Chapter 19: King's Blood
Night shrouded the royal capital. In a castle on the easternmost side of the city, flames burned within the windows. Before long, they spread outward, engulfing the entire castle.
Boom!
An explosion came from within the castle. The walls cracked, and burning wooden debris flew out, creating a spectacular scene.
Su Xiao stood in the flower field behind the castle. The area looked as if it had been ravaged by a level-eight gale, full of craters. Earlier, Baha had been fighting a two-headed dog here. When Su Xiao arrived, the two-headed dog seemed to sense that its master was dead and slunk away in defeat.
Su Xiao checked the reward notification for killing the Third Prince. He had wanted to keep the two-headed dog in the backyard as well, so he only briefly glanced at the rewards obtained.
[You have killed Edri Pegg.]
[Because Edri Pegg is a member of the royal family of this world, you have obtained 15.2% World Source. Current total World Source: 20.55%.]
[You have obtained King's Blood (1/12).]
...
Su Xiao took a sealed glass cylinder from his storage space. Counting Riu and the others, there were five more throne successors. Calculated this way, the amount of King's Blood obtained was clearly wrong—too little.
There were two possibilities. One, there were other throne successors hidden in the shadows. Two, the old king had a large amount of King's Blood within him.
The possibility Su Xiao considered was that the old king would distribute the King's Blood within his body during the queen's pregnancy.
As these offspring grew up, they would die for various reasons. The thin King's Blood within their bodies would gradually gather together, eventually leaving only one person.
When the final throne successor obtained most of the King's Blood, they would qualify for the coronation, inheriting the throne, the crown, and the remaining King's Blood from the old king.
In a sense, this was a trial, a trial for the King's Blood. The throne was more like a byproduct.
Looking at it this way, becoming a member of the Edri royal family was far from as wonderful as imagined. From birth, one faced a life-or-death test.
Su Xiao gripped the glass cylinder in his hand and closed his eyes to sense it. He felt a heat like flames and an astonishing amount of life force.
Opening his eyes, through the King's Blood in his hand, Su Xiao roughly understood the secret of the Edri royal family. Or rather, anyone with strong perception who obtained the King's Blood could know this secret.
The Edri royal family was both ruthless and great. Their ruthlessness was towards themselves, and their greatness was towards Talin.
Su Xiao sensed that the King's Blood had a fiery heat. Once it "burned," the King's Blood would release an extremely vast amount of energy, possessing unimaginable destructive power.
The King's Blood was so powerful not because of mysticism. Normally, the King's Blood would gradually absorb the host's life force and store it. Once the King's Blood burned, the life force within would serve as kinetic energy, providing the host with immense energy and power.
The Edri royal family were the holders and inheritors of the King's Blood. Therefore, they didn't care about family or bloodline continuation. They were given a mission at birth, living only for the King's Blood and dying for it. Either obtain all the King's Blood and wait for the day it needed to be used, or raise a bunch of descendants to continuously strengthen the King's Blood.
Why would a royal family that didn't govern the country be recognized by Talin's high-ranking officials and willingly kneel before them? The reason was here.
Not everyone had the courage to inherit the King's Blood. Compared to royal members who died fighting each other, many royal members were unwilling to bear the mission. They tried every means to strip the King's Blood from their bodies, even wanting to destroy it, ultimately dying because of it.
The Age of Gods once dominated this world, and the King's Blood was to prevent such a thing from happening again.
The King's Blood and Source Power were actually very similar. Neither would forever become a certain person's private energy. After the user died, these two powers could be extracted, or they would drift back to the main body on their own, gradually increasing in quality.
Putting away the King's Blood, Su Xiao walked out of the castle courtyard. His plan was set correctly. Although this was a throne struggle, it had nothing to do with royal power in the true sense. It was about competing for the King's Blood.
Su Xiao hadn't taken a few steps when he sensed a sound from the warehouse near the flower field. He gave Baha and Amu a look.
Amu strode forward and kicked open the warehouse door. Baha flew inside and saw Dikka hiding in the corner.
