Island Grotto-Heaven.
A day and a night passed in the blink of an eye.
Fortunately, everyone present except Xiong Da possessed storage gear.
Sitting together, they ate while watching the golden gate, curious about what Yu Xian had encountered inside and worried whether he might be in danger.
"Say, what if the proprietor never comes back? Are we going to starve to death here?" Xiong Da muttered gloomily between bites of roasted meat.
Gong Qian promptly pinched the meat on his thigh and gave it a twist. As Xiong Da bared his teeth in pain, she scolded, "Watch your mouth. Salty Fish will definitely come back safe and sound."
"I didn't say the proprietor wouldn't be safe, but what if another world lies beyond that gate, and it takes him hundreds or thousands of years to return?" Xiong Da argued defensively.
Qingniao chimed in, "The island actually has plenty of food. While there's no meat, many plant fruits are edible. We shouldn't starve to death—at most, we just won't be able to eat meat anymore..."
Toward the end of her sentence, the way she looked at Xiong Da grew rather peculiar. After all, wasn't there a big, fat bear right here?
"Wait, what are you looking at me for? Don't stare at me like that, you're scaring me." Made uneasy by Qingniao's gaze, Xiong Da shook his blubbery frame and shrank back instinctively.
Zhang Shou caught on as well and looked at Xiong Da with a grin. "Speaking of meat, don't we have the biggest slab right here!"
"Hey, hey! I have one-tenth human blood, you know!" Xiong Da protested immediately, clapping his paws.
While the four joked and bickered, a sudden red mist slowly wafted out from the gate. All four turned to look at the golden gate simultaneously.
Thud!
Thud, thud!
Heavy footsteps echoed from within the gate.
Gong Qian called out uncertainly, "Yu Xian?"
No one replied; instead, the footsteps drew closer.
Gritting his teeth, Zhang Shou said, "It might be an enemy. Get ready—I'll buff everyone first."
With that, he drew the staff Yu Xian had given him and planted a healing seed into each of them. He then pulled Qingniao back; Qingniao was the weakest among them, and if danger struck, she was the most likely to be instantly killed.
"Here it comes!" Gong Qian judged by the sound of the footsteps.
In the next instant, a crimson silhouette around 1.8 meters tall walked slowly out of the golden gate. His body was completely enveloped in red blood-energy, which alone suffocated the four onlookers with an oppressive pressure.
"Yu Xian?" Gong Qian probed, looking at the crimson figure.
But the moment she spoke, she drew the crimson figure's attention. He snapped his head toward her, his red-glowing eyes flaring even brighter.
*Blood! He needs blood!*
The crimson figure flashed in front of Gong Qian in an instant, his hand clamping around her neck.
He hoisted Gong Qian, about to drink her blood. Fortunately, Xiong Da reacted swiftly enough, slamming forward with his body enveloped in flames. But to his shock, the crimson figure was terrifyingly durable; several of Xiong Da's bones snapped on impact, and he spat a mouthful of fresh blood right onto the crimson figure's face.
*Bloooood!!*
Stimulated by Xiong Da's blood, the crimson figure switched targets at once. With a casual toss, he flung Gong Qian away—sending her hurtling out of sight across the horizon in an instant—before lunging for Xiong Da, his jaws parting to drain the bear's blood.
"Touch of Healing!"
Everything had unfolded so quickly that only now could Zhang Shou activate his ability.
A tentacle appeared beside Xiong Da and lashed out at the crimson figure. Frowning, the figure waved his hand, immediately shattering the tentacle.
In reality, Zhang Shou's attack caused no damage whatsoever; because their elemental affinities were polar opposites, his attack felt like a mosquito or fly to the crimson figure—merely touching it repulsed him, which caused that fleeting pause.
"Divine Ability: Black Wind!"
Xiong Da did not waste the time Zhang Shou had bought him. Gritting his teeth through the agonizing pain, he whipped up the most powerful Black Wind he could muster toward the crimson figure.
Yet it was still useless.
The Black Wind failed entirely to breach the figure's defense; with a simple wave of his hand, the crimson figure dispersed it outright.
Moreover, the crimson figure's hand moved with such blistering speed this time that before Xiong Da could even lower the paw that unleashed the wind, it was severed clean off.
Just as the crimson figure moved in to suck Xiong Da's blood, ripples of golden light erupted.
Zhenwo Changjing manifested before the crimson figure amid the golden radiance. Reaching out, she tapped him gently on the forehead. The crimson figure, previously crazed and driven solely by bloodlust, gradually calmed, his eyes clearing with returning reason.
Yesterday, because Yu Xian had entered the golden gate and Zhenwo Changjing could not follow him inside, she had temporarily departed this world to keep Zhenwo Changle from sensing her presence and targeting the world.
Sensing Yu Xian's emergence just now, she returned in the nick of time to halt his rampage.
"Are you awake now?" Zhenwo Changjing asked with a smile as she looked at Yu Xian.
The crimson figure gradually subdued the red blood-energy around him, reverting to Yu Xian's appearance in the blink of an eye. He nodded. "Yes, I'm awake. Thank you, Auntie."
"Salty Fish!" Zhang Shou cried in shock upon seeing Yu Xian shed the crimson blood-energy.
The present Yu Xian was vastly different from how he looked before entering the golden gate. Not only had his hair turned silver and his pupils crimson, but more importantly, he was noticeably more handsome, and his physique was even better.
Seeing this, Zhang Shou even felt an urge to check out the interior of the golden gate—could it be a plastic surgery clinic in there?!
"I'm sorry. I didn't expect vampires to have bloodline surges too," Yu Xian apologized to Xiong Da before turning to Zhang Shou. "Old Zhang, come heal Xiong Da."
"A bloodline surge? Isn't that something that only happens when a bloodline awakens?" Xiong Da sat up, barely caring about his severed arm, and instead inquired about Yu Xian's situation with immense curiosity.
Typically, ordinary humans who awakened bloodlines like werewolves experienced a bloodline surge and entered a twenty-four-hour atavism period—simply put, they were overtaken by bestial instincts, turning into wild beasts that attacked and destroyed everything in sight.
With vampires, there had never been any mention of a bloodline surge. Vampires were either born that way, like Nora, or intentionally transformed by undergoing the Embrace or receiving blood injections.
Awakening simply did not exist for them; after all, vampirism was an inherently dominant gene.
"It's a bit complicated. Where's Gong Qian?" Feeling the surging power within him, Yu Xian gave Xiong Da an apologetic smile. Then, noticing Gong Qian was nowhere to be seen, he asked curiously.
Gong Qian was hardly a coward; she shouldn't have been scared off.
"You threw Gong Qian away," Zhang Shou replied.
Yu Xian's expression turned awkward. It seemed that during the bloodline surge, he had been a bit too violent.
Still, he was also curious about just how strong he had become. After all, Gong Qian possessed extraordinary strength; if he could fling her away so effortlessly, how immense was his own power?
He immediately raised his hand and used Appraisal on himself.
When he saw his attributes, he was thoroughly dumbfounded.
Chapter 184