The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 476

Chapter 476: White Flame

 

The party faced-off against the female demon hunter named White Flame. The tension was palpable. Hao Ren never thought he would run into one there, but after listening to what White Flame had to say, he could guess why she was present: To deal with the vengeful spirit.

A thin layer of Blood Mist surrounded Vivian. Under the blowing snow, Blood Mist held up like a solid barrier. She eyed the demon hunter with caution. “What are you doing here… Do you want to fight all of us?”

“I’m here to hunt.” Even with the rather hostile looks everyone was throwing at her, White Flame was unperturbed. “The spirit haunting this castle is my prey. As for fighting… that’s just a waste of strength, so nope. The spirit here is much more troublesome than expected. I advise that the lot of you don’t needlessly waste your strength, or else you won’t get out of here alive.”

Vivian was stunned. “Huh?! You don’t want to fight? Don’t all demon hunters have the unstoppable urge to kill any otherworlding they come across?”

White Flame looked at Vivian quietly. “That’s usually the case, but there’s no need for that today. Because chances are, we’ll all die here. I’ve been stalking my prey for almost two days in this ungodly place and you guys just ruined the only chance I had. So, let’s just figure out how to deal with that thing. Or else we’ll all perish here. There’s no other way.”

Hao Ren felt that this demon hunter was the only one trapped there. As for him and his gang, well… they could just have the MDT teleport them out of the place. Hence, the distorted dimension was nothing too big for them. However, that was just inner monologue. Nangong Wuyue gave White Flame a surpised look. “Did I hear that correctly? You mean to work together with us? Since when did the demon hunters have a change of heart?”

White Flame nodded. “You can choose to believe it or not. I’ve been monitoring you guys for a while now, since you lot made your way in here. I feel like there’s a possibility to work together with your oddball team.” As she spoke, she shifted her gaze to Nangong Sanba. “Besides, you already have a demon hunter in your team, and it seems like you’ve worked together for a while now… I’m surprised to be honest. I’ve never heard of any demon hunter working together with otherworldlings myself. Which district are you from?”

Nangong Sanba’s expression was very complex. He had already begun to sweat the moment he saw the real demon hunter. He was trying to figure out a way to brush aside his half-baked demon hunter credentials. “That… Uh… Actually…”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.” White Flame shrugged. “So, what do you plan to do? Work together, or not? If we fight, I can’t beat all of you, but I’m sure I’ll be able to take a few of you down with me.”

Hao Ren could finally see the demon hunter for what she was. While she deserved a kudos for taking the effort to negotiate with a straight face, the lass did not even know the basics of diplomacy! Not only was she a poor reader of atmosphere, she had divulged matters that should have just kept under the lid. In fact , it was already problematic the moment she just walked out of her hiding spot with such gusto. She really believed that the group before her would not just turn on her the moment they saw her. Normal unusual creatures would have just leaped at the opportunity.

Vivian frowned as she looked at White Flame, as though she was trying to recall something. “Wait a minute… White Flame… I’ve heard this name before!”

“You know me?” White Flame tilted her head curiously.

“A genius and a prodigy.” Vivian slapped her forehead in realization. “Something I heard in one of my chats with Hesperides. One of the most talented demon hunters in her generation, and one of the few to have awakened the ancient bloodline abilities… That’s you right?”

White Flame nodded. “Yep, that’s me.”

“If we were to kill you here right now, it would be a big blow to the demon hunters.” Vivian bared her fangs in an attempt to intimidate the lass. “Aren’t you afraid that we’ll take you out at all costs? To be able to kill the only awakened one amongst the new generation of demon hunters, a few dead otherworldlings isn’t too high a price. Besides, you even disclosed your identity to us!”

A sense of realization suddenly appeared on White Flame’s face. “Ahhh, I never thought of that.” The weird demon huntress then rubbed her chin. “So that’s why the masters wouldn’t let me go on solo missions…”

Vivian was speechless.

Hao Ren sighed. “So be it. Vivian, you can drop the scary face. So… White Flame was it? I’m the captain here. We can work together.”

It was now White Flame’s turn to be surprised. “You’re willing to work with me? Even though you know who I am? Won’t killing me be more worth it?”

Hao Ren facepalmed. “Why do I keep meeting characters like this… When I say we’ll work together, I mean it, sp just cut the nonsense.”

