Chapter 12

1

"Vampires?"

For this generation, and even several generations of gods and demons, the term "vampire" has not been used for a long time in the Three Realms. It has almost disappeared from the world, with no traces of vampire activity for nearly a thousand years, the reason for their disappearance is simple - they were hunted down.

Vampires were concentrated in The Human Realm. Originally belonging to the demon clan, vampires were later exiled. Vampires possessed special abilities such as magic and needed blood to sustain their lives and powers. In The Human Realm, they had more freedom and could easily obtain human blood. After all, before the gates of gods and demons were opened, human power was negligible. Vampires had long lifespans but poor reproductive abilities, and their numbers were insufficient to conquer The Human Realm.

However, since the widespread dissemination of special powers like magic among humans, their power gradually became comparable to vampires. In order to avenge their past shame, humans constantly challenged vampires. Outnumbered, vampires eventually disappeared from the history of the Three Realms, and no one has seen these bloodsucking creatures since.

"Vampires are extinct, right?" Yao couldn't understand why there were vampires here, and no one had noticed.

"Extinct is just speculation. No one can really confirm whether vampires truly no longer exist. It is said that vampire lives are very tenacious. If an individual is not completely destroyed, they will revive," Tesha said, adjusting her glasses. Tesha was well-read and had a wide range of knowledge.

"In fact, there's no need to worry. It's only speculation. The presence is so weak that we can't be a hundred percent sure. Just relax."

"Let's enter the ancient city first and try to avoid anything related to vampires. Let's go."

A group of ten people crossed over a small mountain in the forest and could already see the outline of the ancient city in the distance. From its appearance, it was already in ruins. There was a tall building in the city, seemingly a cathedral. In an era where gods and demons were no longer mysterious, faith had become a thing of the past. All churches and temples had become museums. The faith of the two races, gods and demons, revolved around the Holy Dragon and the Magic Dragon. After the disappearance of the two dragons, their faith also vanished.

The circular dome of this cathedral had collapsed by half, but it couldn't hide its former glory.

"Squeak~~~" Lightning struck towards us, burning the grass on the ground.

"The Chishin Academy delegation. They were only second place last year, a pity. But they are still a strong team. However, there are rumors of a major lineup change recently. I wonder if they will have the same fighting power as last year?"

Or maybe we were too focused on the vampires and didn't notice their approach.

The school emblem looked very unfamiliar, definitely not from a nearby city academy in the imperial capital.

"Who are you?" The president also seemed unfamiliar with this academy.

"Midas Academy in Baili City in the northern part of the Empire!" The leader of the opposite team was a boy with abundant hair, probably due to the extreme cold in the north. He also had strong muscles, resembling a gorilla.

And lightning flashed in his arm, indicating that the lightning just now was from him. He was a Lightning Element Magic user. (PS: Because the Five Elements Magic is a common type of Magic, usually minor characters possess one of the five elements.)

"No matter how you think about it, it's foolish to attack without finding a resonance rod first!" I squinted my eyes at him.

"You... Whatever you say. The one who took second place, are you or him," the opponent pointed at me and Qin Yin.

"Oh~~ So it's me you're looking for!"

"It's you with the white hair?" He looked at my white hair in a strange manner.

"Yes," I turned around, standing in the middle of the Midas Academy team, "it's me!"

The gorilla boy suddenly looked terrified, "Space Magic?"

"Ice Prison!" The ten of them instantly froze in the middle. Before they could react, they were all locked up.

"The prison will open tomorrow at noon. You have enough time to return to the exit, so don't worry. We have important matters to attend to. Goodbye!" I bowed politely to them, much to their ironic amusement.

For me, the most important thing was to hurry to the ancient city and find out what caused the chilling sensation. As for these lackeys, let them go and not get in the way.

2

At exactly 7 PM in the evening, we arrived at the ancient city. Several teams were waiting at the city gate, showing no intention of attacking.

"Let's find a place to camp first, and then we can form groups to search."

"Let's go to that church!" I pointed towards the dilapidated church in the northern part of the ancient city.

"Okay!"

The church gate was five stories high, a sight rarely seen in the current city, or even in The Divine Realm.

The gate was slightly ajar, covered in moss, which was quite thick. Inside was no different, with weeds growing in the cracks, and red morning glories slowly entwining around the top of the church. However, the murals inside the church were still vivid.

"Elena, I'll stay here and set up camp. You all should eat something before going out!" Upon entering, I immediately focused on the large cross above the church.

"The feeling is coming from here?"

"I am certain it's a vampire. The detection wand hasn't been wrong so far."

After the meal, Elena divided the group into pairs and left Tesha and me behind. She said Tesha knew more about things and could help me. I initially planned to search alone, but there was no choice but to go in pairs. One person alone would easily be left behind.

