Chapter 417: Comes with a Bonus Blood Chalice

Qi Suian was certain that the Blood Race Sacred Artifact, the Blood Cup, was not as invincible as the Blood Bath Queen made it out to be.

’It probably only works on third-generation Blood Race members. Otherwise, she could have just chosen the power of the Blood Race Ancestor, Cain.’

As for the Red Sea Witch, she wasn’t part of the Blood Race, so she couldn’t be chosen—even though she was the Blood Bath Queen’s biological mother.

"It seems you’ve figured it out."

"That’s right. It can only acquire the blood and abilities of third-generation Blood Race members."

"Unfortunately for you, however, the Son of the Dragon is also a third-generation member of the Blood Race." The Blood Bath Queen took a third drink of the blood from the Blood Cup.

She, too, had realized how troublesome Qi Suian was. His powerful physique and bizarre attacks made capturing him alive much more difficult.

After swallowing the third mouthful of blood, she obtained the Son of the Dragon’s third power. A pair of dragon wings, meant for dominating the skies, sprouted from her back.

The dragon head, scales, and wings corresponded to breath, defense, and speed, respectively.

This time, she could not only keep up with Qi Suian’s speed, but she could even surpass it.

The Blood Bath Queen dodged Qi Suian’s attack, not taking it head-on.

"Relying on the Son of the Dragon’s power? Is that what allows an elder like you to be mentioned in the same breath as a junior like me?" Qi Suian said with contempt.

’Being slightly faster than me is useless. I can predict her movements.’

So, his very next move hammered cleanly into her chest, sending the Blood Bath Queen flying.

She hadn’t yet acquired all of the Son of the Dragon’s abilities; she was still lacking in strength and constitution, which left a major weakness.

Still, Qi Suian didn’t underestimate the Blood Bath Queen just because she was borrowing the Son of the Dragon’s power.

The Blood Bath Queen was clearly a specialist, skilled in dark powers but not in close-quarters combat.

In mid-air, the Blood Bath Queen took two more drinks. A dragon’s claws and body materialized, completely enveloping her.

She performed an acrobatic flip in mid-air, landing and immediately charging back.

The giant dragon formed from black mist radiated a terrifying draconic aura, like a massive manifestation of power.

Dragon breath surged forth.

This was no longer the small, cone-shaped burst from before; it engulfed everything in sight.

The tunnel itself was forcibly widened by the dragon breath.

Earth and rock melted away before the dark dragon breath.

Seeing this, Qi Suian had no intention of taking the hit head-on. Instead, he pulled a missile from his strategic weapons system and detonated it immediately.

The dragon breath and the missile collided, creating an even more massive explosion.

"Good thing that wasn’t an ordinary missile. It was covered in enchantments." Qi Suian scrambled to his feet.

Then, the figure of Fei emerged, supplanting Qi Suian’s Martial Dao will, as Qi Suian forcefully injected himself with a high-concentration death serum.

’All that’s left is simple. Just punch with everything I’ve got.’

The Blood Bath Queen charged out from the glare of the explosion and dragon breath. She was unharmed, but the Black Dragon covering her had sustained significant damage.

The force of his fist landed squarely on the forehead of the advancing Blood Bath Queen. Fei’s claws pierced the Black Dragon, assisting Qi Suian as his punch obliterated her head.

Unwilling to let his advantage slip, Qi Suian lunged forward with an Iron Mountain Lean, landing another blow on the Blood Bath Queen.

The Black Dragon shattered. Having taken two consecutive hits, the Blood Bath Queen still landed steadily on her feet.

Her shattered head regenerated in an instant.

"The Rot Bracelet is the source of all disease," the Blood Bath Queen said suddenly. "Everything can fall ill, including the Blood Race."

Qi Suian took a moment to assess himself. He didn’t feel anything... ’Wait, I think I just got a little stronger.’

He then shot a strange look at the Blood Bath Queen. ’I feel like I’ve experienced this somewhere before.’

"You don’t understand disease at all," Qi Suian said, feeling fantastic.

"Disease brings not only death, but also life."

The Blood Bath Queen didn’t understand what Qi Suian meant, but she understood that he was unaffected by the disease.

"Give me the Rot Bracelet and I’ll leave right now." Qi Suian’s attack power had waned after that last burst, so he had to resort to his old tricks.

That’s right: a groin kick and an eye poke.

Wouldn’t you know it, the Blood Bath Queen never expected Qi Suian to resort to such dirty tactics.

He wasn’t fighting like this before.

Especially the groin kick—Qi Suian was a master at it.

He kicked the Blood Bath Queen so hard she was completely incapacitated.

It’s a weak point on women, too. It just doesn’t cause critical damage; it’s more of a pure armor-piercing effect.

As she doubled over, Qi Suian went for her eyes.

He gouged out her eyeballs on the spot, digging his fingers in and twisting to inflict secondary damage.

And then, the Blood Bath Queen’s body collapsed into a pool of blood.

Elsewhere, a mist swirled and reformed into a human figure.

It was only then that Qi Suian sensed something was wrong. ’This isn’t her real body, is it?’

Looking at the blood on his hands, his expression grew increasingly grim.

The Blood Bath Queen might have never come to Brasov City at all. This was just a clone.

And the real Blood Bath Queen’s destination was obvious.

The borders of the human kingdoms. She was going to join the Son of the Dragon to annihilate the Church.

