Chapter One: Three Years as a Blood Slave

In the underground chamber of the Duke's manor in Ye North City, a woman was opening a stone door. With a harsh crack, the door slowly swung inward.

What lay beyond was a gaunt young man, bound tightly by several black iron chains and fixed in place behind the door.

His face was deathly pale, drained of all color, and only the faint rise and fall of his breathing proved he was still alive.

The woman walked toward him at an unhurried pace, graceful and delicate of figure.

"Suyang, today is the last time I will take your blood. I must admit, you have endured far longer than I expected. It took a full three years to drain the supreme blood from your body completely. You really have suffered for me," she said coldly, looking down at the frail youth before her.

He let out a weak, rasping laugh.

"Vang Yiyi... even if you drain every last drop of supreme blood from me, so what? It was never truly yours. I, Suyang, even in death, will never let you go!"

The young man's name was Suyang. He had once been the young master of the Su clan of Ye North City, the pride of his family, the most renowned genius among the city's youth. He possessed the supreme bloodline: at the age of three he entered the Spirit-Transformation Realm, by five he had reached the True Martial Realm, and by ten he had already stepped into the Three Profound Realm.

With such brilliance, it had once seemed that Suyang might become the first prodigy in the history of Ye North City to break through to the Divine Martial Realm before the age of fifteen.

Yet one marriage had caused Suyang to vanish from everyone's sight.

Ye North City had originally been divided among three great powers: the City Lord's Manor, the Su clan, and the Vang clan. The three had lived in peace until Suyang's birth, when the emergence of the supreme bloodline made both the City Lord's Manor and the Vang clan eager to forge a marital alliance with the Su clan.

When Suyang was twelve, the three families gathered together and let him choose his future wife. They first arranged an engagement, with the wedding to be held after he turned fifteen.

No one knew what had possessed Suyang back then, but he chose the Vang family's daughter, the very woman in this chamber now: Vang Yiyi.

Only when Suyang was secretly framed by the Vang clan and imprisoned in this chamber with eight Soul-Subduing Iron Locks did he finally understand that the so-called alliance had been nothing more than an enormous conspiracy.

The supreme bloodline was rare in itself. And Vang Yiyi also possessed the Fire Phoenix bloodline. If the two could be fused into one and strengthen each other, the Vang clan would inevitably produce a supreme powerhouse. Then neither the City Lord's Manor nor the Su clan would be worth fearing.

And so, over these three years, Vang Yiyi had come to the chamber every three days to draw a bottle of supreme blood from Suyang's body.

Three years had passed, and Suyang could no longer even remember how he had endured them.

As for the Su clan, after Suyang's disappearance, internal strife had broken out. His parents were framed by the Great Elder, who had long coveted the position of clan head, and exiled from the city. Everyone else connected to them was also removed, and those who refused to obey were publicly executed by the Great Elder as a warning to others.

From that moment on, the Su clan declined completely, coming under the Great Elder's control and becoming a puppet of the Vang clan.

"Suyang, rest assured. I, Vang Yiyi, am not one to repay kindness with betrayal. For all these years, it was thanks to you, thanks to the bloodline within you, that I have reached the peak of the Three Profound Realm. As long as I take your blood one more time today, I will be able to assault the Divine Martial Realm."

"By then, I will surely thank you properly."

"Hmph."

She spoke as she produced a gleaming little knife and thrust it viciously into the skin of Suyang's body, where no flesh could be seen.

Golden blood began to seep out, drop by drop, at an excruciatingly slow pace.

She hurriedly took out a jade bottle and pressed it beneath the wound. The golden blood dripped into the vessel, and excitement began to spread across her face.

Just one step left. Just this little bottle. Once she absorbed the supreme blood one more time, she would become the most dazzling genius girl in the history of Ye North City.

Suyang could no longer feel pain. That sensation seemed long ago to have become familiar to him. His body was utterly without strength.

Even his dantian had long since withered dry. There was not the slightest trace of spiritual energy left. Within his meridians, only the tiniest remnants of blood still flowed.

It was hard to imagine that a body reduced to this state could still muster the strength to speak.

Looking at the greed on Vang Yiyi's face, Suyang could not help but laugh.

"Heh... heh heh, hahahaha!"

Though not loud, the laughter still reached Vang Yiyi's ears clearly.

She frowned. Why, on the verge of death, was he still laughing like this?

Had he gone mad?

"Vang Yiyi, you've won. I never imagined that I, Suyang, a genius of the Su clan, would be deceived by your sweet words. You lied to me, stole my supreme blood, and kept me like a blood slave."