I couldn't help but wonder, after so many years, why haven't these murals faded? Could there be some kind of magic supporting them?

An empty ancient city with no one to maintain it – who could maintain it? Who had the ability to leave for thousands of years while magical power still remained?

"You've been staring at these murals for a long time. Is there something special about them?"

"Don't you think the whole church is in ruins, except for the murals which look strangely new?"

"It seems so!" Tesha lightly wiped the murals. Besides dust, the colors remained intact, and the walls had not been eroded by moss.

By chance, my hand brushed against the wall. Tesha touched it with no issues, but as soon as I touched it, my vision went black, and countless images flashed through my mind. Layers of lights and shadows, figures, seemed to be someone's memories, spanning through the battles of gods and demons, millions of years of memories. It was difficult to digest all at once, and it almost overwhelmed my brain.

"Uhh..." There was too much information, causing my head to feel as if being pricked by needles, no, not just one needle, but hundreds of them, a piercing pain that was unbearable.

"What happened? You look strange."

Seeing my face turn pale, Tesha quickly helped me sit down.

I forcefully slapped my own head, and after a quarter of an hour, I finally regained calmness from the turbulent waves of memories, and organized my thoughts a little.

"Darn it, it's a transmission barrier. It sealed all the important memories within the murals. These forced-induced memories are truly exhausting." I massaged my temples with strength, my voice sounding weak.

"Why were you transmitted, but I wasn't? That's not fair."

"We're different, aren't we? Perhaps the barrier has a specific response to certain types, like gender."

"Hmm... What did you see?"

"A lot, a lot... It might take some time to organize, but I felt a heavy resentment, millions of grievances concentrated on this wall. Hmm... Do you want to know the origin of vampires?"

"Their origin? It is said that vampires' ancestors were called Cain, neither gods, nor demons, nor humans. The ancient books recorded that Cain was the son of Adam and Eve, but now it's known to be all fake, as there was no God, so the origin of vampires has no conclusion."

"Cain is real, and indeed the ancestor of vampires. No matter how far-fetched it may sound, vampires wouldn't get their ancestor's name wrong. However, they are not demons. Strictly speaking, Cain is a demon race, but not entirely."

"I don't quite understand. Is he a hybrid?"

"He is a descendant of the demon dragon, born between the demon dragon and a female of the demon race. He is considered a half-dragon, commonly known as a dragonkin."

"Do demon dragons drink blood? There have been no books or records mentioning that demon dragons need blood to sustain their lives."

"Well... he indeed does not need it, but it doesn't mean his descendants don't need it. Because they are not pure-blooded dragons, they are born in human form, and achieving dragon transformation is their lifelong goal, just like a pure-blooded dragon wanting to cultivate the ability to transform into a human during their lifetime. Cain desired to become a soaring dragon like his father, so he tried everything to help himself evolve into a dragon."

"And then?"

"Young people always make mistakes, but Cain's mistake was irreparable. Perhaps his father, the demon dragon, didn't give him enough love, which caused him to go astray. Cain transformed into a dragon in a wrong way, or rather, he later called himself 'the True Dragon.' This mistake led him to become a vampire, needing to consume blood regularly to sustain his life. Upon learning of his son's absurd decision, the demon dragon decided to exile him. Drinking blood for sustenance was not a big deal within the demon race, but the terrifying part was that Cain became extremely violent after drinking blood. His power was capable of slaughtering cities, which frightened The Demon Realm and forced the demon dragon to exile his own son. This is the true reason why vampires were exiled. Because of this, Cain became filled with anger and resentment, which explains the overwhelming resentment in the memories just now."

"It couldn't be Cain who left this! If it is..." Tesha looked around and felt the chilly sensation, involuntarily shrinking her shoulders.

"Cain didn't really become a dragon, able to live for millions of years without dying. This feeling is unlikely."

"Vampires are such peculiar creatures, aren't they?"

"Whoever it is, this used to be the last concentrated area of vampires in The Human Realm, back about fifteen hundred years ago before humans drove them to extinction again. They were forced to leave this behind, along with the last vampire."

"There's another one? Where is it?"

I raised my finger, pointing at the large cross behind us. "Unafraid of Blood, Summoner of Moonlight."

The round moon outside shone through the roof, converging in the middle of the cross, gradually revealing wave after wave of ripples. A dried up head emerged from within, from head to body, hands crossed in a crucifixion pose, directly nailed in the center of the cross.

"Wow!" Tesha was scared by this disgusting sight and hid behind me.

"Stay calm, he is in a state of false death. He needs a special kind of blood to revive."

The hollow-eyed mummified corpse had dry limbs, only bones remained, with no blood vessels visible. But strangely enough, he still had long hair, and it was exceptionally long.

"How special is this blood?"

"The blood of a descendant of a demon dragon."