For the next month, Yu Xian and the rest of the nation did nothing but watch the drama unfold from the sidelines.
Huaxia's sudden disappearance triggered global climate anomalies, and massive earthquakes and tsunamis impacted hundreds of countries.
Fortunately, many nations had Dragon-rank experts. With so many of them stepping in, the situation was finally stabilized for the time being, and the colossal abyss left behind by Huaxia's departure was temporarily sealed off behind barriers.
Since the various nations could not determine why Huaxia had vanished from Earth, they simply pinned the blame squarely on the Blood Clan Progenitor.
The president of the Meilong Empire even appeared on television brandishing a bag of ashes—whether they actually belonged to a vampire or not—publicly proclaiming that they possessed definitive proof the Blood Clan Progenitor had destroyed Huaxia, and declared vampires to be the common enemy of all living beings.
Consequently, nations worldwide launched massive campaigns to purge all vampires.
To recoup the costs of deploying the barriers, Dragon-rank experts "confiscated" immense amounts of wealth belonging to the vampires. The wealthy tycoons who had once served them were rounded up and thrown into prison, their assets carved up and divvied out.
Naturally, this was merely a final carnival for the short-sighted.
Any Transcendent with half a brain had been relentlessly searching for Edward's whereabouts.
As long as a single day passed without finding Edward and eliminating him once and for all, none of them could rest easy.
The problem was, Edward seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Even when Rome Huchen was razed by carpet-bombing missiles, he hadn't shown his face at all; he had merely drained the blood of vampires from the shadows.
According to post-event estimates, the vampires killed by the missile strikes did not even amount to one percent of those slaughtered by Edward himself.
In truth, Edward's ruthless methods had sent shockwaves through countless Transcendents.
Many transcendent races even grew wary of their own progenitors. After all, if the Blood Clan Progenitor could reclaim the power of his blood scions, what about their own forebears?
It was fair to say Edward had set an exceedingly terrible precedent.
...
Huaxia grotto-heaven, Tianjing City.
In Su Zhuo's apartment, the television was broadcasting international news flashes while Su Zhuo hummed a light tune in the kitchen, busy cooking.
"Auntie, where do you think Edward is hiding right now?"
In the living room, Yu Xian lay on the sofa watching the world news on television. He abruptly tossed the question to Zhenwo Changjing, but she didn't take the bait at all, merely smiling at him in silence.
Over the past month, Yu Xian had frequently watched the news while pretending to make casual small talk with Zhenwo Changjing, only to spring unexpected questions on her out of nowhere.
He asked all sorts of questions, but they were actually just smoke screens to cover his real question.
"Where is Edward?"
Chiefly, he wanted to find out where the body of Nora's father, Marcus, was located.
During this month-long vacation, he hadn't completely slacked off. He had experimented with creating his own grotto-heaven world, tested piloting eyeball bubbles in the upper atmosphere to survey the ground, and taken time to accompany Nora to Yanjing Vocational and Technical College to help take her mind off things.
Of course, he had also quietly directed eyeball bubbles to search for Marcus's remains in Rome Huchen.
Unfortunately, before he had even awakened, Rome Huchen had already suffered the onslaught of missile strikes from various nations. The entire country was riddled with craters and strewn with corpses.
Moreover, most of the corpses were desiccated vampire husks—evidently, Edward had feasted to his heart's content.
Yu Xian had patiently examined every single body, but he hadn't found Nora's father. It was possible Marcus had been pulverized into ash by the bombardment, or perhaps he had died somewhere else entirely.
In short, only Edward knew where Marcus had truly met his end.
"Auntie, can't you really tell me?"
Yu Xian looked at Zhenwo Changjing with pitiful, pleading eyes, shamelessly acting cute.
This was the ultimate technique he had painstakingly perfected over the past month—it had a devastatingly effective bonus against "mom fans."
He was simply too famous now. Across the entire nation, anyone who didn't recognize him was a rare breed, meaning he ran into fans whenever he went out.
