Nobody expected the Rain of Corrosion to suddenly start falling in the sky above the Capital of Blood.
The Rain of Corrosion was a special natural phenomenon whose effects were completely aimed at living creatures. Creatures without flesh and blood like plants or dead things like walls wouldn't be affected.
When living creatures came in contact with this rain, their souls would rot along with their flesh and blood, while undead creatures like skeleton soldiers were completely immune.
But it was extremely unfortunate that the people who would come to the Ceremony of Blood today hoping to become vampires naturally wouldn't be undead!
The Rain of Corrosion wasn't an unusual phenomenon in the Undead Kingdom. Many flying undead creatures could trigger this sort of disaster.
If one was unlucky, even a simple sneeze from a bone dragon that just happened to be flying over their head may trigger a Rain of Corrosion.
Of course, it was likely that even ordinary people would be able to withstand that degree of corrosion. The body's self-regulation ability would be enough to resist the corrosion.
But today's Rain of Corrosion even annihilated many powerful Tier 3 creatures as soon as a droplet touched them… This was clearly a spell cast by a Legend Rank powerhouse at full strength!
"Bring in the remaining four candidates," Bernoulli ordered with a dark expression as he stared at the mess outside.
The four "lucky ones," including Zhong Die, were quickly brought into the sanctuary hosting the Ceremony of Blood.
And this time, two more examiners—a man and a woman—had also joined Stanton and Bernoulli. They were none other than the examiners in charge of the final selection, but they also had ashen expressions.
Since this fiasco suddenly happened, their selection was no longer necessary. Now that less than nine candidates were left, of course all of them automatically advanced.
"All four of you have been selected. Come with me," Bernoulli sighed and spoke up.
Stanton's gaze fell on Zhong Die. Of course he recognized Zhong Die's face, but in the end, he didn't say anything and allowed Bernoulli to lead her away.
...
"I don't want the money anymore. I'll pretend I've never seen you guys before. Now hurry up and get lost!" Stanton glared at Lu Xinhuan resentfully and said fiercely.
Lu Xinhuan argued coldly, "Mr. Stanton, isn't this quite immoral of you? You'll have less than nine people no matter what you do, so it won't be a big deal for you to insist on disqualifying Zhong Die!"
She wasn't actually being unreasonable. Compared to the original plan of nine people, having only four or three remaining made no difference.
As long as Stanton insisted on it back then, Zhong Die could still be kicked out of the ranks of the inductees.
But the question was, why would Stanton do that?
"Are you crazy? That Rain of Corrosion was the work of a Legend Rank expert! Legend Rank, do you understand!?" Stanton's voice rose even higher.
A clear calculation went through his mind.
That rain was clearly the work of a mysterious expert attacking in secret. He'd still have justification if he kicked Zhong Die out before the rain, but if he mentioned kicking Zhong Die out right to her face, then wasn't that the same as exposing his ulterior motives?
Once Zhong Die held a grudge against him and convinced the Legend Rank powerhouse behind her to kill him, the clan wouldn't be able to protect him.
Of course, Stanton never could've imagined that Lu Xinhuan, who was standing in front of him right now, was also one of those Legend Rank experts he feared.
As for Lu Xinhuan, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She didn't expect this to be the deciding factor for Stanton.
Had she known this, she wouldn't have concealed her own power.
In fact, she didn't deliberately hide her power. It's just that Qinghe Realm established itself in the Myriad Heavens Universe through business, so Lu Xinhuan had long gotten accustomed to using money to solve all problems. The thought of using her own power to oppress people never even crossed her mind.
According to the norms that people in Qinghe Realm believed in, strength was only used for self-defense. Only a win-win situation achieved through commerce would be considered a successful business transaction.
But it was too late to say this now. Zhong Die had already been taken inside the sanctuary hosting the Ceremony of Blood, and her name had been reported to the Raymond Clan, so Lu Xinhuan couldn't even abduct her anymore.
In reality, Lu Xinhuan also prepared a backup plan in case Stanton couldn't keep his end of the bargain.
But that backup plan was for the final stage of the selection. Who would've thought that Gu Nan would pull the carpet out from right under her feet, turning all of Lu Xinhuan's preparations into a joke?
When Lu Xinhuan walked out of the sanctuary, her expression was even uglier than Stanton and the others earlier.
She would never allow Zhong Die to just willfully become a vampire.
Not to mention the fact that vampires completely belonged to the ranks of "monsters" in her mind, the mere fact that this kind of race was unique to the World of Gods was utterly unacceptable to her.
This was the daughter of the esteemed Star Ruler of Qinghe Realm!
She wouldn't even allow Zhong Die to marry into any family here, let alone become a monster that only belonged here!
"Miss Lu." Du Ke stood beside Lu Xinhuan and whispered, "Our main base is in Skeleton City, which isn't very far from here. Should we…?"
But Lu Xinhuan glared at him. "Don't tell me you forgot what the rules of our Qinghe Realm are!"
Du Ke's expression couldn't help dimming. Of course he knew what rule Lu Xinhuan was referring to. It was a rule personally set by Star Ruler Zhong Qinghe.
When dealing with the outside world, the people from Qinghe Realm could choose to be honorable or sinister, but they mustn't voluntarily use military force.
Zhong Qinghe's law was business, so he maintained that everything in the world could be solved with money.
If money couldn't solve something, then it must be because they didn't spend enough money yet, or the money wasn't spent cleverly enough.
"After being chosen, it'll take at least two more months for her to actually receive the siring. We still have a chance," Lu Xinhuan quickly calmed herself and said rationally.
She had already set aside all the matters in Skeleton City and her purpose in coming to the World of Gods. Right now, she was just determined to "rescue" Zhong Die.
"Since we can't stop her from joining the Raymond clan…" A sharp glint appeared in Lu Xinhuan's eyes. "Then we'll buy the Raymond clan!"
...
"Big Brother Gu Nan, I did it!" Zhong Die ran around the room excitedly, occasionally tugging on Gu Nan's sleeves or gulping down a large mouthful of blood drink.
Ever since she came to the Capital of Blood, her blood fetish had been getting worse and worse, and her daily intake of liquids was almost all blood.
"Two months of blood diet—this shouldn't be a problem for you. Pick Christina for your sire," Gu Nan said as he looked at Zhong Die expressionlessly.
Becoming a noble vampire didn't just mean finding a random vampire to bite her.
Although vampires were indeed this casual about the development of descendants in the ancient times, when it came to a clan with this much status, they more or less had to be a little more careful with their selection.
This caution was shown in the requirement that after becoming a vampire candidate, Zhong Die needed to go on a blood diet for over two months before she could accept the siring.
The so-called blood diet was to intake all of one's daily nutrition needs through drinking blood.
At first, nutrients would be put in the blood, then slowly replaced with pure blood until the candidate's body had completely adapted to the blood diet. Only then would they be allowed to accept the siring.
This process varied from person to person, but it would normally take two to four months, which was how the blood diet ritual came to be.