A small boat, a high tower, the hanged man—it was that familiar dream again. She stood upon the small boat. Everything that had just happened felt so vivid: the heart-wrenching pain and the profound sense of powerlessness. Yet, it also felt like a dream. Death had come so abruptly, arriving right after her mind had been caught in a whirlwind of chaos.
So, I really am dead this time.
Li Yue couldn't help but curse. Regret and rage surged through her like a tide. She pounded heavily against the gunwale of the boat, howling in frustration. She had done nothing, could do nothing, and had achieved nothing. Everything had been in vain.
After the regret and the anger, all that remained was numbness and collapse.
She looked at the sky. It seemed thick with dark clouds, yet perhaps that was simply its natural color—gloomy and overcast, though not a single drop of rain ever fell.
The only things pattering against the boat were her tears, leaving faint water stains upon the blackened wood.
In her daze, she felt the hull strike something. Wiping away her tears, she looked around at her surroundings.
The boat had reached the shore. Li Yue seemed to know what would happen next. She thought of various myths—tales of those who walked toward death and the underworld.
She hesitated for a moment, then began to stumble across the desolate, withered earth. She didn't know where she was supposed to go, but she walked anyway. To her, wandering aimlessly was better than standing still, which was far more soul-crushing. At the very least, in this moment, she was still free.
Her bare feet, already dusted with soil, stepped one by one onto the grass that looked as if it had just been scorched by a great fire. She walked on, lost and despondent, until a dilapidated, crumbling church appeared before her.
It had no ceiling and no floor. Only a few broken pillars and a single wall remained standing amidst a vast expanse of ruins, yet the silhouette of a church could still be vaguely discerned.
Li Yue took a few steps inside. In the center of the courtyard stood a statue: a naked man whose limbs and torso were tightly bound to a cross by a giant serpent.
A young girl in a black robe knelt beneath the statue in prayer. Li Yue stood at a distance, quietly observing the scene in silence.
Suddenly, blood began to seep from the base of the cross. The blood flowed onto the girl, slowly dissolving her black robe. The bottom of the cross transformed into a crimson blade, while the other ends turned pitch black.
The naked man's body scattered with the wind. The girl was bathed in crimson. Behind her, a brilliant white light sprouted like branches of a tree or a network of nerves.
She gripped the hilt of a blood sword, wearing a pitch black skirt. A smile played on her lips, filled with pity and sympathy, yet also laced with mockery and playfulness.
Within her dark eyes, a blood-red vertical pupil stared directly at Li Yue. Li Yue froze.
Is that... me?
The girl seemed somewhat weary. She casually brushed her snow-white hair, looked at the longsword in her hand, and tossed it toward Li Yue.
The ground beneath Li Yue's feet began to crumble. The girl watched her, smiling and waving as if to say, "See you next time."
"Haa—!" The girl took a deep, heavy breath. She collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air repeatedly, as if each breath might be her last.
She rubbed her eyes. Her vision was dark and blurred. She saw corpses—some kneeling, some lying prone. She struggled to rise, but a sudden, sharp pain in her chest made her afraid to breathe. She reached for her heart, only to suddenly remember that she no longer had one.
She laughed desolately, a laugh filled with self-deprecation and frustration.
She carefully observed the room. She realized with a shock that a hexagram had been drawn on the floor in blood, with a corpse positioned at each point of the star.
They were either mangled or covered in wounds. As Li Yue looked closer, she realized her world was now tinged with a shade of blood. She leaned against the wall, walking with great difficulty.
"So hungry... so hungry..." Every cell in her body seemed to be screaming with hunger. Li Yue fought to suppress the bloodthirsty desire rising from the depths of her soul.
It was almost funny; she felt as though she could devour those corpses without the slightest hesitation.
Li Yue walked slowly to the center of the hexagram. She didn't know why she was doing it, but while fighting the hunger, she naturally moved to the center of the room.
As if her strength had failed her, she collapsed onto the floor. she looked at a corpse beside her; the face was so familiar, just like the guard who had died.
She struggled to sit up and looked around, only to realize that these were all dead blood demons.
With a sense of foreboding, she tried to stand but felt exceptionally weak. She coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood and lay powerless on the floor. A blood-red light followed the lines of the hexagram, spreading throughout the room.
Li Yue lay helplessly in the center of the hexagram, watching as the blood-red light enveloped her.
I'm so hungry...
The flesh of the six bloated blood demons was gradually stripped away, leaving behind only white bones—the only remains of their former humanity.
So hungry, so hungry, so hungry...
The pale bones scattered with the wind. The blood-red light that had shot toward the sky began to fade. The girl slowly rose, her black battle skirt, accented with blood-red, flowing onto the floor.
