Every apparatus that could communicate with the Queen involved a particular set of activation rules. For instance, Castle Ava’s required a duke from the Lynch bloodline to activate. Marquis Lynch was just a mighty marquis, so they would have to wake up the duke for this matter.

Marquis Lynch arrived before the door and activated the mechanism, summoning a control panel from the floor. He punched in the password and cut his wrist to splash blood onto the panel. The giant door soon began to tremble and open.

Behind the door was a dark hall illuminated by a few sanguine lights. The dim glow was barely enough to outline the room.

The patterns on the wall began to revolve as Nighteye and Qianye entered. A coffin slowly glided out of the wall and landed at the center of the hall. Several pipes stretched out from the ground and latched onto the coffin, pumping blood from the blood pond into the coffin. This would allow for the vampire within to awaken from his long slumber.

Nighteye and Qianye couldn’t sense the presence of blood in the tubes. Marquis Lynch had produced the coffin but wasn’t supplying blood?

The marquis sighed as he placed a hand on the lid and released his blood energy, dripping the remaining blood from his wrist onto the coffin. The patterns on the coffin flickered, and the lid opened with a loud creak.

An old vampire was lying inside the container. His hands were in front of his chest, holding onto a sword. The entire body was withered and dried up like a skeleton, so much so that his facial features were no longer visible.

Vampires at the end of their lives would drain their blood into the blood pond and mummify themselves. Reducing their life functions to the lowest point allowed them to extend their lives. Only the top experts could remain in the same form during hibernation. Apparently, Duke Lynch was not that powerful.

Qianye couldn’t sense any vitality from the duke’s body. In his perception, the person in the coffin was a dead creature with no life at all. Qianye had never seen a vampire in hibernation, so he wasn’t quite sure whether this was normal.

Nighteye frowned. “The duke has passed? Why are you keeping him here then?”

Marquis Lynch smiled wryly. “I’m not strong enough, so I feared I would not be able to protect Castle Ava and our businesses without him. That’s why I decided to keep the news hidden until I’m at the next level. I plan to announce his passing once I become a glorious marquis.”

“When did this happen?”

“About ten years ago, I discovered something wrong with my father’s hibernation. I tried waking him up but to no avail,” he said helplessly. “I knew it would be impossible to convince anyone with just words, so I had to trouble you to come and see the situation.”

Nighteye nodded. “There’s no helping it then. Let’s go, I have some things to ask you.”

Marquis Lynch seemed a bit relieved as he sealed the coffin and sent it back into the wall. “It’s my honor to be able to work for you, Your Majesty.”

After leaving the mountain labyrinth, Lynch led Qianye and Nighteye to his personal guestroom, then ordered his men to bring some blood wine. “This is the best in our collection, containing a drop of viscount grade origin blood in every glass. Even my father drank only ten or so glasses in his entire lifetime. We have about five glasses left.”

Nighteye finished it in one go, but Qianye was a bit hesitant about drinking it.

Marquis Lynch said, “Please accept our family’s tribute.”

Nighteye said, “This is wine, not blood.”

Qianye inwardly shook his head. Blood wine wasn’t just a tonic for vampires, but it also contained some connotation of loyalty. Marquis Lynch had treated him as Nighteye’s follower at one point, but he was now quite respectful after a show of power. The level of respect given to the duo was now equal.

Seeing no other choice, Qianye picked up the glass and finished it. The drink wasn’t tart or fishy at all. On the contrary, it contained many layers of lingering fragrance that uplifted the spirit. Even someone like Qianye who didn’t really attach too much importance to the quality of alcohol felt rather delighted. Once the spirit was inside his stomach, it released waves of pure blood energy that could be immediately utilized.

“Good wine!” Qianye finally understood why so many powerful people in the Empire liked vampire wines, so much so that they would pay exorbitant prices in the black market. Even without the drop of origin blood, it was still a great drink.

