“Too slow.”

Ye Qingzhou’s wooden sword stopped in front of Dietrich’s Adam’s apple: “Lan Yi’s speed? What a joke.”

Sirius suddenly put his hands together, and the Thunderbeak bloodline burst out with all its strength!
“Boom!”

A bolt of lightning struck from the clear sky, but was cut in half by Ye Qingzhou’s sword before it touched him.

The spectators then discovered that the blade of the sword in Ye Qingzhou’s hand had been covered with a trace of fighting spirit that had been condensed to the extreme.

Refining the sword into silk!

“Have you had enough fun?”

Ye Qingzhou’s wooden sword suddenly ignited with golden flames, and the blazing flames wrapped around the sword tip, but did not burn the wooden sword at all, showing Ye Qingzhou’s perfect control over his own fighting spirit: “It’s my turn.”

As soon as the words fell, the sword flashed.

With the first sword, Ye Qingzhou smashed Sirius’s protective thunder armor.

With the second sword, Ye Qingzhou hit Dietrich so hard that he flipped three times in the air.

When the two men fell to the ground in a mess, the wooden sword hit Sirius right between the eyebrows – blood dripped slowly, and the latter did not dare to move, for fear of being pierced through the brain by a sword.

“Take your dog and get out.”

In the infirmary, Sirius crushed the potion bottle.

“How could the Sun Bloodline be so strong?”

He looked at his shaking hands and said, “I’m afraid that even a high-level swordsman may not be able to have that kind of control over swordsmanship…”

“We were all wrong. We thought that Kane of the Morning Star Family was the biggest opponent, but we didn’t expect Ryan to be their real trump card.”

Livia Yanlin emerged slowly from the shadows, stepping on the sparks. She fiddled with the dragon scale dagger and said in a playful tone, “He used his extremely condensed fighting spirit to split your lightning.”

Suddenly, a bell rang outside the window.

The two looked at each other – that was the summons from the Vatican Inquisition.

In the central square of the Silver Royal Swordsman Academy, the crowd parted like a tide.

At this time, three Judgment Knights wearing silver-white armor walked slowly towards them, and the sunlight reflected a dazzling halo on their shoulder armor.

With every step the burly man in the front took, the ground shook slightly.

Tiny feathers of light danced on the fingertips of the blond young man, while the petite female knight exuded a faint smell of blood from the gaps in the armor.

“It’s the ‘Three Holy Knights of Light’ of the Holy Sun Church!” a student exclaimed.

“I heard that Chief Judge Roland once wiped out an entire vampire nest by himself…”

“Are those teeth hanging on Lady Celeste’s belt real vampire teeth?”

Whispering, Ye Qingzhou was leaning against a stone pillar beside the training ground, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the hilt of the sword. The Blazing Dragon sensed the master’s emotions and let out an uneasy growl in the distance.

Gareth Chiyi was the first to walk in front of Ye Qingzhou. This Knight of Judgment, famous for his handsomeness, took off his helmet, revealing a perfect face that was enough to make the noble ladies scream.

But Ye Qingzhou only noticed the frozen coldness in his blue eyes and the iron-like will.

“Lian Morningstar?”

Gareth’s voice was as sweet as a hymn, yet as cold as winter frost and snow. “Do you have any additional clues about Kane Morningstar’s death?”

The training ground suddenly became quiet.

Everyone pricked up their ears – everyone knew that Kane and Ryan were enemies.

Ye Qingzhou looked straight into those eyes: “I was meditating in the dormitory that night.”

“Yeah.”

The feather of light on Gareth’s fingertips suddenly floated towards Ye Qingzhou’s heart and turned into green smoke before touching the black robe: “The feather of dawn can detect lies. Guess what the result is?”

The crowd of onlookers exclaimed.

Ye Qingzhou didn’t even tremble his eyelashes: “Maybe we should ask the Thieves Guild? Didn’t the Public Security Bureau already–“

“That’s enough.”

Gareth suddenly interrupted him, and the light feathers dissipated: “You can go now.”

Celeste stood like a ghost in Ye Qingzhou’s path. Her flail moved without wind, and a newly engraved name on the hammer was still oozing blood – it was “Blood Vulture”.

“The divine divination showed last night…”

A mechanical voice came from under the armor: “The Holy Scripture, Chapter 7, Section 4.”

All the top students in the theology class present gasped – “Perjurers should be punished by having their tongues pulled out.”

Gareth held his companion’s shoulder: “There is no conclusive evidence.”

“His heartbeat slowed down when he lied.”

Celeste pointed the flail at Ye Qingzhou’s left chest: “Chapter 9, Section 12 of the Holy Scripture – The blood of the evildoers has its own strange phenomena.”

Ye Qingzhou suddenly chuckled: “Your Excellency the Judge, the hair that is exposed from the gap in your armor… is it blood-stained white?”

Celeste stepped back suddenly, clutching her right arm armor tightly as if she was burned – a lock of white hair was indeed exposed there.

There was a sound of metal rubbing against each other in the shadows.

