There was a long flag hanging from the castle depicting a white bone harp. This went to show that the castle belonged to the Carltons, one of the twelve major vampire clans.
The Carltons were ranked last among the old clans, one that had not seen any improvement in the last century. When Nighteye needed to save Qianye’s life, it was from the Carlton clan that she had extracted origin blood.
Judging from the scale of this castle, it was likely constructed before the clan fell into a decline.
Nighteye gazed at the castle for a while. “From the emblem, it should be the Mueller family of the Carlton clan. The Mueller family had sufficient history behind it, yet their talents were quite mediocre. Even counts were rare among their descendants. The only reason they had survived up until now was due to the complicated marital connections they had made throughout the years.
Qianye nodded. “This is good, he’ll probably cooperate if we want to ask some questions.”
Nighteye and Qianye were both at the duke rank. With two such characters knocking at his door, a mere marquis would have no choice but to be tactful.
Nighteye agreed. “That’s not bad, either. Their family is really lacking in strength but they’re rather well-informed. At least, they’ll know what’s happened in the recent days.”
It was at this time that a ball of fire burst out from the main building and set some of the flags alight. More fire began emerging from the windows, sending a billowing wave of smoke into the sky.
Something had happened. Was this a coincidence?
Qianye said, “Let’s go and take a look.”
“Okay.”
Qianye’s figure flickered away. Nighteye faded out of vision, drawing an arc in the air as she flew forward like a fairy. Her speed wasn’t inferior at all and could easily keep up with Qianye’s Spatial Flash until they were above the castle.
A dozen or so wooden stakes have been erected in the castle plaza and some armed warriors were nailing vampires onto them. Some of the stakes were already burning, and the vampires on them were howling in agony. They weren’t just ordinary flames; they contained an intense daybreak aura.
Nighteye’s countenance shifted.
A fire execution wasn’t just cruel and painful for a vampire, but it was also humiliating and provocative. Burning the dark races at the stake was one of the Empire’s blood-for-blood tactics, a retribution for the blood feasts. The Empire had openly announced that dark races who were burned to death with daybreak flames would find their souls forever destroyed.
Although it was just a one-sided claim, it remained that daybreak flames caused great agony to the dark races. After the daybreak energy system came into being, the dark races invented many ways to torture their own kind with it. Even the Empire found it hard to comment on this.
“It’s the demonkin.” Nighteye couldn’t hold back. She shot into the plaza like a comet, kicking up a gale that extinguished the flames in an instant.
She fired dozens of dark golden blades with a wave of her hand, cutting many of the demonkin soldiers in half.
An aura that belonged to a glorious marquis shot into the sky, and a thunderous roar arrived from a distance, “Who dares attack the council’s troops? What gall!”
He flew over at the speed of lightning, his speed stirring up a thundering blast in the air. All of a sudden, however, his vision blurred as a person appeared out of nowhere. The shocked demonkin hit the brakes frantically and barely managed to stop right in front of the person.
He looked up in anger but ended up gasping in surprise. “Qianye!”
Qianye stood with his hands behind him. He made no effort to defend, completely ignoring the fact that they were close enough to reach out and touch one another. All he said was, “What’s the rush? Stay and chat with me.”
The demonkin’s expression changed drastically. “The entire council is after you, yet you actually dare to step out?”
Remembering something, he immediately turned around to flee, but Qianye appeared in front of him once again.
“Why are you running away all of a sudden? Tell me, what does the council want? Whose order is it?”
The demonkin drew his sword without a word and thrust at Qianye’s blood core. The strike was as swift as lightning, but Qianye merely swung his hand, swatting away the blade along with its wielder. The marquis ended up smashing into the mountain like a cannonball.
Qianye landed slowly beside the glorious marquis. “You’re not in a rush anymore, are you?”
The glorious marquis’ sword was deformed beyond recognition, and his right hand was also bent at an unnatural angle. He was huffing and puffing, his eyes filled with fear as he gasped. “You’re a grand duke now? No, a prince! You must be a prince.”
Qianye crouched down near him. “I’m quite far from the prince-rank, but that’s not important. Now answer my questions if you don’t want me to dig out your origin furnace and roast it in daybreak flames. I might even spare you if I’m in a good mood.”
The demonkin marquis went silent for a while. “I suggest you accept reality, you’re wanted by the entire council. I’m a direct subordinate of the council, so if you kill me, the council might expand the scope of its hunt.”
Qianye frowned as he realized the marquis’ implied meaning. He was the only wanted person at the moment. If they were to expand the scope, where would they start?