"You... what a cruel heart you have."

Suyang lifted his eyelids. In those once-empty, lifeless pupils, a fierce killing intent suddenly burst forth, the likes of which had never appeared before, as he stared fixedly at Vang Yiyi.

The woman, who had been drawing blood with utmost care, was also shaken by that gaze. Her delicate hand trembled, and a drop of supreme blood fell to the ground.

Vang Yiyi had not expected Suyang could still look at her with such terrifying murderous intent, and for an instant a trace of fear rose in her heart. But that feeling quickly vanished. What a joke. He was nothing but a cripple now. After the final round of blood was drained, that would be his death. Why should she fear a dead man?

Still, losing even a single drop of supreme blood angered her greatly. Her already cold face grew icier as she said, "Suyang, there's no need to look at me like that. The path of cultivation has always been cruel. This is simply your fate. You were foolish enough to trust me back then. How laughable."

"Yes... indeed laughable," Suyang said.

"How laughable that I was blind all those years ago. How laughable that I failed to uncover the Vang clan's scheme sooner. How laughable that I trusted your words and was trapped so easily by you."

"Vang Yiyi, remember this. If I, Suyang, do not die today, you'd best never sleep with your eyes closed. Otherwise, I will make sure your Vang clan knows no peace, and every last one of you will be slaughtered!"

He stared at the venomous woman before him and ground out each word through clenched teeth. The rage in his eyes was enough to blaze into twin flames and reduce her to ashes.

"Enough nonsense. Save your strength," Vang Yiyi said coldly. "Don't worry, I won't let you die so easily. Even after I drain every drop of supreme blood from your body, I will make you end your life in the most painful way possible."

Suyang said nothing more. He merely lowered his head in silence. The fury in his gaze faded, and once again his eyes became empty and lifeless.

"Hm? There isn't even a trace of supreme blood left?" Vang Yiyi frowned when she saw that not a single drop was still flowing from Suyang's wound.

She shook the jade bottle in her hand, and her brow furrowed even more deeply.

Then she looked again at Suyang, still hanging his head, and once more picked up the knife, stabbing several times into his body in quick succession.

Suyang did not move at all, as though already dead.

Not a single drop of supreme blood could be forced out of the injured flesh.

Seeing this, Vang Yiyi's frosty face remained as cold as ever as she said, "How infuriating. Only half a bottle. And you even wasted a drop just now, you useless thing!"

Whether Suyang had heard her or not, Vang Yiyi lifted his skull-like face and seemed about to say something more. Yet in the end, with his eyes still tightly shut, she said nothing. She simply let go and stood.

At that moment, another figure entered through the stone door.

"Yiyi, how is it? Has this final blood extraction been successful?" The newcomer had a loud voice. He appeared to be in his forties or fifties, with a square face and an aquiline nose, and his eyes flashed with a cunning glint that was hard to detect.

"Father, it was not entirely successful. There is no supreme blood left in Suyang's body. This time we only obtained half a bottle," Vang Yiyi said with a slight bow.

"Oh? Only half a bottle. What a pity," the newcomer said, his brows tightening in regret.

This man was none other than Vang Lang, head of the Vang clan and one of the three great experts of Ye North City, a powerhouse at the Divine Martial Realm.

"Still, it doesn't matter. Your Fire Phoenix bloodline has already fused with the supreme bloodline to a considerable degree. Even with only half a bottle, it should be enough for you to break through to the Divine Martial Realm. Let's go. It's time to end all this," Vang Lang said to his daughter in a calm tone.

Yet in his eyes gleamed the vast future he envisioned.

As long as his daughter could forge the supreme Fire Phoenix bloodline and step into the Divine Martial Realm, the Vang clan would surely have a place on the Eastern Profound Continent in the days to come.

"Yes, there shouldn't be any major problem."

"And Suyang..." Vang Yiyi seemed to want to ask her father something.

"The Su clan already thinks he's dead. In any case, he's a cripple now, and it wouldn't be fitting to let him die here in our Vang clan's hands. After all, I once had some acquaintance with his father. And he was once betrothed to you as well. If not for his sacrifice, how could there be the you of today?"

"I'll have someone throw him into the Beast Forest later," Vang Lang said with a smile as he cast one last glance at the chained Suyang.

"Everything will be as Father decides. However, your daughter has one request."

"Oh? What request do you have?"

Vang Yiyi turned back and glanced at Suyang, still kneeling half-upright on the floor. Remembering the terrifying look he had just given her, she said softly, "I want to sever his hands and hamstrings."