There were many levels to being a glutton, and Little Zhuji was only at the first level—her focus was to eat more and faster. She still had a long way to go before reaching the stage where she would savor the taste of everything in detail. Even so, this little fellow’s appetite was enough to shock everyone. That piece of meat was almost bigger than her neck, yet she had simply swallowed it whole. It truly made one wonder whether her true form was an arachne or a python.

She didn’t taste the first piece, and naturally, the second was no different. Only after she had burned through eight pieces of meat did she start to chew on the meat and notice the taste. However, the giant’s heart was as tough as tree bark. The little lass chewed with all her might, but she became impatient after a while and simply swallowed everything.

She collapsed on her back after a while, her little round belly protruding upward. It looked like she wouldn’t be able to stand up anymore.

Shaking his head, Qianye broke into a chuckle. He shot a glance at the remaining pieces of meat.

Judging from her state, Zhuji must’ve been really full. The pieces of meat in the pot were still leaking powerful vitality and spirit, and since there was no way to store it, they would probably turn into ordinary meat by tomorrow.

Only then did Qianye start eating.

The six-armed giant’s heart contained great amounts of vitality essence, but Qianye no longer required such nourishment. All creatures in the Great Maelstrom possessed powerful vitality and could provide him with endless amounts of essence blood. Sometimes, he would even hurt himself from being too full.

For instance, a random aquatic beast from the Pond of Life could allow Qianye to ascend to the mighty marquis rank, and two more would bring him to the glorious marquis rank. It was just that depending solely on external sources wasn’t beneficial for Qianye.

Not wanting to waste food, Qianye cleared away all the meat and soup in the pot. At this point, the little lass was already sound asleep and snoring softly. She was still an arachne, after all, and would need to accumulate enough sleep during her growth period to increase her strength.

Qianye sighed softly. Sometimes, he really did envy the dark races—other things aside, their long lives alone had attracted many human defectors over the ages. Even though the vampires would need to slumber in the blood pond near the end of their lives, being alive was good enough for those old people with one foot in the grave, whose greatest fear was that they would close their eyes and never be able to open them again.

There was still some time before dawn, and the forest had long since fallen into silence. The procreating natives were so exhausted that they had collapsed into a puddle, and those who were spared had dispersed. They seemed to have regained their free will after the death of the six-armed giant, allowing them to return to the high-gravity region.

Glancing at their surroundings, Qianye felt that they were relatively safe, and it was a good thing that the little fellow was asleep. Considering how odd the Pond of Life was, there was really no telling whether it could affect her or not.

It was at this time that a flash of light appeared in Qianye’s sight.

This faint green light was hazy and fluctuant, but Qianye could feel his mind wavering upon seeing it. It was as though he had fallen into a hypnotic state.

The realization that his spirit was being drawn in by the light jolted him awake.

Since condensing a blood core, Qianye was fairly clear that his own willpower and soul were no longer as resolute. The impulse born of this body was too strong—Qianye’s willpower was enough to handle a human body, but it was comparatively weak in suppressing the urges from a vampire constitution. His performance in the high-gravity region was just slightly better than Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan.

Even so, a force that could control one's soul had never been seen before, or heard of for that matter. From what he knew, the only thing related to the soul here was the Marine Lotus.

Qianye shot to his feet and gazed at the source of this light. If this were the Marine Lotus, it was something he had to obtain.

According to Imperial records, this flower would only bloom for a moment before condensing into jade. Thereafter, its spirit nurturing effects and many other miraculous powers would largely disappear. The medicines available in the Empire were made from this type of Marine Lotus.

Legend had it that Prince Greensun had entered the Great Maelstrom and brought out a Marine Lotus. Even considering Zhang Boqian’s space traversal abilities, no one could figure out what powers he had used to freeze time around the blooming flower.

However, the unknown couldn’t weaken Qianye’s determination.

Qianye had no idea what Nighteye’s current situation was, but in terms of absolute strength, the power she had displayed wasn’t that impressive. She had just recovered up to the duke-rank, but her method of power utilization was at a completely different level. That was why the six-armed giant couldn’t even last for a while under her assault.

But Qianye remembered Nighteye mentioning that her spirit damage would be difficult to heal. Qianye had also done his research on Li Fengshui’s methods and understood the principles behind it. In the end, the Spirit Millstone served to crush a portion of one’s spirit and use this defect to torture the subject. This part of the spirit would disappear completely, and healing it was no different from growing a new limb, except that the difficulty would be a thousand times greater.

