Chapter 380: I Treat You as a Friend, Yet You Want to Be My Aunt (Three-in-One)

This was an evil and handsome humanoid Spirit Beast, with red hair and a ferocious face; when its mouth opened, four sharp teeth could be seen, and it looked relatively similar to a human.

"A vampire!" Li Wenbo's heart sank. Vampires were also one of the humanoid Demon Pets that could be contracted. They fed on fresh blood to sustain their long lives, possessed ghost-like speed, could transform into bats, and victims bitten by them would also turn into their kind; at the same time, the intelligence of this type of Spirit Beast was not much different from that of a human.

Although vampires possessed many advantages, their flaws were also very serious; they loathed holy objects and were extremely afraid of sunlight, unable to be exposed to it for long periods, otherwise they would be directly purified and turned into ashes, which was also the main reason they liked to be active at night.

Unexpectedly, this vampire also had a Contract Mark on its forehead, and coupled with the fact that it only targeted the group of Monster Tamers, it was clear that someone was manipulating it from behind.

Additionally, the amount of fresh blood a vampire required daily was limited, but during this period, Monster Tamers were being drained of blood and killed almost every day; this either meant there was more than one vampire, or someone was collecting the blood of Monster Tamers for an unknown scheme.

"Heiye, use Trace to the Source on the other corpse as well!"

Under Li Zhangsheng's command, a black light shot out from Heiye's eyes once again, landing on the tooth marks on the neck of the other corpse.

Very quickly, another clear light-shadow appeared; the image of this light-shadow was exactly the same as the previous one, and these two people had clearly been killed by the same vampire.

"This vampire is too greedy, it's not afraid of bursting from drinking so much blood!" the Beast Garden Elder muttered; this vampire had drained all the blood from two people, so its movements would inevitably be significantly affected.

Li Wenbo couldn't help but ask: "Zhangsheng, can you find its location?"

"No!" Li Zhangsheng shook his head; this was also the limitation of Trace to the Source.

"I think I can try!"

Suddenly, Ning Bizhen's voice rang out.

"Instructor Ning, please!"

Ning Bizhen nodded, then summoned a Dark Night Marten; this was the Spirit Beast she had been keeping in the Silent Forest, which she had only recalled yesterday.

The Dark Night Marten was as black as ink, with a slender body, a pointed mouth, and a long tail, but its head had six eyeballs, looking quite eerie.

Immediately, Li Zhangsheng obtained the data on the Nine-Eyed Marten.

【Spirit Beast Name】: Dark Night Marten (Mature Stage)

【Spirit Beast Realm】: Leader 9th Rank

【Spirit Beast Race】: Medium Commander

【Spirit Beast Quality】: Superior Quality

【Spirit Beast Bloodline】: Nine-Eyed Marten (Pure)

【Spirit Beast Attribute】: Darkness

【Spirit Beast Status】: Healthy

【Spirit Beast Weakness】: Light

The Nine-Eyed Marten is a very special Divine Beast; legend has it that it can See Through Falsehood and even foresee fragments of the future.

"Dark Night Marten, Dark Night Tracking!"

Dark Night Tracking was a Bloodline Inheritance Skill the Dark Night Marten inherited from the Nine-Eyed Marten.

The Dark Night Marten stared at the vampire light-shadow, its six eyes beginning to flicker with strange brilliance; suddenly, its forehead slowly split open, revealing a fist-sized pitch-black eyeball, from which a black ray of light shot out.

In the blink of an eye, the black ray hit the vampire light-shadow.

The next moment, the vampire light-shadow twisted violently, finally shattering and turning into a blood-colored aura, flying away in one direction.

"Chase it!"

Ning Bizhen took the lead, immediately embracing the Dark Night Marten and mounting the Green-Eyed Golden-Eyed Beast, chasing after the blood-colored aura.

The others hurriedly summoned their Demon Pets and chased after them together.

As soon as everyone caught up, their expressions changed; it turned out that after being exposed to the sunlight, this blood-colored aura was like encountering a nemesis, beginning to dissolve rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At this speed, it was feared that in at most one or two minutes, the blood-colored aura would dissipate.

"Heiye, activate the Night Curtain trait!" Li Zhangsheng, riding Aixi, gave the order to Heiye flying in the air.

Meow~

A pitch-black night curtain spread rapidly from Heiye's body, covering a radius of a hundred meters in the blink of an eye, encompassing the blood-colored aura within it.

