Chapter 18: The Mutation

The Burning Canyon, a name that seemed all too familiar.

Qian Ye recalled for a long time before finally remembering where he had heard of this place.

The Burning Canyon was not far from the Yellow Springs Training Camp, and it was home to numerous crystal-stone lizards. These six-legged, five-meter-long reptilian monsters were true behemoths. The crystals on their bodies were essential materials for making origin force guns.

The graduation standard of the Yellow Springs Training Camp was to single-handedly hunt one of these crystal-stone lizards and bring back the crystal. For trainees who usually only carried standard issue daggers, killing a second-level lizard was no easy feat. The graduation exam was also a significant contributor to the camp’s high attrition rate.

On the other hand, the crystal-stone lizards were carnivorous, making the canyon an ideal place for the training camp to dispose of various corpses.

At the thought of the Burning Canyon, Qian Ye jolted in alarm, instinctively shouting, “No! I’m not dead! I’m still alive! Put me down!”

He suddenly sat up, only to realize it had been a dream. Over the past year, he frequently woke up from nightmares, often unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Looking around, he saw it was still the dead of night, and he was still in the garbage dump. A skeletal wild dog was biting his foot, pulling at it forcefully.

Qian Ye grabbed a hard metal part and hurled it, hitting the dog’s nose with a painful yelp. The beast fled with its tail between its legs.

He moved, feeling pain all over, especially a sharp, tearing pain in his chest with any movement. He examined his injuries, finding his left arm broken, most of his ribs shattered, and numerous wounds of various sizes.

However, surprisingly, his injuries were far less severe than expected. His bones had reconnected themselves and showed signs of regrowth. The external wounds had stopped bleeding, and many smaller cuts had already healed.

Within his body, Qian Ye felt a robust flow of vitality. Apart from the bones not fully healing, his overall condition was unexpectedly good. Even the bloodlust that had flared up during the previous battle seemed to have disappeared.

Suddenly, he touched two deep wounds on his neck, his expression freezing.

How had he been bitten by a vampire again?

But then, he let it go. What difference did it make if he was bitten once or twice? He was already tainted. Yet, the scent on his fingers made his heart sink!

It was a faint, fragrant smell, very familiar—the scent of Yeshi!

This answered all his questions. Yeshi was not just a vampire but a superior one.

Yeshi’s special ability allowed her to hide all vampiric traits, appearing almost human, even maintaining a normal human body temperature.

Whether Qian Ye checked her body directly or viewed her through a tactical scope, she showed no typical vampiric reactions. This was truly an astonishing ability.

He had teamed up with a superior vampire to kill a noble vampire and an elite werewolf? Qian Ye felt a mix of emotions, unsure whether to be happy or regretful.

Yeshi was his first partner since arriving on the Eternal Night Continent. When she returned to the garbage dump, Qian Ye’s heart had raced, and he had even felt a strong surge of emotion. Before he was knocked away, he saw Yeshi being surrounded by both werewolves and vampires, in a dire situation.

Even knowing Yeshi was a vampire, Qian Ye couldn’t bring himself to hate her. It was because she had turned back, facing insurmountable enemies with him.

If she could drink his blood, then she could continue to live, right? Qian Ye thought.

The cold night wind blew, carrying an unchanging stench of decay. Shaking off distracting thoughts, Qian Ye noticed something odd on his wrist. Lifting it, he found two more puncture marks!

Frowning, he wiped them, and a strange, sweet fragrance lingered on his fingertips. No matter how pleasant, it was a sign of another vampire’s feeding.

A Blood Feast? The term floated into Qian Ye’s mind.

A Blood Feast was a formal vampire ritual.

True vampires didn’t bite people at random. Their need for blood during battles was primarily to replenish strength and heal injuries, much like humans using military stimulants to boost combat effectiveness.

For vampires, drinking blood was a sacred act, a way to communicate with their ancestors and inherit more blood power. Thus, they rarely shared their prey except during a Blood Feast.

A Blood Feast was akin to a human social gathering, symbolizing close relationships, friendly stances, and mutual trust. The main course, often a human, was chosen for their blood’s exceptional taste or their unique and powerful identity.

Qian Ye looked up at the blood-red moon, smiling, and murmured, “I’m actually qualified to be the main course of a Blood Feast!”

