Chapter 223: Who is Closer to the Origin?

Edward’s deep, narrow eyes narrowed slightly, and he let out a heavy hum, clearly provoked by Qian Ye. He held his sword with both hands, pointing it at Qian Ye from a distance. A deep purple blood aura instantly filled the hundred meters around them, enveloping himself, Qian Ye, Ji Tianqing, and another black-robed figure.

A profound and solemn pressure descended slowly, as if some high and mighty being above the void had opened its eyes, watching over this place.

Ji Tianqing crossed her arms, and the necklace around her neck and the bracelets on her wrists glowed faintly, forming a light barrier that kept the purplish-black blood aura at bay. Although the light was weak, it did not lose ground in the confrontation with the purplish-black blood aura.

The other black-robed figure, however, fared very poorly; he trembled all over, slowly kneeling on the ground, unable to even stand up.

Edward’s gaze shifted to Ji Tianqing, his pupils instantly constricting, and his expression becoming more serious, but the murderous intent in his eyes grew stronger. After just a glance at Ji Tianqing, he turned to look at Qian Ye, realizing in their recent confrontation that Qian Ye was the true formidable foe.

Fortunately, Qian Ye had vampire blood, which was indeed an enormous piece of good news. The vampires were a race that strictly adhered to bloodline hierarchy because higher bloodlines could suppress lower ones, and the closer one was to the source of the Blood River, the greater the suppression. Even the one who created the Blood Throne had to flee to the Neutral Zone to unleash carnage, fearing the suppression by higher bloodline vampires on the Twilight Continent.

Edward’s confidence at this moment did not come from his status as a Holy Son or his bloodline as a Primordial, but from the purplish-black blood aura. This was the blood aura of a Great Lord!

Edward was, after all, a genius. After surviving the Blood Ignition Torture, he had successfully seized a thread of opportunity to fuse the Great Lord’s blood aura with his own. Though his blood aura now only carried a trace of the Great Lord’s, its power to suppress other vampires had surged. Even a Primordial would be far from matching a true Great Lord.

In the midst of the purple blood mist, Qian Ye lowered his eyes, standing solemnly with his sword, raising his left hand to point at Edward, and remained motionless.

Edward sneered, lowering his opinion of Qian Ye. Being completely stiffened by the blood aura, unable to move, and lacking the ability to struggle, showed that Qian Ye’s bloodline strength was not impressive, and he was far from entering the ranks of the higher bloodline vampires. Even if he had a hint of Primordial blood, he should have the ability to escape at this moment rather than being frozen in place, awaiting death.

Edward stepped towards Qian Ye, ready to personally take the head of this arrogant vampire. But after taking a single step, he suddenly sensed something amiss, his gaze instantly falling on Qian Ye’s left hand.

At Qian Ye’s fingertips, a faint dark golden blood flame was burning, and within the flames, a light feather flickered in and out of sight.

Edward’s pupils constricted sharply, instantly recalling the incident in the City of No Fall, where Qian Ye’s three light feathers had severely injured the witch. Qian Ye was not without the ability to fight back; he was luring Edward closer!

Thinking of this, Edward immediately halted, but he did not retreat. Instead, his figure shifted erratically, flashing a hundred times in place, making it impossible for Qian Ye to lock onto him. This was a highly advanced secret technique, and when dealing with the Original Gun, retreating was not as effective as moving laterally, as merely increasing distance was not the best strategy.

Edward’s entire attention was on Qian Ye’s fingers, and to his surprise, the light feather flickered several times and then disappeared!

Startled, Edward only then noticed an extremely sharp sword qi that had silently approached. While he was focused on the Original Gun, Qian Ye raised his hand and delivered a Desolate Cut to Edward.

With a roar, Edward condensed countless purplish-black blood auras into several blood shields in front of him. But in his haste, he couldn’t fully concentrate, and the blood shields were cut open by the sword qi, leaving a long wound from his chest to his abdomen, spurting blood!

Edward roared again, stepping back several paces, pulling out a primordial force pistol with his left hand, pointing it at Qian Ye. The wound on his body rapidly closed and vanished in an instant.

Qian Ye’s brows furrowed slightly, not pursuing the attack. The primordial force pistol brought him a strong stinging sensation, indicating that its power was extraordinary, possibly a Level 9 primordial force gun. Despite the severity of Edward’s injury, the cut was shallow, evident from the speed of healing.

Edward did not attack either, slowly retracting the purple blood mist, staring at Qian Ye, and said, “You are not suppressed?”

Qian Ye sneered, “I already said, in the Blood River, who is closer to the source is not yet certain.”

Unexpectedly, Edward did not get angry this time, but seemed thoughtful, and then looked at Qian Ye with deep meaning, saying, “Can you tell me who bestowed upon you the holy blood?”

“Do you think I will say?”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t. But, you have already gotten yourself into big trouble, unimaginably big trouble.”

Qian Ye sneered again, “How big can it be, compared to the troubles I faced in the Blood War and the Floating Land Battle?”