The night curtain blocked the sunlight, and the blood-colored aura was clearly much more stable. Although it was still dissolving, the speed of dissolution was much slower than before.

As Heiye moved, the night curtain also moved, never letting the blood-colored aura escape its coverage.

At the same time, Heiye activated the Dark Vision Aura; a pitch-black halo appeared under everyone's feet, and even in the night curtain environment, their vision would not be affected much.

The blood-colored aura was not slow, and in less than a minute, it left the Li Family Manor and flew towards the direction of Heze Town.

Heze Town was not very far from the Li Family Manor, only about twenty li away; at the speed of the blood-colored aura, it would arrive in about five or six minutes.

However, Heiye's Night Curtain trait could only be maintained for about three minutes.

When three minutes passed, the night curtain disappeared, and the blood-colored aura was once again exposed to the sunlight.

"Heiye, Night Curtain Art!" Li Zhangsheng had no choice but to hurriedly command Heiye to cast Night Curtain Art, blocking the sunlight again.

However, Night Curtain Art would not move with Heiye; when the blood-colored aura left the range of the Night Curtain Art, it would continue to be exposed to the sunlight, and the key was that Night Curtain Art required about a half-minute 'cooldown' time.

"Terror Wolf, Night Curtain Art!"

Seeing that the blood-colored aura was about to leave the range of the Night Curtain Art, at this moment, Li Wenbo's voice rang out; the Terror Wolf under his crotch hurriedly spat out a large cloud of black mist, shrouding the hundred meters ahead in darkness.

"Everyone, hurry and summon your Demon Pets that have comprehended Night Curtain Art; listen to my orders later and take turns casting!" Li Wenbo's voice rang out, reminding the nearly ten Clan Elders who were chasing together.

These Clan Elders almost all had darkness-type Demon Pets, and Night Curtain Art was a relatively popular darkness-type skill; they gathered a total of five, plus Li Zhangsheng's Heiye, Li Wenbo's Terror Wolf, and Ning Bizhen's Dark Night Marten, barely managing to continuously cover the sunlight through coordination.

Just like this, the group traveled another few li, and the low city walls of Heze Town were already visible in the distance.

Suddenly, the blood-colored aura flew towards a farmstead located outside Heze Town.

Without any hesitation, they followed the blood-colored aura and forcibly charged into the farmstead.

"Who dares to trespass on this farmstead!"

At this moment, a vigorous voice resounded, and a big man wearing a headband stepped out of the house with a dragon-like and tiger-like gait; this was a Third-rank Royal Beast Master.

However, just as the big man left the room, he was within the coverage of the Night Curtain Art, and his vision was clearly affected.

"What is going on?" The big man was a bit panicked and hurriedly summoned several Demon Pets.

"He is Lin Hetu's son, Lin Wang, catch him quickly!" Seeing the big man's appearance, the External Affairs Hall Elder showed a look of astonishment and hurriedly shouted to the several Clan Elders who hadn't helped.

Lin Hetu is the current Clan Leader of the Lin Family, famous for over twenty years, and also the only Fourth-rank Demon Tamer in the Lin Family since the fall of the Great Clan Elder.

Li Changsheng looked at Lin Wang, vaguely sensing that the vampire was related to the Lin Family.

Lin Wang's vision was affected by the Night Curtain, and his own strength was greatly reduced; with several Clan Elders protected by the Dark Vision Aura, capturing Lin Wang alive was not difficult at all.

While several Clan Elders were ganging up on Lin Wang, a blood-colored aura rushed into a house and finally burrowed into a blood-colored coffin.

Clang— Clang—

It was also at this moment that a dull sound came from inside the blood-colored coffin, and the coffin lid began to move violently.

"Who, who is disturbing my slumber!" An angry voice came from within the blood-colored coffin, and an aura of slaughter began to permeate the air.

Rattle—

When Ning Bizhen was the first to enter, the coffin lid could no longer be held down and flew straight out; immediately after, a blood-colored figure moved like a ghost, attacking Ning Bizhen at extreme speed.

But when it sensed Ning Bizhen's powerful aura, its expression changed abruptly, its footsteps immediately shifted, and it rushed toward the window to the side.

Can't afford to provoke her, better to leave first!

"Death Entanglement!" Ning Bizhen shouted softly, and the Dark Night Mink in her arms opened its mouth to spray a black light.

The black light seemed to transform into a pitch-black snake, wrapping around the vampire's body before it could reach the window.

