Sustaining wound upon wound, Qianye could hardly even stand up. Yet he struggled little by little and managed to prop himself up against the wall. He then moved himself slowly to block the door, almost falling down several times along the way.

The traces of blood from the wall to the door were a ghastly sight to see.

“If you really want to die, I don’t mind helping you.” There was no pain or concern in her eyes, only coldness.

“Where is Nighteye?”

There was another fluctuation in her eyes. Moments later, she pointed at her blood core and said, “She’s here, if you insist she is the actual Nighteye.”

Nighteye’s figure appeared in Qianye’s eyes, and this time, the Monroe princess did not react, allowing her figure to grow clearer. However, the results silenced Qianye because there was neither a change in her body nor her blood energy—this was still the woman he loved deeply. But where was her spirit? Is she still the same person?

“What exactly is going on?”

“I merely awakened. The Nighteye you know is only this body’s instinct while I was asleep. Do you understand now?” Nighteye seemed impatient at having to explain so many things. She said with cold eyes, “I’m already being quite tolerant right now. Do you think I won’t kill you if you keep pestering me?”

Qianye wasn’t afraid. “Don’t tell me our past will be forgotten just like that?”

Nighteye said indifferently, “In light of your acceptable bloodline and there being no big loss for me, I’ll let things be.”

“You, who are you?”

These words aroused Nighteye’s sleeping memories. Her aura became lofty, ephemeral, and unfathomable. A single wisp of it made it difficult for Qianye to move.

“All you need to know is that my position should be on the sacred mountain.”

“Wherever you go, I’ll find you!!!” Qianye roared with all the strength he had remaining.

But Nighteye merely waved her hands and a formless wave of origin power s.h.i.+fted Qianye to the side.

She paused just as she was about to walk through the door. “I’ll be waiting for you on the sacred mountain.”

Then, Nighteye pushed the door open and vanished through it.

Sitting within this empty room, Qianye suddenly felt that his world had become empty and frozen.

The sky gradually turned dark.

Only when footsteps were heard outside of the courtyard did Qianye wake up from his daze. He wanted to stand up and take precautions, but his legs were weak and he nearly collapsed. The severe wound just now had almost injured his innards—if it wasn’t for the strong, semi-crystallized blood core and vortices, he might’ve damaged his foundations.

Southern Blue wasn’t safe. Now that he knew someone was coming, Qianye calmed himself down and produced a blood crystal from his collection. He then crushed the item and absorbed the blood energy within, instantly strengthening the pulsation of his blood core as the energy transformed into wisps of auric flame blood. Wherever this blood flowed past, the tissues in his body began regenerating at a rapid pace. It was just that Qianye was wounded all over, so the auric flame blood was quickly depleted and transformed back to ordinary blood.

The minimal recovery managed to stabilize Qianye’s aura. He changed into a new set of clothes, activated his Bloodline Concealment, and waited before the courtyard doors.

As expected, there was a knock on the gates before long.

A soft gasp could be heard outside as Qianye pulled the door open. There were several people standing outside, the leader being a young girl in a black cloak. It was Bluemoon with whom he had fought together in Port City. She hadn’t sensed anyone behind the doors and was just about to knock again when the gates flew open—this shocked her quite a bit.

There were four people behind Bluemoon. The two elders among them were quite strong, possessing profound auras and six origin vortices. The Highbeards’ combat strength far exceeded humans of the same rank, which meant that this lineup was enough to rampage through Southern Blue.

These two elders were also quite surprised because they hadn’t sensed Qianye, either.

“Bluemoon? How rare, please come in.” Qianye stepped aside.

The girl instructed the remaining two men to guard the door while she herself entered with the two elders. She became quite cautious upon seeing the pool of blood through the open room.

“Just a bit of trouble, I’ve dealt with it.” Qianye seemed rather calm.

Seeing blood was no surprise in the neutral lands and thus Bluemoon paid it no further attention. She waved her hands at the two elders, who promptly deployed a steel bucket at each corner of the courtyard and pulled out a long alloy stick from each one. After the origin arrays were activated, a screen of light appeared between the poles, insulating the courtyard from the outside world.

“This is rather interesting.”

“Just a small trick to prevent spying by isolating sound and perception. There are limits to it, of course. It’s useless against divine champions and those above.” Bluemoon was explaining all of this to a.s.sure Qianye. Her estimation of his strength increased a fair bit when she saw that the latter was completely unperturbed and allowed her to set things up as she wished. What she didn’t know was that Qianye was in a deeply wounded state and couldn’t stop her even if he wanted to.

From the painstaking setup, Qianye knew that she had come to discuss some important business. As such, he waited quietly for her to explain her intentions.

After everything was in order, Blue Moon said, “I came here seeking Mr. Zhao’s help in exploring the underground maze below Port City.”

