Chapter 226: The Death of the King

Deep in the underground cave, dim flames cast flickering shadows on the stone walls.

Two pitch-black altars stood parallel, their surfaces covered in ancient runes intertwined with dark red and deep black, like spells congealed from dried blood.

On the altar to the left, Queen Selimu's pale skin formed a stark contrast with the obsidian tabletop. Her eyes were tightly shut, the usual sharpness faded, and even her long hair hung limply over the edge of the stone altar.

On the altar to the right, Aotuo Guowang's naked body had firm muscles, and strange patterns spread from his neck to his ankles. His hands, clasped over his chest, were clenched tight due to nervousness, and only his pupils shone with a terrifying light.

Ailina stood between the two altars, a ruby magic wand spinning into a blur in her palm.

When the wand hovered over Selimu's heart, fine beads of blood seeped out from the Queen's limbs and bones, gathering into a winding stream that surged toward her heart.

The sleeping Selimu suddenly tensed her feet, her eyelashes trembling violently, but an invisible force pinned her firmly to the altar. That suspended scarlet blood bead had become crystal clear, refracting eerie rainbow light in the glow of the wand.

The moment the blood bead detached from Selimu's heart, her face withered rapidly, her long hair faded to gray-white, and her nails peeled off, revealing wrinkled skin.

Ailina flicked her wand, and the blood bead floated toward the altar on the right, hovering over Aotuo's exposed chest.

When the blood bead merged into Aotuo Guowang's heart, his graying hair and sagging skin all reversed as if time had flowed backward, and youth returned to the King once more.

Suddenly, pitch-black bat wings tore violently from his back, and fangs pierced his lips.

"Hahaha, this power! Haha, that's right, it's the feeling of youth!"

As His Majesty the King obtained the 【Blood Clan】 bloodline, all the black-robed figures in the underground cave cheered excitedly.

Finally, finally succeeded!

A young body, eternal life, powerful strength—all a beautiful future was beckoning to everyone.

Only, in the fanaticism of everyone, no one noticed that dark gray mist had crawled up the altar runes where Selimu lay and onto the altar on the right—that was the dormant magic power extracted from Selimu's body.

But before the ecstasy had faded, strands of black mist suddenly rose from Aotuo's body. He arched his back and coughed up black blood, and spiderweb-like purple veins bulged under his skin.

"What... what is going on? Queen, what happened?"

Aotuo felt the tearing pain throughout his body and realized something was wrong.

Sure enough, Ailina, the new Queen who had been presiding over the ritual, watched the scene before her with a grin.

"The bloodline within every powerful Blood Clan member carries a strong personal imprint. This is also why every subordinate who is granted a First Embrace will sincerely love and respect their lord from the heart, because bloodline—this is all the influence of the bloodline!"

Ailina smiled like a flower, the charm in her eyes becoming even richer.

"And the bloodline deprived through a magic ritual inevitably carries the strong unwillingness and resentment in the original owner's heart. This resentment hidden in the bloodline is undoubtedly a deadly poison, so we need a carrier to filter out this deadly poison. Hahahaha!"

After hearing Ailina's words, Aotuo Guowang knew he had been played by the new Queen before him.

"Hoo! Hoo-hoo! Bitch, how dare you... I am the King... I am the greatest... the greatest King of the Rhine Kingdom, I will kill you!" Aotuo Guowang was driven mad with rage, roaring to vent the excruciating pain in his body. "Weisite, do it, kill this woman! I command, Snow White for..."

Before Aotuo Guowang could finish his sentence, he collapsed limply onto the altar—it was the dormant magic power!

"Hahaha, you might as well cooperate with me quietly!"

Ailina didn't care at all about Weisite, who had left the underground cave to find reinforcements, let alone those decaying nobles who were stunned by the sudden turn of events.

She just waited quietly for Aotuo Guowang to gradually die, and then the altar beneath the King would analyze the pure bloodline she wanted once again.

With the dormant magic power stripped away, Queen Selimu on the altar to the left also opened her eyes weakly. The first thing she saw was Ailina standing by the altar.

"Ai... Ailina?" Selimu asked in confusion, but she soon discovered her own aged body and the lost bloodline. "No... no... how could this be... my hands... Ailina, it was you, what have you done?"

Immediately, Selimu discovered Aotuo Guowang lying on the altar next to her, or more accurately, Aotuo's corpse.

At this moment, Aotuo was completely dead, the huge bat wings had already disappeared, and only blood beads were constantly gathering above his chest.

Selimu immediately discovered the thick bloodline power contained within the blood beads—her own bloodline power.

"My... my bloodline..."

But her weak and aged body made her struggle look incredibly ridiculous.

"Hahahaha, I finally... finally got it! Selimu, didn't expect this, did you! The old geezer misjudged you; this bloodline power finally belongs to me."

"No... no... you can't, you won't be able to bear the curse within the bloodline."

The blood bead floated slowly toward Ailina.

"Of course I can't bear it, that's why I found this scapegoat! Selimu, you really found a good husband; as soon as he heard I could deprive you of your Blood Clan bloodline and give it to him, he agreed impatiently. You really should have seen the look on his face at the time, tee-hee, he even made me Queen, haha, the same Queen as you, my good sister, hahahaha!"

By this time, all the elderly nobles in the underground cave had long since been scared away, so the only one left to hear this conversation was Xie Yaoyao, the God of Gossip.

"This woman is actually your sister? Wow, this old King had it pretty good!"

An abrupt voice sounded beside Selimu. The sisters, startled, finally realized there was still someone else beside them, but their expressions were diametrically opposed.

One was pleasantly surprised: "Gratz?!"

The other transformed into a master of facial expressions, from surprise to alertness to anxiety: "No... no... who are you? Who exactly are you?"

It was only because the blood bead that Ailina was about to obtain suddenly traced a sharp arc in mid-air, shooting straight toward Xie Yaoyao like a red meteor.

He tilted his head and opened his mouth, the blood bead falling precisely into his throat, and as his Adam's apple bobbed, he actually swallowed it whole.

Done in one go!

Looking at the stunned Queen sisters beside him, Xie Yaoyao smacked his lips and laughed somewhat embarrassedly: "Sorry about that, couldn't help myself! Tastes pretty good, high-quality flesh-and-blood essence!"

"Ah~"

Ailina, whose years of planning had been intercepted by Xie Yaoyao, broke down on the spot, and as she waved her magic wand, purple energy gathered.

Just at this moment, a group of Royal Guard soldiers in gold-red armor, led by Weisite, burst into the underground cave.

Weisite saw the dead Aotuo Guowang on the altar at a glance.

"Seize them, don't let a single one go!" ===== CHAPTER 227 =====