Castle of the Bloodline

"Xia Lun, what do you think of this place? There definitely won't be anyone around..."

Outside the rift in space, Aina's slender fingers gently scratched the palm of Xia Lun's hand as she asked with a hint of a sly smile.

Xia Lun: ...

"If you're worried, I can set up a magic array around us."

"I don't think that's the issue." Xia Lun shook his head, his gaze sweeping across this land of nothingness where everything had been annihilated by spatial turbulence. "Aina, if we do it here... what's the difference between this and doing it out in the wilderness?"

"I suppose so," Aina said thoughtfully.

Outdoor activities of that sort were still not a good idea; word getting out would tarnish her and Xia Lun's reputations. As ancient beings over a thousand years old, even though they played wilder than anyone else in private, they both still considered themselves quite traditional.

Behind them was terrifying spatial turbulence, but right now it acted like a tide, pushing Xia Lun and her forward.

Aina was enveloped in a nearly invisible faint red halo, a defensive barrier she had casually set up. Amidst the surging of violent energy, they were like two leaves drifting with the current, light and erratic.

Only these two would dare to travel in such a manner.

"It's roughly in this direction."

Aina reached out and casually swiped her hand. A spatial rift with an unstable eerie light flickering at its edges silently opened. The two stepped inside and returned to this world.

Beneath their feet was an endless pitch-black wasteland. The soil was as charred as coal, utterly barren. The air was filled with an unbearably thick aura of death carrying the stench of decay, pressing heavily on the chest.

This was the Underworld Hell.

The area of the Underworld Hell was not large, but this smallest territory among the five great domains of the Demon Race was also the most terrifyingly perilous land.

Across this pitch-black territory lay hallucinogenic and lethal miasma and poisonous creatures, along with a death aura so dense that living beings could not survive... However, for undead creatures, this place was no different from paradise.

Legend had it that this place was the ruins of some ancient battlefield from before the Era of Chaos.

Countless corpses were buried here, and after countless years of evolution, it formed its current state.

But this did not mean the land was worthless. In such extreme environments, rare treasures could be condensed and born, along with relics of the old era buried deep underground... There was no shortage of adventurers willing to take the risk to come here.

Looking past this dead wasteland, at the westernmost end, bordering a bottomless cliff, stood a towering silhouette. That was the ancient castle of the Vampire Race.

It wasn't that Xia Lun had never been here. When he and Aina got married, they returned here to hold another wedding ceremony.

The Progenitor of the Vampires actually wanted to marry a human... Naturally, there was countless opposition within the clan, but it was completely useless. It was domineeringly suppressed by a single sentence from Aina, and everyone could only bite the bullet and offer their blessings.

Later, under Aina's supervision, the Vampires indeed developed quite well. Although they hid in the dark and were unknown to ordinary people, they actually had inextricably linked relationships with many powerful factions.

Many organizations that suddenly rose among humanity also had the shadow of the Vampires behind them.

A few miles away, Xia Lun could already see a city-state built from pitch-black rough stones.

The City of Vampires, Colonia. Most vampires resided here.

The thick haze that lingered year-round over this city made it difficult for sunlight to penetrate, which conversely made it the most habitable environment for vampires.

And deeper inside, the scarlet castle backed against the bottomless cliff was where Aina's family was located.

The Gislian family was undoubtedly the oldest and most powerful family of the Vampires, the origin family of the bloodline.

It was said that in earlier years, some vampires were expelled from the family because they mated with outsiders and polluted their bloodline, thus gradually evolving into other minor families.

And all other vampire families were vassals of the Gislian family... After all, among vampires, a noble bloodline was everything.

Aina, who had undergone an atavistic bloodline awakening, was already at the pinnacle of the Vampires at birth. Her terrifying talent and unremitting efforts allowed her to become an existence that surpassed the Progenitor and could redefine the rules.

"Time to go back."

Aina hummed a pleasant little tune, looking quite happy, like a young girl out on a spring outing, completely devoid of the majesty of an ancient progenitor.

Xia Lun's heart warmed slightly, and he couldn't help but raise his hand to affectionately rub her smooth silver hair.

"What are you so happy about, Aina?"

"I still really like the bed here... the one we slept in on our wedding night." Aina hugged Xia Lun's arm with a beaming smile, unabashedly expressing her nostalgia for certain "warm" memories.

What an unpretentious reason.

"By the way, Xia Lun, I actually have a pretty nice coffin too. Do you want to try sleeping in it with me?" Aina suddenly mentioned, looking up with a bit of anticipation.

"A coffin?"

"Actually, before coming to the human territory, I also slept in a coffin. After all, the vampires around me all slept like that." Aina stuck out her tongue, her voice softening with a hint of coaxing. "Although the space is small, it's quite comfortable to sleep in... If you sleep in it too, we can hold each other all the time, pressed tightly together."

"Then are we not going to do it?" Xia Lun asked a very crucial question.

"We can lie in it when it's time to sleep, after we're done." Aina lightly punched him.

Sleeping in a coffin? How novel.

But he had probably slept in one too, only at that time he no longer knew anything.

And he was dug back up by Aina not long after.

"Whatever you want." Xia Lun smiled and pulled Aina into his arms.

But Aina broke free from Xia Lun's embrace and nimbly dodged behind him.

"Let me be in the back," Aina said sweetly.

Then, Aina spread the massive, magnificent bat wings that were the hallmark of her vampire heritage, soaring into the sky with Xia Lun and gliding toward the scarlet castle standing by the cliff.

Aina flew very unsteadily, definitely on purpose, even making sudden stops from time to time, her soft curves constantly pressing against Xia Lun's back.

Xia Lun noticed that Aina did not fly straight to the ancient castle, but was circling above the city of Colonia.

"What are you looking for?"

"Nothing. It's been a long time since I came back; I'm just seeing if there are any changes here." Aina shook her head.

Aina did not hide her presence. People below noticed the commotion in the sky and looked up one after another, creating a noisy uproar.

"This city has a no-fly magic array, right?"

"Yes, I set it up. Flying is prohibited within the city."

"Aina, I think you should lead by example," Xia Lun said helplessly.

"No," Aina pouted playfully. "The meaning of rules is to restrain others, and those who violate them will be punished... But who do you think will come to punish me, Xia Lun? You?"