The vampire's expression changed drastically, but it was an Elite Spirit Beast and naturally could not just sit and wait for capture; it immediately turned into a puff of blood mist, transformed into a flock of bats, and flew in all directions.

Unfortunately, this was a sealed room, which greatly reduced the deceptive nature of the bats the vampire had turned into; these bats could only split into two groups, drilling toward the door and the window respectively.

Mind Shock!

At this moment, Li Changsheng entered the room, and the Black Night he was holding in his arms opened its mouth to let out a cat's cry that struck directly at the mind.

Meow—

Accompanied by the shrill cat's cry, the vast majority of the bats vanished into blood mist, leaving only one bat flying toward the window, and this bat was also affected by Mind Shock, falling into confusion.

That was the true form of the vampire.

Bang—

The bat did not rush out of the window but crashed straight into the wall next to the window, making a muffled sound; immediately after, the bat turned back into a puff of blood mist, reforming into the vampire.

By the time Li Wenbo and the several Clan Elders entered the room, the vampire had already been captured alive.

"This is a Vampire Count!" Ning Bizhen took a look and recognized the identity of this vampire from the details.

At this moment, Li Changsheng also obtained the data on the Vampire Count.

【Spirit Beast Name】: Vampire (Mature Stage, Intermediate Exotic Beast)

【Spirit Beast Realm】: Elite 9th Rank

【Spirit Beast Race】: Low-level Commander

【Spirit Beast Quality】: Mid-grade

【Spirit Beast Bloodline】: Cain (Pure)

【Spirit Beast Attribute】: Darkness

【Spirit Beast Status】: Seriously injured

【Spirit Beast Weakness】: Light

Cain is the ancestor of vampires, possessing unfathomable abilities.

Li Wenbo inspected the Vampire Count and suddenly said in a deep voice: "That's not right, even a Vampire Count couldn't digest the entire blood essence of two Demon Tamers this quickly. Speak, where did that blood essence go?"

Unlike ordinary Spirit Beasts, humanoid Spirit Beasts like vampires, angels, giants, elves, and sea folk have voices similar to humans, and if they stay with humans for a long time, they often learn human language.

"I don't know!" The Vampire Count turned its head to the side, looking as if it would rather die than speak.

At this moment, Li Changsheng also summoned Baitian.

"Give it a shot of Light Dispersion first!"

Meow—

Baitian let out a soft, sweet cat's cry, and its whole body began to shine brightly; sacred light elements began to fill the entire room.

Heiye, the Dark Night Mink, and other Darkness-type Spirit Beasts hurriedly left the room; for Darkness-type Spirit Beasts, even auxiliary Light-type skills would cause significant harm.

Unlike ordinary Darkness-type Spirit Beasts, vampires are even more afraid of Light-type energy, finding it more painful than being roasted on a fire rack.

Under the holy light of Light Dispersion, the Vampire Count was like a burning candle, and its handsome, evil face began to show signs of melting.

"Ah, ah, ah—"

The Vampire Count rolled on the ground in pain, but this could not alleviate its suffering in the slightest.

After two or three breaths, Baitian stopped emitting light, but the room was still filled with Light-type energy that the Vampire Count loathed, as well as a burnt smell.

Li Changsheng stepped on the Vampire Count and said condescendingly: "I'll give you one more chance to organize your words!"

"Bring him up!"

It was also at this moment that the several Clan Elders brought up the listless Lin Wang; under the siege of the several Clan Elders, Lin Wang didn't even have a chance to run away before being easily captured alive.

The Vampire Count and Lin Wang stared at each other, their eyes filled with despair.

How did you get caught too!

This was the shared thought of both.

"I'll talk, I'll talk, just hope you can spare my life!" The Vampire Count finally caved, the desire for life overcoming everything else.

"Dracula, you coward..."

Lin Wang cursed loudly, Li Wenbo waved his hand, and several Clan Elders dragged him out of the room.

"You may speak."

"I am Lin Hetu's Demon Pet!"

The Vampire Count's first sentence shocked everyone, while at the same time, excited smiles appeared in their eyes.

During this period, low-tier Demon Tamers were being sucked into dried corpses every day, leaving Luo City in a state of panic; the culprit turned out to be Lin Hetu's Demon Pet—the Vampire Count!

