A bright moon hung high in the sky, casting a radiant glow over the ground. A few stars twinkled weakly around the moon, watching helplessly as their light was completely overshadowed. A bat-like black shadow fell onto the platform of the 17th floor building. Liao Xiao Jin clutched his scorched chest and began to curse wildly: "Damn it! Those old fogies, I just evolved into a small baron last month, and they're already making me do such a dangerous task, tailing the Church's Luminary Rite. Although their status isn't high either, it's not like I, a lowly viscount, can handle it! Luckily I ran fast, or I'd have been burned to a crisp by the holy light!"
The curse returned, Liao Xiao Jin's greedy absorption of the moon's essence was underway. A very fine cyan light shot down from the moon and entered Liao Xiao Jin's mouth. The chest that had been scorched by the holy light gradually began to grow back.
"In the name of the Lord, dispel the evil in the world." A holy light suddenly appeared and blasted onto Liao Xiaojin who was chatting with the moonlight, a loud "boom" sound, Liao Xiaojin was blown out seven or eight meters away, almost falling off the building, nearly smashing his bones to pieces.
"Unbelievable, the Blood Clan still dares to develop its descendants in China!" A middle-aged foreigner with golden hair and deep blue eyes, carrying a hint of eeriness, appeared on the rooftop. Looking at the severely burned Blood Clan viscount who was suffering and groaning in pain, Anthony became excited. "Oh Lord! A viscount, without any magical defense, was hit by 'God's Baptism' and only suffered heavy injuries, not dead. How amazing! The physique of the Eastern people is too amazing! However, under the glory of the Lord, even the amazing East will be conquered by us. Bring back his Heart Core to offer it to Archbishop-sama, Archbishop-sama will surely be delighted. This is a Blood Clan from the East!"
He suddenly pulled out a slender sword with an obvious Western style, and Anthony proudly stabbed at Liao Xiaojin's chest. A burst of blood mist suddenly exploded from Liao Xiaojin's body, and the dense blood mist instantly covered his entire body. Anthony was taken aback for a moment, "Blood Escape Magic, you think you can escape? You're still able to use Blood Escape Magic despite being so heavily injured, it's truly giving me too many surprises!"
"In the name of the Lord." A holy light shone from Anthony's hand, illuminating a three-meter radius around him. "Ahh!" A miserable cry escaped as Liao Xiao Jin fell to the ground, letting out a bitter laugh. He had no choice; the difference in strength was just too great. Although he had intentionally concealed his true power, trying to use cunning to overcome brute force, it was clear that even evolving into a Baron wouldn't be enough to take on a radiant Paladin of the Church.
"Damn it, I'm going all out!!" Liao Xiao Jin clasped his hands together in front of his chest, muttered a few lines of incantation, and a thick, dark aura burst forth from his body. Two sharp fangs protruded from the corners of his mouth, and with a loud rip, his clothes were torn apart as two glossy black bat-like wings unfolded from his back. "Tsk! Tsk!" Anthony's handsome face remained smiling, "I underestimated you, I didn't think you'd be able to evolve into a Viscount so quickly. But what's the use? Go meet Satan!! Judgment of Light!!" A soft, white glow emerged from Anthony's head, and in an instant, the entire rooftop was bathed in the radiance of holy light. The Judgment of Light was a sacred illumination that could eliminate all dark creatures on earth, invoked by devout followers to summon the power of the heavens. Its might was immense. As soon as Liao Xiao Jin was enveloped by the Judgment of Light, the dark aura surrounding him vanished without a trace. His body emitted wisps of black smoke, and he let out anguished wails. "Ahh! Ahh!" Anthony, however, did not intensify the power of the holy light, seemingly intent on tormenting this Eastern blood clan member.
"Hurry up like a law! Five thunders, right method!" Brush! A cyan sword aura directly tore through the judging light that shrouded the sky, and a seven or eight zhang long thunderbolt descended from the void, heavily striking the complacent Anthony. The wind and water turned around, this year it's our turn. It just happened to fulfill this ancient saying, at this time Anthony was covered in soot, emitting a foul smell. "Who?!" Anthony was dazed by the lightning and was about to shout loudly when he saw a giant iron block four zhang in diameter falling towards him. This is still not enough, if he gets hit by the iron block, his bones will definitely be crushed into mud, becoming a meat pancake, with no chance of survival.
