Ascending the Heavens as an Evil God
chapter-354

Gu Nan's blunt reply made Lu Xinhuan freeze for a moment.

Only then did she recall rumors that the one in front of her was the reincarnation of a Heavenly Demon—could it be true?

But she quickly shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to wonder about Gu Nan's identity. Instead, she had to change Zhong Die’s mind— ‘A lowly foreign race like vampires…’

Outside the wooden cabin, Gu Nan just watched the two women argue without any intention of intervening or “mediating” by force.

He wanted to see if Zhong Die's will was firm and if she had enough willpower to complete his plan and forge a new path for him.

His arrangement for Zhong Die wasn’t related to the mission itself. It was a backup plan he prepared for the mission, and at the same time, it was also an experiment.

He wanted to test what would happen if an NPC who didn’t originally exist in the game filled the role of the player and continued on that path.

To do this, the three views of the NPC itself mustn’t be too close to normal. It was clearly impossible to find a real player, so someone so purehearted to the point of obsession like Zhong Die was already quite good.

……

Inside the sanctuary handling the Ceremony of Blood, a man whose skin was pale to the point of appearing sickly reassured someone with a faint smile, "You can rest assured, Miss Lu."

After a pause, the man gently took a sip of the red liquid in his cup. "Since you’ve already talked to us, the person you named will never pass the test."

"Then we leave it in your hands, Mr. Stanton." Lu Xinhuan likewise revealed a smile and sighed with relief. "As for our reward, rest assured that we won’t let you down."

Lu Xinhuan hadn't been in the World of Gods for long and wasn't quite used to the way of speaking here.

However, the results of her multiple inquiries showed that Stanton had a rather good reputation.

Although greedy, he wouldn’t break his promise after accepting the money. And for Qinghe Pavilion, any problem that could be settled with money wasn’t a problem at all.

The two had an amicable discussion, but the Ceremony of Blood had yet to start, so Lu Xinhuan didn’t stay for long and quickly left.

Du Ke was already waiting by the door. "Miss Lu, we can rest a bit easier now with Stanton pulling the strings from within."

Stanton was one of the preliminary examiners for this test. Although it was hard for him to guarantee with 100% certainty that a candidate would pass, it wasn’t hard for him to disqualify someone.

"It's still not enough." But Lu Xinhuan shook her head. "We need to have a backup plan."

……

In a flash, it was nearly half a month later, marking the start of the Ceremony of Blood. It was the day the Raymond clan openly recruited new descendants.

But today was also a special day for the Raymond clansmen who were already vampires, because today, some of them would be erased from the Raymond clan registry and lose the right to use the Raymond surname.

For a clan, the number of clansmen with that surname was always fixed. Every year, the number of people who joined the clan was equal to the number of people being kicked out.

Of course these new recruits also had the risk of being erased from the clan registry, and vampires who lost their surnames would suffer even worse fates. They would never be able to restore their identity again.

Vampires stripped of their surnames basically lost their “political authority” and could no longer hold any position within the clan, nor would they have access to any resources ever again.

Shana sat in front of a round table. Her long blonde hair was a bit disheveled and she looked haggard. She seemed very troubled.

Of course she was troubled, because she was on the list of clan members who were about to have their surnames erased today.

She was considered to have tarnished the glory of the clan and was found unworthy of being a vampire descendant because the fact that she secretly went out to act as a blood slave for money was discovered.

"What should I do?" These four words kept echoing in Shana's head. In fact, she still had a last resort, but she just didn’t want to consider it—leave the Capital of Blood and become a wandering rogue vampire.

Losing her dignity and status as a noble and becoming a wanderer—something that normally seemed unimaginable now had a chance of happening.

Compared to losing even her surname, there was at least a chance of turning things around if she became a wanderer.

"But you’ve gotta be able to escape this place first," Gu Nan's voice sounded directly in Shana's ears, as if he completely saw through her thoughts. His remark was cutting.

"It's you!" Shana stood up fiercely and dashed up to Gu Nan.

She would never forget that face of his. She wouldn't have been discovered by the clan if it wasn't for him, let alone end up in this situation!