"Dikka? Why are you here?"
Baha was a little "confused," but soon, a look of "anger" appeared in its eyes.
"You little brat, you sided with the Third Prince?"
"No, no, I, I, I..."
Dikka wanted to cry. He had just come to side with the Third Prince when the Third Prince was taken out. His inner thoughts at this moment were: "Bosses, if you're this fierce, why didn't you say so earlier? I would have been loyal."
Unfortunately, there was no regret medicine in this world. Just as the Third Prince said, Dikka had bet on the wrong horse.
"Amu, take him down!"
Baha shouted.
"Moo."
Amu strode forward, first giving Dikka a big slap, then tying him up and carrying him away.
Dizzy, Dikka saw the burning castle. He knew that this time, he was dead for sure.
At 7 PM, Su Xiao returned to his temporary three-story residence. There were still five opponents left. He planned to make another move tonight, aiming to reduce the opponents to four before dawn.
Sitting at the dining table, Su Xiao was about to eat dinner when he felt his head grow groggy. A strong drowsiness hit him, seemingly trying to drag him into sleep.
With a thud, Riu fell to the ground, letting out even snoring sounds. Beside him, Qifu knelt on one knee, using his long-handled battle axe to brace himself on the ground.
"Qifu, a piece of advice. The Dragonheart Axe isn't something you can use. When it devours you, I'll kill you."
Su Xiao leaned back in his chair, yawning. An enemy had arrived, releasing a wave that could make people drowsy. This wasn't energy or poison smoke, but a harder-to-resist ability.
Su Xiao's words echoed in Qifu's ears. He gripped the Dragonheart Axe tightly. In his feeling, he was close to mastering this weapon.
Was that really the case? No. One of Qifu's actions showed that he couldn't resist the Dragonheart Axe. Qifu was a proud person at heart. Even facing Su Xiao, he would hold onto his pride, except when it came to Amu.
At some point, Qifu had taken a liking to Amu, even feeling that Amu was a long-lost close friend. Was this because their temperaments matched? No. It was because of the ice-type energy within Amu.
Thud, thud~
Amu and Bubu Wang also fell asleep. Amu leaned against the wall, snoring. Su Xiao leaned back in his chair, seemingly resting, but in reality, he was waiting.
With a creak, the door was pushed open. White mist surged in. A man carrying an oil lamp, wearing a top hat, and holding a cane in his other hand walked into the room. Seeing everyone lying on the ground asleep, he bowed politely in a gentlemanly manner.
"Gentlemen, may you sleep forever in your dreams. I wish you pleasant dreams."
The top-hat gentleman was about to step forward when his body froze in place. He stared directly at Su Xiao, who was leaning back in his chair resting. The corner of his eye twitched. In his perception, what lay ahead was no longer human, but a ferocious beast pretending to sleep. Blood energy drifted around, waiting for him to step forward and tear him to pieces.
The top-hat gentleman very slowly put down his oil lamp, step by step retreating. Eventually, he retreated outside the door, closed it, and suddenly disappeared from the spot.
Inside the room, Su Xiao opened his eyes. His left index finger hooked, and the Realm Severing Thread retracted into his sleeve. The enemy had almost stepped into the trap. The newcomer was not easy to deal with. His aura was too illusory. Without binding him, Su Xiao wasn't very confident in permanently keeping him there. Although he would definitely win in a direct confrontation, if the newcomer was determined to escape, Su Xiao had no good way to stop him.
"Bubu."
"Hoo~"
Bubu Wang's faint snoring came. Seeing this, Su Xiao picked up a berry from the table and flicked it onto Bubu Wang's head.
Bubu Wang shuddered, his dog face looking confused as he stood up.
"Go track with Baha. Dikka was taken away. Don't let him die. Such a competent guide is hard to find."
Hearing this, Baha, who had been pretending to sleep, got up. From earlier, it had been half in an alternate space. It could be seen, but its physical form couldn't be touched.
The enemy had come to him. Of course, Su Xiao wouldn't miss this opportunity. Every royal member killed yielded a large amount of World Source.