CA - Chapter 218
Chapter 218
The sky, shrouded in a thick, blood-colored fog, was gloomy and dim. An aura of darkness filled every corner. Lucille stood at the top of a tree, using the dense foliage to conceal herself. She gently parted the leaves with her fingers, observing the situation below through a small gap.
Judging by the environment and the aura, this was the Blood Domain, but... it didn't seem like the Blood Domain she had visited before.
Lucille's brow furrowed. She clutched the small black vial that couldn't be placed in her Space Gem, lost in thought.
Below, a gray-haired vampire swaggered past. After a moment's hesitation, Lucille leaped silently from the treetop. The bones in her right hand elongated, her sharp nails glinting with a cold light. She flashed behind the gray-haired vampire, pressing her nails against the back of his heart. "Don't move," she said coldly.
The gray-haired vampire froze for an instant. The hand holding a quill pen rose weakly. He started to turn his head to see Lucille's face, but the pain in his back made him abandon the idea. "...Hey, don't get excited, friend."
"Losing the Holy War has nothing to do with me. I'm a loser too. Even if you're angry, you shouldn't take it out on me, right?"
"It's true that the Second Generation vampires being driven back to the Blood Domain by humans is disgraceful, I admit it. But that has nothing to do with us Malkavians. If you want to vent, go find the Brujah or the Ventrue..." He rambled on, then tilted his head and sniffed hard. "Friend, are you a Gangrel?" he asked in surprise.
The gray-haired vampire mentioned the Second Generation, and only then did Lucille realize with a shock that this person's aura was that of a Second Generation vampire. But for some reason, while his aura was Second Generation, his overall presence was very weak; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to subdue him so easily. And... the Holy War... wasn't that something that happened five thousand years ago?
"The Holy War was lost... When was it lost?"
The gray-haired vampire looked as if he'd heard an unbelievable question. "Did you just wake up, friend? Didn't you see us fleeing back here like drowned rats?"
"That madwoman chased us all the way to the gates of the Blood Domain. You sure can sleep." While complaining, the gray-haired vampire carefully edged away from Lucille. Lucille frowned slightly and silently withdrew her hand.
With the threat to his heart gone, the gray-haired vampire breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry about me doing anything to you. I'm injured. I can't even beat a Fourth Generation right now."
He had been severely wounded by that group from the God Race using light magic. Without resting for several hundred or a thousand years, there was no way he could recover to his peak.
"In a few days, I'm going to find a place to sleep. This Blood Domain is all yours. You Third and Fourth Generations can mess around however you like."
The gray-haired vampire licked his bloodless lips and turned around, finally seeing Lucille's face. He looked her up and down and said strangely, "You look really unfamiliar."
Lucille was silent for a moment before saying flatly, "I just woke up. I didn't participate in the Holy War."
"You're really lucky." The gray-haired vampire spread his hands, a look of boredom on his face. "You didn't get to experience the frustration of being crushed by ants."
Lucille gripped the small black vial in her palm, glanced around, and asked, "Which clan's territory is this?"
"The Xi-Tai clan." The gray-haired vampire took a small vial of blood from his Space Gem and said casually as he drank, "Since you've been sleeping, you definitely wouldn't know this clan. They're a new clan converted from humans."
Lucille's eyes narrowed. She turned and randomly picked a direction to leave, planning to catch a vampire from the Xi-Tai clan to ask about the situation.
That array was definitely related to the Xi-Tai clan. If it could send her here, there must be a way to get back.
The gray-haired vampire was halfway through his meal when he noticed Lucille was leaving. He got up and chased after her, asking enthusiastically, "Are you going to the Xi-Tai clan too? We can go together."
He introduced himself, "I'm the third elder of the Malkavian clan. You can call me Elder Ernest."
Lucille glanced back and refused coldly, "No need."
"You Gangrels are too withdrawn, treating everyone as an enemy. There's no need for that, really no need." The gray-haired vampire was not discouraged. He continued writing something on a piece of parchment and said distractedly, "By the way, what are you going to the Xi-Tai clan for?"
Lucille glanced at the yellowed parchment in his hand and retorted coolly, "What are you going to the Xi-Tai clan for?"
"I find their clan very interesting and want to see them with my own eyes." The gray-haired vampire shrugged. "If I don't see them for myself, I probably won't be able to sleep soundly."
"You just woke up, so you don't know what their clan has done." The gray-haired vampire counted on his fingers as he explained to Lucille, "They traveled to the Age of Gods, found Prince Bernard's sleeping place, and returned with his blood. Using that blood and witchcraft, they successfully converted their people into a new clan."
"They actually managed to do something so crazy. Sometimes I even suspect they borrowed the wisdom of our Malkavian clan."
Lucille rubbed the small black vial in her hand, concealed by her sleeve, and fell into deep thought because of the gray-haired vampire's words. Seeing him start to write again, she suddenly spoke up, "And then?"
"And then?" The gray-haired vampire didn't look up, speaking mockingly, "There is no 'and then.' Do you think a new clan is so easy to create? Those witches of the Xi-Tai succeeded, but the highest they reached was the Third Generation. What's the use of that? The Holy War was still lost."
"Their clan members have almost all been killed by that madwoman Cynthia, right? The remaining few hundred are hiding in the Blood Domain, too scared to go out, spending all day researching how to break the laws." The gray-haired vampire pursed his lips. "Even I, the most intelligent of the Malkavian clan, haven't figured it out. How could they possibly succeed?"
