James Clark was sweating profusely as he manipulated his spiritual incantations, helplessly watching the chaos in the room, but inwardly he was overjoyed: As expected of a descendant of the Jiuli clan, someone with the Chiyou Celestial Vein—just look at that aura, the sacred blood of Jiuli! The legendary supreme spiritual medicine—though even draining all your blood might not yield a single drop, but you’re a bloodkin, your blood can be endlessly regenerated. My luck really is off the charts—not only did I encounter a descendant of Chiyou, extinct since ancient times, but he’s also a bloodkin. Haha, thank goodness the Grand Compendium of Artifact Refining recorded this, otherwise if I missed out on this treasure, I’d regret it for the rest of my life!

Suddenly, the powerful airflow stopped. Henry Parker leapt up, his whole body’s bones crackling like frying beans, and looked up in confusion at the six jade tokens floating above his head. “Ah!” Henry Parker let out a shrill scream, thinking James Clark was about to kill him. Henry Parker had seen James Clark use these six jade tokens to burn Anthony’s corpse into a wisp of blue smoke—how could he not be terrified?

Seeing his reaction, James Clark quickly said, “Don’t misunderstand, I saw you absorbing the Taihua energy from the moonlight to heal yourself, so I gave you a hand.” Only then did Henry Parker relax, noticing the changes in himself. When he saw his wings streaked with silvery stripes, he couldn’t help but be both astonished and overjoyed.

“How is this possible, how is this possible? How did I suddenly evolve from a baron to a viscount! And I’m just a step away from reaching the level of earl—how could it be so fast? Other bloodkin need at least fifty years for this. Thank God.” Henry Parker howled madly.

Hearing Henry Parker even call out to God, James Clark also laughed. “Do you bloodkin also worship God?”

Hearing James Clark’s teasing, Henry Parker blushed slightly and said, “I stayed in England for a few years and picked up the habit. Of course, we bloodkin actually worship Satan. I just got too excited and accidentally called out to our old rival God, but I think Lord Satan will forgive me.”

“What’s there to be so excited about? Just now I used the Taiji formation to draw in all the Taihua energy from the moonlight within a dozen miles, giving you a huge boost. How about it? Our Chinese Daoist arts are far more powerful than any God or Satan. If my cultivation reached the level of transforming qi into spirit, I could draw in Taihua energy from hundreds of miles around. I bet evolving you to marquis in one go would be a piece of cake.”

James Clark deliberately dangled a big carrot in front of Henry Parker, feeling smug as he saw Henry Parker’s gaping mouth: Hmph! Tempt him with benefits, and he’s bound to take the bait. Especially since you bloodkin are a power-respecting race—no way you won’t obediently follow me.

“Um… Brother Clark, could you teach me that Taiji formation?”

Seeing James Clark glance at him in puzzlement, Henry Parker hurriedly waved his hands. “I know it’s a bold request. As long as you, Brother Clark, can teach me this formation, I’ll definitely evolve to marquis in no time. With that power, I can win back my Jenny. I’ll repay you however you want.”

To gain James Clark’s trust, Henry Parker told him his whole story from beginning to end.

It turned out that Henry Parker was a student studying abroad in England. Three years ago, he met a beautiful lady named Jenny in a London bar, and the two quickly fell in love. Later, Jenny told Henry Parker she was a vampire. To be with her forever, Henry Parker asked Jenny to turn him into a bloodkin as well. But the good times didn’t last—Edward Locke, young master of the powerful Locke bloodkin family, also took a liking to Jenny. Henry Parker was just an ordinary low-ranking bloodkin, with no power or influence—how could he compete with Edward? If not for Jenny’s pleas, Henry Parker would have been killed long ago.

“Sigh! Another modern-day Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, except this time it’s a modern bloodkin version,” thought James Clark. “This kid is pitiful too. It seems that love can drive anyone mad, intoxicated— even the supposedly ruthless, cunning vampires are no exception. I wonder if the celestial maidens beyond the Ninth Heaven are the same?”

“This is a secret art of our sect, and normally shouldn’t be passed to outsiders. But… it’s not impossible…” James Clark paused, looking at the hopeful face of Henry Parker and asked, “What would make it possible?”

“As long as you acknowledge me as your master and join my sect, not only will I teach you the Taiji formation, I’ll also pass on all our sect’s secret arts to you, one by one.”

Henry Parker was overjoyed and immediately knelt down, calling out to James Clark, “Master, please accept your disciple’s bow!”

“Don’t be in such a hurry to bow. Let me make it clear: once you join my sect, you must never betray it or defect to another. ” A tremendous aura erupted from James Clark, and even though Henry Parker had just evolved to late-stage viscount, he was nearly suffocated by the pressure. A beam of blue light over ten feet long flickered in James Clark’s hand, the fierce sword energy emitting strange howls. “If you break this rule, I will grind your bones to dust and refine your soul into a magical artifact, so you’ll never be reborn.”

Henry Parker knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly. “Today I acknowledge James Clark as my master. Once a master, always a master. If I betray the sect, may I be condemned by gods and men, struck by lightning from the heavens.”