The flustered Thousand-Year Dukes suddenly launched their attack. They pounced toward Yin Xuege so quickly that the several Yin Clan marquises and Yin Xuege himself could not see their movements at all. Even the Yin Clan marquis who had forcibly raised his strength to the duke level had only barely caught sight of two faint figures.
Only the Blood Spirit Sword let out a sharp cry. Like a living creature, it dragged a dripping blood-red radiance more than three meters long behind it and began circling Yin Xuege at high speed. Vast swaths of razor-sharp blood light whirled around Yin Xuege, forming a dazzling curtain of light. When the two Thousand-Year Dukes' sharp fingers touched that bloody curtain, two shrill screams rang out. Their fingers had been severed at the roots, and bright-red blood sprayed continuously from the wounds.
"Lowly little bastard, we'll tear you into a thousand pieces!" Having suddenly suffered a grievous loss, and then hearing their companion's piercing screams, the two Thousand-Year Dukes shrieked furiously in unison.
But the instant their shrieks rang out, the ground all around them suddenly began to shake violently. A powerful, suffocatingly sinister pressure descended from the sky. A gigantic blood-red claw several meters across slammed down from above, and the barrier deployed by the three Thousand-Year Dukes shattered with a thunderous crash like a sheet of paper.
The bloody giant claw roared down from the sky. After ripping through the outer barrier, it crushed down directly upon the two Thousand-Year Dukes. It was like a giant slapping two fragile earthworms. The two mighty Thousand-Year Dukes only managed one breath before every bone in their bodies suffered crushing fractures, leaving them sprawled on the ground, barely alive and unable to move.
The deep thud of hooves came from the distance. Gray-black mist suddenly rose across the surrounding plains. The neighing of warhorses rang out repeatedly, but strange wails and cries were mixed into those neighs, as though countless vengeful spirits were weeping and calling out.
The muffled hoofbeats drew closer and closer. Judging by their density, at least several hundred riders were racing toward this place.
A fierce wind blew in from the west, and shadowy figures appeared within the thin mist. To their horror, Yin Xuege and the others saw at least three hundred Headless Knights clad in black armor charging toward them. The warhorses beneath them were either skeletal horses without a shred of flesh, or zombie horses whose eyes spouted eerie phosphorescent fire and whose mouths constantly exhaled bone-chilling air.
The heads of these Headless Knights had been chopped off level with their shoulders. Some carried their heads in their left hands, some hung them from their belts, and some simply tied them to their mounts' reins, letting them swing in the wind. Their bodies were filled with bone-chilling cold, and their auras were so powerful that none was below any of the Yin Clan marquises.
Three hundred Headless Knights with strength comparable to marquises!
Yin Xuege released the Thousand-Year Duke whose vital essence he had drained completely, leaving him barely alive and unable to move. He gripped the Blood Spirit Sword tightly. Blazing Blood Flame shot into the sky from the Natal Bat Wings behind him, and the enormous wings beat lightly. Blood glimmered faintly in his eyes as he stared fixedly at these uninvited undead creatures!
The Headless Knights were notorious and terrifying existences in the Western world as well. Before the Era of Dharma Decline, they had carried out countless brutal massacres across the Western world. During the Era of Dharma Decline, having lost the soil that sustained their existence, they could only attach themselves to powerful Blood Demon noble clans, serving as their followers and enforcers.
But being able to send out three hundred Headless Knights with marquis-level strength was no small display! The force behind these Headless Knights was definitely no weaker than the Yin Clan.
Amid the dull thunder of hooves, the Headless Knights suddenly split into two groups as they neared Yin Xuege and the others, racing past on both sides. Then, from within the thin mist, came the clatter of wheels. Suddenly, crimson rose petals drifted out of the gray-black fog.
Yin Xuege flicked his wrist, and the Blood Spirit Sword swept out silently. Every rose petal that came near him was sliced into powder.
Then he saw lights within the thin mist. Sixteen snow-white steeds with crimson eyes came racing soundlessly, hovering three inches above the ground. Behind them they dragged an exquisitely ornate four-wheeled carriage. Sitting in the coachman's seat and cracking long whips at the steeds were two old men dressed in scarlet court robes, their gray-white hair arranged in complicated curls.
These two ancient-looking old men radiated auras that were several levels stronger than those of the three Thousand-Year Dukes just now. Blood glimmered in their eyes, faint fangs protruded from their black-red lips, and sharp claws grew from their withered, black palms. They were two astonishingly powerful Blood Demon Dukes, and they were absolutely figures on the level of Thousand-Year Dukes.
Behind the carriage, more than a hundred enormous bats flew silently through the air. When the carriage stopped less than ten meters from Yin Xuege, the bats dropped to the ground one after another. Thick blood mist burst forth, and they transformed into handsome men and beautiful women who stood respectfully on either side of the carriage.