This is equivalent to the Li Clan grasping a fatal weakness of Lin Hetu—no, it should be said, the lifeblood of the Lin Family. In this past month, dozens of low-tier Demon Tamers have been drained of their blood and died by the Vampire Count, and among them were many with influence; how could the forces behind them let go of the chance for revenge?

The Li Clan capturing the true culprit is almost equivalent to holding the moral high ground; they can fully utilize this incident to make a move, to do things they wanted to do before but couldn't, and at the very least, they can severely damage the Lin Family.

Two or three months ago, the Lin Family ambushed and killed two Clan Elders of the Li Clan, but the Li Clan subsequently also schemed against three Clan Elders, including the Great Clan Elder of the Lin Family.

Additionally, under the denunciation and request of Instructor Qian Yuanfei from Yuanling Academy, the Pengcheng Governor's Office severely punished the Lin Family, forcing the Lin Family to pull strings high and low, spending a large amount of resources and favors to finally gloss over this crisis.

Who would have thought that the Lin Family helmsman, Lin Hetu, still hadn't learned his lesson, actually letting his Demon Pet, the Vampire Count, suck the blood and Qi of low-tier Demon Tamers all over Luo City.

"Why absorb so much fresh blood? Why do you only target low-tier Demon Tamers?" Li Wenbo's question hit the key point.

It is said that after every blood-sucking, a vampire does not need to feed again for several days, and the blood of both humans and livestock works, but this Vampire Count is something else; it is active almost every night, and its targets for blood-sucking are still low-tier Demon Tamers.

Since when did vampires become so picky!

It is impossible for Lin Hetu to be unaware; he released this Vampire Count to suck blood, and he must have a motive.

The Vampire Count was silent for a moment, but seeing that there seemed to be another move to be made during the day, it hurriedly said: "My master asked me to cooperate with Lin Wang, and ordered us to collect a large amount of Demon Tamer blood. As for the purpose, it seems to be to water a blood-red tree."

Without a doubt, this is a spineless vampire!

"Using the blood of Demon Tamers to water a blood-red tree!" Those present who heard this fell into deep thought, pondering the identity of the blood-red tree and Lin Hetu's true purpose.

"If there are no surprises, that should be a Blood Luo Fruit Tree!" Ning Bizhen is the most learned person present; this has nothing to do with age. Having been at Yuanling Academy for seven years, she naturally has read a vast amount of literature.

As for Li Zhangsheng, his accumulation of knowledge naturally cannot be mentioned in the same breath as Ning Bizhen's.

Li Wenbo asked respectfully: "Blood Luo Fruit Tree, I ask Instructor Ning to enlighten us a little!"

"The Blood Luo Fruit Tree is a type of special demonic plant, and its growth conditions are extremely harsh; only by watering it with the blood of a large number of Demon Tamers can a Blood Luo Fruit be born. The Blood Luo Fruit can assist Demon Pets in breaking through bottlenecks, and it is only useful for Demon Pets below the Demon King realm. Because it is too harmful to natural harmony, the Blood Luo Fruit Tree is currently almost extinct on the continent; I didn't expect there to be one here!"

Ning Bizhen was like a repeater, restating the content she had seen in the literature.

Assisting Demon Pets in breaking through bottlenecks, and being effective for Demon Pets below the Demon King realm—this is truly precious.

Li Wenbo's heart was as clear as a mirror; he could guess Lin Hetu's purpose in doing this, fearing it was to become a Fifth-tier Beastmaster or for some other purpose.

The reason Lin Hetu was so urgent, not hesitating to risk danger to achieve his goal, was mainly related to Li Zhangsheng.

More than a month ago, Li Zhangsheng made a stunning appearance at the Academy Exchange Tournament, defeating multiple Fourth-rank Demon Tamers across ranks; he already fully possessed the strength of a Fourth-rank Demon Tamer, and not an ordinary Fourth-rank Demon Tamer at that.

In this way, not counting Li Haoqiong, the Li Clan was equivalent to possessing three Fourth-rank Demon Tamers; their prestige grew daily, the momentum was set, and even County-level Clans took the initiative to befriend them.

Looking at the Lin Family, after the death of the Great Clan Elder, only Lin Hetu remained as a Fourth-rank Demon Tamer; a single tree cannot support a house.

The top-tier power of both sides had completely lost its balance, and with the rapid growth of the Li Clan Four Heroes, the Li Clan would only become more powerful. Given the conflicts between the two sides over these years, it was already a relationship of life and death. If this continued, I fear it would not take a few years for the Lin Family's industries in Luo City to be completely squeezed out by the Li Clan, and the decline of the family would be unstoppable.