Whenever passionate crowds mobbed him, he would deploy this move to ask older female fans to help maintain order, restoring quiet and discipline to a chaotic scene in no time.
Unfortunately, the trick had zero effect on Zhenwo Changjing. Confronted with Yu Xian's adorable act, her expression didn't shift in the slightest.
Used to this by now, Yu Xian merely sighed, settled back onto the sofa, and went back to watching TV. Once the international news concluded, the domestic broadcasts began.
Well then.
The very first report was about Yu Xian.
Fifty-three cities had announced that Yu Xian was granted honorary citizenship, entitling him to use all public facilities free of charge via facial recognition. Parks were to be built in his name, alongside numerous discounts and tax-free policies.
In short, the perks were boundless, all intended as an invitation for Yu Xian to visit their cities more often.
The second news item made Yu Xian cringe with embarrassment.
The broadcast showed footage of him eating out yesterday, only to be cornered by a flock of young girls who planted kisses all over his cheeks, leaving him covered in lipstick marks. The worst part was that they were clutching him so tightly he hadn't dared to teleport away on the spot, afraid someone would get hurt in the process.
On screen, the news anchor teased that Yu Xian had become the dream boy of thirty million girls, while also urging the public to stay calm when encountering him and refrain from extreme behavior.
Watching the anchor speak with such measured eloquence, Yu Xian nodded repeatedly in heartfelt agreement.
He didn't actually mind being famous; he was just terrified of people's overwhelming madness and fervor.
Nowadays, vast torrents of positive emotions flowed into the Serpent Heart every single day, making it the strongest heart in his body.
Over the past month, by sunbathing, he had activated the perfect creature's super lungs, super skin, super eyes, super liver, super kidneys, super spleen, and super gallbladder.
Yet the Serpent Heart went one step further. Not only had it awakened the Sacred Fire of the Hero, but it had also unlocked three additional abilities that hadn't appeared when he originally appraised the giant serpent.
They hadn't shown up during appraisal simply because the giant serpent itself had never mastered them.
However, not having mastered them didn't mean the potential wasn't latent in its genetics—for instance, its ancestors might have possessed these abilities, but the serpent itself had never activated or mastered them.
Now, through the giant serpent's heart, Yu Xian had gained command of this ancient power belonging to the serpent's ancestors.
These three abilities were:
[Dragon Bone, Python Sinew: Multiplies the hardness of the user's bones and muscles tenfold, while increasing flexibility tenfold and amplifying strength tenfold.]
This was a purely passive enhancement ability. Yu Xian's bones, muscles, and sinews had all been reinforced. His body had already been exceptionally robust, and now it was sturdier still.
While he remained far behind Gong Qian, if it came to a pure contest of raw strength among the younger generation, he could probably rank in the top three.
[Power of the Hero: Burns the power of faith within the body, converting it into heroic power. Drastically enhances one's overall capabilities while strengthening abilities such as Myriad Eyes, Sacred Fire of the Hero, Dragon Bone, Python Sinew, and Might of the Hero.]
This was a pure buff skill that consumed positive emotional energy. Fortunately, his soaring fame ensured he had amassed enough positive emotions to last him a very long time.
[Might of the Hero: Utilizes one's own aura to intimidate an opponent. If one occupies the moral high ground, the intimidation effect is amplified tenfold.]
Yu Xian had secretly tested this ability once. When mobbed by fans, he had deployed it to demand everyone maintain order and avoid inconveniencing others.
The result...
How should he put it?
At the time, the effect was remarkably good; everyone submissively followed his instructions.
Afterward, however, many fans who had experienced it turned into outright zealots. In short, their adoration of him became even more fanatical.
The trouble was that this bordered uncomfortably on Stockholm syndrome. Once Yu Xian realized what was happening, he quickly begged Qilin psychologists to provide therapy for those people, and he never dared to use it on ordinary civilians again.
Chapter 168