"With my own blood, I forge my true form!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Yu Xian raised his right hand and bit down hard.
As his fangs sank into his arm and began siphoning his own blood, his pupils instantly turned crimson, and dense webs of fine cracks surfaced across his skin.
The very next second, his body began to break free of its limits. His stature surged upward, and muscles across his frame swelled relentlessly. From behind, he possessed the massive, rugged build of a bear or tiger, looking far too hulking and muscular to be an ordinary vampire.
"Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method!"
Forming a hand seal with his left hand, Yu Xian mobilized the blood he had just ingested and initiated his self-strengthening process.
In an instant, he turned into a man of blood. A massive cloud of blood-energy vaporized and began to swirl madly around him. The Blood Cleansing Technique held this vaporized energy in an iron grasp, preventing it from dissipating and instead forming a seamless cycle with the blood coursing through his body.
Amidst the bloody mist, Yu Xian's body gradually grew gaunt and shriveled. He was drinking his own blood, and with a portion of it dispersing into the surrounding vapor, the blood within his vessels inevitably diminished.
Yet the moment he reached a certain threshold of emaciation, his hematopoietic ability kicked in, and his body rapidly filled out once more.
Perched atop his head, Little Dumb provided him with ample sunlight, and Light Eater spun continuously, causing the bloody mist enveloping him to expand into an ever-larger cloud.
"Cell Transcription Technique!"
Feeling his mental strength nearing its limit, Yu Xian decisively enacted the next secret art.
Neither the Blood Cleansing Technique nor the Cell Transcription Technique was inherently complex. As long as one possessed formidable mental strength and abundant blood-energy, mastering them was straightforward.
It was much like magic: before understanding the trick, it seemed utterly baffling, but once the secret was revealed, it felt almost trivial.
With the aid of his Super Brain, Yu Xian had mastered both the Blood Cleansing Technique and the Cell Transcription Technique in a mere half-hour. Though this was his first real attempt, he had simulated the process tens of thousands of times within his mind.
The moment the Cell Transcription Technique took effect, his eyelids grew heavy, and his body plunged into a deep slumber.
The bloody mist swirling around him contracted and solidified in an instant, coalescing into a crimson egg. Within its shell, his first evolution began.
***
Island Nation, Edo.
Dense dark clouds abruptly swallowed the sky. Pedestrians hurrying along the streets stopped in their tracks, turning their eyes upward.
Swarms of bats poured out of the dark clouds, followed by Supreme Man gliding forth from the murk. An iron chain was fastened around his neck, and his expression was completely numb.
Behind Supreme Man, over a dozen superheroes endowed with flight carried a mobile palace on their shoulders. Lounging inside were blonde women clad in revealing attire, attending upon Edward, the Blood Clan Progenitor.
The mobile palace drifted across the city and finally settled over a sprawling estate in Edo.
Inside this estate lived the actual ruler of the Island Nation today: Abe no Akihare, a Tiger rank Grand Onmyoji.
By his own account, he was a descendant of the ancient grand onmyoji Abe no Seimei, and the shikigami he wielded had supposedly been passed down from his ancestor. The people of the Island Nation all knew he was spouting nonsense, but not a single soul dared challenge him to his face.
Supreme Man touched down and dropped to his knees. Stepping onto Supreme Man's back as a foothold, Edward alighted from the palace. Holding the chain bound to Supreme Man, he strolled leisurely toward the estate's main residence.
"Abe no Akihare pays his respects to the new god!"
Dressed in a white kariginu, Abe no Akihare was already prostrating himself alongside a large retinue, shouting with utmost deference.
He pressed his forehead flat against the ground, his expression filled with fervid excitement, leaving not the slightest flaw in his performance.
Yet a second later, Edward led Supreme Man right past him. Instantly, Abe no Akihare's head shattered to pieces, and his body burst with a pop, dissolving into a paper talisman doll.
It was utterly futile.
The crucifix inside the mobile palace flared with intense crimson light, and fiery red streaks like meteors rained from it in every direction.