She covered her face with both hands, letting out a roar of agony. Between her fingers, her blood-red vertical pupil was visible.
...
A short while earlier.
Miller and the "doctor" sat at the back of the auction. Ancient artifacts from a thousand years ago regained their luster, revealing their original shapes and colors, telling of the civilizations and glory of their eras.
Although there was no trace of magic remaining, the veteran collectors loved these relics of the past. It was like gambling on raw stones; if a piece was even slightly modified, it might turn out to be a Tier 3 magical item.
The doctor sat with a bored, casual air. No one knew why this doctor, who didn't seem to have much money, was participating in this contest for luxury goods.
"A stone carving from Sabolanze, the former site of the City of Hope. Estimated to be at least nine hundred years old. Starting bid: one gold coin. Increments of no less than five silver coins."
"One gold coin and five silver coins!"
"Three gold coins!"
...
Mr. Miller, known for his generosity, did not bid even once. He waited anxiously, his eyes fixed on the storage room at the back of the first floor hall.
"Red wine found in a deserted, nameless castle..."
The blonde woman introduced the item with great enthusiasm. It was wine that might be centuries old; no one could guarantee it was still drinkable. However, the transparent vessel—a perfect, diamond-shaped prism—was of an unrecognizable material that looked like precious crystal.
"Starting bid: one hundred gold coins. Increments of no less than..."
"Five hundred gold coins!" Miller raised his paddle. After a brief silence, the crowd began to whisper.
"That old man... the price he's offering could buy a decent house in a busy district."
"Is there some hidden secret to it?"
"Should we take a gamble?"
"Five hundred gold coins, once." The blonde woman tapped her wooden gavel, smiling at the bidders as no one else raised their hand.
With three heavy strikes of the gavel, Miller stood up and cheered. Though others had their own ulterior motives, they all clapped enthusiastically.
The doctor walked toward the attic. Miller hurried to take a bankbook, went backstage, and collected the "red wine."
Outside the attic, the doctor smiled as he toyed with the serpentine cup in his hand, looking at the excitedly approaching Miller with a knowing smirk.
"The God's Blood—did you bring it?"
"Yes, yes!"
The doctor took the crystal vessel and studied the red liquid within.
"That place really was the former site of the ancient Royal Court..."
He opened a small port, and the bright red liquid slowly flowed into the cup. He took a shallow sip, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes gradually faded.
Miller took the cup and muttered excitedly to himself.
"With this, the things I cherish will never leave my side!"
As he spoke, he gulped down a large mouthful.
His graying hair instantly turned pitch black. The wrinkles on his face vanished without a trace. His withered arms regained their vitality, and muscles even began to appear.
His entire body made a series of creaking and cracking sounds. Soon, his hair began to fall out, and every pore was filled with rapidly growing muscle. The muscle tore through his skin, and blood began to seep from his entire body.
His eyes rolled back until no black was visible at all.
The doctor drank the remaining liquid. He let out a small burp, as if resisting a strong discomfort within his body.
He seemed reborn; the breath of life radiated from every pore.
He wiped his mouth and looked with a mocking smile at Miller, who had long since been bewitched by his words and magic into something no longer human.
"From now on, you won't be able to eat liquid food."
Suddenly, his expression tightened, and he looked toward the red light shooting into the sky in the distance.
"Heh. Someone—no, something—has eaten my sacrifice. Interesting. Tsk, God's Blood is good, but without the flesh of one's own kind, it still can't be digested."
Inside the auction hall, a worn-out sword hilt was brought up.
"This is also an item found in the ancient castle. Unfortunately, we did not find its blade..."
The sword hilt flew up, interrupting the woman's introduction and startling everyone. It flew rapidly out the window. The crowd stood up, looking at each other in shock.
"Bang!" The door was violently kicked open. A man in red walked in slowly with a massive, fleshy monster. He casually spat out several blue guard uniforms and black-and-white maid outfits.
"Buffet!" The man clapped his hands and laughed loudly.
Elsewhere in the manor, a girl expressionlessly caught the flying sword hilt. She used her fingernails to roughly slash her own wrist. The blood did not spray out as one might expect; instead, it gathered into a thin stream that swirled around her. She flicked the hilt, and a blood-red longsword appeared in her hand.
With her blood-red vertical pupil open, she arrived almost instantly at the auction hall, which was already littered with corpses.
The man looked at her, his eyes twitching slightly. His scepter transformed into a blood-red scythe as he faced the girl.
The girl stared at the blonde doctor in red. She didn't have many thoughts now; her mind was filled with a rampaging appetite and a powerful urge to bring death to everything she saw.
Surrounded by blood, she seemed at this moment to have truly become death itself.
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