Archfiend

“It’s different…” Moonless warily observed the ice-cold iron maiden. “A curse’s process can be summarized as such: condition, action, and result. A three-step procedure. If someone from a thousand years ago was explaining this, they’d say a person who touched this iron maiden would suffer retribution. That is the condition. This junior’s touch was the action, but if this condition wasn’t restricted to the human body, a result would occur…”

“This is a direct attack curse. In fact, this is exactly the same as a Chinese restriction. It’s just that the naming convention is exchanged. Still, these kinds of direct attack curses are very rare. Even during the Medieval ages, when black witches were famous for using curses, it was still seldom seen. There’s no doubt that someone able to control this thing is immensely evil and also an authority of high standing.”

Xu Yangyi’s gaze swept over to the iron maiden. “Right now, I’m getting more and more interested about this thing.”

Big bro… At this time, Zhao Ziqi’s fairly weak voice was heard. 

Xu Yangyi furrowed his brows and said, “Don’t talk about anything else first. Are you okay?”

Zhao Ziqi slightly nodded. There’s something I have to tell you… 

“There’s no need…”

NO! Big bro, listen to me!

Zhao Ziqi seemed to work up a bit of his spirit, his form a little strong. He said with a somewhat soft voice, The inside of this blood giant was formed with the life-long memories of this iron maiden’s owner… I saw a few scenes… He never aged… Once he turned a hundred years old, he killed himself in this iron maiden that he killed countless people with… However, he didn’t die… Instead in his torture chamber back then, he found rebirth in that pond of blood… 

“Typical vampire story.” Xu Yangyi nodded pensively. “There really are all kinds of foreign cultivators. Ziqi, rest up first. Just let me handle everything else.”

Ziqi nodded and said gravely, But that wasn’t the most important thing… In these fragmented memories, there was a particularly striking name. I’ve heard it many times. I suspect it’s the actual name of this iron maiden’s owner…

“Oh?” Moonless’s eyes brightened. “Who?”

Vlad III Țepeș. Zhao Ziqi finished speaking with difficulty. He glanced at the iron maiden with a very complicated look. Afterwards, he turned into a thread of smoke and entered Xu Yangyi’s mind.

“The Grand Duke Impaler!!!” Surprised, Xu Yangyi and Moonless almost yelled out at the same time. They looked at the iron maiden in shock!

Vlad III Ţepeş… otherwise known in his mother tongue as Vlad al III-lea Ţepeş. No matter how much worse Xu Yangyi’s studies were, this was a name he’d heard about in great detail.

It was just like how talking about monkey-demons would inevitably bring up Sun Wukong, like how talking about ox-demons would surely raise the topic of the Ox-Demon King.

In America, Vlad III Ţepeş’s position was equal to two figures. This was because he was the same as a creator of a race! The origin of a species!

“Legend says vampires have two origins. The first is the legendary Cain. The second is Vlad III Ţepeş!

But Vlad III Ţepeş was known by another name: Vlad Dracula!

He was the renowned vampire count! The First Vampire!

“Vlad III was his title after he received the title of grand duke. To vampires, he is a god-like existence.” Moonless appeared to contemplate. “His realm was without a doubt above Core Formation. If it’s according to vampire legend, he was already immune to sunlight, blessed silver, and holy water. He was truly an immortal existence. But, that’s nothing more than a legend.”

Legend?

Xu Yangyi didn’t bat an eye, cool and collected. If it was a legend… then what could such a real legend like Xiaoqing be considered?

In the end, what did Che Fengchao find in his journey to the west? It seemed that he hadn’t found anything… No, this wasn’t even the important point. If there truly were tracks of an immortal descended upon the world, then were all these legendary figures fake?

In his heart, he continued to lose faith in this idea.

Suddenly, his mind lit up, and he sighed, “Fellow Daoist Moonless, how many vampire clans are there?”

“The House of Dracul is a major one. They claim themselves as a direct line of vampires. There aren’t many of them, but they’re all elites. There are roughly several hundred. As for the small ones, that’s unclear to say. “The Vantas Family, Oshermen Family, and Donner Family are all big clans with about a hundred people… hold on…” His gaze suddenly brightened, and he raised a brow at Xu Yangyi. “Fellow Daoist is saying…”

“That’s right.” Xu Yangyi’s eyes were cold like ice. “I’m afraid some people are already thinking of us.”

“I only thought about it just now. Why would there be an Imprisonment Formation?” He took two steps forward as he looked at the iron maiden. “Someone… regardless of whichever family, found this object that can be said to be incredibly important to vampires. No matter what he wants to do, this iron maiden is a kind of psychological icon. It’s no stretch to call it a king’s scepter.”

“They wanted to secretly bring this thing back to America. I don’t know if they have a Dao Master, but if they do, perhaps they still didn’t risk fully implementing a Core Formation seal. It’s too eye-catching. Even a Dao Master not paying attention would still notice a ship with a Core Formation restriction. Therefore, they only risked using a Foundation Establishment restriction. This restriction might’ve been quite hard to break, but just as we came back to Earth and a passage between two realms was opened again after a hundred years, the qi explosion broke it…”

Moonless heaved out a sigh, “So that’s why this iron maiden ‘came back to life’.”

