Chapter 80:

“Thud” The young lady in the tent collapsed to the ground for the second time due to dizziness. This time, she appeared in an even more wretched state, like a disheveled black-haired defeated dog, gasping for air, her heart pounding more violently than ever before. It even rivaled the heart rate of a human. This was the physical discomfort caused by the resurfacing of true memories striking her mind. Beads of sweat covered her pale forehead, her blood-red eyes were wide open, and her pupils dilated. The muscles on her entire face twitched, completely shattering her emotional control. But this was not the time to worry about such things. Because she remembered! After Tris cast a spell to remove a certain mental illusion from her brain, the truth woven into the crevices of her false memories began rapidly resurfacing. In a daze, she saw herself opening her eyes for the first time in her life, greeted by the stern and gloomy face of her father, and beside him, a seductive woman she had “never met” but had always been by her side. Her...mother? She also saw her younger self, as a little girl, bouncing and prancing as she handed an exquisite pastry to a malnourished, scrawny little girl curled up on the ground, covered in wounds. At the edge of this scene, where she and Adele truly met, was an entire squad of the patriarch’s personal guards mercilessly slaughtering an entire border village in the night, filling the air with wails and the stench of death. The reason for all this was simply because her immature self disliked the ignorant villagers who had bullied little Adele. So her mother, with a doting smile, had issued the order for extermination. The scene then shifted, and she saw herself sitting in a chair amidst a rather complex and elaborate ritual, while her father was casting an abstruse spirit spell. She was crying and wailing. Because in front of her, her mother was reaching out to her in tears, but two of the patriarch’s personal guards were dragging her away from the chamber. That was the last time she saw her mother. Cecilia. Yes! That was her name. “Who is she? Where is Cecilia?” The young lady looked up in a daze. Her sweat-covered face and those bewildered eyes were filled with pleading questions. Tris placed her hands over her abdomen. She looked at this “child” in the truest sense with a complex gaze, as the cursed wound on her body throbbed faintly, as if touching upon an ancient memory she had decided to seal away forever. Facing Femis’ pleading and questioning, Tris shook her head and said: “I’ve never met her. I only know that Salrokdar found a human lover for himself forty years ago, but it was not out of love. He spent over a hundred years searching all of Transia just to find the perfect ‘vessel’. Meeting her, loving her, doing those vile and filthy things with her, none of it stemmed from genuine emotion. It was all part of a cold, calculated plan. And you! Femis, you are Salrokdar’s ‘masterpiece’. The first vampire in history to be born naturally like a human, without relying on the initial embrace, rather than through childbirth. Although your inherited abilities are not complete. But this is not a deficiency, but an ‘evolution’.” “Is her inability to initially embrace Adele a manifestation of this ‘incompleteness’?” Murphy, also bewildered by the truth, asked. Tris shook her head and corrected him: “The so-called ‘incompleteness’ or ‘imperfection’ is judged based on the standards of being a vampire. Little Murphy, as I said, Femis is the ‘perfect’ vampire when viewed by other races’ standards. She possesses all the strength and talents of a vampire and can receive the full protection and blessings of the Night Mother. She can even endure sunlight for longer than ordinary vampires. She has a vampire’s midnight powers, yet has not lost the extraordinary learning ability of humans. She is the advantageous offspring of the two races combined. The only issue is her inability to produce offspring. But this is precisely the root cause of our vampires being hated and loathed by other races, in the past, the only way for us to maintain our family’s size and reproduce was through plunder and conversion. Every new vampire meant one less life for the other races. This was the fundamental conflict that could never be reconciled, but Femis’ existence perfectly solves this problem!” Tris sighed, stepped forward, and used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from the dazed young lady’s forehead. She said softly: “Salrokdar’s experiment is not over yet. You, his outstanding creation, still have one final trial to pass. You must fulfill the mission you were given at birth. Child, you must give birth like your mother did after coupling with other male vampires, using your body as a vessel to deliver another healthy vampire. Do not heed the dark summons in your heart, do not let it goad you into taking irreversible actions, and do not let it lead you to plummet into the depths of the abyss and smash into the filthy mud. Just like me back then.” Murphy fell silent. Tris spoke with great solemnity. Murphy