Only a few hundred members of the Xi-Tai clan remained, and they weren't popular among the other vampires. After all, they were "outsiders." With all the clans simmering with anger after the defeat in the Holy War, their clan dared not show its face and remained in hiding.
Lucille and the gray-haired vampire searched the Xi-Tai clan's territory for several days but couldn't find where they were hiding.
In a relatively clean clearing, Lucille sat on a green stone, studying the small black vial in her hand. From the information she had gathered from the gray-haired vampire over the past few days, she was now certain that the teleportation array had brought her to the Blood Domain of five thousand years ago.
Tang Qiu... Tang Qiu should have come with her, but she wasn't sent here. She was probably sent somewhere near the Holy See.
After the end of the Holy War, the identity of a vampire faced too many restrictions on the continent of Statu. After weighing her options, Lucille decided against going out to search for Tang Qiu's whereabouts directly.
Tang Qiu would definitely come looking for her. She was in the Blood Domain, and in the territory of the Xi-Tai clan at that. Before Tang Qiu found her, finding a way back was the most correct choice.
The gray-haired vampire ate three times a day. He leaned against a tree trunk, drinking blood while eyeing Lucille, who sat with her back to him. He suddenly spoke up, asking, "Don't you eat?"
He rarely saw Lucille eat.
Without turning her head, Lucille tossed out a frosty reply, "Not hungry."
The gray-haired vampire raised an eyebrow, bit down on the vial, and took out his quill to record Lucille's habits on the parchment.
The moment he took out the quill, Lucille sensed it. She turned her head, her face grim, and asked, "What are you writing?"
"I like observing people." The gray-haired vampire winked at Lucille. "Don't be nervous, I'm just taking notes. You know, the Malkavian clan always finds inspiration in trivial matters."
Lucille bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it at the gray-haired vampire. He dodged it clumsily and said with a helpless expression, "Don't be so stingy, friend. I'm a Second Generation elder, at least show me a little respect."
Seeing Lucille's cold expression, he was about to say more when the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled. The blood-colored fog overhead seemed to have been attacked, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared. Golden sparks fell from the cracks, corroding a deep pit into the ground below.
Lucille dodged the falling sparks and moved to a safe place. She frowned and asked, "What's happening?"
The gray-haired vampire scratched his head in annoyance and said self-mockingly, "The ants are here to bully the great vampires again."
Outside the Blood Domain.
Tang Qiu watched the two priests chanting spells behind Cynthia with a peculiar expression. Recalling their previous conversation at the manor, she asked Cynthia with amusement, "Didn't you say you can't just enter the Blood Domain whenever you want?"
At first, she thought Cynthia had a way to sneak in or something. Who knew they would just stand outside so brazenly and attack it directly with magic.
Cynthia nodded and said nonchalantly, "That's right. You can't just enter whenever you want. So we have to make them come out on their own."
As she spoke, she said to the priest behind her, "Chloe, use God's Light directly."
Chloe nodded and began to switch spells. When Tang Qiu heard the words "God's Light," her eyes flickered. "A Forbidden Technique?"
"Forbidden Technique?" Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "Is this considered a Forbidden Technique five thousand years from now?"
Tang Qiu nodded. "God's Light is a light magic spell that only the Pope can use."
Even the incantation is in the Pope's hands; no one else has the chance to see or practice it.
Chloe, who was in the middle of chanting, couldn't help but stop and interject, "Which Pope made that rule? This is clearly something all priests can use."
Of course, whether one can learn it depends on their aptitude, but the spell isn't restricted to only the Pope.
Trying to trace when the Holy See began its decline was clearly unrealistic. Cynthia shook her head and held out her hand to Tang Qiu. "Give me the Light Crystal and the staff."
Tang Qiu took the items out and handed them to her.
Cynthia embedded the Light Crystal into the staff, then handed it back to Tang Qiu. She also took out a book of light magic and gave it to her, saying with a smile, "Whether you can learn it or not will depend on your aptitude."
Every priest in the Holy See had a copy of this book of spells; it couldn't be considered a Forbidden Technique at all.
There were indeed spells that were called Forbidden Techniques, but she couldn't teach them to Tang Qiu, because those were spells only the God Race could use.
After Cynthia's Staff was made whole, the moment Tang Qiu held it, she could feel a continuous stream of the Power of Light pouring into her body. She focused her mind and lowered her eyes to study the spells on the paper.
A white paw quietly reached out, trying to knock the staff from Tang Qiu's hand. Cynthia caught it out of the corner of her eye and slapped the white paw away. "What are you doing?"
A white wolf crouched behind them, looking at Tang Qiu's back as she focused on learning light magic, its face full of frustration. "She's one of our Wolf Race."
Why should someone from our Wolf Race learn light magic? They should be fighting on the front lines, bravely tearing enemies to shreds.
"I've long told you all to learn light magic. Look how powerful she is." Cynthia sighed, exasperated.
The white wolf retorted aggrievedly, "But we're werewolves. What kind of werewolf stands in the back holding a staff?"
"Besides, a werewolf's constitution makes it impossible to practice light magic."
Cynthia paused, looking thoughtfully at Tang Qiu's back. That was true. With a werewolf's constitution, it was indeed unlikely to master light magic to Tang Qiu's level.
This person still had secrets.
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