Anwen’s expression changed drastically, almost as though he had sensed it as well. He brought out some sort of board-like metallic object. The l.u.s.trous time was covered in pulsing runes that looked like they were forming a profound principle.
Qianye’s focus had been completely attracted by the River of Blood. He moved against the flow with relative ease and soon arrived at the source of the river, where he felt that the change was taking place.
The moment he had captured the aura of the river, he sensed several extremely powerful consciousnesses casting their gazes over. And they weren’t vampire experts!
This was an inexplicable sensation, something that shouldn’t be happening. Yet Qianye knew that his senses couldn’t be wrong and Anwen’s reaction also served as proof. This also meant that it wasn’t only the vampires who had sensed the commotion in the River of Blood.
The strength of this tremor was irrefutable; even Qianye didn’t cause such a ruckus during his breakthrough to the duke rank. Comparatively, he only managed to stir up some waves.
A thought flickered through his heart. Did the River of Blood’s movement touch the world’s baseline laws?
He carefully discerned the experts’ consciousness and found some of them were rather familiar. For instance, that powerful and tyrannical aura was clearly Zhang Boqian. There were also several streams that were vague and blurry; Qianye could only tell that they were present. Apparently, those heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs did not want to be discovered—nor identified even if discovered.
Qianye began to worry. He might be growing at the fastest rate in this world, but he was still far from significant in the eyes of those powerful consciousnesses. He could prevent nothing if they decided to act.
Qianye quickly did away with the unnecessary thoughts and advanced toward the source of the river. Simply approaching the place was enough to sense its majesty and magnitude; it was even bigger than a continent. Back in the year, Qianye’s cultivation wasn’t enough to understand much about the river. Now that he was at the doorstep to the apex, he could sense the source of the river—it was a vast expanse of waves with no end in sight.
The River of Blood surged with greater ferocity as more streams of perception appeared. Apparently, even the hidden powerhouses and those on important missions had sensed the movement.
Everyone was waiting for what would come next.
It was at this moment that the faint flames in the Blacksun Valley raged fiercely. Some demonkin experts who had been exploring the region were swept into the blaze and reduced to ashes.
In the blink of an eye, Qianye had passed by most of the powerful consciousnesses. He was already fairly close to the true source of the river, but Qianye felt that he still had the strength to spare. He glanced forward and saw five powerful consciousnesses that made him hesitate for a bit.
Qianye could sense more and more people noticing him, but it was too late to turn back now. There was nothing to be afraid of if the technique he had imitated from those blurry auras was working. If it wasn’t working, he would’ve been compromised long ago, and it would be useless even if he were to hide.
Bracing himself, he moved past three more consciousnesses before reaching his limit. At this point, there were only two more in front of him—the Demon King and the Spider Queen.
Qianye understood that this didn’t mean he was the number one character under the supremes. It was only because the River of Blood was his home ground.
The other heavenly monarchs and great dark monarchs would need to penetrate the laws of the world and find the fluctuations of the river before moving upstream. People like Anwen who weren’t strong enough could only rely on special equipment to observe. Qianye didn’t need to go through this trouble because he was on the same wavelength with these raging waters.
From this point, he could barely sense the source of the river. Twelve blood seals were slowly revolving around it—most of them were dim, and two more were on the verge of dispersing.
Qianye couldn’t help but sigh, even though this wasn’t the first time he had witnessed this scene.
The River of Blood gradually calmed down, but the undercurrents were flowing with even greater vigor. It seemed as though something was brewing down below. None of the visiting consciousnesses had the attention to spare as they focused on this rare scene.
Under the eyes of the world’s strongest experts, the River of Blood roared as a wall of water rose up from the source and crashed downstream.
It eventually returned to the embrace of the twelve seals and joined them in their rotation. The scene felt right and proper, as though this was how it should and always had been.
Qianye had never seen that seal before, and he was curious to know who had lit up this new seal.
