Selina watched as her family's Elder was threatened like this, yet she didn't react at all. After experiencing all of this, she had finally understood a simple truth: only the strong can decide everything. And here, it was obvious that they were not the strong ones.
As for Emilia's inner circle of trusted subordinates, they were currently furious but dared not speak. Their master's life was held in Zhou Yi's hands. Consequently, they didn't dare make any rash moves. Besides, the power Zhou Yi had just displayed was not something they could possibly oppose.
Seeing all this, Emilia abandoned her naive ideas. For now, she could only focus on surviving for the moment. As for the future, she would have to find another way.
"I can give you the Holy Blood, as long as you let me and my subordinates go."
Hearing Emilia say such words in desperation, Zhou Yi's lips curled into a smile.
"My lady, you should have made this choice sooner. Perhaps then we wouldn't have to make things so unpleasant."
With that, he released Emilia. She immediately sprang back, creating distance between them. It was clear she was now utterly and genuinely terrified of the unpredictable Zhou Yi.
Rubbing her throat, which had nearly suffocated moments ago, Emilia said in a low voice, "Follow me. We've hidden the Holy Blood in a specific place."
She then led the way deeper underground. Selina was stunned. She had always known this was the Elders' resting place, but never suspected a secret chamber for treasures lay beneath. As a child, she had explored these depths with Victor, and they had found nothing but tombs and coffins.
Just as Selina had imagined, Zhou Yi followed Emilia into the subterranean depths. What they found was a sea of stone coffins, arranged in neat, oppressive rows that stretched as far as the eye could see. Some of the coffins lay overturned, revealing shattered skeletons and adding a layer of macabre horror to the scene.
"You hid it *here*?" Zhou Yi's voice betrayed his unease. He vowed that if he ever touched the Holy Blood, he would need to disinfect himself thoroughly afterward.
Hearing Zhou Yi's question, Emilia's expression darkened. She gazed at the coffins for a long moment before finally speaking.
"This is our family's burial ground," she said. "Every warrior who fell in battle, as long as we could recover their remains, was brought here to rest in peace."
"Looks like they're not resting in peace anymore," Zhou Yi remarked with a smile, pointing to the scattered bone fragments strewn across the floor. "Even their home has been turned upside down. I don't mean to be disrespectful to the dead, but I think you should focus on the task at hand right now, rather than mourning them."
His words made Emilia's chest tighten, a knot of frustration and grief swelling within her. But the situation was beyond her control. She had no choice but to follow Zhou Yi's lead.
Stepping over the piles of remains, Emilia walked deeper into the crypt. At its furthest point stood a statue of a woman. At first glance, it resembled a Madonna from a cathedral, but her smile was not benevolent. Instead, it held a strange, ruthless cruelty. And in her arms, she held not a holy child, but the stone carving of a child's corpse.
In short, the statue was steeped in darkness and completely unconventional. Only an outcast like a vampire would ever find such a grotesque thing appealing.
Emilia walked straight to the sculpture. She took the child's corpse from the grotesque Madonna's arms and carried it to a dried-up pool. The pool's floor was covered in strange reliefs of skeletons and corpses.
She placed the small statue into the pool, adjusting it until its protrusions fit perfectly into the reliefs below. A series of deep rumbles then echoed from beneath the earth.
"This is the mechanism to activate the underground spring," Emilia explained. "We submerged *that thing* in the water. Only by using this mechanism can we use magnetism to draw up the box containing it. And because the underground water is constantly flowing, there's only a one-hour window each day to do this. Without the correct method or the right timing, you'll never get it. You've arrived just in time!"
As Emilia explained, the sound from below grew louder. Finally, the gurgling water pushed a metal box upward from the pool, inch by inch.
Seeing the object, Emilia let out a long breath of relief.
The item was still there, which meant her safety was no longer in question. At the very least, Zhou Yi wouldn't kill her in a sudden fit of rage.
"This is what you came for," she said, holding the box. "The Holy Blood entrusted to us by a powerful vampire over a hundred years ago is inside."
Emilia approached Zhou Yi and respectfully handed him the box.
Zhou Yi took it from her. The outer metal casing was like a gift box in his hands, torn to shreds in just two or three moves. After ripping it open, he saw the object inside.
It was a crystal-like pyramid, its four sides carved with reliefs of four angels.
One side bore Michael, holding a long sword and scales. Another showed Gabriel, clad in silver and wielding a spear. The third featured Raguel sounding a trumpet, and the fourth depicted Uriel, wreathed in flames.