“Okay, I’ll lead you to my hiding spot. I’ll let you know more about this spirit.”

White Flame turned as she led the party towards a certain direction. Hao Ren and the rest could only follow. Vivian and Wuyue were still in a daze, especially Vivian. It was almost as if she had just seen an exotic animal. As she looked at White Flame from behind, she poked Hao Ren in the back. “That… You really think we can work with a demon hunter, who’s just appeared out of nowhere?”

“I think it’s fine.” Hao Ren shrugged. “The MDT’s scan detects no killing intent from her hormones or mental signals. She’s still cautious though. You guys are natural enemies after all. But, don’t you find her a rather unique one compared to the usual demon hunters?”

“She is indeed different.” Vivian’s expression was rather languid. “I’ve never seen such a demon hunter in my life. She seems much more… easy-going than those wooden demon hunters?”

At the same time, White Flame turned back. Vivian, by instinct got ready to pull out a bat, but the former only just popped a question, “Mind if I ask? How did you guys even get around to working together?”

As she finished her sentence, her gaze turned towards Nangong Sanba. Her decision to work together with the unusual creatures stemmed from the fact that a demon hunter was already working together with them. However, she could not figure out how the group came into being.

Hao Ren rubbed his chin for a moment. “If I told you that it’s for world peace, would you believe me?”

“World peace? Such a beautiful sentiment. I never thought someone would be motivated by that.” White Flame nodded seriously. “That’s admirable.”

Hao Ren was speechless.

It seemed like this lady over here was even more innocent than Lily!

But it was understandable why White Flame lacked social skills. This was one of her rare training forays. As the only demon hunter with an awakened bloodline within several generations, she was sheltered from birth. Her childhood and youth were filled with nonstop training and study regiments. Interpersonal communication was not high on the priority list. Even if she went hunting, it was with an escort, or under the watch of senior demon hunters. As one of the rare prodigies, White Flame had no need to learn how to communicate. That was what her masters thought: all she needed to know was how to fight, anything else was a waste of time.

Under the tutelage of senior demon hunters, she hunted, fought, killed, and trained. Rinse and repeat, that was her schedule for a good part of her life.

This hunt in Siberia was a chance that she managed to grasp for herself. Even then, her tutors were hesitant at first. But after considering the fact that Siberia was rather sparsely populated, and it did not have any strong supernatural presence, they relented. Her masters would never have thought that she would run into a bunch of oddballs like Hao Ren!

“I hope you don’t mind if I ask,” Hao Ren spoke as he stared at White Flame’s back. “The spirit has been haunting the Andreas for 300 years, why did you guys wait until now to sent someone here?”

“Because there’s no need to clean this place up to begin with,” White Flame said without turning back. “I’m just here to train my hunting skills. This spirit isn’t on our kill list at all.”

Lily got agitated as she heard that. “No need? Why?”

“Because it’s harmless. The spirit is being sealed here.”

Hao Ren could not comprehend the flippant answer. “Harmless? Members of the Andrea Family have been dying off left, right, and center because of that thing.”

“It’s harmless, because it would never go somewhere populated. It’s trapped within this castle, and its radius of activity is limited, so it’s harmless,” Only then did White Flame turn around to explain. “When it does escape its captivity, we’ll exorcise it. This is the elder’s opinion, but I needed somewhere to train, so here I am.”

Hao Ren could not conjure up a response. “See how they are? That’s a demon hunter for you,” Vivian whispered into his ears.

Chapter 477: The Witch

 

White Flame was right. In the eyes of demon hunters, this vengeful spirit, which was sealed in the extreme northern part of Siberia was safe and harmless. Although a human family was experiencing unspeakable suffering due to the intrusion of this vengeful spirit, the demon hunters felt that those who summoned the evil spirit and incurred the scourge did not deserve sympathy. In fact, no humans in their eyes deserved sympathy. There were many reasons for their war against those creatures, but that did not include sympathy for ordinary human beings.

Their criterion for determining if an unusual creature was harmful depended on whether it had the potential to grow and threaten the organization of demon hunters. Apart from this reason, they rarely cared about other matters.

Therefore, they rarely disturbed the vengeful spirit. At least, they did not take the initiative to disturb the vengeful spirit. Most vengeful spirits appeared in inaccessible places anyway. Moreover, they were not sensible; they would not expand their territory or operate power. They were a strange existence between creature and natural phenomenon, hence one did not even have to treat them as “enemies”. Even if the people who were entangled with the vengeful spirit would rather die, the demon hunters would not care much about it.