Judge Roland approached like a mountain, and the scar under the silver eye mask was hideous.

“That’s enough.”

His deep voice made everyone’s knees weak. “We are here to track down Dracula.”

The giant sword “Holy Judgment” was suddenly inserted between the two sides, and the holy nails on the sword vibrated buzzingly.

“The Sun Bloodline is not detected by Holy Light. This is common sense.”

Roland glanced at Ye Qingzhou with his one eye, “Besides…”

He deliberately raised his voice so that everyone in the audience could hear: “The Morning Star Family is the most loyal ally of the royal family. The Holy See will not question the Divine Blood Nobles without reason.”

Gareth glanced at the Blazing Dragon thoughtfully – the beast was baring its teeth at Celeste, but what was reflected in the dragon’s pupils was the faint black spot on Gareth’s own cuff.

When the trial knights left, Dietrich trembled in the crowd: “They clearly saw it! Why…”

“idiot.”

Sirius Lanyi grabbed his collar and growled, “Didn’t you hear me? The royal family! They are afraid of the royal power behind the Morning Star family! Ryan has awakened the most noble Sun bloodline. Such a genius, whether it is the Morning Star family or the royal family, will never allow others to get involved!”

At the other end of the training ground, Ye Qingzhou stroked the dragon scales, his eyes following the receding backs of the three Judgment Knights.

In the hot mist of the dragon’s breath, Ye Qingzhou moved his lips silently: “The source of the blood race’s power should come from the Blood God, but the Holy Sun Church is hunting the blood race… Interesting…”

Although Ye Qingzhou was not proficient in Europa’s mysticism, he was at least a martial god who had ascended to heaven and was deified. Therefore, he immediately comprehended the key to this: “It seems that the existence of the blood clan represents the Blood God, and the Holy Sun Church is the shackles that restrict the Blood God. If the Blood God wants to regain the throne, he must break the shackles.”

Just through a few words, Ye Qingzhou roughly understood the main thread of the fate of this world: “If the blood race wants to rise, they must defeat the Holy Sun Church and the imperial royal family. Once successful, it means that the blood god dominates everything and takes back everything he once had with the strongest attitude.”

“And what I need to do is to stop the expansion of the blood clan, and even if possible, I have to annihilate the entire blood clan.”

Ye Qingzhou grasped the thread of fate and knew what to do next, but at the same time he became alert: “The Church and the Royal Family represent the coexistence of two forces: profession and bloodline. They can be my allies, but they cannot be my support… I must build my own power.”

The reason is simple. The Blood God needs to break the shackles, and Ye Qingzhou needs it too, otherwise he will be trapped in this cage forever.

Therefore, the enemy of my enemy is also an enemy.

“What a daunting challenge, but this is exactly what I want.” Ye Qingzhou already had a plan in mind: “The first step is to create a swordsman school with me as the main force and establish my own power and order.”

…………

The underground river in Yinhui City, the deepest part of the black market.

At the end of the damp tunnel, a bronze door engraved with an inverted cross slid open silently. Inside the door, the candlelight was dim, and twelve obsidian chairs surrounded a pool of blood, in which were floating undigested bones.

Members of the Eternal Night Council emerged one by one from the shadows—some wearing human skins, some half-human and half-beast, some completely inhuman… The only thing in common was the flashing scarlet in their eyes.

“Boom.”

The sound of the scepter hitting the ground stopped all whispers. Dracula slowly stood up from the throne, his silver hair flowing like moonlight, and his bloodshot eyes swept over every member.

“Kane Morningstar is dead.”

His voice was like an undercurrent beneath the ice: “That night, I stood on the bell tower and saw it with my own eyes.”

The leader of the Thieves Guild, Grayson, was the first to speak, tapping the armrests of the chairs with his eagle-claw-like fingers anxiously: “Without Kane’s Morning Star bloodline, the Blood Moon Ritual is still short of four sacrifices!”

“No hurries?”

The sneer of the Frost Witch Hecate made ice crystals form in the air. In the embryo jar in her arms, a deformed baby suddenly opened its completely black eyes, “I have three more ‘Morning Star Embryos’ that can be used as replacements…”

“Poor quality.”

Monica Yanlin played with the dragon scale dagger, and the bite marks on her collarbone were faintly visible under her red dress: “Last time, the embryo was used as a replacement, and it almost caused the Eternal Night Barrier to collapse prematurely.”

The blood pool suddenly boiled, and Dracula raised his hand to suppress the commotion: “Kane’s brother Ryan is the most perfect sacrifice.”

The parliament fell into silence.

“The kid who awakened the Sun Bloodline?”

Gray Owl’s Adam’s apple moved: “But the Holy See’s Inquisition Knights have already…”

“Just a hound.”

Dracula’s fingertips slid across the pool of blood, and the images of Gareth and the other two emerged on the surface of the water: “The Holy Sun Church sent them to investigate me, but they didn’t know that their armor was already full of maggots.”

The black spots seeping from Gareth’s cuffs…

The white hair on the inner layer of Celeste’s armor…

The bloodstains wriggling under Roland’s silver eyepatch…

It turned out that without realizing it, they had all been cursed by the blood.

