The candlelight cast an eerie shadow on the tactical sand table.

Ye Qingzhou nailed the black chess piece representing the Eternal Night Council to the position of the Thieves Guild, with three silver crosses placed next to it – the ambush point of the Knights of Judgment.

“Tomorrow night Dracula will hold the ‘First Embrace Ceremony’ in the underground base of the Thieves Guild.”

He moved the blue chess piece representing the Morning Star Army to block the exit of the sewer. “There are three exits in total. I will dispatch the city guards to block them and try to catch them all in one fell swoop.”

The plan is very simple, but precisely because of that, it is unlikely to go wrong.

On the contrary, the more sophisticated and complex the plan is, the more likely it is to encounter various unexpected situations, leading to failure.

What Ye Qingzhou has to do is to use the powerful force of the Morning Star Family to ambush the enemy from all sides and destroy the enemy’s base camp with overwhelming force.

“Is the plan reliable?”

Ye Qingzhou did not answer immediately, but took out a piece of black crystal from his arms.

When he injected magic power into it, a three-dimensional map emerged above the crystal – it was a black fortress hidden in a blizzard, surrounded by a strange purple energy field.

“This is the Shadow Corridor.”

Ye Qingzhou’s expression was calm: “The Northern Headquarters of the Eternal Night Council. It is located deep in the sewers within a magical barrier. Ordinary people cannot approach it at all.”

Gareth spoke for the first time, his voice hoarse: “How did you get this?”

“I have my own way.”

Ye Qingzhou put away the crystal: “The important thing is, I know how to break through their defense. But I need the cooperation of the Holy Light Power of you Holy Sun Knights.”

Roland pondered for a moment and said, “Go on and tell me about your plan.”

Ye Qingzhou squatted down and drew a diagram on the table with his fingers: “The defense core of the Shadow Corridor is the four shadow nodes, distributed at the four corners of the stronghold. As long as they are destroyed at the same time, the magic barrier will be ineffective for about fifteen minutes – enough time for us to break into the interior.”

Celeste frowned. “Destroy four nodes at the same time? That would require at least four people.”

“Three is enough.”

Ye Qingzhou pointed to the center of the blueprint: “I will sneak in from the underground secret passage. When you attack the nodes, I will destroy the main control array from the inside, and then destroy the three nodes. The array will collapse on its own.”

Gareth sneered, “It sounds like you’re trying to draw fire from us so you can slip away.”

Ye Qingzhou looked him straight in the eye: “If I wanted to escape, I would not take the initiative to cooperate with you. You know, the target of the Eternal Night Council is me, and I don’t want to live in fear all day long.”

After a moment of silence, Roland nodded and said, “The Church can cooperate with you. On the day of the operation, the Church will send 20 elite knights to cooperate with you.”

Elite knights basically have the strength of mid-level professionals, and with the addition of three Judgment Knights, this lineup can be described as luxurious.

“very good.”

Ye Qingzhou shook his head: “However, in the early stage of destroying the shadow node, too many people will easily expose it. It is best for the four of us to do it ourselves, because the perception magic of the Eternal Night Council is particularly sensitive to holy light, and the large group will be discovered before they get close.”

Finally, they agreed on the details: the Judgment Knights would launch the attack at three in the morning on the Star Moving Day, and Ye Qingzhou would sneak in two hours in advance.

The signal is a holy light bomb – when it explodes in the air, the action begins.

In the twilight, a group of flaming dragons were flying over the city, their shadows stretched out in the afterglow of the setting sun.

In the blink of an eye, the day of action arrived.

At nightfall, the cold wind was like a knife, cutting through all life in the northern wilderness.

Ye Qingzhou stood on the roof of a residential building covered with ice and snow, his silver-grey cloak fluttering in the wind. The white air he exhaled condensed into tiny ice crystals in the air, which were quickly torn apart by the strong wind.

In the distance, three golden figures were walking towards him across the vast snowfield.

“coming.”

Ye Qingzhou muttered to himself, his fingers unconsciously stroking the hilt of the sword at his waist. The sword was engraved with ancient runes, and it glowed with a faint blue light under the moonlight in the far north.

Three Knights of Judgment soon came before him.

Leading the group was the tall Chief Judge Roland, with a sun emblem engraved on his mithril armor. The lion head on his shoulder roared toward the sky. His body was wrapped in hard armor, with only a pair of eagle-like eyes visible from under his helmet.

“Ryan.”

His voice was deep and powerful, with unquestionable authority.

Ye Qingzhou nodded slightly: “Judge Roland, I am looking forward to your arrival.”

Roland looked at the young man in front of him.

Ye Qingzhou looked less than fifteen years old. His originally pure black blonde hair had now been dyed completely black with a few unnatural strands of silver. There was a tiny scar under his left eye, as if it had been caused by some kind of magic.

