Back in Skeleton City, Lu Xinhuan was already swamped with work. She had her hands full handling some matters here and also taking care of the little baggage she brought out of the house.
"Big Sis Lu, when are we going to the Capital of Blood?!" Zhong Die was like a real butterfly[1], jumping up and down inside the room and fluttering all around Lu Xinhuan.
Lu Xinhuan rubbed her forehead helplessly. "The Ceremony of Blood will not start for another fifteen days. It's useless even if you go there now…"
"I don't care, I don't care! I want to see the vampire big sisters!" Zhong Die made a face like she had nothing left to live for. "This stupid Skeleton City just has skeletons everywhere. I'm bored to death!"
To be fair, as a gathering place for skeleton-type undead, Skeleton City had everything from skeleton soldiers to bone dragons, so there actually were interesting things here.
But Zhong Die came all the way from the Myriad Heavens Universe just to see the vampires described in novels, so how could she be happy about wasting time to look at skeletons?
The little Zhong Die was quite young, but she wasn't too weak and had steadily stepped into Prodigious Realm. However, she was still addicted to romance novels and was especially passionate about the subject of vampires.
But to sneak into the World of Gods just because of her love of vampire-themed novels—now that was a little insane.
What puzzled Lu Xinhuan even more was that Zhong Die's inscrutable father, Zhong Qinghe, actually agreed to the plan without another word and even personally formulated a route to smuggle his daughter into the World of Gods.
'This is probably just how Star Rulers are…' Lu Xinhuan could only attribute the cause to this.
But Zhong Qinghe's attitude was also the reason Lu Xinhuan dared to bring Zhong Die here, or else how could she have the guts to abduct a Star Ruler's daughter?
"Let's do this then: I'll have Du Ke take you to the Capital of Blood for a stroll first. But you must listen to him, do you understand?" Lu Xinhuan stared at Zhong Die seriously.
"I'll definitely be good!" The little girl looked like she was cheering excitedly.
...
Gu Nan was already walking in the streets of the Capital of Blood, the vampire clan's central city. It was a rare prosperous location within the Undead Kingdom.
No matter how gorgeous Skeleton City was, there was always a lifeless atmosphere about it, but the Capital of Blood was different.
Here, vampire girls in skimpy outfits, human girls kept in captivity by vampires, and necromancers wrapped in black robes could be seen everywhere.
Of course the Undead Kingdom didn't only contain the undead. This place was called an abandoned main plane only because it was barren and desolate in terms of faith, but it wasn't actually abandoned.
And the Capital of Blood was the gathering place of this plane's living beings. Even among the necromancers, who universally had eccentric characters, not everyone was willing to deal with corpses all day.
In contrast, of course the necromancers would much rather prefer the powerful and beautiful vampires as servants!
Gu Nan also thought so.
If he was looking for servants anyhow, vampires were undoubtedly the better choice. Being easy on the eyes was one aspect. On the other hand, their characteristics of high agility and high attack were also more suited for raiding Crescent Moon World's dungeon.
At the same time, vampires also possessed fairly good self-regeneration. Besides their lackluster defense and the fear of light, they were basically a weakened version of the Evil God physique.
There was only one vampire clan in the Capital of Blood. They had the surname "Raymond," which wasn't quite the same as the legends from Gu Nan's previous life.
But backstories were never of interest to Gu Nan. He still remembered how to trigger the mission to subdue vampires—that was enough.
A few moments later, Gu Nan had changed his attire and was wandering the streets of the Capital of Blood once again.
He was dressed in a long silver-gray trench coat, riding a dark-red nightmare beast whose four hooves were aflame. He looked like an unruly wastrel.
"Mister Knight, want to buy flowers?" A timid voice rang in Gu Nan's ears. It was a girl in a short skirt with light makeup on her face.
Her hands were completely empty, not at all like a girl selling flowers, but she looked at Gu Nan expectantly.
In the Capital of Blood, buying and selling flowers didn't refer to real flowers, but to the blood of virgins.
