After Xue Ji got her hands on the fragment of the boundary monument, she rushed back to the ancient forest secret realm without stopping.
This thing was sealed with holy magic, but it was still leaking out clouds of blood mist.
Beneath the sacred tree, golden-veined leaves swirled around Xue Ji, and some kind of protective power enveloped her.
The small incarnation of the Monarch Deer stood guard by her side.
“I’ll go in first and take a look.”
“Be careful.”
Xue Ji entered the space within the boundary monument fragment. Inside this little world, the bloodthirsty aura carried who knows what kind of mountain of corpses and sea of blood.
The moment she entered, the ouroboros mark on her right hand reappeared. The snake seemed to come alive, swallowing a small part of its own tail.
Xue Ji felt something and looked at the back of her right hand.
Still, there was nothing there.
What is this feeling of being guided by someone?
She didn’t have time to dwell on it—she had already arrived at the small world inside the boundary monument.
Strangely enough, there was no mountain of corpses or sea of blood as she had expected. Instead, it was a pastoral scene.
The borders of this small world were thick, dense fog.
In the distance, a tall Gothic castle was incredibly eye-catching. Above the castle, a thick cloud of blood mist hung, which was clearly where the blood mist was leaking from.
[Go save her.]
That ethereal, holy voice appeared again.
“Save who?”
The voice didn’t answer her question. After thinking it over carefully, Xue Ji decided she still needed to go check it out.
The leaf-vein protection around her hadn’t been used up yet. So why not give it a try?
Xue Ji stepped onto a country path.
The moment she set foot on it, this small world, which had been as still as still water, suddenly became inhabited. People came and went, living their lives in fast-forward, as if time had accelerated.
Xue Ji was just a passerby and couldn’t communicate with them.
With every step she took, this world grew a little larger. What had been just a small village expanded into a town.
The village was already behind her. By the roadside, a down-and-out knight clutched his bleeding right hand, looking like he was in great pain.
He was covered in wounds, as if someone had beaten him badly. His face was bruised and swollen.
“You won’t hurt my master again! This time, I’ll die before I let you through!” Without any explanation, he blocked Xue Ji’s path and drew his longsword with his left hand, pointing it straight at her.
His speed was nearly teleportation-like. Before Xue Ji could react, the sword came flying at her instantly.
“So fast!”
A golden leaf-vein pattern materialized in front of Xue Ji to block it, but it hit nothing. Her spiritual energy shield happened to be just one size larger, stopping the sword strike ahead of time.
Even though the knight’s attack speed was impossibly fast, its actual power was no different from a normal-speed slash.
“You scared me. How are you that fast?”
“Huh? That’s a woman’s voice. You’re not that vampire?”
“What’s with that look? And you just swing your sword at me without even knowing what’s going on!” Xue Ji pulled out her staff, ready to defend herself.
The knight lifted his helmet and squinted as he studied her. The middle-aged face under the helmet looked a little weathered. Probably due to blood loss, his complexion was rather pale.
“I’m sorry, Miss Mage. My eyesight isn’t good.” He gave a knightly bow, which was actually quite proper.
This nearsighted old knight fumbled around on himself for a bit and finally pulled out a gleaming golden wheat-ear crown.
“Is this some kind of rich move? Solid gold?”
Xue Ji looked at the scruffy, bearded old knight in disbelief.
“Miss Mage, you’re truly powerful. In the name of the Ryder family, I ask you to lend me your strength. Consider this my apology.”
“Sir Knight, you’re not just trying to apologize, are you?”
Xue Ji could tell that this wheat-ear crown was an enchanted item, and a high-tier one at that.
“You’re right. I won’t hide it from you. A powerful vampire broke in earlier and seized the castle.”
“My master is sleeping inside the castle, but now it’s become very dangerous, overrun with the pawns of that vile bloodline. Please, help me rescue my master.”
“If you agree, I promise you’ll be handsomely rewarded once we succeed.”
This felt incredibly familiar—like some kind of hidden quest.
“Um, since that guy took over the castle, is your master okay?”
Hearing this, the knight proudly straightened his back and said, “My former master was also a powerful mage. The things he left behind are more than enough to protect the young lady.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Xue Ji cast a healing spell on him, and the old knight’s right hand was restored.
“Thank you, Miss Mage.”
The old knight led the way, the clanking of his armor mingling with the sound of the wind.
……
“Charge! Charge!” The old knight spotted the remaining blood kin lurking in front of the castle. Like a cat that had seen a mouse, he charged at them with great enthusiasm.
His figure darted and weaved, but not a single vampire was taken down.
His strength was just too weak.
“Sir Knight, please get behind me,” Xue Ji warned.
An ordinary fireball—but a super-enhanced version.
Xue Ji launched a fist-sized fireball. As it flew through the air, it kept expanding, finally turning into a giant fireball with a five-meter radius.
BOOM!
Over thirty blood kin turned to ash on the spot.
The few that remained tried to run, but vines rose up from the ground and wrapped tightly around them.
“Holy moly!”
Explosive fruits grew on the vines. Struggling against their bonds set off a huge explosion, completely cremating those creatures.
It had been a long time since Xue Ji had anything go this smoothly.
“Oh, my goodness! Your magic is incredibly powerful! Could you be a teacher from the Mage Tower?”
“The Mage Tower? You know about the Mage Tower?”
“Of course I do. But ever since this place got surrounded by this endless fog, we haven’t been able to get out.”
That meant this place was once connected to the other world where Xue Ji was. It only became like this after the boundary monument shattered.
There were plenty of strange things here worth exploring, but rescuing someone came first.
The knight led her as they charged into the castle. The entire first floor was filled with headless knights that were in the process of regenerating. Generally, only mages above the advanced level could create these kinds of armored monsters.
The castle’s former owner really had been a powerful mage.
But even these headless knights were no match for Cain.
As they stepped onto the staircase, Xue Ji couldn’t feel where the stairs ended.
The knight climbed a few steps, then noticed Xue Ji hadn’t followed. He tried to come back down to wait for her. But as he walked back, the distance between them never shrank.
‘There’s spatial magic on these stairs. Interesting.’
Going forward meant endless steps; going back meant staying in place.
Xue Ji’s curiosity was piqued. Even though she knew it was a trap, she wanted to go in and experience it for herself.