“As for the timing…”

Dracula suddenly crushed the image, and blood splashed on Monica’s face: “Dear, does your husband know that you mixed vampire blood into the tea party?”

Monica licked the blood off her cheek and smiled charmingly: “The old man only cares about his Dragoon Regiment.”

“Three months later, ‘No Sunshine’.”

Dracula shot out a blood arrow with a flick of his finger and carved a countdown on the dome: “When the Holy Sun is devoured by the Demon Wolf…”

The blood arrow suddenly changed direction and hit Hecate’s feet.

“Your Daywalker units must be in place.”

Another arrow was aimed at Gray Owl: “The Thieves Guild is responsible for cutting off all distress beacons in Silver City.”

The last three blood arrows hovered in front of Monica: “And you, my dear blood bride…”

“Let the Flame Scale Family’s Earth Dragon Cavalry Regiment block the royal reinforcements during the ‘surprise exercise’.”

Gray Owl couldn’t help but question: “If Ryan was judged by the Knight during this period…”

“Why do you think I let those hounds come into town?”

Dracula suddenly appeared behind him, his fangs grazing the Eagle Claw’s neck: “They are the best deception.”

The blood pool suddenly reflected the scene on the ground: Ye Qingzhou was swinging his sword in the training ground, and three Judgment Knights were watching from a distance.

“Look, what a perfect closed loop.”

Dracula stroked the water surface gently: “The Church suspected that he murdered his brother. The royal family relied on the Morning Star Family, and that kid who thought he was hiding well…”

The water surface suddenly blurred – Ye Qingzhou’s sword seemed to look at Dracula for a moment through the magic mirror.

“Ah.”

The Grand Duke of the Blood Clan narrowed his eyes and said, “As an immortal, the thing I lack the least is patience. As long as I wait, the opponent will definitely reveal a flaw.”

At this moment, on the training ground of the Silver Royal Swordsman Academy, the sound of wooden swords breaking through the air was monotonous and precise.

Every time Ye Qingzhou swung his sword, it was as perfect as a machine. Sweat flowed down his chin, but was evaporated into mist by the invisible sword energy before it touched the ground.

His movements seemed focused, but his mind had already sunk into deeper thoughts: Someone is spying on me.

Three gazes follow like shadows…

At the top of the bell tower, Gareth’s feathers of light flickered in the sunlight;
In the shadows, Celeste’s flail trembled silently;
At the window of the library, Roland’s one eye was fixed on him like a hawk.

But there was a fourth look—colder, more voracious, like the tongue of a venomous snake licking the back of his neck.

“Dracula, is this the vampire duke that the Knight of Inquisition wants to capture?”

Ye Qingzhou shook his wrist, and the wooden sword suddenly burst out with a three-inch sword light: “Or are they other rats from the Eternal Night Council?”

The moment he sheathed the sword, the myriad clues in his mind began to converge, and the power map of the North also emerged clearly.

The Holy Sun Church reveres the “God of Light” and takes divine arts and faith as its core, building the earliest professional system. The powerful Knights of Inquisition is above secular law. In recent years, it has frequently interfered with the inheritance of nobles and even forced those with divine blood to enter monasteries, under the euphemism of “serving God.”

The royal family relies on the divine blood nobles to maintain their rule, uses the blood system as a bond, forms alliances through marriage, and secretly forms the “Dragon Riders” to fight against the armed forces of the Vatican.

The third prince is promoting the “Bloodline Autonomy Act” in an attempt to limit the Holy See’s control over the aristocratic bloodlines.

“The contradiction is deeper than imagined…”

When Ye Qingzhou wiped his sweat, his eyes swept across the clock tower – one of Gareth’s feathers of light was missing.

Is the Vatican reducing surveillance? Or… is there something else going on?
In fact, the three Judgment Knights’ target was not Ye Qingzhou, but they intended to use him as bait to lure out the vampire rebels hiding in the dark.

Deep in the library at dusk, Ye Qingzhou’s fingertips stroked the remaining pages of “The Dawn Chronicle”. The yellowed parchment recorded the ancient secrets:

“When the gods walked the earth, they granted authority to believers and endowed their descendants with blood…”

Suddenly, the text twisted, revealing dark patterns that only Ye Qingzhou could see: The “Holy Sun” of the Church is actually a cage that seals a certain ancient god. As long as the ancient god is liberated, eternal blessings can be obtained.

“Ah.”

Ye Qingzhou sneered, and the ink on the page suddenly moved, turning into a line of bloody words: “Do you want to gain eternal life?”

The sword energy shook and the illusion shattered.

“A mere vampire actually tried to control me by mental pollution… It seems that the Grand Duke of the Blood Clan is more impatient than the Knights of Judgment.”

In a fight, the more impatient the party is, the greater the disadvantage they are at.

Obviously, the vampires are more anxious than the Holy See.

“Master Ryan.”

The housekeeper bowed outside the bookshelf and said in a very low voice: “The master of the house urgently calls you.” (End of this chapter)