Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 72: The Black-Winged Monarch
Li Zhan brandished his sword and sent the heads of two guardians flying. He watched as their bodies turned to flowing sand with a gloomy expression. He had already lost count of how many guardians he had already killed, but the scene before him was always the same—more of them would flood out from the houses on each side regardless of how many were killed.
He had sustained a fair number of injuries and his face was somewhat pale. Despite that, the battle intent in his eyes hadn’t faltered in the slightest. “Mere puppets!” Detest flashed through the depths of his eyes.
In other places, a number of vampire viscounts were locked in constant battle. Their vampire constitution gave them an advantage in such melee battles, and with the support of blood crystals, their endurance was much greater. But mists of daybreak origin powerful would spray out through the air from time to time and land accurately on them despite their evasive efforts.
This type of damage wasn’t very serious, but it had never stopped since they entered the city. As such, the accumulated energy became quite significant over time. Additionally, the viscounts had a feeling that the frequency of gushing daybreak origin power, as well as the number of emerging guardians, was steadily increasing. Apparently, Duke Garis who was impeding the spatial restrictions outside was almost at his limit.
Not only would the city’s defenses reactivate, but even the spatial door might close once Duke Garis’ powers were exhausted. This meant that those who had gone in would be trapped within.
Over a hundred figures had gathered outside of the spatial door.
Li Rui’s expression was cold as he switched out a number of drained crystals from the origin array from time to time. The discarded crystals had formed a sizeable pile nearby—this expenditure alone was an astronomical figure.
There were some high-ranking vampires who were previously looking on with indifference. Their expressions turned quite ugly as they watched the newly replaced crystal lose its color before even ten minutes had passed.
Finally, a vampire count could bear it no longer. “What the hell are you doing?! The number of crystals you’ve used up can already cancel out the power of a prince! But the spatial restrictions here are becoming more and more consolidated. Damned human, don’t tell me the Black-Winged Monarch is on the other side!”
Li Rui turned to stare at the count for a length of time before saying, “If my guess isn’t wrong, the spatial door is connected to an intact lesser hidden realm. This kind of realm can operate for a long time on only a small amount of energy because most of it stems from the apex of the realm which we can never reach. Since your sense of superiority is so ardent, why not come and maintain this spatial door on your own. I’ll end my life here if you can maintain it for three minutes without dissipation, how’s that?”
The enraged vampire count roared loudly. “Despicable human, this is an insult to the noble Count Bernie! I’ll put you on my dinner table!”
A frosty baleful intent flashed through Li Rui’s eyes as he replied coldly, “Is that so? Then why don’t we engage in a fair duel to the death? I’m quite confident about killing an idiot like you.”
Bernie was unable to restrain his anger and revealed his fangs amidst his roars.
In the distance, Duke Garis suddenly growled, “Bernie, shut up!”
Bernie, who was originally in a towering rage, actually shivered after hearing Duke Garis’ voice and no longer dared to speak.
Duke Garis then glanced at Li Rui and said, “Mister Li, please restrain yourself. Casually provoking my subordinates won’t benefit our cooperation.”
Li Rui switched to a respectful expression and said with a smile, “Please rest assured, I’ve always acted appropriately.”
At this time, a vampire elder standing nearby said with a mocking tone, “Garis, it seems to me that you can’t hold on much longer. Do you want me to help you?”
Garis replied without even turning to look, “Agnis, I can still hold on for a long time. Your Monroe clan has already gotten itself into quite a lot of trouble this time. Don’t tell me you want to provoke our Lakins clan right now?”
The elder named Agnis laughed heartily and said, “No matter how great an inconvenience is, it’s merely an inconvenience. You, on the other hand, should consider whether you want to keep on being stubborn and lose all your chips in the process.”
Duke Garis said after a moment of silence, “I can give you some advance payment. Choose someone to send in.”
Agnis let out a muffled laugh and said with a wave of his hand, “You, enter.”
A vampire lady behind Agnis responded. Even Duke Garis couldn’t help but exclaim with an astonished expression after she removed her hood, “Twilight!”
Duke Garis shot a glance at Agnis and snorted coldly. “It seems you’ve indeed come well-prepared.”
Agnis stroked his short beard, seemingly pleased with himself. “I only wanted to see if we’ll have a chance. Additionally, we won’t take a big share here. The greatest benefits will still fall to you, my dear excellency.”
Garis replied slowly, “That’s quite difficult to say.”
Agnis didn’t argue with Garis. He pointed and shot out a thin strand of blood, whereupon the originally agitated spatial door immediately stabilized.
Twilight removed her hood to reveal her lithe figure clad in black leather armor. Two swords appeared in her grasp with a flick of her hands. After which, she stepped into the spatial door without the slightest bit of delay.
Duke Garis watched the figure of Twilight’s back and sighed. “If only the Lakins clan possessed a descendant like Twilight.”
Agnis smiled faintly but didn’t bother to comment.
It wasn’t impossible for vampires to switch clans, but the price wasn’t easily affordable.
