Chapter 71: The Traitor

Qianye was now certain that the voice was not Andu Ya, yet how could it convey messages through the crystal fragments of the Blackwing King?

Moreover, in other places it would be fine, but this was the remains of the Blackwing King. A thousand years ago, Andu Ya had left such a shocking arrangement; how could he allow someone to impersonate within his own hall?

After Qianye left the secret chamber, the Primordial Wings fell silent, and Andu Ya’s will also disappeared without any further hints. Could this be the unexpected test the Blackwing King had mentioned?

Qianye looked at the skull in his hand, wanting to throw it against the opposite wall. Even when facing a dark lord ranked among the highest in the history of the dark races, he absolutely detested the feeling of being led by the nose.

The urging voice grew more insistent.

Qianye calmed his depressed mood and followed the voice, finding himself back in the enormous hall he first entered. Finally, he located the source of the call, coming from one of the thirteen ancient blood coffins behind the altar where the Book of Darkness was placed.

Now, Qianye could examine these blood coffins carefully and unexpectedly discovered that each coffin bore a different clan emblem. From the first Pas clan to the twelfth Kardon clan, all twelve ancient vampire clans were gathered here.

While Qianye’s expression slightly changed, he felt this situation was extremely unreasonable. Based on human understanding of vampires, those twelve clans could never coexist peacefully. Moreover, whether the bodies in the coffins were mummies or sleeping ancients, they should have been with their own clans.

The most chilling discovery was the thirteenth blood coffin, which bore intricate patterns but no emblem. According to vampire lore, there were thirteen ancestors, but only twelve were recorded and had descendants. What, then, was this coffin?

The thirteenth clan?

For the humans, this was definitely not good news. If the thirteenth clan truly existed, it meant the vampire world had a new ancestral power, even if it lay dormant, waiting to awaken among its descendants someday.

“Approach me, present my head! In the name of the ancient Andu Ya, you will gain power, status, and strength!”

This time, Qianye heard clearly; the voice came from the first blood coffin.

But Qianye ignored it and instead pushed one of the coffins. The heavy lid was cold to the touch, with a wooden texture, yet its hardness and density surpassed any alloy.

Opening the lid, inside was the body of a high-ranking vampire, dressed in military attire, with a badge edged in a circle of golden olive leaves, identifying him as a Marquis of Honor. But there was a hollow in his chest, the blood core long gone. Without the blood core, a vampire was like a human without a heart, utterly dead.

At that moment, the lid of the first blood coffin slowly opened, revealing the sleeping vampire inside.

When vampires enter a long sleep, they only appear thinner, otherwise, they look just like they are sleeping. The longer they sleep, the thinner and weaker they become. After a century, they need to soak in a blood pool to awaken.

The vampire before Qianye was almost skeletal. He was also in military attire, with several large wounds on his body, many decorations broken and lost, making it impossible to discern his rank. The wounds seemed untreated, and over time, the surrounding flesh had turned white, like it was weathered.

Although the vampire’s wounds looked severe, the location of the blood core was intact, but the head was missing.

“Lucky blood heir, you’ve done well, very well! Now, place my head on my body and offer a bit of your blood. I, the great king Andu Ya, shall be resurrected. And you, will receive the bloodline of an ancestor, gaining the ability to found a new clan!”

The voice no longer boomed like a bell, but was low and filled with an indescribable allure, as if it came from the depths of one’s soul, each word resonating with one’s deepest desires.

Qianye felt a daze, his body moving forward involuntarily.

Alarm bells rang in his mind, feeling as if he had split into two halves: one part wanted to approach the first coffin and place the skull on the body, while the other fought to hold back, wanting to crush the skull in his hand.

If someone watched, they would see Qianye like a malfunctioning automaton, advancing two steps and retreating one, sometimes turning in circles, his arms constantly rising and falling. Behind these seemingly absurd actions was a fierce battle of wills!

The purple blood energy expanded again when Qianye moved, but this time it couldn’t fully block the voice’s control, only interfering, preventing Qianye from losing complete control of his body.

The purple blood energy rapidly depleted, and Qianye’s consciousness grew hazier. Suddenly, the dark gold blood energy around his heart stirred, emitting a thread-thin blood line that shot up to his forehead at the speed of light, exploding.