"What flowers are there?" Gu Nan asked calmly on the surface while thinking, 'It's here!'
The Capital of Blood had strict laws that prohibited vampires from sucking the blood of strangers at will, but there were always vampires who came out to find stimulation.
Gu Nan's current attire resembled a down-and-out vampire who had a little money and couldn't afford high-quality blood slaves, so he could only come here to sate his cravings.
The young girl's eyes lit up when she heard Gu Nan's answer. "Copper flowers, beast flowers, whispering flowers—I have them all!"
These were code words among the people and referred to humans, therianthropes, and half-elves, respectively.
"Is there a deathly crimson safflower?" Gu Nan's cold voice rang out, causing the young girl to freeze slightly.
Deathly crimson safflower was a species of flower unique to the Undead Kingdom, and in this city, it specifically referred to vampire maidens.
Vampires were able to suck the blood of other vampires, but doing so wouldn't give their bodies the necessary nutrients, so this was done purely for the pleasure of sucking blood.
To put it simply, the usual blood-sucking was like eating—it satisfied a physiological need for the vampires—while sucking blood from other vampires was like taking drugs. It could bring extra pleasure, but it was also a taboo.
The flower girl looked at Gu Nan with a strange gaze. No matter how one looked at it, a small-time "dealer" like her didn't seem like she could possibly have high grade goods like deathly crimson safflowers, so why would the other party ask this?
But the greed inside her heart didn't allow her to ponder this any longer—because coincidentally enough, she really did have a "deathly crimson safflower" in her hand.
...
Gu Nan sat alone in a dimly lit room. A somewhat messy bed was in front of him.
Knock, knock, knock.
The knocks on the door were neither too light nor too heavy, revealing the person's good upbringing, but the last two knocks seemed a bit rushed, revealing the apprehension in her heart.
"Come in."
Accompanied by Gu Nan's voice, a young girl in a long black dress walked in. Her white undergarments could still be seen under the gauze dress.
"My Lord." The maiden in a black dress saluted respectfully, trying to look less nervous. "You can call me—"
"Shana, that's your name, isn't it?" Gu Nan showed a faint smile and said softly.
"Who… Who are you?!" Shana only felt a chill in her heart as her original nervousness exploded out all at once; even her voice trembled slightly.
'He actually knows my identity… Don't tell me my family found out about what I'm doing and sent him to punish me?'
"No need to be nervous. As you can see, I am a prophet." Gu Nan said with a smile, "You seem to be very short on money, which is why you snuck out with hopes of raising money by selling your blood to other vampires?"
Shana's gaze took on some coldness, as well as some wariness, as she whispered, "Yes."
The prophet class indeed existed in this world, but Shana was completely unable to trust the other party.
"Someone killed your parents, and you want to take revenge?"
"You want to become the world's greatest vampire and rule the Capital of Blood?"
"You—"
"That's enough!" Shana interrupted icily, "I don't know where you learned about my identity and past, but don't even think about using these to tease me!"
Gu Nan showed a noncommittal expression, but the faint smile on his face remained unchanged. "Your older brother will soon make his move against you. I'll find you again before the Ceremony of Blood starts."
Shana, however, just gave him a fierce glare, then got up and practically ran out of the room.
Gu Nan also walked out afterwards. The "flower" girl was guarding the door—she couldn't afford to be careless with such an expensive deal involving a deathly crimson safflower.
"So fast?" She looked at Gu Nan suspiciously. The latter didn't seem to have any blood on the corners of his lips. "Pay up now that you're done. Don't renege now!"
After saying this, the figures of several men walked out from behind her, each with a scimitar at his waist. They were actually the Drow Swordfighters well-known in the underworld.
In this kind of narrow terrain, Drow Swordfighters could bring out 200% of their combat power.
"Okay." Gu Nan nodded with a light smile.
The next instant, several shadows swooped out of the ground and instantly submerged these people along with the flower-selling girl.
"Killing the shopkeeper is a good habit," Gu Nan muttered words only he could understand while walking outside.
[1] Zhong Die's first name (Die) means butterfly