually so many cultivation techniques?! Gu Hai, you vile fellow, you are dead for sure! Hahahahahahahaha!” Chang Ming guffawed.
——
Azure Foundation City:
Gu Hai and Tang Chu looked at the surrounding streets.
“Your Majesty, your guess was right. Although the Yuan Imperial Dynasty captured Azure Foundation City, some clans still feel gratitude for Huangfu Chaoge, longing for him. Although it was quite difficult to contact them, they are willing to work with us on account of their feelings for Huangfu Chaoge. Furthermore, those officials that you arranged to contact them have deep connections with the clans here in the past,” Tang Chu said respectfully.
“What is Azure Foundation City’s defense situation like?” Gu Hai asked.
“The Yuan Imperial Dynasty’s army replaced the original defenders and imprisoned all of them. No one knows where they are imprisoned. However, the Yuan Imperial Dynasty’s army circulated a notice that they would be released in a decade with no harm done to them,” Tang Chu said.
“A decade later? Ha! The citizens would have forgotten about Huangfu Chaoge a decade later. By then, it would not be a problem to release those soldiers,” Gu Hai sneered.
“Indeed. The Yuan Nation would fully grasp these cities a decade later and no longer need to be so cautious. The Huangfu Chaoge that the citizens miss has already died. The citizens do not have any sense of belonging to the Han Nation. We can only make use of the fact that Huangfu Chaoge bequeathed the nation to your Majesty, but it might not be effective then.”
“It is not ‘might’ but ‘will.’ We put in a lot of effort to gain the support of the citizens belonging to the twelve cities we grasp. Naturally, it will be even more difficult here.”
“Then, what should we do, Your Majesty?”
“The citizens’ feelings for Huangfu Chaoge are diminishing and will be completely gone in a decade, so we should amplify the citizens’ longing for Huangfu Chaoge before this feeling completely disappears.”
“Get the citizens to reject the Yuan Nation and long for Huangfu Chaoge?”
“The will of the citizens is the will of the city. So what if the Yuan Nation’s army forcibly occupies the city? When the citizens’ hearts lie with the Han Nation, breaking into the city is a minor matter,” Gu Hai said confidently.
“Yes!”
“First, we need to find the one million defenders that are locked up. Once we find them, we will have another one million soldiers,” Gu Hai said.
“Huh? But no one knows where they are locked up. Those clans willing to work with us already sent their people to investigate long ago. However, they could not find anything at all.” Tang Chu frowned.
“It doesn’t matter. While you can’t find it, can’t those Yuan Nation defenders find it?” Gu Hai smiled.
Tang Chu’s expression flickered as he looked at Gu Hai.
“This time, we have also brought the death convicts of the various cities. Have you made arrangements for them yet?”
“Your Majesty, those death convicts are those demons who killed innocents?”
“Killed innocents? Haha! You underestimate them. Executing them ten thousand times would still be insufficient for the sins they committed. Previously, there was no capital punishment in the nation that Huangfu Chaoge established. However, there is in my Han Royal Dynasty.”
——
Azure Foundation City:
After changing hands a few times, Azure Foundation City had ended up in the Yuan Imperial Dynasty’s hands. Although the citizens felt uncomfortable with this, the Yuan Nation’s army did not put any pressure on their daily lives, so they did not object much. Furthermore, most of the citizens lost hope after Huangfu Chaoge died. They no longer cared about this, simply going on with their lives. The citizens consoled themselves, thinking that perhaps living under the Yuan Imperial Dynasty might not be bad.
This continued until one day when ten dried corpses slowly drifted down a river outside the city.
There were two holes in the corpses’ necks with some dried blood around them. The corpses had their blood completely drained and wore the uniform of Azure Foundation City’s previous defenders.
“The imprisoned defenders? Was their blood sucked out? Vampires?” When someone saw the corpses, he was immediately shocked and horrified.
Soon, many people came to take a look.
These citizens poured into the city in batches.
“Madam Zhang, wasn’t your son a defender?”
“Yes. They said that he would be locked up for ten years. I wonder how he is now?” an old lady said bitterly.
“Quickly go out of the city and take a look; see if it is your son. With their current appearance, maybe even their mothers can no longer recognize them!”
“What happened?”
“Go take a look for yourself. Hah.”
There was no way to stop the news. After all, many of the citizens had family members who were defenders. The news of defenders’ corpses being dumped into the river outside the city after having their blood sucked out by vampires immediately spread in the city. Everyone wondered if it was their family.
Countless citizens promptly rushed out of the city.