Edward shook his head, “No, it’s not what you think. It will be a huge trouble beyond your imagination.”

Despite Edward’s cryptic words, Qian Ye had no interest in pursuing further. Instead, he pointed at the primordial force gun in Edward’s hand and said, “Your Highness, do you not know that firing a gun in the Great Maelstrom is unwise? Or are you in such great trouble that, as a proud Holy Son, you would risk mutual destruction with us?”

Edward slowly put away the primordial force gun, saying, “This Bloom and Wilt was made by one of our Passer family princes, imitating the Manjushaka. Unfortunately, despite spending a century and returning to the ancient blood pool to slumber, he failed to capture the essence of the Manjushaka, only replicating a bit of its surface. Still, it has Level 9 quality and is a treasure of our clan. In the Great Maelstrom, it won’t cause a commotion like other primordial force guns.”

“Then why don’t you use it?”

“Because I truly don’t want mutual destruction.” Edward warily glanced at Qian Ye’s left hand.

At this moment, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan walked out of the forest. The other black-robed vampire strongmen also appeared, returning to Edward’s side. However, almost all of them were injured, except for the young, beautiful vampire woman who was unscathed.

When Qian Ye had forced Edward back, Ji Tianqing had struck the other black-robed figure, severely injuring him, and then went to assist Li Kuanglan. On the other battlefield, Li Kuanglan alone could hold off many black-robed vampires, and now with Ji Tianqing joining, the battle quickly turned one-sided.

In reality, the black-robed figure was powerful, but unlucky, caught off guard by Edward’s purplish-black blood aura, which suffocated him, allowing Ji Tianqing to strike.

At this point, the strength of both sides was still balanced, but Qian Ye said, “Your Highness, leave something behind, and you may go.”

Only the defeated needed to pay the spoils of war. Edward’s face darkened, and he coldly said, “You want me to surrender?”

“Pretty much.”

“Arrogant!”

Qian Ye planted the Dongyue in the ground, and Zangxin appeared in his hand. “You can use that Bloom and Wilt.”

Edward’s pupils constricted, and he said coldly, “A Level 9 gun?”

Qian Ye said lightly, “This gun is called Zangxin, imbued with my supreme secret art. One shot, and Your Highness will surely return to the Blood River. Want to try?”

Qian Ye wasn’t exaggerating. The Original Gun was hard to define as either a physical or purely soul-based weapon, and Anduva had only completed the initial construction, but its power was already evident. If the Original Gun was a supreme secret art, it was somewhat accurate.

Using Zangxin to shoot the Original Gun, if it hit, even if Edward was the vampire Holy Son, he would be sent back to the Blood River. Of course, Qian Ye wasn’t entirely truthful. Whether he could use Zangxin to shoot the upgraded Black Feather was uncertain.

Edward’s expression fluctuated, seeming unwilling to retreat, but now both sides were too close, well within the lethal range of their guns. Whether they would really be mutually destroyed or simply end up both injured was unclear, but either way, it was not worth it. Besides, in the environment of the Great Maelstrom, with other families’ people around, Edward didn’t even want to be slightly injured.

At this moment, the beautiful vampire woman suddenly said, “If you want our things, it’s not impossible. But once you take them, you cannot prevent us from leaving, nor can you attack us again.”

Qian Ye’s attention had been entirely on Edward, and he hadn’t noticed this vampire woman. Now, looking at her, he realized she was Dusksong, a member of the same tribe as Qian Ye. After a long time, Dusksong’s strength had greatly improved, and she was now a Countess of Cadia, likely due to some lucky encounter or the favor of some important figure.

But Dusksong spoke before Edward, and the status-conscious Holy Son did not show particular displeasure, indicating that Dusksong’s position in the vampire world might surpass her actual strength. Her request, however, was quite strange, raising suspicion.

Ji Tianqing said, “The Well of Stars isn’t useful to vampires, right? What do you want to stay for, to ambush us?”

Dusksong smiled lightly, saying, “If we wanted to ambush, we would pretend to leave, wait for you to enter the Well of Stars, and then strike, wouldn’t that be better?”

Ji Tianqing couldn’t refute this, but she became even more suspicious, asking, “Then what is your real intention?”

Dusksong replied, “The Well of Stars is useful to us vampires, but I can’t disclose its specific purpose. So, how about it? Do you accept or reject my proposal?”

Qian Ye frowned, about to refuse, but saw Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan exchange glances, not particularly resistant. Both women looked up at Qian Ye, and Li Kuanglan came to his side, explaining a few things in a low voice.

In the Great Maelstrom, whether Eternal Night or the Empire, all were isolated and in danger. Beasts, the environment, and the newly discovered powerful natives were fatal threats to these young powerhouses.

Under such circumstances, dark races and human strongmen sometimes temporarily set aside their enmity to deal with common threats. At resource points beneficial to both sides, they might divide shares according to their relative strengths to avoid devastating blood battles. This was an unwritten rule of cooperation.

In a sense, this was a temporary alliance of two weaker races, competing for survival resources. This time, the weaker ones were the nobles of Eternal Night and the humans.