In his daze, Qianye sensed the Attawa elder below saying something to him—it was something about listening carefully because the holy spirit’s voice was soft and difficult to catch.

According to the old man, channeling methods like this did not have a high success rate. It was likely that the medium would not hear the holy spirit’s voice.

Qianye’s consciousness flew higher and higher until the mountain peak below was just a tiny speck. It was quite surprising that the sacrificial wine possessed such an effect.

Things grew clearer by the time his consciousness was close to the clouds. It was there that Qianye saw a figure in front of him.

It was a handsome young man with a somewhat malicious expression. His long hair hung down over his shoulders like a black waterfall. His complexion was as pale as pottery and almost translucent. There was a blue pattern between his brows, and his eyes gave off an inexplicable glow; it was almost as though the world would grow brighter wherever he cast his gaze.

Clad in long black robes, the man’s slender frame stood firmly in the air. He seemed somewhat surprised upon seeing Qianye.

“Who would’ve thought you would actually come here?”

“Where are we? Is it a special place?” Qianye glanced at his surroundings but didn’t notice anything unusual. He could fly to this height with his main body as well and quite easily at that.

The man across from him laughed all of a sudden. “It’s not strange for your real body to reach this height, but it’s not easy to come so high up with your consciousness.”

Seeing that Qianye didn’t understand, the man explained patiently, “The origin power in this world is alive. This kind of living origin power exerts a suppressive effect on the consciousness. Without a powerful spirit, it would be impossible to even leave the range of the altar. In other words, those below the duke rank won’t even be able to leave the altar’s range, let alone come up here to see me.”

Thinking back to the process of dissociation, there was indeed a blurry segment. Qianye’s consciousness, just like his physical body, had undergone repeated tempering with the chaos origin power. The suppression of the living energy here was easily tolerable for Qianye, hence he arrived here rather uneventfully.

According to the man, it was quite the feat for his spirit to have reached this height. Qianye asked, “What requirements would one need to get here?”

The man laughed wryly. “Let’s put it this way, even I would need some luck to fly from the altar to this place.”

Only dukes could leave the altar, so those who could fly here were definitely stronger than dukes. This man was the holy spirit of the Attawa race, so he was probably a prince or a great dark monarch.

“I still don’t know who you are,” Qianye said.

The man glanced at Qianye with a laugh. “You might not have seen me before, but you definitely have heard of me. And I’m sure you recognize this.”

With that, he unfurled a pair of black wings!

Qianye was shaken. “The Black-Winged Monarch?! No, you’re not him. Who are you?”

Qianye had seen Andruil and sensed his aura back when he received the monarch’s inheritance. One’s external appearance might be changeable, but the innate aura wasn’t so easily altered. The man before him did possess a pair of black wings, as well as top-tier blood energy, but he was not Andruil.

The man said, “Of course not. Teacher and I are separate individuals.”

He glanced at Qianye with inexplicable emotions, sighing. “Who would’ve thought Teacher would leave his final inheritance to you? But he was correct, your talents are superior to mine. Only in your hands will the Wings of Inception become complete.”

Qianye was a bit cautious. “I’ve always kept my aura contained and I’m only here in spirit form, how did you know?”

The man laughed. “Don’t worry, I… fine, looks like you don’t like jokes. I’ll just get straight to the point. The Monroe clan’s Bloodline Concealment is extremely famous, and Teacher was the clan’s second-generation primogenitor. This power originates from him. As teacher and disciple, I understand the power well and know how to deal with it. Of course, knowing and being able to deal it are two different matters. It just so happens that I can do both.

“The second reason is simple enough. I contributed to the development of the Wings of Inception. There’s a hint of my own bloodline aura in it, so I can’t be mistaken.”

Qianey was surprised. “Who exactly are you?”

“Rex, I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”

Qianye glanced around vigilantly, seeking a way to return to his body.

Rex, however, did not move. He smiled as he noticed Qianye’s subtle movements. “Did Teacher say I betrayed him?”

“Correct.” Qianye was rather candid.

Rex sighed dejectedly. “There was indeed some conflict between us regarding the wings’ construction. To put it simply, I believed that I was the most suitable candidate to wield the Wings of Inception, but Teacher believed that I was insufficient to take it to the apex. That was why he insisted on leaving the Wings of Inception in the inheritance realm, where it lay in wait for a suitable candidate to appear.”

He paused before saying, “And that person is you.”

