Xiao Chun Dan finds himself surrounded by darkness. He can"t even see his hands. There"s no sound or air. There"s no sign of any life. He starts running in the endless void. He stops and looks back, hoping to see something. Where is this place? He was trying to stop the fusion when he felt a tremendous force pulling him back. He is stuck in this place since then. There"s no concept of time here. He can"t log into the Inter-D web or contact Huang Qiuyan"s consciousness. He licks his lips. Why is he in his human form here? Is this place inside his host"s mind? Did he get kicked out? That"s impossible. Nothing can separate him from Huang Qiuyan"s mind. "Elder Sister!" Xiao Chun Dan yells, "Host! Can anyone hear me?"
In the silent darkness, n.o.body answers him back.
Her nails pierce into his heart as she quaffs his succulent blood rich with dark essence. Her level surpa.s.ses the green level to blue. She feels her body strengthening. Unsatisfied with her progress, Huang Qiuyan bites harder, nearly tearing off his flesh. After the pain, an overwhelming pleasure rush through his skin. A part of his mind screams at him to fight back as he finds his consciousness drifting toward the oblivion.
Huang Qiuyan feels a sharp pain on the back of her neck. Letting go of Jin"s lifeless body, she turns around to face the man in the ugly leather suit. She lets out a chuckle. Her eyes gleam bright green. She pulls out the syringe from the back of her neck. The empty syringe slips from her quivering fingers. Delirious, she asks him, "How long can you keep me asleep?"
"As long as the king is away from the castle." Kai replies, amused, "You can wreak havoc after he comes back. While he"s away, be nice and quiet."
"As if." She mutters before she closes her eyes, falling into Kai"s arms. He lays her down on the floor carefully.
Izo and Aiken arrive. They look at the growing vines growing out of the practice room. Jin is lying half-dead on the floor with a gaping wound on his chest. Huang Qiuyan is also unconscious. They look at Kai with questions in their eyes. What the h.e.l.l happened here?
"We need a stronger prison cell," Kai speaks to them with a lazy voice. "Feed him some blood. He"s nearly sucked dry."
Izo nods and cuts his palm with the dagger. He feeds Jin some of his blood. Jin"s eyes flutter. His wound begins to close. Some drops of n.o.ble vampire"s blood are enough to enhance the healing.
"She has quite strong magic." Aiken presses his finger on her wrist. "She was green rank level 8 this morning. How did she advance to indigo peak in a few hours? Her magic already reached intensity 4.2?"
As there are many paths to immorality and different type of creatures who practice different kinds of magic or methods of spiritual in the world, it is difficult to measure their strength on the same scale. For all creatures in the world, the council recognises three cla.s.ses -- mortal, semi-mortal, and immortal. The mortal cla.s.ses are measured on a rainbow scale -- Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet -- red being the lowest rank and violet being the highest rank. They are commonly considered to be at level zero. The semi-mortal cla.s.ses are p.a.w.n, Rook, Knight, Bishops, and Queen/King.
Each cla.s.s has levels ranging from one to nine, further defining the strength of a person. Humans are mortal without a doubt. The cultivators like Sung NMi focus on the spiritual energy and follow the path of spiritual cultivation while other creatures follow the path of magic. The path of magic is quite complicated since there are different types of magic sources. There are creatures like pureblooded vampires or demons who siphon the energy from darkness itself. There are also those who absorb the spiritual energy present in nature and transform it into magic.
The second scale is the intensity of magic, spiritual energy, or gift. Usually, the council do not bother with it. If a person is at the king"s rank, there"s no doubt that he would have better control over the magic or spiritual energy than the person at orange"s rank. The intensity only matters in the cases of mortals who are born with supernatural gifts. However, there are cases when people at low ranks are born with a higher intensity like the heavenly blessed individuals who can directly use heaven"s energy for cultivation.
"How would I know?" Kai shrugs. "I saw her healing Klyn. He was badly hurt by the enchanted wooden magic. I gave him some of my blood, but healing was slow. But, he woke up right after she fed him some of her blood. Only we have this ability. The higher our rank is, the more potent our blood is. She"s a convert, but you can feel the core shaping inside her. Her rank needs to meet up the rising intensity of magic. She will lose control again."
Aiken can sense the core condensing in her lower belly. It"s true that her rank is weak compared to the magic building inside her. The king will return in a few days. As her mate, he can help her. It"s better if she doesn"t use magic until the king comes back. But, how to stop this?
"Seal her magic." Izo suggests, "Freezing her core temporary should also work. How long can we keep her asleep?"
"Sealing or freezing the core when it is at the formation stage can cause irrevocable harm to it." Aiken glances at Izo. "She"s different. Since we don"t know what"s wrong with her magic, we shouldn"t be making a hasty decision."
"In the past, we killed the converts who lost control or succ.u.mbed to the dark side." Izo trails off. "When the king comes back, he can help her come back to senses using the true bond. He can help her stabilize her magic and core. Until then, we need to keep it sealed."
The true mates are each other"s anchors. If the king was here, there was no reason to worry. He doesn"t know how long it will take. Sealing her magic might be safe for her and other people in the castle. However, there"s one more issue.
"The seal might make her magic more unstable." Aiken sighs. "If it breaks before the king comes back, that would be a dire situation. This could be a temporary loss of control. We should wait and see."
"Can we take the risk?" Izo stares at Aiken. "She nearly killed Jin. Look at the practice room. Her abnormal magic is still alive in there. When her magic is unstable, it"s best to temporarily seal it."
Kai is listening to their arguments. He looks down at Huang Qiuyan. Before she fell asleep, she asked him how long he could keep her asleep. Indeed, how long can anyone keep her asleep?
"I will seal it." Aiken takes a breath. His hand hovers over her belly. As the essence of darkness rushes through his veins, his eyes s.h.i.+ne with a tint of orange. The tips of his fingers burn a little as the dark energy flow out of his palm. An ancient circle materializes her belly. Tendrils of dark energy unfurl over her skin. Huang Qiuyan lets out a whimper as the tendrils cloak her completely, freezing the raging whirlpool inside her. The purebloods releases their breaths. It"s done. Hopefully, nothing will happen until the king"s return.