Otherworldly Affairs Office

Chapter 1144: Shadows That Follow

After entering the blood pool, Pei Yan realized that even without using yuan qi to control his body, he could be firmly attached to the center of the blood pool by the suction from the whirlpool at the bottom, his body acting like a powerful vacuum cleaner to pull the surrounding Bloodline Power into him.As Long Jin had said, through the absorption of the blood in the pool, the icy sensation in his body gradually disappeared. The conflict between the external and internal bloodlines made Pei Yan’s body gradually heat up. Having heard about this phenomenon from Long Jin, he calmly balanced the source of qi, reconciling the two Bloodline Powers within him.

This pervasive heat did not last long, not because Pei Yan’s harmonization process was particularly successful, but because of the suction from the pool bottom, which not only assisted him in absorbing the surrounding bloodlines into his body, but also drew part of his own energy through the pool bottom to another side. Through the circulating yuan qi, Pei Yan could clearly feel that on the other side of the wall was the same trash that had jumped into the blood pool, a channel at the pool bottom linking Pei Yan and the trash together. While simultaneously absorbing the blood to expand his strength, the other side also bore part of the pain brought by the side effects for him.

Inside this pitch-black cave, with all his thoughts focused on the absorption of bloodlines, Pei Yan did not know how much time had passed, until all the beast heads on the mountain wall stopped spewing blood and the pool blood in the pool was almost absorbed completely, leaving a pool of sludge-like blood impurities. Only then did the entire process of absorbing blood end, with Pei Yan’s body swelling painfully from being stretched by multiple bloodlines. As soon as the suction at the pool bottom stopped, his body tilted and fell into the blood pool.

What happened next was blurry in Pei Yan’s memory; he could only feel several figures jumping into the blood pool to take him away and, in his haze, someone attending to him and wiping his body. When the smell of blood drifted away from him and the sticky, dry blood clots on his body were cleaned thoroughly, Pei Yan, placed comfortably on a soft bed, sensed that there was no danger around him. Only then did he close his eyes, which had long lost the ability to open due to fatigue, and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

Soon after Pei Yan and the trash had entered the blood pool, a few unexpected guests arrived outside the Dragon Realm.

"Are you sure you want to do this here?" Fafnir, looking at the five young people before him, his pride and confidence in his tribe and strength momentarily put aside, as the leader was none other than Nero, head of the Blood Fiend Three Tyrants, who had won successive victories in the Sword Discussion Conference and ultimately faced Pei Yan in the finals.

"What’s the issue? Wasn’t this already agreed upon in advance?" Nero took off his hood, inhaling the fresh air of the Spirit Monster Plane. After exhaling deeply, before Fafnir could offer any pleasantries, he stepped onto the dragon carriage prepared for his reception. The four behind him ignored the embarrassed Fafnir and followed closely behind.

Never had Fafnir been treated so lightly. Considering these people’s identities and the current situation forced him to suppress his anger, following behind them and asking, "I didn’t mean that. I meant, executing this plan here might be very risky; we’re too close to the Dragon Realm! If the Ancestral God is alarmed to intervene, not only will the task fail, but even we will have difficulty escaping."

Nero climbed into the carriage, the four accompanying him silent, sitting on either side and opposite him. The host, Fafnir, squeezed in last, seated opposite Nero, looking awkwardly at him, waiting for a satisfactory answer.

"Mr. Fafnir, although you are not the strongest among the Dark Dragon Race, you are, as the Dragon King’s brother, a prominent figure in the Dragon Race. Why have you become so apprehensive and hesitant?" Nero leaned back in his chair and teasingly remarked.

Fafnir did not immediately respond. He knocked on the carriage, prompting the two gigantic dragons outside to flap their wings and fly low. With the Dragon Realm nearby, this display was already eye-catching. If it weren’t because of the high status of the visitors, Fafnir would have skipped even this. Disdainful of Nero’s sarcasm, Fafnir found it typical of someone speaking without understanding.

Currently, Fafnir’s days are hard, or rather, the entire Dark Race’s days are challenging. In the Spirit Monster Plane, the term "Dark Race" does not refer merely to attributes but is a general term for those dissatisfied with the current Dragon Realm who have been exiled. These people are mostly brutal, stubborn, and disdainful of the current peaceful state of the Dragon Realm. They adhere to the old belief that the two Beast Races belonging to the Daoist and Magic Realms should be in opposition and not have any connection. They not only disregard the current Dragon Realm, but are also extremely hostile, even towards those of the same exiled Dark Race.

Fafnir was among them. As the Dragon King’s brother, he fought valiantly against the Daoist Realm beast forces in his youth, losing friends and sustaining multiple hidden injuries. After the Ancestral God mediated the tribal conflict and years of on-again, off-again negotiations, the voices in favor of peace grew stronger, and Fafnir, championing war, became an anomaly within the tribe. Once hailed as a hero, he was gradually marginalized from the decision-making echelon, discontented, he, along with some same-tribe individuals sharing similar experiences and ideas, ambushed and massacred the Daoist Realm beast representative attending a negotiation between the two tribes, almost reigniting a tribal war. After his conspiracy was exposed, pursued by both tribes, he fled the Dragon Realm, formally becoming an exiled member of the Dark Race.

For quite a while after that, Fafnir actually lived quite well. Although officially still a wanted man, both his brother, the current Dragon King, and his fellow tribesmen sympathized with him for the contributions he had made to his tribe. Except for the Daoist Realm beast forces relentlessly pursuing him, the Magic Realm beast forces largely turned a blind eye to his presence, letting him be where possible.

However, all traces of camaraderie with his clan were obliterated when Fafnir collaborated with the Blood Fiend, intruding upon his own tribe. When the Dragon King learned that his beloved daughter had been transformed into that being neither human nor ghost, the furious roar echoed throughout the Dragon Realm. During the battle organized by God’s Desire, where masters from various domains raided the headquarters’ secret treasury, Fafnir, participating in the action, engaged in a fierce battle with his nephew Salafam, further testified the harm he had aided Blood Fiend in inflicting on his niece, which was communicated back to the Dragon Realm through Salafam.

From then on, Fafnir and the entire Dark Race became targets of public scorn, hunted down throughout the Dragon Realm, squeezing their living space ever tighter, and he began living a life of constant evasion.