No one knew when the awakened Nigteye would gain the power to repair her spirit. As far as Qianye’s knowledge from the River of Blood was concerned, the ancient vampires never possessed this power. Perhaps she would go further and obtain even greater inheritances, but who knew how long it would take?

As this notion flickered through Qianye’s heart, he became even more resolute about getting his hands on the Marine Lotus.

The green glow came from the Pond of Life, from a small island a thousand meters away from the shore. This distance was neither short nor long, but Qianye knew he would be attacked by water beasts along the way. Although the creatures were resting at night, that didn’t mean he could just waltz over their heads without repercussions.

The good news was that the island wasn’t too far off and there was a shallow region near the shore. There was only a small strip of deep water, which made it difficult for larger beasts to reside in the vicinity. Beasts comparable to the void colossi in size would only be able to lie between the island and shore without stretching their limbs.

After a moment of hesitation, Qianye picked up the little girl and a piece of wood. Then, his figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

A pillar of water shot up from the Pond of Life, condensing into a thin wall of water. Qianye’s silhouette appeared in the air but was bounced back after striking the barrier.

Qianye was astonished because this was the first time Spatial Flash was blocked entirely. The giant beast under the water possessed an unimaginable ability that could straighten out distorted space. Qianye was caught off-guard while shuttling through space and bounced out, appearing in an awkward location between the island and the shore.

A pillar of water shot out from below, and its sharp end speared toward him.

Qianye reacted with extreme speed, hurling the piece of wood down toward the pillar of water. The impact from the rushing water caused the log to explode, but Qianye had borrowed the impact to move away, effectively avoiding damage from the water spear.

This water lance actually didn’t shoot into the air after missing its target and pulled back like a real spear.

Qianye’s eyes lit up as he swung East Peak and slashed the falling water column into two.

The lower part of the spear condensed and contracted, but the upper half shattered into a shower of raindrops over Qianye and the little girl.

As the waterdrops approached his body, Qianye could feel wisps of vitality enter through his skin. Even the dark golden blood energy became a bit livelier. Just as he had thought—the water here was not only free of poison, but it was also extremely nourishing. Ordinary sick people would be healed completely after soaking in it for a few days.

Even the water droplets in the Pond of Life possessed powerful vitality. Then again, there seemed to be no such energy when he drew water for cooking a while ago.

Qianye looked down with a hint of blue in his eyes. Through the pond, he could see a strange fish that was hundreds of meters long. The creature looked like a smooth shuttle, with ten eyes on its head and an opening on its back. That spear of water came from that spout.

That vitality from that rain came from the giant fish.

Little Zhuji sensed something beneficial even while asleep, instinctively poking out her tongue and licking the rainwater. Qianye felt odd—didn’t this mean she was licking the fish’s saliva?

Despite the dense vitality in it, the pressurized water boasted incomparable destructive potential. If Qianye hadn’t evaded as quickly as he did just now, he would’ve been impaled by the lance. Qianye’s ancient vampire constitution might be the most powerful among the dark races, but it was nothing compared to natural-born behemoths.

Fortunately, it would seem the fish didn’t have a lot of attack methods. If it was just this water spear, then the threat it could pose was rather limited. That void-sealing water barrier wasn’t that strong, either, and could be crashed through.

The giant fish seemed furious after missing its attack. All of its closed eyes opened and stared at Qianye. The muscles on its back squirmed and wiggled as dozens of spouts opened up!

Qianye was shocked out of his wits. He immediately shot into the air and pulled away from the fish as far as he could.

All of a sudden, the largest spout on the fish shot out an astounding pillar of water, which zoomed past Qianye and spread out into a dome of water.

The fish launched an all-out attack after sealing off Qianye’s path. Dozens of water spears weaved together to cage him in!

Qianye maintained an odd posture inside the cage, twisting and turning to minimize the damage he would receive from the attack. Even so, several bloody defects appeared on his body. These wounds, albeit just abrasions, were almost unbearable.

In the water, that giant fish was doubtlessly even scarier than the six-armed giant.

After the water lances were retracted, the blue dome scattered into a shower which drenched Qianye’s wounds and accelerated their healing.

At this point, Qianye’s body started to fall, seemingly unable to maintain flight. The giant fish below stared at him with all its eyes, almost as though a delicacy was descending from the sky.

When he was a few dozen meters from the water surface, Qianye erupted with killing intent. The combined Twin Flowers appeared in his hand as he fired a black feather toward the giant fish!