Chapter 200: The Thirteenth Mark

In the grand hall, Night Pupil briefly introduced, “This is His Highness, the Dark Gospel Howard. This is Qian Ye. The battle outside is still raging, so I must go and deal with it.” She then left the grand hall, vanishing out of the window.

Although Palochia had retreated, he did so too hastily, and the assault from the Council’s army remained fierce. Night Pupil intended to eliminate the strong Council enforcers, driving back their forces by striking directly at their center.

As she left, only Howard and Qian Ye remained in the grand hall, and an awkward silence fell upon them.

Qian Ye, after firing two shots that drove Palochia away, was now in a weakened state, leaning against the wall, his eyes drooping, on the verge of dozing off.

Howard, who had been forced to confront a powerful enemy before fully awakening, was barely clothed, his body skeletal. The grand hall appeared to have just weathered a storm, with objects scattered everywhere.

Howard coughed and said, “That last shot, I didn’t quite understand. That kind of origin power, I’ve never seen before.”

“I was in a hurry. I should have used the Dawn Origin Power of Morning Light. Unfortunately, I only had time to prepare one solid bullet,” Qian Ye explained honestly.

The flaw in the Great Lord wasn’t easy to exploit. If not for the narrow confines of the grand hall and Qian Ye’s latent bloodline, those two shots wouldn’t have been so successful.

Howard, lost in thought, mused, “I didn’t feel much power from that origin power at first. Perhaps it’s because I hadn’t seen it before. But seeing Palochia’s reaction, that last shot seemed even more powerful than Morning Light. Truly incredible.”

Just as they spoke, the Council’s offensive outside suddenly slowed. An airborne warship spewed flames, burning as it plummeted to the earth, while the others turned and fled. The soldiers still fighting in the castle were left behind, facing certain death.

Night Pupil reappeared in the grand hall, her armor showing signs of damage, a thin cut on her neck. But her presence was undiminished, and she seemed unharmed.

“Archduke Phelick, the overseer, has been driven away. He’ll probably need a few decades of recuperation before he can fight again. Your Highness, you should instruct your people on what to do next. We need to leave.”

“Where to?”

“You can’t send another transmission for a while, and the communication devices here are destroyed. Your backup blood pool is tainted with blood poison. The castle itself isn’t worth much, and the Council forces won’t come back. We’ll head to the Moewe Clan. Renault has fallen, but we need to rescue his people.”

“Renault has fallen?!” Howard was shocked, but seeing Night Pupil’s expression, he knew it was true, even though he hadn’t sensed it.

Howard, however, remained motionless, pointing to the ceiling and forcing a smile. “If you can sense the Blood River, you should know my current condition.”

“Blood River?” Night Pupil stood still, her eyes closed. After a moment, her aura surged, passing through one barrier after another, her bloodline rank rising accordingly.

At the end of the void, the Blood River began to boil, responding clearly once more.

Night Pupil’s aura continued to rise until she reached the pinnacle of an archduke. In the short time before Howard’s eyes, she achieved a significant breakthrough.

After ascending to the rank of archduke, Night Pupil’s aura changed, becoming profound and eternal, each move accompanied by the rumble of thunder.

She gazed into the void, her gaze piercing through countless obstacles, landing on the Blood River.

Night Pupil’s ascension awakened the Blood River, making it clear and perceptible, no longer in a hidden state. However, the three of them now realized the same problem: their senses could cover the entire castle, yet only Night Pupil had awakened the Holy River; no other vampires could sense it.

The Blood River had been dormant for a long time. Harbus’ lighting of the Fire Crown’s blood imprint was once considered the beginning of the Holy River’s revival. There had been several inexplicable boilings afterward, but even great figures above the duke level only knew someone had ascended, without being able to discern the source.

However, if Qian Ye knew their doubts, he would realize that most of those times the Blood River had boiled were due to him.

No one had ever openly discussed this issue, not even among the second generation progenitors, for it would trigger a terrible speculation—that the Holy River might be reviving, but not for the majority of the vampires. They remained in a state of a thousand years, unable to touch or receive any response. Only the progenitors and a few extremely powerful beings were exceptions.

At this moment, Night Pupil, Howard, and Qian Ye naturally wouldn’t discuss this topic.

Night Pupil was still completing her ascension.

Qian Ye, having a far deeper connection to the Blood River than other vampires, set aside his distracting thoughts and focused on the Blood River.

This was the best opportunity to observe the Blood River. In the past, whenever the Blood River boiled, it was in response to Qian Ye’s ascensions, and countless inheritances would follow. Qian Ye could only absorb as much knowledge as possible, leaving no room for anything else.

Only now could he trace back and carefully perceive everything about the Blood River.

The closer to the source, the more difficult it became. Originally, the source was impossible for a duke to reach, even getting close was unlikely. But Qian Ye, relying on the connection between the ancient bloodline and the Blood River, managed to get near the source. Just getting close was already his limit.

In this position, Qian Ye faintly sensed several massive sources of power, each with different properties but equally pure and singular.