The most striking thing was his eyes – one was dark brown like earth, and the other was a strange ice blue.

“Bishop Victor was surprised when he received the letter for help…”

Roland said: “In the North today, there are still nobles willing to cooperate with the Church.”

Ye Qingzhou raised his lips in a barely perceptible sneer: “The power of the Eternal Night Council in the North is beyond the reach of any single organization. Even the Morning Star Family knows when to seek allies.”

Behind Roland, Celeste and Gareth exchanged glances, and the former stepped forward: “Tonight, we have a common goal, and I hope that the cooperation will go smoothly.”

“Don’t worry, the Morning Star Family will not betray their allies.”

Ye Qingzhou directly used the Morning Star Family’s reputation as a cover. Anyway, if something went wrong, it would be the family that would be disgraced, so Ye Qingzhou didn’t care.

As night falls, the temperature in the Far North drops to minus 40 degrees Celsius.

Ye Qingzhou stood alone at the edge of the camp, looking at the vaguely visible blizzard wall in the distance – that was the magical barrier of the Shadow Corridor. He took out a small bottle and drank the sticky blue liquid inside.

Suddenly, it seemed as if an ice stream was flowing in his veins, and the extreme cold no longer posed a threat to him.

“As the future heir of the Morning Star Family, you are willing to take the risk and participate in this campaign to attack the vampires?”

Ye Qingzhou turned around and saw Celeste coming over.

She had taken off her heavy armor and was wearing only casual clothes. Her long platinum hair was like flowing silk in the moonlight, so beautiful that it was dazzling.

“Some things I have to do myself.”

Ye Qingzhou said.

Celeste stood beside him, and neither of them spoke any more. Instead, they gathered their strength in tacit agreement, waiting for the battle to begin.

At one o’clock in the morning, Ye Qingzhou quietly left the place.

Following the clues he collected, he found the hidden underground passage – a secret passage used by the Eternal Night Council to transport supplies.

The entrance to the passage was covered by an illusion, but it was useless to Ye Qingzhou who possessed the third eye.

Passing through the narrow and damp tunnel, Ye Qingzhou came to the lower area of ​​the Shadow Corridor.

The place was filled with a familiar stench of decay – the trace left by the long-term use of dark magic.

He easily avoided the patrolling shadow guards and headed for the central control room. Time passed by minute by minute.

Ye Qingzhou hid in a shadow, waiting for the signal from the Knights of Judgment.

When the pocket watch hand pointed to three o’clock, a dazzling golden light penetrated the layers of stone walls and exploded above the stronghold.

In an instant, alarm bells rang throughout the entire Shadow Corridor.

Ye Qingzhou took action immediately, quickly dealt with the two guards outside the control room, and rushed into the room.

In the center of the control room is a huge black crystal ball, with four purple-black energy beams extending from it, connecting the four defense nodes.

Ye Qingzhou took a deep breath, placed his hands on the crystal ball, and began to inject fighting spirit and magic power into it. The two abilities with opposite attributes produced a violent magical reaction after being fused.

The dark energy within the crystal ball churned violently, and spider-web-like cracks appeared on the surface.

At the same time, the entire stronghold shook violently and the alarm sounded even more shrill.

The cold wind from the Far North carried ice particles and whipped Ye Qingzhou’s face. His silver-gray cloak fluttered behind him, and the ice-blue pupil of his left eye shrank slightly, capturing the flow of the barrier’s energy.

“You are a quarter of an hour behind schedule.”

A deep, thunderous voice came from behind. Ye Qingzhou didn’t look back, and his fingers gently stroked the ancient runes engraved on the long sword at his waist. “Your Excellency the Judge, marching in the snow with so many tin cans, it’s a miracle that you can be on time.”

Twenty fully-armed paladins formed a battle formation in the snow, with the three leading them standing out particularly well.

Chief Judge Roland was like a moving steel fortress. The scriptures on his mithril heavy armor glowed coldly in the snow, and three hideous scars were faintly visible under the silver eyepatch on his left eye.

Gareth on his left had flying golden hair and flame patterns on his light armor; Celeste on his right was completely wrapped in thorny armor, with only her cross-shaped pupils gleaming coldly through the gaps in her visor.

Roland slammed his giant sword to the ground, and the snow instantly vaporized, emitting a sizzling white smoke: “The Eternal Night Council kidnapped the descendants of the Alchemy God and blasphemed the glory of the Holy Sun. Today, their sins will be washed away with blood.”

Ye Qingzhou took out a piece of ice crystal from his arms, injected magic power into it, and projected a three-dimensional map of the base: “The barrier has four nodes, which need to be destroyed at the same time. I am responsible for the one on the east side – it is built on the ancient tomb, and there is a tunnel leading to the inside.”

Gareth played with his burning swords, feathers of light falling from the gaps in his armor. “Twenty against three hundred, what a wonderful chance of winning.”

