Chapter 413: What Does Cain Have to Do With This?

In a safe location, once Oliver was secured, Qi Suian didn't immediately start questioning him.

Interrogation involved torture and questioning, which meant one had to torture first and then ask questions.

He took out a series of torture instruments designed specifically for the Blood Race. After putting Oliver through a full session, he slowly asked, "Are you going to talk or not?"

At this point, Oliver barely maintained a human form, but he wasn't dead.

It was just that his powerful regenerative abilities were suppressed by silver, Holy Water, and other things, which was why he looked so miserable.

"You... You could have at least asked me first!" Oliver roared weakly.

He knew what interrogation was; it wasn't like he'd never done it to people before. But the normal procedure was to ask first. You only started torturing if the other party refused to talk.

But Qi Suian was different. He just set him down and went straight to torturing him without saying a single word the entire time. It was pure torment.

So how was he supposed to know what Qi Suian wanted to ask?

Qi Suian's behavior was, to put it mildly, utterly unreasonable.

"If I'd asked you first, would you have talked?" Qi Suian raised an eyebrow. "Look. I tortured you a bit, and now you're tripping over yourself to talk."

"I was going to have to beat you anyway. Rather than have you refuse to talk and piss me off, I figured I'd beat you first to blow off some steam. Then, when I ask, you'll have to tell me everything." Qi Suian felt his logic was flawless.

By reversing the order, he was wearing down someone else instead of wearing himself out.

"Why did Vlad III, Son of the Dragon, suddenly start a war?" Qi Suian asked.

Oliver gave Qi Suian a deep look. He couldn't figure out which faction Qi Suian belonged to.

"Because the Cursed Child from the prophecy has been born." Oliver began to explain a prophecy to Qi Suian.

According to a prophet from the Blood Race, a half-human, half-Blood Race Cursed Child would become the new king of both humans and the Blood Race, ending the conflict between the two peoples once and for all.

But how could the Son of the Dragon possibly agree to that? Whether it was the Demon Faction, the Secret Faction, the Neutral Faction, or even the Thin Blood and Death clans, they all believed in Blood Race supremacy.

For humans to be on equal footing with the Blood Race? How could they possibly accept that?

Not to mention, the Son of the Dragon planned to expand the Demon Faction and rule the entire world. And then what happens? Some nonsensical Cursed Child shows up and wants to become king of the world.

Wouldn't that mean all his efforts and his noble birth were worth less than some half-breed's?

The Thin Blood Clan were merely called 'mixed bloods.' Their blood was impure, but they were still of the Blood Race.

But half-human, half-Blood Race? That was true crossbreeding.

"Half-human and half-Blood Race, possessing human creativity and the dark power of the Blood Race."

"Such a being would indeed be difficult to create," Qi Suian said.

The offspring of a human and a member of the Blood Race could only be of the Blood Race, never a human, let alone a half-human, half-Blood Race hybrid.

The main reason is that a member of the Blood Race is essentially a magical corpse.

"He calls himself a Daywalker and has none of the Blood Race's weaknesses."

"The Daywalker was raised by the Church from childhood and possesses both Divine Technique and dark powers."

"At the same time, he is the new Sect Leader of the Church. It is precisely because of his rise to power that the Son of the Dragon so decisively moved to annihilate the Church."

"After all, before this, no one paid any attention to this prophecy." As expected of someone in a high position, Oliver knew a great deal.

"What about the last Sect Leader? Dead?" Qi Suian asked casually.

"Drained of blood and killed by the Son of the Dragon. His corpse is currently hanging on the banners of the Son of the Dragon's army."

"He didn't just hang the last one; several previous ones are hanging there too, as a deterrent." Oliver added this bit of juicy gossip, knowing that Qi Suian was just asking casually.

"That's certainly vicious," Qi Suian commented on the Son of the Dragon, then asked, "Do you know where the thirteen Blood Race Sacred Artifacts are?"

Qi Suian's question made Oliver freeze for a moment.

"Most of the Sacred Artifacts were lost in the Blood Race's Millennial Blood War."

"Only three remain now." Oliver still answered Qi Suian's question.

He sensed that Qi Suian's true goal was likely the Blood Race's Sacred Artifacts.

"Tell me about them," Qi Suian continued. Oliver's claim that the Sacred Artifacts were lost, however, was unexpected.

"The Slaughter Knife is in the hands of the Son of the Dragon, granting him immense combat power."

"The Blood Chalice is kept in Her Majesty the Queen's treasury."

"The last one is the Corpse Hand. Thirty years ago, it was said to be in the possession of the Piercing Demon Vlad II Dracula."

"His disappearance is also related to the Corpse Hand."

"This Sacred Artifact is the left hand of Cain, the sole first-generation member of the Blood Race and the ancestor of all Blood Race."

"When he walked among mortals, he was known as Vlad I."

"That's right. He is the father of the Piercing Demon and the grandfather of the Son of the Dragon."

Hearing this, Qi Suian found it a bit strange and then asked, "By that logic, shouldn't all these Blood Race Sacred Artifacts be parts of this Blood Race Ancestor?"

"After all, your bloodline comes from him, so your power must as well."

"It wouldn't make sense for it to be otherwise."