The Andrea Family provoked this fearsome vengeful spirit 300 years ago. They had somehow managed to bind the vengeful spirit to the depths of their castle. Then, the ancestors of the family began to seek help from the dark world. They sought out those who knew witchcraft, the Church, and even turned to several unusual creatures. Of course, the demon hunters were aware of it, but they did not even bother to show up and ask about the matter.

The only thing the demon hunters were interested in was the fact that it had actually been stuck in the physical world for so long. In general, a vengeful spirit would not stay in the real world for a long time. They were “monsters born from nightmares”, and they belonged to some kind of underworld. So, a vengeful spirit would dissipate itself after causing havoc. However, the vengeful spirit trapped in the Andrea Castle’s underground had been entrenched there for 300 years. It could have been trapped in this place by some force under the castle; it could have also been the witch, who ordered this vengeful spirit to torment the descendants of the Andrea Family forever, to punish them for their disobedience. But in any case, this particular point had not attracted much attention from an orthodox organization like the demon hunters.

Nangong Sanba was the first demon hunter to meddle in this matter. The next day after Nangong Sanba was defeated by the vengeful, White Flame also arrived within the next second. If Nangong Sanba had taken action two days later, the two of them would have met.

Now, it seemed that White Flame did not know about Nangong Sanba’s fight with the vengeful spirit two days ago. Hao Ren refused to mention it as well.

“So, Igor doesn’t know you’re down here to help?” Hao Ren noticed that White Flame was leading the way without speaking, so he tried to find some topics of conversation to break the silence. “How did you get in here?”

“Igor? Oh, you mean the people who live in the castle… I’m not here to help them.” White Flame shrugged and continued, “Although I feel that they’re really… worthy of sympathy, my mentor has said that sympathy is not a rule of action for demon hunters. I just came here to find my prey, so I didn’t disturb the people in the castle. Oh, here we are.”

White Flame pointed to a place not far ahead. Hao Ren then noticed that they had left the area of the most violent storm. Before them was a tiny mound with a pure black building standing on it. The building was very strange. It had rough breaks and cuts on its four walls as if the whole house had been “ripped out” from a larger building. It was placed abruptly on the mound. Although it had man-made characteristics, with their weird surroundings, the whole atmosphere just looked particularly bizarre.

“This is part of the castle,” White Flame pointed to the rectangular room and said, “which was supposed to be a hall in the underground palace. It was torn from the castle and twisted into a different dimension created by the vengeful spirit. I suspect this house is the key part of the seal system, hence why it can be kept so intact. The vengeful spirit’s attention lingers near the house, but it never dares to get too close to this place: the perfect foothold.”

White Flame stepped forward to push the heavy iron gate of the strange house. Then, they heard a creaking sound. The room was dark. White Flame waved her hand gently and created some floating sparks in the air to illuminate their surroundings. Hao Ren saw that it was indeed a more spacious hall and from the gorgeous decoration, he could vaguely tell that it used to be the center of the underground palace. Only thing was, this place had become part of the different dimension under the erosion and distortion of the vengeful spirit. The hall was littered with piles of clutter and weird black debris, with only a small area in the middle of the hall being cleared out. It had been White Flame’s resting place for the past two days.

“Get yourself a place to rest.” White Flame walked up front and said, “The black matter is called Spiritsand. Those are casting materials that are very hard to get in the outside world.”

The second half of the sentence was meant for Nangong Sanba.

Lily heard that there were “good stones” she had never seen before. She immediately cheered and ran to explore it.

Hao Ren found a place and sat down directly. Looking up at White Flame, he curiously asked, “How much do you know about this castle and the spirit here? Let’s exchange information.”

White Flame sneaked into the underground palace without the knowledge of the Andrea Family, but she also collected a lot of information about the castle before she came. Through the demon hunters’ network of intelligence and the ancient books she had access to from third parties, she knew as much about the Andrea Family as Nangong Sanba, based on what he had read in the castle’s library. And the odd demon huntress did not seem to mind telling them what she knew. “I did look into something… Speaking of the origins of the vengeful spirit, we must mention the rise of the Andrea Family. Three hundred years ago, the family’s ancestor, along with another person worked for a witch. It was a very common thing in those days, but they betrayed the witch out of greed and conspired to steal two treasures belonging to the witch. One of the treasures, and the traitor who took it away were unable to be verified. We could only ascertain that the treasure stolen by the Andrea Family ancestors was ‘wealth’—”

Hao Ren initially thought that he would listen to the same legend he had heard from Nangong Sanba and Igor. In the end, it was quite the different story. He immediately interrupted, “Wait! You say the ancestors of the Andrea Family stole the treasure from the witch? It wasn’t inherited?”