“Why did the Black-Winged Monarch not use it himself instead of leaving it as an inheritance?” Qianye asked.

The Wings of Inception was inherently on par with the Grand Magnums. Considering how terrifying Andruil was back in the day, he could easily control and wield it.

Rex’s gaze peered through Qianye’s spirit for a while. “Teacher built the Wings of Inception in order to completely suppress the Red Spider Lily. Only in the final stages of fine-tuning did he discover that perfecting the wings required a bloodline of unprecedented power. Not even the current ancient vampire bloodlines were sufficient!

“Back then, I thought he was simply lying to me and that it was just an excuse. That’s why I left him, but I returned to his side before long.

“Teacher said what he said in his inheritance in order to conceal my return. That was because he needed me to do something very important, something the council could not find out.”

Qianye was somewhat skeptical, but there was still a modicum of trustworthiness in Rex’s words. The dark races were the first to find out about Andruil’s inheritance and the ones who worked together to dig it up. This meant that Andruil’s inheritance might have fallen in the hands of other vampires—had it not been for Qianye’s purer Monroe bloodline.

“So, what’s going on here? Why did you want to see me?”

“I knew the Evernight Council would finally open the passage into this world and send people in. Your appearance here, though, was more of a surprise. I would’ve never expected that I would meet Teacher’s successor.”

Qianye said, “You’ve been in this world since long ago?”

“Yes, the Evernight Council knew of this world for over a thousand years, and they’ve been trying to pioneer land here since then. However, Teacher and the supremes later fell out over how we should make use of this land. This led to him cutting off all ties with the council, and it was only after that incident that I returned to his side.

“You’ll find out more and more as you go. I wanted to see you in order to stop the council from taking control of this world.”

Qianye said, “The council has dispatched the great dark monarchs Progia and the Eternal Flame. I only managed to injure the Masefield clan lord with the Attawas' sacrifice and good luck. We will need to work with the Empire if we truly wish to stop them.”

Rex seemed a bit hesitant. “The vampire race has always been enemies with the humans. Cooperation will be rather awkward.”

Qianye said with a frown, “Around half of the vampires have been eliminated back in Evernight. Even the Twilight Continent has been occupied. Are you still trying to maintain a posture of superiority under such circumstances?”

Rex was surprised. “What? The Twilight Continent has been captured? By whom? When did that happen?”

Qianye gazed out in a daze. “This happened after the opening of the new world, quite recently in fact. The demonkin and the arachne, along with some of the werewolves, launched a sudden assault on the vampire race. Things happened so quickly that their forces fell apart.”

Rex was furious. “Impossible! We still have the Queen of the Night! Even if she’s asleep, Medanzo and Reynold are still around, aren’t they? The Lightless Monarch might be useless, but Lord Reynold is a true powerhouse no weaker than the Eternal Flame!”

Qianye said, “Reynold fought Progia and the Eternal Flame in order to protect me and Nighteye. However, Medanzo defected at the critical moment and killed Reynold.”

“Medanzo… a traitor?” Rex’s expression collapsed in disbelief. “Why would he? He’s a vampire and a great dark monarch at that. Where can he go after betraying the race? What is there to gain?”

Qianye sighed. “I want to know as well, but the truth is that he has turned his back on the vampire race and sealed off all channels of communication with the Queen of the Night. He’s currently the only one who can call out to her.”

Rex’s expression grew increasingly solemn. Apparently, he had come to understand the gravity of this situation.

Qianye asked, “My current strength is at the level of an ancient vampire grand duke. What is yours? Can we work together to fight the Eternal Flame?”

Qianye held certain expectations when he asked this question. As Andruil’s most trusted disciple, Rex had to be a highly talented individual. He had also cultivated for a great length of time, so he should be close to a great dark monarch by now.

Rex glanced at Qianye with a complicated expression. “Not long ago, I reached the level of a crown prince. My clan’s blood seal is still burning, so I can’t ignite it again to formally become one, but I expect to be able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Howard and Habsburg.”

Qianye felt a bit relieved since things would be easier with such a powerful backup. Combining the power of Daybreak and Evernight, as well as that of his chaos origin power, Qianye was fairly close on the heels of the prince-rank. The weaker ones might not be his match.

With him and Rex working together, they would at least be able to survive against the Eternal Flame. A battle was not out of the question.

However, Qianye discovered that there was something odd about Rex’s expression. “Is something wrong?”