Anthony let out a loud roar, using all his might to jump to the side and narrowly escape being smashed into a meat pie. Strangely, the iron block hit the cement board on the rooftop without making any sound. Under Anthony's bulging eyes, the four-meter-square iron block quickly shrunk down to a four-inch square seal and flew back into the hand of a masked figure standing at the edge of the rooftop.
"Chinese Taoist?!""Magic treasure?!" He recalled that before coming to China, the Red Robed Bishop had repeatedly warned him to be careful and not to conflict with the Eastern Taoists. Anthony broke out in a cold sweat, fearful of the mysterious Taoists! The bishop had spoken disdainfully at the time, but now he finally understood - they could actually control lightning as an attack method, and that incredible magic treasure that could change size at will. Everything was beyond his wildest imagination.
Anthony's brain short-circuited for a second, his neck throbbing in pain. Liao Xiaojin was struggling to hold on, desperately resisting the power of the judgment light. If Anthony hadn't been intentionally torturing him, he would have disintegrated long ago. Suddenly, the pressure eased, and he saw that his opponent was covered in black, as if severely injured. Unable to restrain himself, he pounced forward, biting into the other's neck and frantically sucking out fresh blood. The Blood Clan had always been known for their speed, and Anthony was caught off guard for a moment.
"Ah ha! The blood of the Luminous Sacrifice is a great tonic. I've drained him dry, and soon I'll evolve into a Viscount."
Another loud roar, Anthony exhausted his strength to release the holy light from his body. Although he had just been struck by a heavenly thunderbolt and half of the holy power in his body was scattered, after all, a dead camel is bigger than a horse, isn't it? With a "pa" sound, Liao Xiaojin was directly bounced out three zhang away, his wings and fangs retracted, revealing his human appearance. And Anthony wrapped in a ball of holy light floated to the edge of the rooftop, about to use the "Holy Escape Technique" to escape.
The masked man shook his head, "To eradicate the weeds, one must remove the roots! Those who are not of our kind will inevitably have a different heart!" The green light reappeared, and a ten-meter-long, one-meter-wide sword light slashed towards that mass of holy light. Ah! Anthony let out a miserable cry, his vital energy severely injured, he couldn't withstand the sharp sword energy transformed from Taiyi's refined gold, and was split in two with just one sword strike. The massive iron seal that followed crushed him into a meat patty.
Without making a sound, fresh blood splattered all over Liao Xiaojin's body. Liao Xiaojin stared blankly at the masked man as he tossed out six jade pieces. The green light was hazy, with tiny symbols flashing on the jade pieces as they floated in mid-air, forming a Taiji diagram. A red light shot out from the Taiji diagram and shone onto the ground, instantly burning the remaining blood and flesh into a wisp of blue smoke. A gentle breeze blew over, and it vanished without a trace.
Liao Xiaojin swallowed hard, thinking to himself: "This person's Taoist magic is powerful, and he's ruthless in his actions, not leaving any loose ends. He's someone who can accomplish great things! Why not try to build a relationship with him? Who knows what unexpected effects it might have?" Having been a vampire for several years, Liao Xiaojin had long since become extremely cunning.
With the moves he learned from ancient costume martial arts movies, Liao Xiaojin made a courtesy call to Fei Nuo: "Thank you, senior, for saving my life. I'm extremely grateful!!! May I ask your honorable surname and great name?"
Zhou Qing almost burst out laughing, his recent cultivation had made great progress, his true yuan was full, and he had a deeper understanding of the array method. He also gained insight into several powerful array methods from "Lian Qi Zong Gang". He wanted to try them out, but unfortunately, there was no one to test them on. Who would have thought that just as he was about to fall asleep, someone would come knocking on his door? It just so happened that a fight had broken out nearby, and with Zhou Qing's current cultivation level nearing the middle of the Qi Refining stage, he could sense everything clearly. As soon as he thought back to the benefits he gained from taking advantage of Yu Xiong last time, Zhou Qing's heart grew hot with excitement. When he saw that it was a fight between the Church and vampires, his curiosity grew even more. During his reading period, Zhou Qing had read many fantasy novels featuring vampires as the main characters, so he had a soft spot for blood clans and an intense dislike for the Church. Especially when he saw that the vampire seemed to be Chinese, he made up his mind to save the poor creature. How could he let foreigners kill a Chinese person?
