Tong Yan slowly opened her eyes, staring blankly at the dome of the cavern. Suddenly, memories of what happened before she fainted flashed through her mind, and she jolted up, warily scanning her surroundings.
However, she instantly found herself leaping into the air, unable to control her body, and then falling back down. Just as she was about to hit the ground, Tong Yan instinctively reached out to brace herself. But the rock-hard ground, which should have been as firm as alloy, seemed to become incredibly soft, and her hands sank deep into it, leaving two profound indentations!
Stunned, Tong Yan tested the movement of various parts of her body, and then gradually stood up. Only now did she notice that every part of her body felt sore and itchy, rather than the pain of severe injuries. This indicated that her bodily tissues were regenerating at a high speed, and her blood core pulsed with formidable strength. There was no trace of injury left in her body.
Tong Yan was bewildered. Where were her injuries? Those grievous wounds that had almost made her lose hope? After her eyes and blood core were damaged, she had fled desperately, not wanting Edward to easily get his hands on her. But in her heart, she knew that such serious injuries would be hard to recover from fully.
Yet, now, after repeatedly examining herself, her body was in better condition than ever. Her blood core was even stronger than before, and it seemed multiple parts of her body had been modified, greatly enhancing her overall functions.
This could truly be called a miracle. After awakening her primordial bloodline and soaking in the ancient blood pool of the Monroe clan, her body had already undergone comprehensive strengthening. Only after the full activation of her bloodline did she gain the identity of a princess. For such a body to be further enhanced during her unconsciousness—what exactly had happened?
Tong Yan, suddenly shocked, discovered an additional thread of dark golden foreign blood energy within the golden source blood in her blood core. This was not from the Pas clan, but it made her feel an icy chill. Only a bloodline of a duke or higher could invade her primordial bloodline. Could some clan have taken advantage of her while she was weak?!
She looked around in confusion, but the surroundings were quiet, with only the occasional sound of water droplets from the cave walls.
Tong Yan took a few steps towards a half-broken wall, seeing the still chaotic great hall of the cavern. Although the positions of some stone walls and passages had changed, the giant beast’s corpse in the center confirmed that this was the battlefield where she had fallen unconscious. However, there were no obvious traces to tell her what had happened after she passed out.
Taking a moment to calm herself, Tong Yan re-examined the anomaly in her blood core. This time, she found that the thread of dark golden blood energy and her own golden blood energy coexisted peacefully, as if they came from the same source, without any signs of devouring. As it swam slowly, the golden blood energy automatically avoided it, as if it were a king inspecting his subjects.
Tong Yan was startled. The golden blood energy was her primordial bloodline, the foundation of her status as a princess. Now, this thread of dark golden blood energy was making her golden blood energy yield, indicating that its origin was of a higher tier than her primordial bloodline as a black-winged ruler, and it wasn’t from the Pas clan. What could it be?
It seemed that a lot had happened while she was asleep. Tong Yan tried to recall, but her memory was a blank. After a moment, she concluded that she had fallen into a brief, deep sleep due to her severe injuries. For a vampire, this type of sleep for healing was the deepest, impossible to awaken from, and thus she couldn’t sense anything from the outside world.
Tong Yan walked to the giant beast’s corpse. The massive creature’s volume was now less than half of what it had been, like all its life force and essence blood had been drained. She saw the fatal, charred wounds from some unknown power and the marks of a blood-sucking blade that had extracted its essence blood.
The more she observed, the more perplexed she became. The blood-sucking blade was clearly from one of her kin, but the fatal blow didn’t seem to belong to any specific clan’s secret technique. Even after looking several times, Tong Yan couldn’t determine which faction’s power it was.
Tong Yan stood in a daze for a while, but the omnipresent pressure of the void beast’s will eventually brought her back to her senses. In this perilous and strange world, there was no time for hesitation.
As she thought, she moved her limbs to adapt quickly to her body’s condition. Tong Yan suddenly stopped, looking down at her chest. Most of the buttons on her top were unfastened, revealing a patch of snow-white skin, where her blood core lay.
Although her skin appeared as smooth and white as ever, with no signs of abnormality, Tong Yan felt something was off. Placing her hand on her chest, her blood core suddenly began to beat faster, and she felt a inexplicable panic.
It was as if… as if something crucial was leaving her. In that moment, she was almost consumed by fear and panic, her heart feeling empty, though she didn’t know what she had lost.
Standing quietly for a while, Tong Yan finally composed herself, adjusting her clothes and gear. She formed a mirror with her blood energy and looked at herself. Only then did she realize that her face was very clean, without a trace of bloodstains or dust from the fierce battle. She was stunned; it seemed a warm and gentle hand had wiped away the dirt and grime.
With a light sigh, the bloody mirror shattered, vanishing along with the beautiful face in it. Tong Yan chose a random direction and headed deeper into the cavern.
Perhaps because of her emotional turmoil, Tong Yan checked the cavern hall but didn’t explore the adjacent passages, so she didn’t find the two corpses lying nearby.