“More than three hundred.”

Ye Qingzhou pointed at the wriggling black shadow in the projection, his expression calm: “Hecate has recently successfully cultivated daywalkers, and those monsters can also move in the sun.”

Celeste’s flail suddenly hummed, and she read hoarsely: “The Holy Scriptures, Chapter 7, Verse 12 – ‘Whoever walks in darkness shall be judged by iron and fire.'”

“To kill the evil that comes your way is the way of the Paladin.”

Roland pulled out the giant sword with twelve holy nails embedded in it and gave the order in a solemn voice: “Action.”

Ye Qingzhou turned into a silver shadow and flew towards the east.

Roland’s roar and the battle cries of the paladins came from behind, followed by an earth-shaking explosion – Gareth’s arrows of light tore through the outer defenses of the Eternal Night Council.

The eastern node is guarded by four Eagle Claw mutants.

Ye Qingzhou did not draw his sword, but drew a magic rune in the air with his left hand and cast a spell. The extremely cold air instantly froze the guards into ice sculptures.

Then he placed one hand on the black barrier stone, and his icy blue left eye shone brightly: “The magic is lifted!”

Spider-web-like ice cracks spread across the surface of the barrier stone.

At the same time, a dazzling golden light appeared on the west side—Roland’s Holy Nail Giant Sword directly shattered the node.

A whirlwind of flames rose up on the south side, and Gareth’s double blades melted the guards along with the barrier stone.

From the north came the sound of metal tearing flesh, Celeste’s flail enacting her cruel justice.

The entire Shadow Corridor shook violently, and the purple barrier shattered like glass.

Ye Qingzhou dodged and dived into the exposed tunnel, and the stench of blood hit him in the face.

Everywhere you look, the tunnel walls are covered with pulsating vascular tissue, and the ground is as slippery as the esophagus of some creature.

“Hecate, this crazy woman…”

The tip of Ye Qingzhou’s sword ignited with a blue flame, illuminating the deformed creature that suddenly appeared in front of him – that thing had a human torso and a wolf head, and its body was covered with ice-like scales.

The moment the Day Walker pounced, Ye Qingzhou turned around and slashed.

The sword blade slashed across the monster’s throat but only ice fragments flew out and the wound healed instantly.

“Huh? Is the light and dark resistance so high?”

Ye Qingzhou jumped back to avoid the sharp claws, pressed his left hand on the ground, and chanted the magic spell again: “Ice Brand!”

Ice spikes protruding from the ground nailed the monster in mid-air. Ye Qingzhou took advantage of the situation and stabbed the sword into the enemy’s chest, this time infusing a large amount of fighting spirit.

The monster suddenly let out a high-frequency scream, and the ice crystals in its body exploded from the inside.

At the end of the tunnel is a bone door engraved with evil runes.

Ye Qingzhou cut his palm and smeared the blood on the door, and the runes went out one by one – an old trick of the Eternal Night Council.

The scene behind the door made his stomach twitch: dozens of transparent culture chambers were arranged in the circular hall, and unconscious humans were floating in each chamber. Their wrists were cut and their blood flowed into the blood pool in the center through pipes.

“The blood of the Alchemist Goddess…”

Ye Qingzhou quickly checked the nearest few incubators and breathed a sigh of relief: “Still alive.”

A sudden icy rainstorm fell from the dome of the hall. Ye Qingzhou opened the ice shield and saw a pale figure emerging from the high platform – the Frost Witch Hecate was suspended in the air, with white bony hands exposed under her black robe and blue ghost fire flickering in her eye sockets.

“Lion Morningstar, a prey that walked into his own trap.”

Her voice was like thousands of ice needles rubbing: “Lord Dracula will be very happy to see your head.”

Ye Qingzhou pointed his sword at the witch and said, “Let these people go, and I can make your death quicker.”

With a wave of Hecate’s bony hand, twelve ice coffins rose from the ground and exploded, and fully armed ice skeleton knights walked out.

“Did you know? These knights were the elites of the Holy Sun Church when they were alive.”

She laughed strangely and said, “Now, let them send you to hell…”

Black mist shrouded the Ice Skeleton Knight’s blade, and every swing carried the resentment of the dead.

Ye Qingzhou was caught in a dilemma during the siege, and his right arm was cut so deep that the bone was visible.

He gritted his teeth and crushed the crystal bottle at his waist. The blue potion seeped into the wound and instantly froze to stop the bleeding.

“Holy Light! This enemy is worth fighting!”

A sudden war cry swept through the hall along with a whirlwind of fire.

Gareth’s double blades danced into wheels of light, and wherever they passed, the ice knights exploded.

He winked at Ye Qingzhou: “Roland said you definitely need help – although the old guy is old-fashioned, he has first-class judgment.” (End of this chapter)