In a secret base of the Ancient Sages Society situated elsewhere in the Island Nation, Abe no Akihare opened his eyes, instantly knowing disaster had struck. Before he could even begin to relocate, streaks of red light came crashing down. The underground base and the surface city above were instantly obliterated together in a blast, as a colossal red mushroom cloud slowly billowed into the sky.
"What is your name?"
Edward stopped before a trembling servant, looking down at him.
The servant was of mixed heritage, his features distinctly Western. Shivering violently, he answered, "Responding to my lord... my name is... Arthur."
In reality, his name was Kojima Yuya. But he had been clever enough to realize that his only distinguishing trait from the others was his Western appearance.
That implied Edward might very well be a racial chauvinist, so he had promptly changed his name on the spot.
"Arthur, from this moment on, you are in charge here," Edward said, smiling in satisfaction.
Kojima Arthur exclaimed in excitement, "Yes, my lord!"
"Go do your work. Within an hour, I want this country to have only one voice," Edward said with a faint smile.
With that, he turned and walked back to his mobile palace, lacking even the slightest desire to step foot inside the estate's residence. Keeping his head lowered, Supreme Man followed at his side like a dog, then hurried two steps forward to serve as Edward's stepping stool once they reached the mobile palace.
In truth, the Island Nation was already the fiftieth country Edward had conquered. In the beginning, some nations had put up resistance, but over time, that resistance had vanished.
In particular, whenever he descended personally leading Supreme Man on a leash, many Transcendents who had intended to fight to the death lost every shred of courage at the sight of Supreme Man being dragged around like a dog.
In every conquered country, Edward selected five individuals to receive the Embrace, ordering them to further expand the ranks of the vampires.
In just half a day, his strength had grown considerably once again, and his mastery over the Star Divine Artifact was becoming increasingly refined.
***
Deep within a hidden realm at the ocean's bottom, the members of the Ancient Sages Society were gathered together.
"President, the Thirteenth Seat is dead," Plato, the Twelfth Seat, noted with a slight frown, seeing the chair beside his own grow dim.
Van Gogh, the Eleventh Seat, sneered. "That is the price of trying to pry into a new god. Edward has unquestionably become a true deity. Who else would die after trying to play petty tricks before a true god?"
"Just how did Edward pull it off? Why did it have to be him to attain godhood?" Michelangelo, the Fifteenth Seat, muttered with burning jealousy, flakes of plaster continuously peeling from his body.
At that moment, from the head seat shrouded in darkness, a pair of azure eyes opened. A flat voice drifted out: "Edward has merely borrowed the power of a divine artifact; he is no true god. Still, his methods are indeed worth learning from. Prometheus, go and steal Edward's method for crafting divine artifacts."
"Understood, President," Prometheus responded respectfully, rising from the vice president's seat.
Socrates, the Second Seat, stood up and asked, "President, how much longer until you and the First Seat can return from the Abyss?"
"Barring any surprises, at least half a year. Until then, keep a low profile and stay alive," the president replied.
Van Gogh chuckled. "We're not fools like Abe no Seimei. We won't die so easily."
"Even so, the Thirteenth Seat was one of our own. The day I return shall be the day Edward perishes," the president said coldly.
Whatever their private thoughts, the assembly nodded in agreement. Only after the president departed did the members of the Ancient Sages Society relax, beginning to trade information and resources amongst themselves.
"Does anyone know what happened to Huaxia?"
"Most likely the legendary Art of Grotto-Heaven."
"Plato, what do you know?"
"I cannot say for certain, but the answer ought to hold some value. Perhaps it could be traded to Edward for some fine treasures. Would anyone here be interested?"
"What do you want in return?"
"I want nothing. I only wish to see rivers of blood."
Plato offered them a gentle smile, then stood up in a refined manner and strolled away under their watchful gazes.
The others exchanged glances, feeling a flicker of hesitation, but also a stirring temptation.
After all, Edward now held quite a lot of good things in his hands.
Chapter 183