After the praise, Qianye suddenly noticed a wisp of coldness within the released blood energy. Wherever this chill went in his body, that part of him would lose all sensation. The energy possessed powerful adhesive properties as well and would freeze his blood energy upon contact.

It was poison! A poison that specifically targeted vampire experts!

A cold gleam flickered in Qianye’s eyes. He shot to his feet, shouting, “You put poison in this wine?!”

However, he quickly fell back into his chair. His face paled as his body went limp and cold, almost as though he had fallen into an icy cave. Beside him, Nighteye also fell back into her chair with a grunt.

Marquis Lynch laughed maniacally. “Save the effort! Even dukes cannot resist this miraculous medicine! Haha, Your Majesty? Your Majesty? You guys will never become rulers!”

Nighteye barely managed to prop herself up. “Why?”

“Since you guys already know that the demonkin will come here, why ask so much? The Demon King will restore the order of the old ages, and this world will return to pure darkness. Our vampire race will have our sins washed away and be reborn in the darkness’ mercy! Very soon, a new era will be born, and a new order will be established. The Sacred Mountain has only one supreme, and that is…”

Qianye’s voice echoed in Marquis Lynch’s ears. “Definitely not you.”

He turned back all of a sudden to find Qianye standing behind him, almost at arm’s length. But Qianye was clearly sitting over there just now! Marquis Lynch turned back to see Qianye’s seat empty. It felt as though he had seen a ghost; he simply didn’t know how the man had appeared behind him.

Realizing what had happened, he let out a loud scream and wanted to flee. However, the boundless pressure erupting from Qianye’s body stripped him of the ability to move.

Qianye lifted Marquis Lynch up by the neck. “Who instructed you to poison us? You better not lie if you don’t want your blood core crushed little by little.”

Lynch asked, “Y-You weren’t poisoned?”

Qianye sneered. “You’re too naive if you want to use poison against us.”

Nighteye was also back on her feet, the weak demeanor from before completely gone. She blew a limpid ice droplet out of her mouth and put it away in a small bottle. “This blood poison is actually quite valuable, don’t let it go to waste. Qianye, where’s yours?”

Qianye shrugged. “I’ve put it away.”

His Book of Darkness was a treasure that could contain all forms of energy. The blood poison was inside it now.

Marquis Lynch looked utterly desperate. “This is impossible! The grand duke said even great dark monarchs won’t be able to resist this poison.”

“Which grand duke?” Qianye asked coldly.

Lynch trembled. “Grand Duke Sway of the Jeruson family.”

“What did he say?”

“H-He said…” Seeing Qianye’s cold gaze, the marquis immediately continued, “The darkness will once again regain its glory.”

Nighteye said, “As a descendant of the sacred river, you actually believed in a demonkin? Are you dumb or what?”

Although the marquis knew that his life was hanging on a thread, he wasn’t convinced about this topic. “The River of Blood is leaving us behind every day. How many years has it been? Even dukes cannot get half a response.” He glanced at Nighteye and said, “Of course, you’re a favorite of the river, but what are we?”

Nighteye smiled coldly. “And the demonkin will give you what the river cannot?”

Marquis Lynch hesitated for a moment, but he didn’t dare hide what he knew. “They will allow us to get closer to the darkness origins.”

Both Nighteye and Qianye frowned.

Blood energy was categorized as a part of the darkness energy system. Although their power stemmed from the River of Blood, the endpoint of all dark races was the darkness origins. That was the peak of power in this world.

The two had no idea how the demonkin would upgrade the vampires’ blood energy to bring it closer to the darkness origins. The marquis didn’t seem like the type who would trust just about anything. At the very least, the demonkin had proven to him that there was a possibility.

Qianye knew that it was useless to argue about the river. “Sway cannot have known of our arrival. Who was this trap prepared for?”

The marquis replied, “There’s no specific target. The grand duke merely instructed me to kill anyone trying to contact the Queen.”