“That’s right. We searched the sailors’ souls. This ship is heading to New York, and New York is the world’s number one city and also the place with the most diverse powers. Although the Dracul are large, so are the Corvinus. The Dracul don’t want to tip the Corvinus off, so naturally they wouldn’t risk using an even stronger seal. They really do have guts… Something like this can be said to be a holy relic to the vampires. It’s just hidden on a ship like this, and being super secretly transported back…”

Xu Yangyi’s finger twitched, and several rays of white light flashed out and diced up all the surrounding containers. However, he discovered that there weren’t hams inside! Instead, there were slabs of ice-cold, fresh meat!

“Only the meat from this container was sucked dry of blood.” He narrowed his eyes. “The restriction breaking caused the iron maiden to interact with the outside world, thus causing it to slowly awaken.”

Silence. After ages, Moonless raised his head and said in a low voice, “I have a theory.”

“Oh? There’s no harm in speaking,” Xu Yangyi said.

“Psychic technique,” Moonless gritted out, “By borrowing an object with the greatest connection to an ancestor, the ancestor’s soul can be retrieved, or maybe the location the location where their remains were buried. Still, no one knows at all if Dracula is dead or alive. He lived in glory for century and then went silent without another sound. I guess that the Dracul might’ve run into big trouble, so they need to find their ancestor’s soul. Maybe if their luck is good, they can directly ask the Primogenitor Dracula himself to descend. Their facing enormous danger by bringing back this iron maiden.”

But at this moment, a sudden, soft crack rang out from said iron maiden. Quickly, the pair looked over.

The mouth of the woman engraved on the torture device… had surprisingly opened!

“There’s something inside!” Xu Yangyi’s gaze stirred. Acting cautiously, he didn’t walk over, rather gently beckoning with his hand. The object inside wasn’t confined, so it floated over in front of him.

He and Moonless looked on in a daze.

It was too easy, so easy that it was unworthy of the great name of Dracula.

Nonetheless, neither of them were at a loss because of this issue. They saw paper.

However, it wasn’t paper.

It was sheepskin.

On the sheepskin, blood has been used to write a symbol. Evidently the symbol was already very ancient. Still, the blood on the surface appeared to have just been smeared, even carrying a moistness to it.

It was a six-pointed star with a ring of strange runic marks around it.

“A six-pointed star?”

Looking at it for a very long time, Xu Yangyi confirmed that there wasn’t anything weird about the sheepskin. It was merely plain sheepskin. He didn’t touch it, though, instead making it fly into his storage ring.

“What do we do now?” Moonless didn’t retort, but he furrowed his brows and said, “We’re already quite close to New York from here. We’re definitely under their surveillance. If we leave, they’ll immediately remember our qi. Although I’ve never faced something like a vampire, I’ve heard that as long as they have a wisp of your qi, they’ll follow you like a heel maggot. And once they get one drop of your blood, there’s no way to throw them off.”

“If we don’t leave, we’ll run into them here sooner or later,” Moonless finished.

“Then let’s meet.” Xu Yangyi’s gaze flashed with a ruthless color. “We haven’t done their business wrong, anyways, and I don’t want to publicly incur an entire clan’s pursuit because of this secret. The West isn’t China; this is their world. If they still don’t agree to let us go because of this…”

He softly flicked the Fishbowel Sword, killing intent bursting free. “In that case… no matter how many come, not a single one should think of returning.”

Having killed a Great Circle Foundation Establishment cultivator, could it be that he was still scared of those in the Foundation Establishment realm?

Since the person who set the seal didn’t dare to lay down a Core Formation restriction, then the one to take the coffin definitely wasn’t a Core Formation cultivator! At most, they were a core member of a house! Part of the House of Dracul’s direct bloodline! Perhaps their realm was even Qi Condensation! What did he have be afraid of?

In daring to stake his claim over Nanzhou in China, could it be that he didn’t dare to kill a few direct descendants of the Dracul in the West?

In the present day without Nascent Soul, he’d even dared to tenaciously defy Dao Masters. Was he even scared of a single House of Dracul?

“Vampires, eh…” His gaze seemed to see through everything, and he looked towards New York. “I’ve watched you many times on TV. I’m not sure if you’ll disappoint me or not when we actually meet…”

Time passed very quickly.

An hour later, the tanker was already entering one of the world’s largest ports: New York Harbor.

Xu Yangyi and Moonless did their best to mask their auras. A powerful dragon couldn’t suppress a snake in its own territory, and a fierce dragon crossing a river also depended on fortunate timing. Currently, their footing wasn’t stable yet, and the form of America’s cultivation world was a total unknown. Indeed, it was inadvisable to clash with local cultivators. Especially these local cultivators… or an apex clan that had an inheritance of close to a thousand years, and could be counted as first or second best in the West. [1]

Hiding themselves, the duo floated in the air at the ship’s tail end, observing jade-blue waves rippling and surging. Where the ocean and sky interlinked, an extremely flourishing city had already appeared on the horizon.

“That’s New York…” Xu Yangyi’s emotions billowed somewhat. He’d never thought that he would go abroad so early and arrive in the place with the most diverse number of cultivation powers in the world.

Right now, the tall Statue of Liberty was clear and striking in the eye. His spiritual sense was far much stronger than Moonless’s. He’d seen the monument a step earlier in advance. However, in the moment he saw it, his eyes faintly narrowed.

On the Statue of Liberty… was a person.

No… to be precise, it wasn’t a person.

All along, a giant bat, over a dozen meters in size, had been hanging under the Statue of Liberty’s torch hand. It had used some unknown move to also sense the ship’s location.

Its wings unfurled little by little, and its body also turned over to his side.

“Sound waves, huh…” Xu Yangyi rubbed his chin and laughed, “Is this a greeting… or did they discover our show of power?”