"You still don’t understand?" Gu Nan smiled and explained, "Your dear brother has been watching you for a long time. As long as you receive a client even once, no matter what the result is, your secret will definitely be exposed."

Shana’s quest chain was triggered through "buying flowers." If the player didn’t try to buy flowers, then she wouldn’t be bought by anyone.

The reason was very simple. Besides players who had nothing better to do, absolutely nobody would ask a girl selling flowers on the street whether she had any high quality goods like “deathly crimson safflowers” in stock.

This was just as unreliable as someone asking you "Mister, want to play?" on the streets, and getting the answer "How much is Big Sis Chi Ling[1]?"

Shana's delicate face turned deathly pale. After a long silence, she finally asked, "How can you help me, and what price do I need to pay?"

Her train of thought was very clear. Perhaps there were people in this world who would help her for free, but the one in front of her was clearly not such a person.

"I can give you power." Gu Nan's expression remained tranquil. "In exchange, your life will belong to me."

A trace of helplessness and desperation flashed through Shana's dark green eyes, but in the end, she nodded.

A moment later, the extremely obscure law of shadows turned into a jet black dagger that sunk into Shana's chest, circling around her heart.

"Go on now, don't disappoint me." Gu Nan revealed a strange smile.

……

The Capital of Blood's much-anticipated Ceremony of Blood finally started, and on this day, vampires slowly walked out, one after another.

The men were handsome while the women were beautiful. Just from appearances alone, vampires were indeed one of the races blessed by heaven.

"Ladies and gentlemen." A male vampire stood on the high platform and said to the audience below, "In this year’s Ceremony of Blood, ten lucky people will have the honor of joining the noble Raymond clan…"

"Oh, apologies," he said after a pause.

"This humble one just received word that a despicable clan member has chosen to defect and fled. Before we kill her and take back her surname, the number of lucky people this time… will only be nine."

"Only nine, huh." Zhong Die stood beside Gu Nan and glanced around her.

Around a hundred people were lined by her side. Most of them were her competitors.

"Big Sis Lu will surely think of ways to stop me, right?" She looked up at the stage again.

"Of course," Gu Nan offhandedly replied. "But it doesn't matter. The only thing she can use is money. Sometimes, money isn’t all-powerful. By the way, did you bring the umbrella I asked you to bring?"

"I brought it." Zhong Die nodded honestly.

"Mm… There are a few other lucky fellows as well." Gu Nan glanced into the crowd of examinees, a few of whom also brought umbrellas.

Then Zhong Die saw him wave his hand, and a fine black rain began to fall from the sky.

……

The vampire on the stage was still speaking with assurance and composure, while Stanton was sitting inside the sanctuary, looking at the list in his hand.

He easily found Zhong Die’s name with little effort. After all, it had such an odd pronunciation.

A smile appeared on Stanton's face as he gently scratched a mark next to Zhong Die's name, then handed the list to the companion next to him.

"Please don't let this person pass the qualifying round."

"Piece of cake." Bernoulli, who was also an examiner, didn't even raise his head and casually agreed after casting a cursory glance at the name.

They’d done countless similar things every single year, so of course he wouldn’t refuse to give his companion face.

Stanton smiled faintly without saying anything else.

The examination to become a vampire descendant involved too many factors, so the examiners’ subjectiveness held great sway as a deciding factor. This also gave the examiners room to pull some strings if bribed.

Relatively speaking, preliminary examiners like Stanton and the others were still not too corrupt—the final selection at the end was the real lucrative job.

"They should’ve finished giving that stupid speech by now, right? How come no one has come in yet?" Stanton looked up with some dissatisfaction and raised his voice.

A servant soon hurried over and reported while sweating profusely, "My Lords, it's raining outside!"

"Raining?" Bernoulli looked up in confusion. "What does rain have to do with our examination?"

"I-It’s the Rain of Corrosion. We don't know why it rained. It's not supposed to appear at this time of year," the servant stammered.

"The living beings hit by the rain all turned into white bones… Of our examinees, only four survived."

Stanton's mind went blank with a boom. He subconsciously asked, "Why were those four able to survive?"

"Because… they brought umbrellas."

T/N:

[1]Chi Ling: Famous celebrity

Index

0 views0 commentsPost not marked as liked