Qianye said, “Is that all?”

Lynch’s eyes sparkled.

Qianye said coldly, “It’s useless if the other party doesn’t drink the blood poison. Did the demonkin not leave any other cards?”

Anyone arriving to contact the Queen must’ve encountered a disaster like the Carlton and Mueller families. They would surely be cautious about what they consume, and urging them too forcefully would only make them more suspicious. Hence, there had to be a backup plan.

Snorting, Qianye shot out a sanguine thread from his fingertips that drilled it into the marquis’ neck. The latter flailed about in agony until he was crying in hysteria. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

Qianye pulled the thread back, leaving Lynch gasping for air. He would’ve collapsed to the ground were it not for Qianye holding him up.

The marquis finally caught his breath. “I was told to direct them to Castle Cercis for help.”

Qianye was surprised. “Castle Cercis? Isn’t that Medanzo’s territory?”

Medanzo was the one managing the vampire race’s affairs, so it was natural for people to seek help from the Dracula clan. It was strange, however, that a demonkin duke would suggest this.

Qianye tightened his grip. “Why there?”

Marquis Lynch was also puzzled. “That’s what he told me. There will be someone there who can handle people I cannot.”

“Who? Medanzo?”

“I really don’t know.”

A sanguine thread emerged from Qianye’s finger once again, eliciting painful screams from the marquis. “I really don’t know.”

Nighteye said calmly, “When did the old duke die?”

Marquis Lynch replied as soon as Qianye loosened his grip, “Didn’t I tell you just now…” Feeling the thread on his skin, he quickly changed his words, “It was… a couple of days ago?”

“Who cut off his blood supply?”

“That was the grand duke’s orders. He was going to exterminate the entire family if I didn’t obey.”

“Take us to the communication apparatus.”

“... Very well.”

This time, Lynch brought Qianye and Nighteye to the stargazing room on the castle’s top floor. There was a sacrificial altar here that could be used to communicate with the Queen of the Night. However, the room was in an utter mess—all origin arrays had been destroyed, and the equipment used to test bloodlines had been plundered.

Without waiting for the two to ask, Lynch explained, “All of this was Duke Sway’s doing. He took away the bloodline testing equipment and… some blood cores belonging to sleeping ancestors. Father was spared because I needed to deceive potential visitors.”

Nighteye asked, “What do the demonkin want with so many blood cores?”

Qianye was also puzzled.

From the current situation, it could be concluded that the council’s operations began after the Queen of the Night’s slumber. On one hand, they were destroying all means of contacting Lilith, while on the other, they were either destroying or converting some clans to their cause.

It was just that Duke Sway never expected the first ones to walk into the trap would be Qianye and Nighteye. Their bloodlines were so powerful that even blood poison couldn’t do anything.

“Is there any other way to contact the Queen?” Qianye asked.

Nighteye said, “The founding ancestors have ways to contact the Queen, and the main Perth clan will have the means to awaken her directly. But Medanzo…”

“I don’t think we should go to the Perth clan,” said Qianye. It would seem most of the families under the Perth clan had been penetrated, and Nighteye’s Monroe family didn’t share a good relationship with them. There was no telling what would happen if they made an appearance there.

Nighteye nodded. “Then should we seek out the Flaming Crown Habsburg?”

“We don’t have any other choice, do we?” If Medanzo was unreliable, Habsburg might be just as dangerous. Regardless of whether the demonkin were lying to the vampires or if they really possessed a way to bring them closer to the darkness origins, they could still threaten people in submission. Who knows how many experts could hold out?

Nighteye went silent for a good while. After some thought, she suddenly remembered something. “Wait! We should go to the Byrne clan.”

“The Dark Gospel Howard?” Qianye recalled that this primogenitor’s blood seal was still shining.

“There was news of his recent awakening! But I know he’s probably in light sleep.”

Qianye immediately understood.