The demonkin observed Qianye’s expression and said, “I’m not trying to threaten you, that is the truth. I’ll pretend I never saw you if you let me go. One day should be enough for you to leave Twilight Continent.”
“That’s not a great piece of advice.”
The demonkin broke out in a miserable scream as his left leg was cut off at its base. Qianye shot out a thread of scarlet gold flames, which crystallized the marquis’ flesh upon contact. This fire thread was made up of Venus Dawn; it was as sharp as a high-grade sword, and the wound was extremely difficult to heal for the dark races.
“I’m sorry, I cut out too much just now. You should be able to recover if you go back and rest up for about ten years… that is if a grand duke heals you.”
Qianye said he was sorry, but he moved his finger and aimed the fire thread toward the demonkin’s crotch.
The marquis was panicking now. “What are you doing? That part can’t recover.”
“Who knows? Maybe you can grow a new one?” Qianye’s flames moved closer.
The marquis squealed like a butchered pig. “No! That won’t recover, take it away. Don’t do this!”
“Why does the council want me?”
“They said you’re not dead yet and that you have a treasure on you. The council wants that item.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know, I heard it looks like a book. All we needed to do was find you and hand you over with all your belongings.”
Qianye immediately thought of the Book of Darkness. That was the only book-shaped treasure he had in his hands. It couldn’t be the Song Clan Ancient Scroll since the art required daybreak origin power to cultivate.
After asking several questions and confirming that the marquis didn’t know what exactly the council was looking for, Qianye said, “Which level does the order come from?”
“From the Sacred Mountain.” At this point in the conversation, the demonkin marquis felt rather confident. “I suggest you surrender obediently or flee to the human side. The supremes haven’t issued a direct order in a long time. They will find you wherever you’re hiding.”
Qianye frowned in silence. Thinking that Qianye was wavering, the marquis said, “My mission here isn’t to capture you, and no one else saw you. As long as you let me go, I’ll swear on the darkness origins that I won’t tell anyone. You can escape and hide, what do you say?”
Qianye didn’t comment. “What’s your mission? Why are you killing vampires?”
“I came here on the council’s orders to take over the Mueller family’s blood pond, but that old fellow wouldn’t give it up and even injured my subordinates. I decided to put his descendants to death in order to protect the council’s authority.”
Qianye frowned. “You have such power?”
The marquis said, “Of course. The council made my authority clear when they assigned the mission. As the commander, I have the right to decide everything in the scope of this mission. I’ve been quite merciful because I’m actually allowed to destroy the Mueller family and all of its vassals. Of course, I wouldn’t have done what I did if he were willing to give up the blood pond. Unlike the werewolves, I don’t have anything particular against the vampires.”
It was at this time that the screams in the castle suddenly changed. Dozens of figures shot out of the castle and fled toward the landing pad, hoping to escape. Two airsh.i.p.s quickly rose into the air, but a dark golden ribbon appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself gracefully around the vessels.
The airsh.i.p.s spat out dazzling flames as they swayed toward the ground, erupting in balls of flame. Not one person made it out alive.
Nighteye appeared beside Qianye and glanced coldly at the demonkin near him. The trembling man barely managed to force out a smile.
“Did you get anything out of him?”
“He said he’s here for the blood pond. You didn’t leave anyone alive?”
“Killed them all by accident. You have one here, don’t you?”
The demonkin marquis was drenched in cold sweat. He subconsciously propped himself up and tried to move away, but that only drew Nighteye’s attention.
“Tell us the reason behind your mission.”
The marquis explained everything honestly, “I was in charge of capturing the blood ponds and origin blood of the Robert, Mueller, Fayne families. I was instructed to kill all those who resisted and to call Duke Darren for help if the defense was too fierce. The duke’s airship fleet is parked in the void. My first stop was the Robert family, and things went pretty well over there. Who would’ve thought the Mueller family would be so troublesome?”
“Who allowed you to use fire execution?”
“It’s my aide, not me. He was in the ancient castle just now, if you saw him.”
Qianye said, “This order is rather strange. Did the vampire powerhouses in the council not object?”
The demonkin marquis was surprised. “This mission wasn’t discussed in the general assembly, and my rank is not high enough to participate in the smaller assembly. Oh right, I heard the recent battle is being investigated, and they’ve discovered a betrayal. Many people were implicated. Perhaps this is related to the case?”
Qianye shot Nighteye a glance. “Do you have any news about the Azure King?”
“The Azure King Reynold has fallen.”