Leading her forces to Brasov City was just a feint, a ruse to mislead the Daywalker.

As long as they could destroy the Church, it wouldn’t matter if Brasov City fell to the resistance.

"It seems you’ve realized I’m not her true self," the Blood Bath Queen said, reading Qi Suian’s micro-expressions.

"So, from the very beginning, you haven’t been using your own power." Qi Suian immediately put the pieces together. "It’s not that you didn’t want to, but that you *couldn’t*."

"This clone only brought the Blood Race Sacred Artifact, the Blood Cup, to compensate for its lack of power."

"The Rot Bracelet was just an unexpected bonus." ’I have a chance to win this,’ Qi Suian thought.

’Against her real body with two Sacred Artifacts, I’d be no match. But against a clone that can’t use its original power and can only rely on one and a half Sacred Artifacts? My odds are pretty good.’

She wasn’t familiar with how to use the Rot Bracelet, so it only counted as half an artifact at best.

"That’s right. But did you really think this was the full extent of the Son of the Dragon’s power?"

"He is special, after all. Even though he’s classified as third-generation Blood Race, the Blood Cup can only draw out less than one percent of his true strength."

"So, would you like to witness the Son of the Dragon’s complete, albeit weakened, power?" the Blood Bath Queen said, downing the last of the blood with a heroic flourish.

Naturally, Qi Suian wasn’t about to let her finish that drink.

But her speed far surpassed his. In one gulp, the dragon’s power completely fused with the Blood Bath Queen’s body.

And this time, it was not a black dragon that formed, but a red one.

Evidently, with the Blood Cup’s aid, the dragon’s power had temporarily become the Blood Bath Queen’s own.

BOOM!

A dragon claw swept out, slamming hard into Qi Suian.

But Qi Suian was no pushover. He smashed the dragon claw to pieces.

Still, he didn’t come out of the exchange feeling particularly great.

"What a shame," Qi Suian said, as a Ghost Energy Storm erupted from his body.

He hadn’t wanted to use Ghost Energy. He knew the immortality of the Blood Race was a conceptual-level power that could withstand it.

The thing was, this Blood Bath Queen wasn’t the real one, so there was a high probability she hadn’t inherited that conceptual-level immortality.

At most, she just had strong regeneration, capable of reviving from a single drop of blood.

She couldn’t achieve true immortality.

’When facing the Blood Race, it’s not that Ghost Energy Beams can’t kill them instantly; it’s that they have a damage gate.’

’Their abilities have a higher priority, which is why they don’t die. Without that conceptual-level immortality, never mind this Blood Bath Queen—even the Blood Race Ancestor might not be able to take the hit.’

’At least, even now, my Floating Cannons aren’t obsolete.’

’Even if the damage gate saves them, it still weakens them.’

Beneath the Ghost Energy Storm, the red dragon’s body was annihilated in an instant, without a moment’s hesitation.

"Such powerful energy... I will find you."

"Hold on to the Blood Cup and the Rot Bracelet for now. I will come to retrieve them myself."

After the red dragon vanished, the Blood Bath Queen’s form also began to disintegrate. Once she spoke her last two sentences, she disappeared completely without a trace.

"We’ll see if you can find me," Qi Suian muttered. He picked up the two Blood Race Sacred Artifacts from the ground and stuffed them into his Subspace Pocket.

With that done, he immediately fled Brasov City.

’This isn’t a place I should linger. What if her real body comes after me? Best to get out of here.’

---

"Are you certain the Church’s Daywalker is the Cursed Child?" another one of the Blood Bath Queen’s clones asked the Son of the Dragon.

There was a horrifying wound on the Son of the Dragon’s chest.

It had been inflicted by the Daywalker, who wielded the Execution Axe, one of the Blood Race Sacred Artifacts.

The wound refused to heal; he could only let it be.

The Daywalker didn’t get off easy, though. The Son of the Dragon had severed one of his hands with the Slaughter Knife, another Blood Race Sacred Artifact.

The grievous wounds inflicted by the Execution Axe and the sheer sharpness of the Slaughter Knife were defining traits of the two Blood Race Sacred Artifacts.

"Of course. Or have you made some new discovery?" the Son of the Dragon asked, looking at his ’aunt.’

Their relationship was mediocre, and they rarely interacted.

After all, one was from the Demon Faction and the other from the Secret Faction; their private dealings were mostly matters of mutual interest.

"I encountered a human on par with the Daywalker. He displayed no Blood Race powers, but he was incredibly strong."

"He killed my clone," the Blood Bath Queen explained.

"It was only a clone. The Daywalker could do that as well," the Son of the Dragon said, unconcerned.

"And what if I told you that clone was holding the Blood Cup and the Rot Bracelet?" the Blood Bath Queen said seriously.

This made the Son of the Dragon frown. "So, those two Sacred Artifacts have fallen into this human’s hands?"

’If I’d had just one more Sacred Artifact, today’s battle wouldn’t have ended like this. I would have killed the Daywalker with my Slaughter Knife.’

"I will arrive in three days, at most," the Blood Bath Queen said, changing the subject.

She didn’t want to discuss it further with the Son of the Dragon; after all, she was the one who had lost the Sacred Artifacts.

"Fine." The Son of the Dragon didn’t press the issue. In terms of strength, status, and seniority, he was no match for the Blood Bath Queen.

Since she clearly didn’t want to talk about it, there was no reason for him to push.

Especially since she was coming as his reinforcement.