Hearing Qi Suian's probing question, Oliver nodded and said, "That's correct."

"Every Sacred Artifact is intimately connected to the Blood Race Ancestor."

"Especially the Evil Key, which can open the Red Sea Witch's private chambers."

"The Piercing Demon and Her Majesty the Queen were not born of the Blood Race through the Embrace. They are the children of the Blood Race Ancestor and the Red Sea Witch."

"The third generation and onward were the ones created by the Embrace."

"Of course, the Son of the Dragon was not Embraced by the Piercing Demon. To this day, no one knows his origin."

"It seems the Piercing Demon used his own darkness, combined with the power of his father and mother, to create a new Blood Race life form."

"But there is no evidence to support this."

Qi Suian fell silent as he listened.

'The lore of this Blood Race World just keeps getting more and more complicated.'

'He wasn't surprised that Cain showed up, especially since Dracula was already in the picture.'

'As for the Red Sea Witch, he had some recollection of her. She was Lilith, the first wife of the first human, Adam, from the Old Testament.'

'Later, out of dissatisfaction, she left Eden, was exiled to the Red Sea, and gave birth to countless monstrous offspring with the beasts there.'

'If she hadn't left, there would have been no need for Eve.'

'Cain and Lilith having Dracula as a son... Qi Suian had no idea what to make of that. The feeling of disparate myths being haphazardly stitched together was just too bizarre.'

'If this really followed the Old Testament, then Cain was following in his old man's footsteps.'

'Then again,' he thought, 'the Old Testament is full of worldview-shattering stuff, so this isn't a big deal.'

'Following that line of thought, does God exist?'

'The Church's faith and Divine Technique really made him wonder.'

"So what's the deal with the Church's Divine Technique?" Qi Suian didn't dwell on the issue, instead changing the subject to the Church.

"I don't know," Oliver said. "Even the Son of the Dragon, after killing so many Sect Leaders, doesn't understand the mystery behind their Divine Technique and faith."

"Perhaps only after we annihilate the Church will we discover where the Lord they believe in truly comes from."

Qi Suian was taken aback. He hadn't expected that even the Blood Race couldn't figure out the Church's Divine Technique.

But they had confirmed one thing: the Divine Technique came from the Lord the Church believed in.

The stronger the faith, the more powerful the Divine Technique.

"Next, tell me about the Millennial Blood War," Qi Suian said suddenly.

The Blood Race Sacred Artifacts were lost in the Millennial Blood War, but it was clear that the lower-ranking members of the Blood Race didn't know about it.

Like that Female Governor General from the Toredor Clan. Her rank was too low for her to know.

"This matter goes all the way back to the Piercing Demon..." Oliver began to recount the story.

But to Qi Suian's ears, it sounded more like a case of escalating internal conflicts within the Blood Race being resolved by diverting them into a clan war, which ultimately quelled the tensions.

The outcome was positive. The newly established order and systems created more straightforward benefits and interests among the clans.

As for the lost Sacred Artifacts, well, you'd need massive casualties to reshuffle the deck and divert conflicts. Countless members of the Blood Race had died; what was losing a few Sacred Artifacts in comparison?

Besides, losing them didn't really affect them. As long as they existed, they had their own source of power.

They also didn't have to worry about the artifacts falling into the wrong hands, because it was impossible to control a corresponding clan through a Sacred Artifact. At most, it was just a powerful weapon.

The main problem was that they couldn't be found. Otherwise, it would certainly be better to have them in hand.

Oliver happened to be a veteran of the Millennial Blood War, so he knew just how brutal the fighting had been.

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The gaze of Alex, the Daywalker, fell upon the battlefield, where dense hordes of death apostles relentlessly assaulted the Church's defensive lines and formations.

He had heard of the Blood Race prophecy about the Cursed Child, but he didn't accept it.

'Just as the Son of the Dragon thought, a mere prophecy was going to subvert his rule?'

The Daywalker's thoughts were much the same. He had no need for a Blood Race prophecy to serve as a stepping stone for his victory.

"Sect Leader, the King of the Grand Kingdom has killed Cardinal Hammond and officially declared his allegiance to the Blood Race."

"This is the first among the human kingdoms to openly betray us." An Archbishop at his side handed him an intelligence report.

The parchment used for the report was covered in bloodstains, a testament to the bloody ordeal it had endured to be delivered.

The Daywalker skimmed the report, then said coldly, "The Royal Family, the ministers... kill them all."

"Leave no one alive."

"After you kill them, preserve their heads. Let the other kingdoms see the consequences."

In the past, betrayals were the 'personal' actions of nobles, never rising to the level of the kingdom itself.

Therefore, the Daywalker couldn't interfere too much, as he still needed the help of the human kingdoms for logistics in the rear.

"But Sect Leader, won't this action escalate the conflict?" the Archbishop said hesitantly. "We still need supplies from the kingdoms."

"It will, but it no longer matters," the Daywalker said calmly. "Killing them will at least make the others feel fear."

"If we don't, these traitors will just think the Church can't hold on any longer."

"And it must be done quickly. Otherwise, a second kingdom will soon appear that openly betrays humanity."

"The temptation of eternal life is not something everyone can resist."

"Even if the King could resist, what about the nobles under him? They would force the King to betray us as well."