This was the true form of the Blood River Imprint.

Qian Ye was taken aback, almost breaking his connection with the Blood River. The sense of the imprint and the visual state of the imprint were two different things.

Being able to sense the source of the imprint’s power was the first step to igniting it, a common knowledge among vampires. But sensing the existence of the imprint itself was a challenge for most vampires.

The Twelve Ancient Clans, with their bloodline advantages, had a unique edge in sensing a particular imprint, which was the root of the vampire inheritance. Even with bloodline enhancements, once a blood imprint was extinguished, re-igniting it became increasingly difficult.

Qian Ye, however, sensed seven or eight imprints just as he neared the source, some of which were particularly clear. This revelation was shocking, making him wonder if his senses or the received inheritances were flawed. With such clarity, if he had enough accumulation, he might have a chance to ignite one.

Moreover, in vampire history, each imprint seemed to be ignited by only one person at a time. If Qian Ye ignited an imprint, wouldn’t that mean the corresponding ancient clan would lose its path to coronation? If Qian Ye had enough accumulation to ignite two imprints, what would that be—dual coronation?

This was incredibly shocking. Qian Ye tried several times, confirming his senses were not wrong. Though whether he could ignite them was a future matter, he couldn’t miss this excellent observation opportunity. Each imprint represented an origin power path, and even if he couldn’t ignite them, observing the rules of power would bring great benefits.

Qian Ye compared the sensed imprints with the known data of the Twelve Imprints. He quickly identified eight imprints, five of which were currently known to be extinguished in the vampire community.

But the other two imprints were different. One belonged to Guxin, the Death Confessor Prince, who had been in a 600-year slumber. If his imprint could be sensed, did that mean he had perished, and the ongoing slumber was just a false message?

And the other imprint was the Thorny Castle of King Medanzo. Medanzo was confirmed to be alive, so how could Qian Ye sense his imprint?

With these questions, Qian Ye examined the last imprint. This imprint was much weaker in perception, barely detectable. If not for an intangible connection between Qian Ye and the imprint, he wouldn’t have been able to sense it. Unlike the others, it seemed farther away, hidden underwater.

Upon examination, Qian Ye was stunned to discover that this imprint didn’t belong to any known imprint!

A thirteenth imprint?

Qian Ye examined it repeatedly, finally concluding it was a new, undocumented imprint.

At that moment, the surging of the Blood River began to recede, once again submerging in the depths of the void, severing Qian Ye’s connection to the mysterious imprint.

Night Pupil withdrew her gaze and looked at Howard, “Your imprint is about to extinguish?”

Howard sighed, “There were signs of instability. I woke up earlier to confirm the situation. Now, with this hasty awakening, it’s only a matter of time before the imprint extinguishes.”

Night Pupil added, “I saw you send a message to Lilith in the grand hall. Was it really intercepted by Medanzo?”

“Medanzo! Who else could it be?” Howard gnashed his teeth at the mention of the name.

“Medanzo…” Night Pupil’s eyes betrayed no emotion. But Qian Ye knew the confirmation of this news was still a significant shock to her.

In the blink of an eye, dawn approached.

Qian Ye, Night Pupil, and Howard stood on the mountain peak, overlooking the castle.

Near the base of the mountain, the largest square in the castle burned with over a dozen roaring fires. People continually carried bodies, both Council soldiers and more vampires, and threw them into the flames.

Fires still raged throughout the castle, many of which had been lit with special techniques and hadn’t been extinguished yet. From his high vantage point, Qian Ye could see the entire castle, but he didn’t need to look to know the severity of some of the battlegrounds.

Castles like Middle Castle, built over thousands of years, were more prosperous than their counterparts, with nearly a hundred thousand vampires living in and around the castle, making it a veritable ancient city. Such a city would be home to many civilians with little combat ability.

The rise of humanity had shown the dark races that civilians could be the foundation of a civilization. Although the dark and dawn races’ methods of power inheritance were fundamentally different, since the Empire’s founding, all races, consciously or unconsciously, began to place varying degrees of importance on civilians.

Night Pupil, for example, was just a primordial who had awakened from a remote branch line. In ancient times, she would have received little attention, but now, the distinction between pureblood and mixed blood was less stringent. In this regard, the vampires and demonkin were at the forefront, while the werewolves were the most stubborn, and the spider demons were still constrained by their reproductive methods.

The Council soldiers, airdropped into the castle, made the entire structure a battlefield, killing every vampire they saw, regardless of age or status. In the light of the burning fires, scenes of civilian slaughter were commonplace.

The twilight homeland of the vampires, especially in the progenitor core territories, had not seen war for thousands of years. Even during the Holy War, the ancient clans’ castles were not attacked. The civilians here had little combat training and were no match for the heavily armed Council elite soldiers.

Though the battle had ended and the Council forces had withdrawn, the loss to the Byen Clan was immense. A night of fighting had claimed a third of their people, forever returning them to the Blood River.