Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict, Chapter 73: Inheritance
The legendary Black-Winged Monarch’s voice was pleasant, gentle, and possessed an inexplicable magnetism. His countenance was almost perfect—his deep blue eyes were akin to starry oceans, boundlessly serene and profound. If one must point out a defect, then perhaps it could be said that his handsomeness leaned toward average.
At this time, Qianye’s astonishment could no longer be described with words.
Andruil was actually alive?!
As a second generation primogenitor and a great dark monarch, he had demonstrated a variety of mighty powers since Qianye stepped into this space. If he were truly alive, it might just break the fragile balance of power between the empire and the dark races.
Qianye had long since known that the crime he was committing was incomparably dangerous, but he had never expected to meet the Black-Winged Monarch himself.
Andruil extended his hand toward Qianye and said, “It’s a delightful surprise that you were able to appear before me so quickly. Now, let me take a good look at you.”
Specks of blue radiance emerged around Qianye as his figure was once again reflected in Andruil’s eyes. His body gradually turned transparent, thoroughly revealing the condition of his origin power and blood energy circulation.
“Eh?” Andruil exclaimed in surprise as he retracted the light from his eyes. He pondered for a moment before saying slowly, “A human? This is truly a surprise. How could a hybrid possess sacred blood of such purity? What is your name?”
“Qianye.” Qianye, on the other hand, had completely calmed down. He knew, since the moment he met the Black-Winged Monarch, that the secrets in his body would all be laid bare. But he hadn’t imagined Andruil’s understanding would also be skewed, that the monarch would actually think he was a hybrid.
Andruil still seemed somewhat bewildered. He extended a finger, drew a few lines in the air, and condensed a rune. But then, he reached out to wipe it away.
The Black-Winged Monarch shook his head and said, “This isn’t a big problem. Normally, hybrid lineages are always impure, but your daybreak origin power is of a fairly rare purity. It seems you’re a top-grade talent among humans, but it would ultimately be impossible for the daybreak races to retain their origins in this world blessed by the darkness. In the future, your sacred bloodline will continue to awaken. It will naturally suppress and assimilate all the impurities.”
Qianye inhaled a breath of cold air and felt his heart suddenly tighten. Although Andruil had misjudged his bloodline origin and this meant that he was safe for the moment, he could find no delight in the future the Black-Winged Monarch had described. This so-called sacred blood assimilating the impurities inevitably meant that he would turn into a pure vampire in the end.
At this point, Andruil’s voice rose considerably as he said, “What truly astonishes me is that, although your bloodline is still very weak, its purity has surpassed all the primos and approaches that of a primogenitor!”
Andruil became increasingly excited while speaking. In the end, he stood up and began to pace on the high platform. “Perhaps you don’t understand what this signifies! As long as you don’t fall in the foreseeable future, there’s a large chance that you’ll produce a drop of origin blood, and the Monroe clan will once again bear witness to the birth of a primogenitor!”
Andruil paused for a moment and said with a fairly perplexed expression, “Although you and I share the same bloodline origins, you probably haven’t grown past the newborn stage for a long time. This means, in terms of generation, you can only be boundlessly close to my own bloodline power, but can never surpass it. But now, you’re bloodline purity is equal to my own. This is unbelievable, no, this is simply a subversion of all common knowledge.”
Qianye’s understanding of the vampire race, of course, wasn’t deep enough to involve bloodline inheritances. Hence, he had no idea what the latter part of the Black-Winged Monarch’s words actually meant. Additionally, this great monarch’s assessment of his condition had been skewed since the beginning, causing his later speculations to go completely astray. Hence, Qianye didn’t really take it seriously.
But he did recall a certain incident back when he was cultivating the Song Clan Ancient Scroll’s Mystery Chapter—this dark golden blood energy was produced only after the original golden blood energy was sucked into the black vortex and devoured.
Could it be that the Mystery Chapter could not only purify darkness origin power but could actually purify vampire bloodlines?
Qianye naturally couldn’t walk the path toward a vampiric awakening, but since the Song Clan Ancient Scroll could purify the golden blood energy, it might also be able to purify the dark golden blood energy and might finally produce origin blood. If it could also purify origin blood… what then was the Song Clan Ancient Scroll’s ultimate goal?
Qianye was lost in his own thoughts. The impact of such a possibility was immense even for a mere thought.
Andruil returned to his throne and sighed helplessly. “Regrettably, I’m only a fragment of the main body’s will and have no power to unravel this mystery. For the time being, just think of it as a gift from destiny.”
Qianye was somewhat startled. He had felt the suppressive might of this great monarch since coming into the great hall, but it was actually a mere manifestation of Andruil’s will.
Qianye couldn’t help but ask, “Where’s the real Black-Winged Monarch?”
“You should know that there are two suns and an asteroid belt at the topmost layer of this world. That place is actually reachable, and it is there that my main body found a path to leave this world and explore the distant realms. He made ample arrangements here and then left.”