Being the main course wasn’t strange, but surviving was.

He stood quietly for a moment, then carefully surveyed his surroundings, a habit formed over years, which had saved him from ambushes and death many times.

Not far away, he saw many werewolf corpses, one with exceptionally long limbs—a Shadow Wolf.

These werewolves were clearly stronger than those he first encountered, yet they lay dead here, none with intact heads. The blood, crushed bones, and brain matter indicated their cause of death.

Then, a second mystery: several werewolves were mummified, obviously drained of blood. This was unusual, as vampires never drank werewolf blood, not due to taste, but out of faith.

The lingering bloody scent felt strangely familiar. Qian Ye approached the werewolf corpses, crouching to examine them closely. The arteries were bitten open, but the marks were not fangs, but human teeth.

Qian Ye realized he had drained these werewolves.

No wonder he hadn’t felt the bloodlust. It must have flared while he was unconscious. This was the first time he had drunk so much blood since the lifeboat crash. He thought dispassionately, the Dark Blood might soon become uncontrollable. Perhaps the next time the bloodlust came, it would be the end.

Thinking this, Qian Ye instinctively reached for his Red Scorpion knife, but it was gone. He remembered losing all his equipment when the elite werewolf knocked him away.

Standing up, he decided to search for his knife. In the sacred moment of ending his life, he wanted to use the Red Scorpion knife.

His gaze fell on a staff clutched by a werewolf corpse, topped with a constant-light sundial. Qian Ye automatically converted the time, then froze—three days? Only three days unconscious, no wonder the Blood Moon hadn’t faded.

Qian Ye suddenly realized his body felt different. He adjusted the sundial, confirming it worked, then used a simple internal observation technique to check his condition.

Indeed, everything was wrong.

Only three days had passed, and the Blood Moon remained, but Qian Ye didn’t feel the usual burning heat after each Dark Blood episode. If it was because he had drunk enough blood, the automatic bone reconnection, partially healed organs, and near-healed wounds indicated an incredibly fast recovery, which was not normal.

For a moment, Qian Ye thought he had become a blood slave, but his mind was clear, and his thoughts were normal.

Finding a secluded spot, Qian Ye sat cross-legged and began to channel origin force, using the military healing technique to inspect his internal state.

His origin force surged, nearly reaching the third level, with a clear outline forming at the origin node on his right hand. The barrier was about to break. Once it did, the node would ignite, officially making him a third-level warrior.

However, within him, alongside the origin force, there was a rich, dark red energy—the blood qi from the Dark Blood.

Originally, the Dark Blood was uncontrollable, roaming through his meridians, eroding and assimilating his flesh. Wherever it went, it brought a burning heat, eventually leading to a feverish thirst for fresh blood. Qian Ye had fought this energy for nearly a year, well aware of its destructive power.

But now, the ink-black blood qi still flowed without causing discomfort. If not for the internal inspection, Qian Ye would have thought it was his own energy. The black blood qi now had two additional colors: a deep red with a hint of purple, and a faint golden hue.

Slightly adjusting his focus, Qian Ye stopped the martial arts, and the origin force tide slowly subsided, along with the Dark Blood. It was unbelievable. He tried to control and direct the blood qi. Suddenly, his entire body shook as the blood qi flooded his heart, then overflowed, forming two mysterious runes, and information rushed into his consciousness.

Vampire constitution.

Eye technique: Dark Vision.

These runes were two vampiric abilities.

The Vampire Constitution would guide the blood qi to continuously enhance the body, improving recovery speed and healing. In large amounts, the body’s recovery speed would further increase, a unique racial advantage of vampires.

Dark Vision was a natural ability for many vampires, allowing them to see clearly in the dark, even better than human night-vision devices.

Staring at his body’s changes, Qian Ye tried to find more, but nothing new appeared. Now, two distinct energies flowed in his veins: the milky white Dawn Origin Force and the tricolor dark red Blood Power, a form of Dark Origin Force. These two opposing forces coexisted peacefully, as if naturally.

But Qian Ye knew one thing: if the Dark Blood no longer caused corrosive heat, he wouldn’t experience bloodlust. Would he always remain conscious and clear-minded? The two new abilities also filled him with anticipation.

Fate seemed to finally smile kindly upon Qian Ye!