The battle within the city seemed perpetual, and even Li Zhan had lost track of how many he had killed. Yet, the enemies were still swarming toward him, causing a fretful expression to finally emerge on his countenance. Suddenly, the two guardians dashing toward him sank down and dispersed into sand.
Li Zhan was startled—he surveyed the surroundings and found that the city had been restored to its initial state of deathly silence without a single guardian in sight.
And at this moment, the mist in front of him suddenly became much thinner, revealing a great majestic shrine towering over the end of the street.
Hardly able to keep his calm, Li Zhan raised his speed and dashed toward the temple hall which almost seemed to extend into the sky.
Just as he reached the base of the stairs, he saw a figure suddenly appear in front of the palace doors. The vampire lady was clad in black leather armor and wielding a sword in each hand. Her short golden hair danced about like cold flames.
To Li Zhan, this lady felt like a sharp unsheathed blade; he felt a slight pain in his eyes just by looking at her.
Twilight shot a glance at Li Zhan and immediately proceeded to enter the shrine without paying him further attention. Li Zhan clenched his teeth and followed suit.
Both Li Zhan and Twilight sensed only one thing the moment they stepped into the great hall—the world was swaying.
Under such circumstances, it was impossible for them to take notice of the appearance of the palace hall. To their astonishment, they saw a gigantic door of azure light stretching from the floor all the way up to the domed roof and from the left wall of the hall to its right.
Twilight’s eyes were filled with fanaticism as she stared intently at the blue door and mumbled, “Is this the great inheritance left behind by the great monarch Andruil? I-It’s mine. It’s finally mine!”
Suddenly waking up from her reverie, Twilight turned to Li Zhan and said, “Give me your blade.”
Li Zhan hesitated for a moment but ultimately passed her the sword in his hand.
Twilight immediately hurled the blade at the door of azure light after receiving it. It was enveloped by a layer of black and blue flames, a manifestation of her darkness origin power.
The sword whistled toward the radiant door, but at the moment of contact, numerous small bolts of lightning suddenly shot out from the door and immediately reduced the grade-four sword to ash.
Twilight’s expression dimmed with obvious disappointment as she slowly said, “I… can’t enter.”
“Then we only need to wait here. That brat has to emerge sooner or later, provided that he isn’t utterly destroyed. Whatever he obtained inside will be ours as long as we kill him.”
Li Zhan had recognized the datura flower insignia on Twilight’s jacket. Andruil was a great monarch of the Monroe clan—if even a descendant of their clan couldn’t enter, then it would be impossible for him, a human, to break through the restrictions.
Twilight corrected him with a cold voice, “It’s mine.”
Li Zhan bowed and said, “As you command.” At this angle, Twilight couldn’t see the flash of cold murderous intent which flashed through his eyes.
The two became silent and waited calmly before the radiant door.
A while later, two vampire viscounts also entered the great hall, followed by a dozen-odd vampires and Li family warriors. The expressions of the vampire warriors changed greatly after seeing Twilight. All of them, including the two viscounts, edged back subconsciously, not daring to go past Twilight’s position.
The azure door occupying the entire hall was rippling like sea water.
Behind the door, Qianye was walking along a passage composed of blue light. Although it felt as if he were treading on solid ground, there was only emptiness on all sides.
Even Qianye felt his heart shudder—this wasn’t related to courage or the lack thereof, but it was, instead, a type of inherent fear when facing the unknown.
Qianye knew not for how long he had walked, but he could no longer see the radiant door when he glanced back from time to time. There was only a single path emerging from and stretching toward the emptiness. There seemed to be neither a beginning nor an end.
The Wings of Inception awoke again by itself and pushed Qianye forward until he was gliding along the radiant path. He went faster and faster until he felt as if even the empty space were accelerating backward.
There was finally a change at the end of the radiant path. A blue speck of light emerged and expanded continuously until it formed the silhouette of a vast and majestic palace, one that was even greater than the temple outside.
Qianye’s emotions almost froze at this moment—it was impossible to express everything he had experienced in words. It was simply impossible to produce all of this by manpower unless everything was just an illusion. Even a miracle could hardly surpass this level.
After entering the great hall, the first thing to come into view was the throne at the center of this vast space. Upon it sat a man with his chin resting on one hand as if he were deeply pondering something.
The moment he glanced over, the entirety of Qianye’s attention was attracted by this man—it was as if he were the center of the whole world. He had long dark hair and was dressed in a loose black robe. His hands were as fair as jade, and his skin was enveloped by a layer of hazy radiance.
The man gradually looked up as Qianye approached the throne, the latter’s figure clearly reflected within the pair of ocean-blue eyes.
At this moment, Qianye felt as if his whole being had become as transparent as glass. From the inside out, there was no place on his body to hide any secrets. At the same time, a strand of enlightenment appeared out of nowhere. He immediately realized that the man sitting upon the throne was, in fact, the long-lost second generation primogenitor, the Black-Winged Monarch Andruil.
“You’ve finally come,” Andruil said with a smile.