Qianye felt a sharp pain in his head, and his consciousness instantly became clear.

In the moment he regained full control of his body, he knew this opportunity might slip away. Ignoring the potential conflict between his blood energy and the dawn force, he immediately activated the Battle Determination, causing a tidal wave of original force to roar like a storm.

The dark gold blood energy withdrew back into his heart, leaving a pair of golden-winged illusions. When the pure dawn force, refined by the ancient Song scroll, swept past, the crimson world was dotted with golden points, each exploding into flames.

Crimson and golden light flowed from Qianye’s hands, pouring onto the headless vampire like a waterfall, instantly igniting a silver inferno. A shrill scream echoed throughout the hall.

The piercing sound, like a sharp blade, directly stabbed and twisted Qianye’s consciousness, causing him immense pain. However, Qianye, with the will forged at the edge of death, resisted the attack as if it cut into his soul.

He flung the skull again, and this time it successfully flew out of his hand. Drawing Twin Flowers, he loaded the last antimagic silver bullet, aimed, and fired.

A boom sounded, and strange flowers bloomed in the air, along with shattered skull pieces falling, and the piercing scream stopped abruptly.

The entire world seemed to fall silent. Qianye sat down, leaning against the coffin, feeling utterly drained, almost unable to even breathe heavily.

In the final struggle for control, perhaps due to the voice trying to possess Qianye’s consciousness, this invasion was bidirectional. As a result, Qianye caught some fragmented consciousness of the other.

These high-ranking vampires in the coffins were Andu Ya’s thirteen Blood Generals, who guarded this site after the Blackwing King disappeared. For unknown reasons, the headless vampire betrayed his duty, slaughtered his comrades, but was beheaded by a guarding Marquis in the side hall.

Similarly, for unknown reasons, the traitor had not completely died. His talent in life was soul power, and he used the crystal key fragments to lure people to find the ruins, aiming to resurrect himself.

In fact, anyone who obtained a fragment of the crystal key had the chance to enter this hall. Over the centuries, before Qianye, many powerful and greedy individuals had come, all turning into flesh energy to maintain the space.

Qianye rested for a long time, slowly regaining some strength.

This eerie event seemed to be over, though many details remained unclear. Truths buried in the river of time were not limited to this one.

Qianye opened the remaining coffins, finding ten more high-ranking vampire corpses, all in similar military attire. From their badges, the lowest rank was a Marquis, all with their blood cores removed. Only the headless vampire was complete.

However, when he opened the thirteenth coffin, he surprisingly found it empty. Thinking about it, Qianye determined that the clothing of the Marquis guarding the side hall was different, suggesting another Blood General existed?

Qianye looked around the hall, still silent and serene, frozen in time like a piece of the past.

At this point, Qianye knew that the Blackwing King was not omnipotent. Much of what he saw in this space exceeded his understanding, bordering on the miraculous. Yet, over the long years, changes occurred. One general betrayed, one disappeared, and the rest were exterminated.

Qianye had a vague feeling that Andu Ya used him to clear the traitors. From the tone of the massive will, the Blackwing King was aware of what happened in the hall, but the reason for not acting himself was unknown.

As the thirteenth coffin lid fully opened, a blue light enveloped the hall’s ceiling. Looking up, Qianye saw the murals vanish, replaced by a deep, starless night sky. A beam of light then shone down, landing on him.

A gentle, immense force filled Qianye’s body, and he distinctly felt the Primordial Wings unfolding behind him, forming a pair of vast, golden-tipped wings.

The hall began to sway, not violently, but like being in water. A colossal wall, dozens of meters high and a hundred meters wide, split in two, slowly opening.

Blue light poured out, stopping before Qianye, forming a towering gate. Beyond the gate, light waves shimmered like an ocean.

Instinctively, Qianye reached out. The blue light was tangible, cool and smooth, like touching seawater. A strong pull dragged him into the blue light sea.

The hall returned to its original state, the opened coffins closing, and silence reigned once more.

Outside the temple, the city was in turmoil, with fierce battles erupting in every alleyway. Vampire warriors and guards clashed intensely.

The guards’ ranks seemed a level or two lower than those Qianye encountered, but their numbers were endless, continuously emerging from rooms and windows, turning into sand and sinking into the ground, leaving no trace.