General's Speech! (Seeking follow-ups, seeking collections)

After the middle-aged man left, Nie Dong drank alone at the bar until late into the night.

The night was deep now.

Only then did Nie Dong set aside his glass and walk into the depths of the club.

This was the club's cellar, lined with row upon row of wine racks, though many stood empty.

Only a few racks holding expensive red wines were wiped clean, devoid of even a speck of dust.

The wine cellar was deathly quiet; the noisy clamor from above could not be heard here at all.

Drip... drip...

In the dimness, a rhythmic dripping sound seemed to echo.

In the center of the cellar stood a circular table, partially hollowed out, with two slender, delicate girls bound to it.

Their wrists had been slashed, and the dripping sound came from the blood falling from their veins.

As the fresh blood hit the floor, one could clearly see it forming a bizarre pattern, flowing along the grooves in the ground to create a sinister blood diagram.

As more blood dripped down, the evil energy surging from this eerie diagram grew stronger, and this energy began to madly drill into the bodies of the two girls on the table.

The girls' small mouths were slightly agape, emitting unintelligible sounds from their throats, yet one could sense their agony as their upper canines slowly began to lengthen.

Tap... tap... tap...

The sound of footsteps was exceptionally clear, echoing through the empty wine cellar.

Hearing the footsteps, the two girls on the table regained a sliver of clarity, and expressions of disgust immediately surfaced on their faces.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It seems you two still refuse to be obedient," Nie Dong's voice rang out. "I think once you are converted into my blood servants, you will surely do my bidding."

With that, Nie Dong reached out both hands and gripped the girls' chins.

Watching the sisters' angry expressions, Nie Dong's face was filled with indulgence. "Yes, that's it. That's the look. It truly makes me unable to stop myself. The ritual will be over soon, and then you will possess powerful strength just like me, killing whoever displeases you..."

"My sister and I will never become monsters like you!" one of the girls weakly spat out in anger.

Nie Dong's lips curled upward as he leaned in close to her ear. "Then let us wait and see, little Liu Ru."

"There's a discrepancy here."

Suddenly, a strange voice intruded.

"Who's there?!" Nie Dong spun around, his face twisted with murderous intent.

When he saw the appearance of the person at the entrance, Nie Dong was momentarily stunned. "It's you?"

"How did you break in here?!" Nie Dong demanded.

"I kept a little something in reserve, and I didn't expect to actually catch you," Lan Yu said, a golden glow shimmering in his hand.

Damn butterfly effect!

"Do you think a mere little mage like you can hope to resist our noble bloodline?"

Although Nie Dong didn't understand how this guy had reached the cellar, since he was here, he would leave his life behind!

"Light Radiance!"

Dazzling golden light erupted in the dim cellar, illuminating everything around them with blinding brightness.

"Damn it!!" Nie Dong was furious. A lowly mage dared to act against the noble bloodline?

"Extinction Claw!"

Immediately, a viscous mass of blood appeared around Nie Dong's body, rapidly morphing into a massive, hideous claw.

As Nie Dong lashed out, the blood claw swiped toward Lan Yu.

Wherever the blood claw passed, the wine racks were instantly pulverized.

Seeing this, Lan Yu immediately cast a Light Element intermediate magic, Light Protection-Holy Shield, to block the blow.

BOOM—

The blood claw struck the holy shield with a thunderous roar, leaving the entire cellar in shambles.

"Accursed light!"

Nie Dong had intended to summon the Night Blade Bat, but Lan Yu's Light Element magic had made the entire cellar so bright that there was not a shred of darkness to be found.

"Get him!"

Sensing that the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had finished off the vampires outside, Lan Yu gave the order.

With a whoosh, a black shadow suddenly appeared behind Nie Dong. Sharp claw-light flashed, and an arm fell to the ground.

"Ahhh!!!"

With his arm severed, the pervasive light caused the stump to hiss and emit white smoke upon contact.

The agony sent Nie Dong into a screaming frenzy.

In particular, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had imbued its claw-light with the power of the Evil God, which was more than enough to make Nie Dong suffer.

Watching Nie Dong collapse to the ground, Lan Yu did not lower his guard in the slightest.

Although the power scaling in the first Douluo Dalu is inferior to the later three installments, the mechanics are truly absurd.

How does that saying go? If you want mechanics, you have mechanics; if you want stats, you have mechanics.

"As a vampire, how dare you fight against a Light Element mage?" Lan Yu continued to unleash Light Radiance, leaving Nie Dong in utter misery.

"Light Bind!"

Under Lan Yu's control, those rays of light condensed at a visible speed into thin threads, which then continuously intertwined to form a giant web.

Light Bind shackled Nie Dong, and the scorching effect unique to the light energy was on the verge of burning right through his body.

Although he had not yet fully mastered all 343 Light Element star particles, Lan Yu was still capable of simply altering the output method of his light magic.

"Bastard! Roar!!"

Nie Dong struggled frantically, yet he could not break free from the light web.

"Rip out his fangs!"

Snap! Snap!

At Lan Yu's command, accompanied by two crisp sounds, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger ripped out two of Nie Dong's blood fangs by the roots.

Judging by the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's proficiency, it seemed to have practiced this craft to perfection.

"My fangs, I beg you, give my fangs back to me. I'll do anything, I beg you..." With his blood fangs knocked out, Nie Dong finally panicked and began to beg humbly.

"Hmph! Even if you beg me, I won't let you go!" Lan Yu sneered, "Go in peace!"

Whoosh—

A cluster of red and blue flames suddenly erupted from Lan Yu's fingertips. In an instant, the atmosphere in the entire wine cellar became extremely bizarre; alternating between cold and hot, it made one feel intensely uncomfortable.

Lan Yu flicked his finger, and the flame landed on Nie Dong, igniting violently as if fire had met gasoline.

Nie Dong struggled in agony, howling in pain.

In the corner, the weak twin sisters revealed smiles on their faces as they watched Nie Dong meet his end.

Soon, Nie Dong's body vanished into nothingness under the dual torment of ice and fire, and a mass of dark-blood-colored soul floated upward.

Lan Yu felt no surprise at this; after all, he possessed the Ice and Fire Dragon King Head Bone and even the Ice and Fire Dragon Pupil, so seeing a soul manifest after a creature's death was nothing out of the ordinary.

Fortunately, when he returned here to lie in wait, he had borrowed a Soul Vessel from Leng Qing that could contain the essence soul of a General-rank creature.

After storing the dark-blood-colored essence soul into the Soul Vessel, Lan Yu finally turned his gaze toward the twin sisters in the corner.