Anthony is quite powerful, and if they were to fight head-on, Zhou Qing would not win easily. To kill him, he might have to sacrifice himself as well. However, a sneak attack is different. The sword energy transformed from the Taiyi Jingjin is extremely sharp and can easily tear apart the Judgment of Light. With the recent creation of the Five Thunder Jade Symbol, which summons the pre-heavenly lightning spirits, Anthony would likely be severely injured. Nevertheless, even in his heavily injured state, he managed to escape Zhou Qing's triple killing move: the Small Fan Tian Yin. Zhou Qing was greatly surprised by this. If it weren't for the vampire's sneak attack buying him some time, allowing him to gather a second sword energy, Anthony might have escaped, which would have led to endless troubles.
With a sudden flash of insight, Zhou Qing absorbed the experience and lesson from this encounter. Just in time, he heard Liao Xiao Jin speaking. As for this vampire, Zhou Qing wasn't too worried, his strength was too weak, if there were any strange movements, he was confident that he could kill him with one sword strike! Taking advantage of this opportunity, it would be good to ask about the foreign blood clan and the Church's situation. After all, knowing more things isn't a bad thing!
"This isn't a place for talking, come with me!"
Along the way, he used a few small bewildering arrays, turned in a big circle, and made the little vampire dizzy. Only then did Zhou Qing bring Liao Xiao Jin to his own residence.
"Senior, your divine power is vast and boundless!" After seeing Zhou Qing's face, Liao Xiao Jin was shocked. Originally, judging from Zhou Qing's displayed strength, he should have been a majestic and elegant figure with a long white beard, like an immortal deity. But who would have thought that he was actually so young?! "Our Chinese Taoist arts are truly amazing! It seems the legendary immortality is real after all! Even us vampires can only live for about a thousand years or so, and we'll still slowly age." Liao Xiao Jin's eyes were rolling around in confusion, unsure of what to think.
"You don't have to be surprised, my actual age and appearance are consistent, but as for your bloodline, I really don't understand, can't tell the age." Zhou Qing naturally knew what Liao Xiao Jin was thinking, with a hint of inquiry in his tone.
"Ah! His actual age and appearance match, which means he has achieved such mastery at just twenty-something years old. At the very least, it's the strength of a viscount or above in our bloodline! How is this possible?! How is this possible!" Liao Xiao Jin's brain short-circuited for a few seconds again, and he respectfully replied: "Junior Liao Xiao Jin was turned into a bloodline three years ago. Junior is 26 years old." Although he knew that the other party's age might be younger than his own, Liao Xiao Jin still referred to himself as junior. Might makes right; this is something that no one, no matter what their existence, can avoid.
"Finally can't help but burst out laughing: 'What era is this, do you think we're filming a movie?! So ridiculous! My name is Zhou Qing. Just call me by my name.'"
Seeing Zhou Qing being so easy to talk to, Liao Xiao Jin also smiled and the distance between them suddenly narrowed. "Zhou big brother, your skills are really amazing, you solved that Illuminati's Light Sacrifice ritual in one go, I suppose no one is a match for you?" Liao Xiao Jin asked tentatively. In his heart, he was thinking: "Ah ha! He's quite young, if I can get my hands on his cultivation secrets or methods, I'll definitely advance quickly. That Edward kid actually dared to snatch my Jenny, I want to suck him dry and turn him into my blood slave. And that old ghost Kulak, isn't he just a count? If it wasn't for you backing me up, how could Jenny have been snatched away by that small viscount Edward? Twenty years ah, this kid is only in his twenties but already more powerful than a marquis, what about me?!" A sinister glint flashed in Liao Xiao Jin's eyes.