With a resounding boom, someone kicked open the carriage door. A scarlet carpet silently "flowed" out from within. The carpet, made of an unknown material, shimmered with faint blood light. Like a living creature, it traced an arc directly toward Yin Xuege, stopping precisely before the tips of his toes.
"Yin Xuege, little fellow, I told you—we'd meet again!" Amid piercing laughter, an old acquaintance of Yin Xuege's—Farnburg, who had been tortured until he was half-dead in the Blood Prison of the Great Berlin City-State—slowly stepped out of the carriage.
Yin Xuege recognized Farnburg at a glance because he had absorbed twenty drops of Farnburg's vital essence and had firmly memorized the old man's aura. If he had really needed to recognize him by his face, Yin Xuege felt it would have been extremely difficult!
The first time he had seen Farnburg, the man had been an old, feeble wretch, tortured until he was on the verge of death and liable to breathe his last at any moment. Unable to escape the Blood Prison by his own strength, Farnburg had been forced to seek Yin Xuege's help. Only after paying the price of twenty drops of his natal essence had he gotten Yin Xuege to rescue him in passing from the bloody storm.
But the Farnburg who appeared before Yin Xuege today looked no more than forty years old. His face was radiant, and he resembled an emperor traveling abroad. Although not the slightest aura leaked from him, the noble and majestic foundation surrounding him surged forward like a tide, and anyone could sense that he was extraordinary.
"Old Duke Farnburg, you!" Yin Xuege stared blankly at the rejuvenated Farnburg and could not speak for a long while.
His jet-black hair had been braided into a complicated, thick plait. He wore a grand court uniform dominated by gold and red, blood-red tight riding trousers, and dark-gold high boots. More than a dozen rings adorned his fingers, each gleaming with flowing light and radiating powerful magical fluctuations. Farnburg's outfit was flamboyant to the extreme, as though a dashing emperor from a Western fairy tale had returned to the mortal world.
Wearing a strange smile, Farnburg leisurely walked up to Yin Xuege. Then he extended a finger and lightly poked Yin Xuege's shoulder. "Do you remember what I asked you before? Little fellow who doesn't even know the oldest and most traditional canonical precepts, I told you—I'd come back for you!"
Yin Xuege helplessly glanced at the eight Yin Clan marquises behind him. To his astonishment, their gazes were as though they had seen a ghost. They stared straight at Farnburg's face, their expressions frozen solid.
Yin Xuege was stunned for a moment. Then he carefully examined Farnburg's restored youthful face and finally discovered something amiss!
At the center of Farnburg's brow, a blood-red demonic character the size of a thumb flashed intermittently. Its structure was extraordinarily complex. At first glance, its shape resembled a crown. Yin Xuege only stared at the character, which seemed to have grown from Farnburg's flesh and blood, for a moment before feeling his own blood boil, as though it wanted to break free from his body and seep into the demonic character.
"Damn it, old Farnburg, you said you were an ordinary duke?" Yin Xuege suddenly felt his teeth itch.
"I never said I was an ordinary duke! Or perhaps I did? Then you must have heard me wrong!" Farnburg smiled brilliantly, revealing two rows of snow-white teeth that glimmered faintly in the sunlight. He smugly reached out, slapped Yin Xuege's cheek hard, and laughed even louder.
"Look, what happened here? Three Thousand-Year Dukes of Brianburg? Oh, they're old acquaintances of mine! This fellow who's been chopped into several pieces is Dekum Fank Blainburg. I even attended his grandfather's coming-of-age ceremony!"
Thunder roared again and again in Yin Xuege's mind. He looked at the smiling Farnburg, utterly at a loss for words.
This fellow named Dekum had been a Thousand-Year Duke who already existed before the Era of Dharma Decline! According to the rule that the stronger the Blood Demon Clan's power, the more difficult it was for them to reproduce, Dekum's grandfather had to be at least six or seven hundred years older than him! And Farnburg had attended Dekum's grandfather's coming-of-age ceremony? In other words, Farnburg was even older than Dekum's grandfather?
Could an old monster like this really be a duke? No wonder such bizarre visions had appeared within Farnburg's vital essence when Yin Xuege absorbed it! No wonder a mere twenty drops of vital essence had made Yin Xuege's life origin so rich and powerful.
His mind was somewhat confused, but Yin Xuege quickly steadied himself and explained in a few words everything that had just happened.
Farnburg's eyes suddenly turned a dazzling dark golden-red. He slowly turned around and looked toward Sander and Fennice, who lay unconscious on the ground a hundred meters away. Then he suddenly burst into loud laughter. Amid his piercing laughter, all the tall grass within several thousand meters snapped off at the roots and was torn into countless fragments.
A fierce wind swept over. The shredded blades of grass whistled into the air and condensed high above into a twisted green tornado.
I'll do a little four-update burst today. Could everyone support me with some recommendation votes? (To be continued)
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