Chapter 406: The Source of the Blood Race’s Power: The Thirteen Sacred Artifacts

’So they came all this way just to conscript someone. And here I thought some good fortune had come my way.’

Qi Suian wiped the blood from his hands and stitched up the female vampire’s dissection wound.

Through his interrogation, he learned she was a Governor General from the Toredor Clan and shared the same sire as Baron Fisher’s mother.

As for how she knew Baron Fisher’s location, she had naturally tracked him using dark powers.

Qi Suian was purely a victim of circumstance; he wasn’t Baron Fisher, after all.

All Qi Suian could say was that the Toredor Clan was completely unreasonable.

Baron Fisher was a member of the Thin Blood Clan, not the Toredor Clan, so the conscription shouldn’t even apply to him.

The excuse she used was that because Baron Fisher had half Toredor Clan blood, he was obligated to participate.

Then, after more of Qi Suian’s "persuasion," the real reason came out: the Female Governor General was short-staffed and just needed to use Baron Fisher to fill her quota.

Qi Suian didn’t get it. Even if she needed to fill a quota, it made no sense to travel thousands of miles just to find one obscure member of the Blood Race living in hiding.

It was an absurd amount of trouble.

So, he figured she wasn’t telling the whole truth and tortured her some more.

And then he found out: as it turned out, the Female Governor General had a grudge against Baron Fisher’s birth mother. But since his mother was already dead, revenge was difficult.

So, when this rare conscription came up, she spared no effort to drag Baron Fisher—a member of the Thin Blood Clan—along to serve as cannon fodder.

Theoretically, Baron Fisher had no relationship whatsoever with his birth mother. As an abandoned child, he wouldn’t inherit any familial ties.

But there was no accounting for the Female Governor General’s pettiness.

She had paid a hefty price for her petty revenge, only to end up delivering herself right to Qi Suian’s doorstep.

Otherwise, what kind of Governor General would personally handle conscription, and for just a single person at that?

"You know," Qi Suian sighed, "if you were just a bit more magnanimous, none of this would have happened. She’s just as petty as I am."

’More importantly, she doesn’t have my plot armor. It’s only natural she’d fail.’

A thick, venomous hatred flashed in her eyes. Her tone was chilling as she said, "You’re not Baron Fisher. Who in the world are you?"

Judging by his actions and demeanor, Qi Suian didn’t seem like one of the Blood Race at all.

"Guess," Qi Suian answered perfunctorily, then proceeded to open up the Female Governor General’s head.

’The Blood Race really aren’t worth much. They’re just corpses, utterly lacking in vitality. Compared to them, even a zombie seems full of life.’

’And they weren’t even corpses with Extraordinary powers, just very well-preserved ones. If Qi Suian wanted one, he could just dig one up from a graveyard and it’d be pretty much the same.’

’At first, he thought this was only the case for the Thin Blood Clan, but the Toredor Clan was the same. This meant all vampires were probably just corpses.’

Qi Suian still hadn’t found the source from which they unleashed their Extraordinary power. The only suspect was their blood.

But their blood... was a black mist. Qi Suian had to find its source.

Qi Suian deftly opened the Female Governor General’s skull, and her brain was revealed before his eyes.

"Your brain... it’s quite exquisite. You don’t seem to use it much," Qi Suian remarked as he plucked it out.

The Female Governor General showed no reaction, as if she was no worse off without a brain.

Qi Suian took a closer look. It wasn’t that the brain in his hand was inert; rather, the moment her brain was gone, she had simply... crashed.

"’The core? Doesn’t look like it.’ No sooner had the words left Qi Suian’s mouth than a new brain grew in its place."

Its appearance, size, and even texture were identical to the one he held in his hand.

"Your regenerative abilities are certainly impressive," Qi Suian asked, "but I’m curious—why do you die when a wooden stake pierces your heart?"

The Female Governor General stared coldly at Qi Suian, clearly having no intention of answering him.

’Have to admit, she’s a tough one. Guess she hasn’t had a proper taste of suffering from the torture yet.’

"By the way, have you ever wanted to experience what it’s like to give birth to a little Blood Race baby?" It wasn’t that Qi Suian was inexperienced with torture; when he got serious, his subjects would be tripping over their words to talk.

But this one was completely unyielding.

"I’m very curious how a corpse can have a reproductive reaction with a living person."

"And how a completely new life form is born from it. It’s truly fascinating."

Qi Suian mused that he probably couldn’t figure it out on his own. He needed to apply more stimulus—external stimulus, for example.

At this, a look of utter disdain appeared in the Female Governor General’s eyes.

"Don’t look at me like that," Qi Suian said, exasperated. "In my eyes, you’re not even a piece of meat..."

’At least meat has some vitality. She’s completely useless.’

"I’m talking about an artificial method."

"Don’t you worry, I’ll find a whole group of strapping young men for you," Qi Suian said with a sinister grin.

He was no longer human, so he couldn’t use his own.

And even if he could, he wasn’t a human from this Blood Race World. Their genes were different; it would probably be a waste of effort.

"Wait! What are you planning to do?" the Female Governor General finally broke her silence, calling out to stop Qi Suian.

If Qi Suian had just said he was finding one well-built man, she might have just grit her teeth and endured it.

But the problem was that Qi Suian had used the word "group." She wasn’t so sure she could handle that.