Even though there were airships, the journey between continents was full of danger and unexpected events. Climbing up to the top of the world, where the sun and asteroid belt were located, sounded like the ravings of a lunatic, but there had indeed been records of such feats in both the dark faction and the human empire. The disappearance of a certain emperor of the Great Qin was also related to this endeavor.
Qianye stared blankly, not knowing how to assess his course of action. Despite his advantage in power, wealth, and his longevity as a vampire, Andruil, who was in his prime back then, had actually stepped onto such a path of no return. Qianye couldn’t help but feel a heartfelt admiration toward his spirit and broad-mindedness although he belonged to the enemy faction.
But Qianye noticed something from Andruil’s words. “Arrangements? Was everything that happened in the great hall already foreseen?”
Andruil laughed. “Are you asking about the crystal key’s perpetual activation of physical energy or the fall of the 13 generals? O descendant who shares the same origin as I, your understanding of people’s hearts is too simple. Even prophecies can only grasp, among the countless strings of fate, the one closest to reality. My main body only set the rules for the operation of this space. As for the results, they were brought about by individual people.”
A speck of azure radiance appeared on his extended hand as he said with a smile, “Well, our time is short. It’s time I hand you the most important item. This is the Eye of Truth, one of the most important powers of our bloodline.”
The blue light flew out from Andruil’s hand and merged into Qianye’s body.
Andruil added, “Although your bloodline is comparable to my own in purity, it’s still very weak at the moment. This is a drop of my origin blood. It’ll help you activate the Eye of Truth and the Wings of Inception.”
A drop of fresh blood then flew out from Andruil’s fingertip and immediately transformed into a fist-sized crystal. Oddly, the crystal wasn’t gold or blood-colored as Qianye had expected but a deep azure like the sky and ocean.
Upon contact with Qianye’s hand, the blood crystal erupted with a mass of blue radiance which enveloped him entirely.
Following which, Qianye discovered that the dark golden blood energy in his body had formed a cocoon at one point, and the specks of blue light were diving into it like moths to the flame. After all the specks of light had entered, the cocoon began to wiggle, and almost immediately, Qianye felt as if a second heart was beating along with his own.
The excessively powerful pulsations caused Qianye’s consciousness to grow fuzzy as an indefensible sleepiness welled up within. He slowly fell to the ground and, in his dazzled state, seemingly heard Andruil exclaiming in surprise, “Eh? These guns are actually in your hands. What an unbelievable coincidence…”
When Qianye gradually awoke after an unknown length of time, the first thing he saw was the tall domed roof of the great hall. He slowly turned his head and saw Andruil sitting firmly on the throne. It was just that his figure was somewhat blurry and would become distorted from time to time.
“You’re awake?” Andruil smiled as if he understood Qianye’s puzzlement and said, “The sage blood inheritance put you into a deep sleep. You’ve slept for a month now. But time is a meaningless concept in this place, so by taking the spatial door as a reference, you’ve likely slept for only a couple of hours.”
Qianye couldn’t help but glance at the great hall and said, “What a grand achievement.”
Two revolvers emerged in the air as Andruil raised his hand and pressed ever so lightly.
Qianye reached out to receive them, somewhat puzzled. Weren’t these the Twin Flowers? But they seemed a bit different at a glance due to the many faint blue patterns upon it. Apparently, the origin array had undergone a significant modification.
“These guns used to be mine when I was young. They were just experimental products I had built out of fascination. I’d never expected that they would be in your hands. Now, their origin arrays are complete. I’m only a fragment of the main body’s will and thus have no way to upgrade it. However, it’s already good enough since you possess the Wings of Inception.”
“The main body also left you one of his true masterpieces, one that is likely unrivaled in the world. Its name is Andruil’s Mysterious Realm.”
Qianye suddenly realized that he was now wearing a necklace with a fingernail-sized sapphire pendant attached to it. It appeared rather simple and one could hardly see anything unique.
“It can be activated with your bloodline power and, within it, is a hidden space. Although its size can’t be compared to this vast place, its stability is tangible and will exist perpetually.”
Qianye tried instilling the necklace with blood energy and found that his consciousness had suddenly entered a special space. The interior was a dusky grey with faintly discernible barriers in all directions. The space was roughly a couple of cubic meters in volume and couldn’t be considered very large, but this was already astonishing.
At this moment, Andruil’s figure became fairly indistinct, and the great hall began to tremble. So much that broken pieces were beginning to fall down from the domed roof.
“This place is about to perish. Leave now, the Wings of Inception will bring you away.”
Qianye momentarily turned silent for he had no idea what to say at this moment. As such, he performed a salutation toward Andruil’s figure as the Wings of Inception unfurled behind him.
As Qianye stepped out of the great hall, Andruil’s voice rang out beside his ears, “Ah, how terrible! I almost forgot to tell you the most important thing.”
The Black-Winged Monarch’s voice, at this moment, was gentle, leisurely, and it almost seemed as if he was smiling as he spoke. Qianye suddenly felt a bad premonition.