Hundreds of meters away, in a passage slightly lower than the cavern, Qian Ye was dragging Dong Yue, taking step by step forward. Dong Yue plowed a deep trench in the ground, as heavy as a mountain. And Qian Ye, pulling it ahead, was like a snail carrying a mountain.
Qian Ye’s current state was neither good nor bad. “Jing Shui Di Sheng” had healed most of his injuries from continuous battles, but this was only physical recovery.
Although in this special world, the Great Mystery War Decree couldn’t absorb void origin power, he didn’t need to worry about the lack of dawn origin power with just the War Decree and Dawn Awakening. However, after losing two drops of source blood, his blood core had almost stopped pulsating, and all his blood energy had returned to the runes to slumber, with no clear sign of when they would recover.
In the world suppressed by the beast’s will, this meant a significant drop in combat power.
Qian Ye walked resolutely forward. Perhaps in his current state, he would be at a disadvantage when he reached the center of the beast’s skeleton, but he had no intention of retreating.
Not to mention that the way out might not be safer, and so far, Qian Ye had encountered countless powerful individuals from the Evernight and Imperial camps, but there was still no news of Jun Du Zhao.
Another concern came from Li Kuanglan’s message. Qian Ye now understood what Song Zining meant by “your destiny” and “my battlefield.” Clearly, Song Zining was involved in the surface battle, so how could Qian Ye easily abandon the underground battlefield?
In a cave several thousand meters away, Aiden leaned against the stone wall, his upper body charred like rotting wood, a ghastly sight. However, his breathing was stable, and he was at least not in immediate danger of death, although he had lost his fighting ability.
Opposite Aiden sat a second-tier viscount of the Pas clan, who was staring at him with a gloomy expression, clearly in a foul mood.
This viscount, who had been recalled by Edward mid-pursuit to guard, or rather, watch over the severely injured Aiden, found this task extremely troublesome. Aiden’s attack had killed several of their clan members, and now he couldn’t kill this demon, let alone allow him to be casually devoured by passing beasts. How could the viscount’s mood improve?
Aiden, who had been resting with his eyes closed for a long time, suddenly opened them. He looked around aimlessly for a while, then turned his gaze to the blood clan viscount and smiled. “Do you think Edward has already found the ancient essence?”
The viscount’s face darkened. “Shut up!”
Aiden continued, “You noble vampires are actually far from the true center of the Council. From your appearance, even though you follow Edward, he hasn’t told you the real use of the ancient essence, right?”
The viscount’s expression fluctuated, initially furious, but later becoming alarmed. “Do you know about the ancient essence?”
Aiden said, “I come from the Abyss of Darkness and work for the Council. How could I not know? But there’s no need to hide it; soon, it won’t be a secret. The ancient essence can help our dark descendants reach the rank of duke directly. The reason is that it carries a fragment of the void beast’s soul, allowing us to comprehend the mysteries of void origin power and take that crucial step.”
“I know that,” the viscount replied.
Aiden smiled mockingly. “But do you know that, besides direct absorption, even just looking at it a few times can be quite beneficial?”
“What!” The viscount leaped to his feet.
Aiden gazed at him with scorn. “And don’t forget, the Sky Ghost is also a void beast. Killing his avatar also brings great benefits. Otherwise, do you think those marquises from both camps would come to this dangerous place for nothing? They would even take on the task of killing the Sky Ghost’s avatar, considering it more important than seizing the ancient essence and fighting each other. Because such battles, once participated in, also offer the opportunity to understand higher-level powers.”
The viscount’s face twisted, the veins in his neck bulging, showing extreme hatred. He finally understood. Edward had left him here to watch Aiden, indicating that he wasn’t valued at all, and he was completely excluded from the real benefits.
The viscount grabbed Aiden by the collar, lifting him off the ground. “You’re lying to me!”
Aiden gave him a contemptuous look. “Do I need to lie to you?”
The viscount was speechless, his face flushed red. Using such verifiable matters to sow discord was meaningless. Moreover, before this confrontation, Aiden and Edward had a close relationship, and both were high-ranking figures. Normally, the viscount wouldn’t even have the qualifications to curry favor with Aiden.
However, Aiden’s expression suddenly changed, showing extreme shock as if he saw a ghost, staring at the viscount’s back.
The viscount, who was actually quite experienced in battle, initially thought Aiden was trying to trick him. But then he realized that Aiden, who couldn’t even stand, had no way to attack him.
Then, the viscount heard a light click in his ear. He quickly pushed Aiden aside, adopting a combat stance, and turned to see a silver, tube-shaped grenade the size of a fist flying toward him.
“Daybreak flash bomb!” Just as the thought flashed through his mind, a blinding white light exploded in front of him. Instantly, the viscount was blinded, unable to see anything. His eyes felt as if they were being pierced by countless heated needles, causing him to scream in pain, covering his eyes and rolling around frantically.
Bai Kongzhao appeared like a specter, but instead of approaching the viscount, she threw something at him. The viscount, who was still screaming, suddenly leaped up, his hand flashing with a cold light as he swung his blood-sucking blade, instantly cutting the object in half.
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