…
Far off in the Lava Castle, Habsburg opened his eyes with a complicated expression. The Demon King stared off into space for a good while before saying, “This… how did this happen?”
Habsburg said in an odd tone, “Shouldn’t you be happy that the thirteenth seal has appeared?”
The thirteenth vampire clan had appeared when people were starting to doubt whether it ever existed! All of a sudden, dark undercurrents flowed through the void as every top expert received this shocking news. Everyone began to ponder on what this might mean.
That seal wasn’t at the level of a great dark monarch, which meant that the vampire race had produced a new crown-prince-rank primogenitor during these troubled times. However, this seemed to pale in comparison to the change in the laws.
After the seal was ignited, the River of Blood slowly faded away into the depths of the void.
In Qianye’s senses, the thirteenth seal was a bit different. He already understood that each seal represented a different system, a different path to power. It would allow the initiator to use a portion of the river’s power.
After the thirteenth seal appeared, the missing pieces of memory began to appear in his inheritance memory.
Qianye discovered that, along with the Perth clan, this thirteenth seal was one of the two sitting closest to the darkness origins. The Perth clan’s seal contained the widest path to the River of Blood, a method to completely activate the power of blood for a vampire.
The thirteenth seal, on the other hand, showed no signs of blood energy. It seemed to contain only darkness origin power, one so pure that it didn’t look like a vampire seal.
Darkness origin power was expressed in many different forms in the energy system, with each race occupying a different segment in the spectrum. Although there were special circ.u.mstances, this was the law in most cases. The dark races had, through the countless years of evolution, developed paths that were the most suitable for them. For instance, the demonkin’s demonic energy and the vampires’ blood energy. Neutral darkness origin power was, on the contrary, more difficult to control. For instance, there might be many different paths up a mountain, and it wasn’t impossible to climb from places with no trails, only more exhausting.
Looking at this seal, Qianye came to understand why the thirteenth clan had vanished back then. Not strengthening blood energy as vampires meant that they would only make half the progress for double the effort, and thus they were gradually eliminated. Although it was said that their descendants also vanished all of a sudden, the entire matter was still a puzzle to this day. Even if they did manage to survive all this time, they would probably be a negligible power by now—just like the blood seals that had gone dark for various reasons.
In the depths of the seal, Qianye could sense a familiar aura, Nighteye’s aura. With what the vampires had been going through these days, there was probably no other candidate who could become a crown prince.
Qianye retracted his perception and fell into contemplation. He had to speed up his progress as well.
The flickering runes in Anwen’s hands slowly receded, but the man still seemed lost in thought. After some calculations, he said, “The vampires have gained yet another primogenitor, and it’s very likely Her Majesty Nighteye. Who would’ve thought she would still succeed despite the council sending such a strong force after her? As expected of someone who has awakened an ancient powerhouse!”
Qianye sighed. “I hope it’s her. You can go now. I’ll be leaving as well, but I will still be heading to other demonkin territories.”
“Perhaps.”
Before leaving, the demonkin couldn’t help saying, “Do reconsider your next destination. I’m not saying this because you’re heading to other demonkin territories. The connection between family trees is our race’s greatest secret, even some of those families don’t understand the profundity within. This is also something His Majesty pays great attention to. He now has one more reason to kill you, and the Flaming Crown alone might not be able to stop him.”
Qianye’s expression seemed odd. “The Flaming Crown… might be an enemy as well.”
Anwen was stunned for a moment, but he seemed to realize something afterward. He opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, but ended up not saying anything in the end.
Qianye wasn’t hoping for an explanation, either. So he simply nodded at the man and jumped up into the void.
…
In the Blacksun Valley, countless Evernight Soldiers were lined up in formation—they were waiting for the fateful moment to arrive. The Eternal Flame’s pale blaze hung in the sky, looking down at the giant pit nearby.
There used to be a pillar of black flames here, but now there wasn’t a single ember. Even the heat was no longer there and the entire valley had turned cold.
A demonkin flew over to the Eternal Flame. “Your Majesty, the vanguard is ready.”