’If they were lining up to use her every day, wouldn’t she be completely done for?’

"You’re afraid of *this*?" Qi Suian asked, slightly surprised. "I thought you Blood Race were into much kinkier things."

"Alright, fine. I want to know the source of your power."

Seeing his chance, Qi Suian bluntly asked the question he’d wanted answered all along.

"It comes from the Demonic Puppet, one of the Thirteen Sacred Artifacts of the Blood Race."

"The source of power for all members of the Toredor Clan comes from that Sacred Artifact."

At this point, the Female Governor General finally understood why Qi Suian had been dissecting her. He was trying to find the source of the Blood Race’s power.

"So, you’re a traitor to the church? One of those Priests who fancies himself a scientist?" The Female Governor General believed she had figured out Qi Suian’s true identity.

It wasn’t that no one had ever tried to uncover the secrets of the Blood Race’s power. But even though they knew it originated from the Thirteen Sacred Artifacts, no one had ever managed to get their hands on one.

"So your power doesn’t actually belong to you? It’s granted by the Demonic Puppet?" Qi Suian frowned.

"No, the power is still our power. It just comes from the Demonic Puppet," the Female Governor General explained earnestly.

But to Qi Suian’s ears, that sounded like a contradiction.

’The power is yours, but it comes from the Demonic Puppet. That’s very strange.’

"Alright, let’s skip that for now." Qi Suian decided not to get bogged down in semantics and continued, "The Thirteen Clans have fifteen factions. If we exclude the Thin Blood Clan, the abandoned children, what about the Death Clan? What is their source of power?"

"Don’t tell me there are actually fourteen of the Thirteen Sacred Artifacts."

Qi Suian was discovering this bunch of Blood Race really couldn’t count.

’Living for so long without an ounce of creativity is one thing, but to have no love for learning on top of that? It’s really pathetic.’

"I don’t know. The Death Clan has always been mysterious. They are rarely seen," the Female Governor General said bluntly.

She truly didn’t know. Before the war broke out, her status within the Toredor Clan wasn’t particularly high.

She was merely a lowly Blood Race Viscount; there were countless others with higher ranks than her.

Even if a member of the Death Clan did visit, it wasn’t an event she would be privy to.

"What about the other clans’ sources of power?" Qi Suian asked again.

"Besides the Demonic Puppet, there is the Evil Key, Corpse Hand, Rot Bracelet, Bone Zither, Blood Goblet, Spirit Staff, Soul Ring, Slaughter Knife, Execution Axe, Illusion Mirror, Ghost Lamp, and Poison Vial."

"They correspond to..."

The Female Governor General answered readily, giving Qi Suian a general overview of which of the Thirteen Sacred Artifacts corresponded to which Blood Race clan.

As for what abilities these Sacred Artifacts possessed beyond being sources of power and symbols of authority for the Blood Race, she didn’t know.

After all, she had only ever heard their names. She had never seen what they actually looked like, let alone witnessed them unleash their power.

"I recall that the Blood Race of the Thirteen Clans possess a ’True Name Inheritance.’ How could you only know the names?" Qi Suian asked, puzzled.

"The True Name Inheritance usually corresponds to the status of one’s sire."

"My sire was only a Viscount when he gave me the Embrace."

"The True Name Inheritance he could pass on to me was extremely limited," the Female Governor General stated plainly.

Hearing this, Qi Suian accepted her explanation and continued his questioning. "So, who holds the Thirteen Sacred Artifacts?"

"I’m not entirely sure, but I know for certain that the Son of the Dragon and the Blood Bath Queen each hold one," the Female Governor General replied. She only knew the gist of it; any more detail was beyond her.

"What about the Demonic Puppet?"

"You must know that, right?" Qi Suian pressed.

But the Female Governor General just shook her head. "I don’t know."

Qi Suian nearly slapped her across the face. ’It belongs to your own clan, how can you not know who has it?’

"After the war started, the Demonic Puppet was reallocated by the clan Elders. I don’t know who has it now."

"If you want to get the Demonic Puppet, your only choice is to go to the battlefield. You might find it there," the Female Governor General said quickly, narrowly avoiding that slap.

"Tell me about the war," Qi Suian said, changing the subject.

He was starting to see that this female vampire was probably just some "romantic opportunity" delivered to him by his plot armor.

Too bad Qi Suian had no need for one.

’What damn use is a trophy wife? She’s just for decoration.’

If he wanted one, Qi Suian could just transform into one himself. Why would he need to keep another?

"The Son of the Dragon has officially declared war. He launched an attack on the Phoenician Kingdom, a kingdom backed by our Toredor Clan."

"He wants to use the Phoenician Kingdom as a springboard to attack the human kingdoms."

"However..." The Female Governor General began to explain the general situation.

The Transylvania Kingdom was indeed the main stronghold of the Secret Faction, but that didn’t mean the various clans wouldn’t support other kingdoms.

How could a single great kingdom support such a massive population of the Blood Race?

Therefore, every clan had its own "garden kingdom" to serve as a source of provisions.

And they were responsible for the profit and loss of these kingdoms themselves.

The kingdoms cultivated by the Secret Faction were naturally controlled from the shadows. So, on the surface, the Phoenician Kingdom was also a human kingdom.

But now, that thin veneer was about to be shattered.

If they were defeated, it would even become a colony of the Demon Faction.