"There are many people who are more powerful than me, I'm just a beginner. You're bleeding from your chest, looks like you're seriously injured, how can you act like nothing's wrong?" Zhou Qing was also curious about this. Liao Xiao Jin didn't find it surprising though, after all Zhou Qing's strength was stronger than that of the Marquis, but there were still Dukes, Grand Dukes and Princes among the Blood Clan, not to mention the mainland China.
"Our clan's physical regenerative abilities are extremely strong, even if an ordinary descendant loses all their blood, as long as they absorb new blood in time, they won't die. And for our kind of high-ranking blood clan, once we've grown a heart core, absorbing moonlight can quickly restore us." Liao Xiao Jin replied truthfully, "Moreover! I seem to recover several times faster than ordinary blood clans, and my evolution is also faster than theirs." He paused for a moment before speaking out the doubts that had been plaguing him for a long time. By doing so, he was also revealing a small secret about himself in order to gain Zhou Qing's trust.
"Oh, now is the time of full moon," Zhou Qing walked to the window, pulled open the curtains, and a pale blue, watery moonlight poured in. What a perfect full moon, Zhou Qing silently sighed. Liao Xiao Jin nodded slightly, let out a low hum, and his wings and fangs suddenly flashed into view. Zhou Qing's eyes were sharp, and he saw that in the pale blue moonlight, tiny silver-white things quickly drilled into Liao Xiao Jin's mouth, then appeared at the heart for a moment before disappearing. Meanwhile, the wounds on his body slowly healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Ah, so the Blood Clan cultivates the pure yin energy of the Taiyin Star. But from a Taoist perspective, isn't that an imbalance of yin and yang? With so much pure yin energy accumulated in their bodies, without any yang energy to balance it out, it's bound to cause problems eventually! No wonder they need to drink blood - blood is a purely yang substance after all! Hmm, why don't they just absorb the primordial true yang energy of the Taiyang Star instead? Wouldn't that achieve a better balance of yin and yang?"
Zhou Qing couldn't wrap his head around it, looked at Liao Xiao Jin who was still enthusiastically drinking blood, and shook his head. "This Blood Clan is really strange - they've lost so much blood, yet they seem completely fine?"
He pinched several spiritual incantations, "Taiji Qiankun, Dao Xin True Fire" six jade cards were thrown out, and he was about to scorch the blood on the ground that Liao Xiaojin had dripped. This is a recent trick that Zhou Qing has figured out, using the Taiji formation, in conjunction with his own true yuan to trigger the pre-heavenly fire yuan, the Dao Xin True Fire emitted, although it can't compare to the "Three Flavors True Fire". However, it's enough to smelt ordinary objects and refine steel.
The red light of high temperature that can melt gold and iron, shone on the blood, but had no effect. The golden light in the blood flashed and disappeared, barely offsetting the illumination of the red light. Zhou Qing was shocked, his eyeballs almost popping out. How is this possible? Although he only used a single layer of true yuan to activate this "Taiji Fire Array". Even a piece of iron would melt quickly, let alone a small amount of blood.
"Hurry up like a law! Collect!" Collect the "Taiji Departure Fire Array". Zhou Qing flew quickly to the edge of that blood, stretched out his finger and picked up a drop, carefully examining it. A weak divine thought was transmitted through the true yuan analysis. In his mind, the records of "Refining Equipment" flashed quickly: "Jiuli Sacred Blood, Chiyou Heavenly Pulse".
In an instant, countless thoughts burst forth from her mind. She glanced at Liao Xiaojin who was fully absorbing the dark energy and took out a jade bottle. Carefully, she collected that ball of blood.
"You have to give me some benefits, otherwise why would you follow me so devotedly!" "Heaven and Earth, the power of Taihua, urgent like a law!!" Again, those six jade cards were thrown out, floating above Liao Xiaojin's head. This time, it wasn't the true fire of the Tao that was released, but rather, with Zhou Qing's constantly changing spiritual incantation, the jade cards formed a taiji diagram that began to rotate rapidly, faster and faster, exerting an immense pulling force! Countless moonbeams were forcibly pulled into this taiji diagram, and then, a silver light column as thick as a teacup shot out from the diagram and entered Liao Xiaojin's mouth. At first, Liao Xiaojin was shocked, but soon his face lit up with an ecstatic expression, and even his breathing became urgent.