The Four Archangels were depicted with such vivid detail that they seemed almost real. A faint glow pulsed from the lines of their relief carvings, a light so intense that Emilia, a vampire, recoiled, wishing she could vanish into Zhou Yi's shadow. Yet to Zhou Yi, the radiance felt strangely familiar.
But this was clearly not the main point. Turning the object in his hands, he focused his gaze on the pyramid's interior.
Inside lay a pool of blood imbued with divinity—a fact Zhou Yi, himself possessing a divine nature, could sense immediately. However, the power emanating from the blood bore no resemblance to Jehovah's. Instead, he felt the essence of darkness, tranquility, and life—like flowing water, the earth, or even the aura of a living creature. None of these felt connected to God.
Furthermore, observing how the angelic reliefs suppressed and sealed the divine blood within, Zhou Yi found it even harder to believe this was the Blood of God. If it were, the angels would have to be defying their creator to dare create such a seal.
But one thing was certain: this was exactly what he had been searching for. So, Emilia hadn't lied to him.
At this thought, Zhou Yi felt a slight headache coming on. He believed in equivalent exchange. Since he had obtained this from Emilia, he naturally had to give them something in return.
"So, milady. I have obtained what I wanted. I am willing to pay a certain price for it. Now, can you tell me what you want?"
"What could we possibly ask for?" A look of utter despair appeared on Emilia's face. "It's just a matter of living one day longer or one day shorter. What is already fated cannot be changed just because you wish it so."
"Are you afraid of the Dark Council?" Zhou Yi continued to fiddle with the crystal pyramid in his hand, but a strange smile appeared on his face. "Actually, they aren't that scary, are they, you bastard hiding in the shadows?"
As he finished speaking, the shadow on the ground suddenly seemed to come alive, moving with a viscous fluidity. Countless black shadows swiftly skittered across the walls of the tomb, moving so fast they were almost impossible to track, striking terror into anyone who saw them.
Emilia's face paled in terror as she scrambled toward Zhou Yi. Just then, a black shadow shot out from beneath her feet, its target the pyramid in Zhou Yi's hand.
The shadow was fast—too fast for Emilia to even react. But to Zhou Yi, it was still a little too slow.
A tiny spark erupted from beneath his feet, instantly spreading into a golden ring of fire. The moment the shadow crossed the ring's boundary, a fiery serpent shot out, snapping the shadow in two mid-air. Agonized shrieks and roars echoed from the darkness. Emilia watched as the shadow transformed into a severed arm in mid-air, only to be incinerated into ash in an instant.
The surreal, magical scene froze Emilia in her tracks. She stared at the golden Fire Ring at Zhou Yi's feet, her eyes filled with profound terror, unable to take another step forward.
Who knew if that Fire Ring would attack her? If she accidentally touched it, she'd die a truly senseless death.
Seeing Emilia staring at the Fire Ring beneath his feet as if she'd seen a ghost, Zhou Yi had no intention of offering any words of comfort. He simply narrowed his eyes, staring at the dark figure deep within the tomb, and chuckled.
"So, you're the one from the Dark Council, huh? How's my little fire treating you? Enjoying it?"
A fierce, low snarl suddenly erupted from the darkness.
"Don't get too cocky, you bastard. You won't get a good ending after provoking us."
The voice sounded powerful, but both Zhou Yi and Emilia could hear nothing but cowardice and trepidation in his words—a classic case of a paper tiger.
"A lot of people have said that to me, yet here I am, still standing perfectly fine. So, Mr. Shadow, you can't scare me. If you don't want any trouble, you'd better step out of the shadows. Let's have a proper chat!"
"I have nothing to say to humans," the figure in the shadows retorted sharply, utterly rejecting Zhou Yi's offer. "Unless you hand over what you're holding, you're declaring war on the entire Dark Council!"
"I *am* declaring war on you. What are you going to do about it?" Zhou Yi sneered. These people were nowhere near powerful enough to threaten him.
"No one escapes the Dark Council's pursuit. You've made a fatal mistake. Your friends, your family—all will face our endless hunt until blood washes away every trace of our hatred."
The Shadow's voice drifted, growing distant then near as he began to move again. His dark, venomous tone was like a dagger, striking straight at the heart.
He was like a demon lurking in the dark, using the most vile and wicked curses to torment his enemies, instilling fear and helplessness until they died in despair.
For years, this had been his method. But now, it was useless.
The flames surged like crashing waves, spreading in all directions. The Shadow darted away, but he couldn't outrun the fire. In just two or three breaths, the entire tomb was engulfed in layers of blazing light.
There were screams, roars of agony. But Emilia saw nothing. She stood cowering within the Fire Ring, oblivious to the pile of ashes in the corner scattering in the wind.
The game was over.
Zhou Yi had won.
-----------------------
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