Ai Wei dazedly stared at Sikong Sa.
He shoved her away, causing her to stumble and fall to the rocky, uneven ground.
“Why do you think you were able to survive that fire?”
The memories of being in a fire flashed in Ai Wei’s mind. The pain she’d felt then still caused her fear.
“Why do you think so many vampires would acknowledge you based on a mere prophecy?”“Why do you think Fei Qi helped you so much?”
As a human, she also had her doubts about being acknowledged by the vampires, so she had asked Fei Qi.
Fei Qi had told her she was different. But how so?
She had never met her parents before. Ai Qiang had raised her single-handedly and told her that her parents were dead.
‘Just who am I?’
“Back then, I was sure I’d given her medicine to make her infertile. I didn’t expect that she’d still get pregnant and manage to give birth to you. But I have to thank her. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know where I’d find someone as special as you.”
He hadn’t been the Vampire Queen’s only man.The fertility rates of vampires were very low, and he had just been a low-level vampire back then, so the father of the child couldn’t be him. The only possible candidates were the few Pure Bloods by the Queen’s side.
Sikong Sa slowly closed in on Ai Wei, his expression a bit twisted. “You shall pay for the sins your mother committed.”
Ai Wei’s mind was currently filled with the impossibility of it all. ‘I’m only 18! The former Vampire Queen died so long ago; there’s no way I’m her daughter! It’s impossible...
And I don’t drink blood! There’s no way I’m the daughter of a Vampire Queen! It’s impossible!’
Sikong Sa picked Ai Wei up from the ground and strode over to the coffin and sarcophagus in the distance. Beneath the two, an Eight Divinatory Trigrams formation had been drawn. The coffin and sarcophagus had been placed above the Yin and Yang points, respectively.
Sikong Sa tossed Ai Wei into the now-empty ice coffin.
“Sikong...you must’ve made a mistake! I’m not...” Ai Wei clutched at Sikong Sa’s hand, her face as pale as a sheet of paper. “Just think! I’m only 18! How could I be the daughter of the previous Vampire Queen? And I don’t have the desire to drink blood—there’s no way I’m a vampire! You must’ve gotten it wrong!”
Sikong Sa pressed her into the ice coffin and looked down at her from above. “Fei Qi sealed you away when you were born and hid you for close to a century. He only unsealed you eighteen years ago and handed you to Ai Qiang to raise. Of course you’d believe you were only 18.”
After a slight pause, he continued, “You’ve never drunk blood before, so naturally you wouldn’t have felt the urge to. But after such a long time in the territories, have you ever eaten anything?”
Ai Wei was stunned. Ever since she’d arrived in the territories...she really hadn’t eaten anything. And she hadn’t felt hungry even once.
‘No. I’m not...’
Ai Wei wanted to struggle, but found she was unable to move her body. She could only watch as Sikong Sa inserted a needle into her vein, causing blood to seep out. Soon, the small tube that was connected to the needle began filling up with blood.
Sikong Sa plugged in the other end of the tube to the glass sarcophagus. Ai Wei could vaguely make out the outline of a human figure lying in there.
Ai Wei could feel her blood draining very quickly, but she was unable to move.
‘Why? Everything is wrong! It isn’t supposed to be like this!’
Ai Wei blanked out at her own thoughts. ‘Then...how should it be?’
“Sikong...” She suddenly called out to him very weakly. Sikong Sa turned around to face her.
Ai Wei struggled to smile. “Can you...hug me one last time?”
Sikong Sa remained unmoved.
“Seeing as...we were once together...can you please...give me one last hug?”
Sikong Sa hesitated for a while before bending over to hug her.
He quickly released her, but Ai Wei used the last of her strength to kiss him on the lips.
He frowned and shoved her away before wiping at his lips in disgust.
Ai Wei laughed and closed her eyes, tears trickling down her cheeks.
‘Back then, why didn’t I listen to Zuo Lie? If I stayed with him, I wouldn’t have been used by Sikong Sa like this. It’s so cold...’
One could almost hear the sounds of an invisible watch as time ticked away.
When the moon reached its zenith, the formation on the ground appeared to react to the moonlight as it emitted a faint, white light.
Sikong Sa stood at the very edge, his expression tense as he stared at the glass sarcophagus.
The light from the formation glowed brighter and brighter and engulfed both the coffin and the sarcophagus.
Once it faded, Sikong Sa shot towards the glass sarcophagus. The dried corpse inside was enveloped by a layer of blood. What had originally been a well-preserved body soon had its flesh dissolve upon contact with the blood, revealing the white skeleton beneath.
“Im-Impossible! How could this be?!” Sikong Sa pressed himself up to the sarcophagus, disbelief written in his eyes. “How could it have failed?!”
‘Why wasn’t she brought back to life...?’
“Because you’re missing a couple of things.” A woman’s melodious voice travelled out from the darkness.
Sikong Sa’s bloodshot eyes snapped to the direction of the voice.
A young woman in a black dress slowly walked out of the darkness, a tall man following behind her.
“Mi! Nai!” Sikong Sa squeezed out through gritted teeth, his bloody red eyes seeming as if he wanted to tear her to shreds.
“Oh, you’re angry? What’s there to be angry about? You never asked me! So it’s all your fault she didn’t come back to life.” Shi Sheng folded her arms as she spoke very innocently.
Sikong Sa nearly spat out a mouthful of blood from anger. ‘Would she have told me if I asked?!’
“Of course I would.” Shi Sheng seemed to have read Sikong Sa’s mind. “After all, I’m a living Lei Feng that loves to help others.”
‘Even if I told you, you wouldn’t be able to get it. So it makes no difference whether or not I told you.’
“What’s missing?! Give it to me!” Sikong Sa shot to his feet, his expression twisted as he glared at Shi Sheng.
Shi Sheng lifted her hand and waved the pendant hanging on her wrist around for him to see. “It’s this.”
Sikong Sa felt his mind explode, as the painting surfaced in his mind.
The child and the sarcophagus...
Was the child not referring to Ai Wei, but the pendant they wore on their wrist?
“And besides, you got the steps wrong.” Shi Sheng lowered her hand and tossed a shabby-looking book over to him. “This is the true ritual of resurrection. You can’t be lacking in any of these.”
Sikong Sa tremblingly leafed through the book.
The ritual required four items: the water of the Yellow Springs[1] that was contained in the pendant, the glass sarcophagus, blood from a person of extreme yin...and a rose that had been watered with blood.
But the records in the book he’d obtained...
He suddenly turned to fiercely glare at Shi Sheng, acting like an infuriated lion. “It was you! You swapped out the books, didn’t you?!”
“You’re thinking too much.” ‘Please. How was I supposed to know where he learned the ritual? And if I didn’t even know, how was I supposed to swap them out?’
She’d gotten this book from Xi Yin, who’d found it amongst the rubble of the castle that once housed his clan.
“Give it to me!” Sikong Sa suddenly rushed over in an attempt to snatch the bracelet from Shi Sheng. ‘I still have a chance! I can still resurrect her!’
Shi Sheng dodged to the side, while Xi Yin kicked Sikong Sa in the abdomen.
Sikong Sa went flying back and smashed into the glass sarcophagus, causing it to flip over, spilling out the fresh blood inside it.
“No!”
“Even if you resurrected her, the price you’d pay is your death. If she lives while you die, what’s the point? If you really loved her that much, go down there to accompany her.” Shi Sheng stood in her spot, coldly watching from a distance as Sikong Sa tried to right the sarcophagus.
[1] I suppose an equivalent would be like water from the River Styx.