also believed that Tris’s warning at this moment was truly sincere. She did not wish for Murphy to follow in her footsteps, but Murphy found it difficult to reconcile the serious Tris with the wretched, drunken dreamer she usually appeared to be. Hey, your style is completely unsuitable for this kind of heart-to-heart persuasion, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you be seriously discussing with me which brand of wine has a smoother taste right now? “That seed!” Just as Murphy was pondering whether his own elder had developed a split personality due to the memories being stirred up, Femis suddenly raised her head. She grabbed Tris’s wrist and said: “I’ve seen the seed you mentioned!” “Impossible!” Tris whipped her head around in vehement denial: “That seed of life is something Salrokdar and I sacrificed fifteen family elders to steal from the sacred Glamo Island of the old Nature’s Teachings two hundred and twenty-five years ago! It was precisely that overly successful theft that sparked the ‘Second Night War’ and completely ignited the already existing conflict between vampires and the human old teachings. The massive direct confrontation between the three clans of Blood Vulture, Wolf’s Bane, and Blood Dread against humans also began at that time. It was that conflict that led to the extermination of the Blood Dread clan, the migration of the Wolf’s Bane, and the decline of the Blood Vultures. The undying hatred between the Wolf’s Bane and Blood Vultures also took root then. The truth behind this matter was known by very few people back then, let alone having actually seen that seed of life with their own eyes. It had already sprouted one hundred and ninety years ago after I nourished it with my own blood essence. According to my calculations and considerations, it would need at least one hundred years, at most one hundred and sixty years, to grow to the point where it could bloom and bear fruit, and it would need to be nourished with enough fresh blood every year to prevent it from withering. This was not the proper way to use that seed of life, said to have been bestowed upon the elves by the Avalon gods, but we eternal sin descendants could only catalyze it using these vampiric dark arts. Over the years, the humans who mysteriously disappeared in Kadman City were captured by Salrokdar and had their fresh blood squeezed out as sacrifices to further this plan. My calculations were obviously correct! He followed my instructions and planted that seed within your mother, then through the filthy act of conception, using her as a vessel to ultimately give birth to you! You are the new form of that seed of life and blood! How could you have possibly seen it? You are it!” “I really did see it! Back in the Smuggler’s Woods, when I encountered the White Knight Elder Finoch, that guy was originally going to kill me. But it seemed he discovered some clues and made me ingest a black seed, putting me into some kind of trance state.” Femis waved her hands as she explained in a stuttering voice: “I remember it clearly. In that trance, I saw the vast starry expanse stretching endlessly beneath my feet, and I also saw that tree at the center of the sea of stars! The withered blood-formed branches extended outward, not a single leaf, twisted like a monster that had grown from the gloomy abyss! I really did see it!” “What are you saying? A Gold-tier White Knight let you go? Old Finoch? Who is that?” Tris asked in astonishment. Behind her, Murphy had also sensed the second crisis and explained: “The reason we managed to kill Jed this time was relying on that old Finoch’s judgment. It was he who led this elite group of Witch Hunters to confirm Salrokdar’s death. He’s currently in Kadman City, but the less than forthcoming young lady has never shared her experience in the Smuggler’s Woods with me.” “This is troublesome now.” Tris’s head ached even more. The wound on her body also began to throb, causing her to groan in pain as she clutched her chest and collapsed, only to be caught in Murphy’s embrace. He quickly grabbed the blood wine from the bedside and poured some into Tris’s mouth, suppressing the eruption of pain within her body. With a weak tone, she instructed Murphy and the approaching Femis: “Leave the matter of old Finoch aside for now. The biggest problem at the moment is the Blood Pact Knights. If they see any trace of Salrokdar in the secret chamber deep within the Blood Vulture Halls, they will likely discover that he has broken taboos. There’s no way to conceal such a transgression from them. Those arrogant descendants are all experts in dealing with taboos. You must quickly find a way! Either flee, or...” “Purge the Blood Vulture Halls before they arrive!” Holding Tris in his arms, Murphy looked at Femis and said solemnly: “Salrokdar can die at the hands of the Witch Hunters or by our own, but we absolutely cannot let the Blood Pact Knights discover those past secrets. Three days! We only have three days! Femis! This time, you must follow my orders to the letter. If you cannot, then leave this place and find your own path.”