“Below Port City? Isn’t that the Earth Dragon’s lair? You want to risk going into a void colossus’ lair?”

Bluemoon replied, “Mr. Zhao must think I’ve gone mad. Naturally, the Earth Dragon’s lair used to be a forbidden ground into which even Su Dingqian didn’t dare venture. But that’s no longer the case; the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons have found a way to pacify the Earth Dragon, making it ignore the weaker creatures in the lair. The divine champions in the lair will still attract its attention and suffer attacks, though.”

Qianye instantly realized the opportunity. Divine champions like the Spider Emperor, Mask, and the Wolf King couldn’t enter the lair, which meant there were chances one could fish in troubled waters. Divine champions couldn’t enter, but there were numerous experts under the three powers. How could it be that easy to beard the lion in its den?

“What exactly does the Earth Dragon have that attracts your attention?”

“Its blood".

Qianye wanted to laugh out loud after hearing this.

Su Dingqian had told them that this so-called Earth Dragon’s blood was something he had made up. He had never even seen this Earth Dragon before, let alone know what uses its blood had. Bluemoon was also present back then, so she couldn’t have forgotten it.

The girl said in due seriousness, “The supposed false might be the truth, and what’s considered the truth may not be real. As an experienced schemer, Su Dingqian had used this kind of method to make people think that the blood doesn’t exist. In truth, obtaining the Earth Dragon’s blood doesn’t involve getting close to the dragon at all and its uses have been pa.s.sed down in secret.”

“How did you know?”

Bluemoon smiled. “Us Highbeards are inherently good at battles and have been the first choice as mercenaries. Hundreds of years ago, one of our ancestors helped a mysterious expert enter the Earth Dragon’s lair. Not only did he learn many secrets regarding it, he even obtained a drop of its blood.

At this point, Bluemoon stopped speaking. Qianye knew she wanted to keep him in suspense and make him ask questions. This secret information might even become a bargaining chip in their negotiations.

Yet Qianye remained silent and seemed to have no intention of making any inquiries. Helpless, Bluemoon could only continue, “The Earth Dragon’s blood can greatly strengthen an expert’s bloodline power and increase their apt.i.tude, eliminating the bottlenecks of the past. Lucky ones might even have their bloodlines replaced by the Earth Dragon’s and gain overnight success.”

“A priceless treasure indeed.”

Seeing Qianye calm and unsurprised, Bluemoon couldn’t help but say, “The Earth Dragon’s blood is very helpful in breaking through to the divine champion rank. Our tribe’s ancestor became a divine champion because of it. In his reign, our tribe built a total of seven secret bases, and his brilliance lingers to this day.”

“To what extent does it increase the chances?” Qianye asked.

This wasn’t the only treasure capable of helping one into the divine champion realm. Their value would depend on the percentage increase in breakthrough chance. Of course, for the countless people stuck at the divine champion threshold, any treasure that would increase their chances was priceless, no matter how small the increase.

“Thirty percent at least!”

“Thirty percent!? Are you sure?” Qianye was somewhat moved. A treasure capable of increasing chances of a breakthrough by thirty percent was extremely rare and even more valuable than an origin crystal. The latter could only give the user the ability of a divine champion, but that wasn’t a true breakthrough.

“Don’t forget that our ancestor has used the Earth Dragon’s blood before and these were the words he left behind.”

“It’s indeed alluring, but this treasure is too far away for me. There’s a long path ahead of me before I reach the divine champion realm.” Qianye smiled calmly, saying, “Besides, even if we do get such a treasure, it won’t belong to me, will it?”

“Indeed, the Earth Dragon’s blood is very important to us Highbeards. But if we can obtain it, we’ll naturally reward you handsomely.”

“I’m listening.”

Seeing Qianye’s att.i.tude, Bluemoon couldn’t help but ask, “Are you not tempted?”

“Better not to think about things that are too far away.” Qianye revealed a smile of indifference.

In truth, it wasn’t that the Earth Dragon’s blood was too far away; it was completely useless for him. In terms of bloodline power, Qianye’s ancient vampire bloodline wasn’t inferior to the Earth Dragon’s. Additionally, this was something he had cultivated on his own and had full control over. Hence, it was definitely more powerful than an external object like the blood.

As for the divine champion threshold, countless people were stuck here because their origin power wasn’t pure and concentrated enough—the impurities made it difficult for them to liquefy their crystals. For some people, it was because they had taken too many medicines, while most others couldn’t break through because their cultivation methods were lacking and the origin power produced wasn’t of sufficient quality. These people would need to spend ten times more effort and time for the same results.

Qianye, on the other hand, had reached the apex of purity in daybreak origin power. Venus dawn was one of the three top daybreak origin power types and its existence was the very embodiment of purity. Now that his origin vortices had half-crystallized, their future liquefaction was only a matter of time.