How could Lin Hetu, as the helmsman of the Lin Family, not be anxious in his heart? To break such a situation, he thought of two methods: either move the entire clan to another city, or become a Fifth-tier Beastmaster.

However, the Lin Family had operated in Luo City for over a hundred years; how could the family's industries be abandoned just by saying so? And even if they moved the entire clan to another city, they would inevitably be suppressed by the existing vested interests, and the situation would still be unfavorable for them.

Lin Hetu could only choose to risk himself; he still held onto a fluke in his heart, believing that as long as he became a Fifth-tier Beastmaster, there would be hope to turn the situation around.

However, the events of these past two days made Lin Hetu increasingly urgent. Not only was Instructor Ning Bizhen from Yuanling Academy staying temporarily at the Li Clan, but Li Haoqiong had also quietly become a Fifth-tier Beastmaster.

No matter how one looked at it, the situation was extremely unfavorable for the Lin Family. Lin Hetu knew very well in his heart that the Lin Family was already in a precarious state, with the danger of collapse at any time, which made Lin Hetu subconsciously speed up the rate of collecting blood.

As long as he became a Fifth-tier Beastmaster, the Lin Family could at the very least form a sufficient deterrent against the Li Clan, and could better implement the strategy of moving the entire clan.

Unfortunately, under the joint efforts of Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen, the Li Clan worked together to capture Lin Wang and the Vampire Count, and the Vampire Count happened to be easily frightened, directly blurting out Lin Hetu's plan.

"Wahahaha, heaven-made sins can be forgiven, but self-made sins cannot be lived with; the Lin Family is truly finished this time!" Upon learning the effect of the Blood Luo Fruit Tree, Li Wenbo immediately burst into loud laughter.

Even if the Lin Family exhausted their wealth and pulled strings high and low, they could not stop the downfall of the Lin Family.

This time, the Li Clan held the moral high ground. As long as they announced Lin Hetu's plan, the Lin Family would surely face a situation where everyone pushes a falling wall. Conversely, the Li Clan would gain a large amount of assistance; those forces whose Demon Tamers were killed by the Vampire Count would definitely assist the Li Clan in beating the dog that had fallen into the water.

The problem Li Wenbo had to consider now was how to maximize the benefits.

"Let's go back first, take everyone in this manor away, don't let a single one go, and try not to leak the news!"

Under Li Wenbo's command, everyone immediately took action. Perhaps for the sake of secrecy, there were only a dozen or so people in this manor in total, and they were all Lin Hetu's confidants.

After cleaning up the traces of the battle here, everyone rode large Flying Demon Pets back to the family.

When they returned to the family, Li Zhangsheng and Ning Bizhen saw a familiar figure; it was none other than Instructor He Yan!

The three of them exchanged pleasantries for a while. Just as Li Zhangsheng expected, upon receiving the news, Instructor He Yan had impatiently rushed to the Li Family Manor to find Li Haoqiong.

Ning Bizhen took the opportunity to introduce Instructor He Yan to the Li Clan's high-level members. Although Instructor He Yan was very anxious in her heart, she remained calm on the surface, patiently chatting with the Li Family's high-level members for a while.

In Instructor He Yan's view, she would have many opportunities to deal with the Li Family in the future.

Upon learning of Instructor He Yan's intent, Li Wenbo's heart was as clear as a mirror. His eyes rolled, and he smiled and said to Li Zhangsheng: "Zhangsheng, we still have important matters; you take Instructor He Yan to find that kid Haoqiong first!"

"Yes, Instructor He Yan, please this way!"

Li Zhangsheng invited Instructor He Yan to his own small courtyard, with Ning Bizhen trailing behind, wearing a conflicted expression.

She knew her close friend very well; seeing Instructor He Yan's impatient look, it was clear she was still thinking of Li Haoqiong.

If Instructor He Yan and Li Haoqiong got back together, and she and Li Zhangsheng ended up together, then what would happen to the seniority of both sides?

I treat you as a friend, but you want to be my aunt!

For this book, I try my best to avoid various "poison points"; even if there really are any, they will be explained in the text, thank you!

Of course, occasionally there will be plot points that haven't been considered thoroughly; it is mainly because web novels are too rushed, and there isn't much time to consider.

Today's goal: Three, Pig, Proof!

(End of this chapter)