“That’s what I know anyway.” White Flame nodded earnestly. “And to be honest, a witch is unlikely to give mortal servants any gifts. Throughout history, a witch who doesn’t end up taking away the soul of her servant is already considered kindhearted. So, the greatest possibility is that the ancestors of the Andrea Family, along with another human servant stole the treasures of the witch. The vengeful spirit is undoubtedly a punishment.”

“It’s unlikely that humans would summon the vengeful spirit. Such things cannot be summoned.” Nangong Wuyue also agreed and nodded. “So, Igor’s argument is obviously untenable. Chances are, the descendants of the Andrea Family altered the facts in order to flatter their ancestors. I think the vengeful spirit is probably related to the treasures they stole from the witch. That’s how they brought trouble upon themselves.”

Hao Ren touched his chin as he pondered. Then, he suddenly noticed that Vivian was in a daze. “What are you thinking about?” he asked curiously.

“I feel like…” As Vivian looked around the dilapidated hall, frowning, she said, “I feel like I’m forget—”

Before she could finish her words, Lily suddenly shouted, “Hey! Look, I found something here!”

Hao Ren quickly ran towards Lily. She pointed at the wall and said, “Look, there are portraits here too.”

There were some oval frames hanging on the wall and behind the frames were the images of the Andrea Family ancestors they had seen on the upper floor of the castle. Perhaps it was the particularity of the vengeful spirit’s dimension, because the portraits in these frames appeared to be very clear. However, there were only a few frames that could be found here. The underground palace had been closed for 200 years. Since the last member of the family, who could barely fight against the vengeful spirit died of madness, no one had ever sent a new family portrait to this hall. It was left alone until it was engulfed and assimilated into a distorted dimension. The place also retained its original condition when the last Andrea member left the house 200 years ago.

Two hundred years ago…

Hao Ren suddenly thought of something. He turned his head to the end of the hall at once. According to the structure he saw elsewhere in the castle, there should have been the most special portrait hanging there!

But, there was nothing there. There was only an empty wall where the image of the witch was supposed to be hung.

At this moment, Lily had also guessed what Hao Ren was thinking about. She ran to examine the wall carefully, and suddenly found that there were still traces of uneven colors on the wall. Apparently, something was hung there before.

Becky was a mercenary, who had the experience of exploring all kinds of ruins. Her understanding and intuition were surprisingly strong. Without waiting for Hao Ren, she already knew what to look for. She ran to the wall and rummaged around the Spiritsand that was stacked on the ground. Soon, she noticed something under the black gravel.

“Found it! Here it is!”

Becky shouted happily as she carefully pulled out the object from under the black gravel. It was a huge portrait, framed in a sturdy wooden frame, and the surface was even covered with an expensive layer of quartz to protect the painting.

Hao Ren recalled what Igor had said: During his great-grandfather’s generation, a family member dreamed of the witch’s phantom and fell from the castle, so all the portraits of the witch in the castle were covered with veils. From that day onwards, no one knew how the witch actually looked like.

However, there was still an original version of the witch’s portrait kept in the castle, in the depths of the castle, a different dimension, which had been sealed for 200 of years by the vengeful spirit.

Lily as well as Becky carefully swept the dust and gravel off the portrait. A good-looking girl appeared on the portrait…

Vivian.

“Oh, I remember!” the voice of the vampire maiden sounded behind them. “I used to live here!”

Chapter 478: The Truth

 

Hao Ren looked at the large portrait in front of him in a daze. A simple and heavy wooden frame, the edge was decorated with exquisite patterns and a gold pin. It was in a luxurious style, typical of the era of nobilities. From the decoration, anyone could see how special this portrait was to the Andrea Family. On the portrait was an elegant, young lady in a long, black dress. She stood in the midst of roses and the background had a kind of unexplainable gloomy vibe. There was a slight smile on the lady’s face—it was Vivian’s countenance.

Hao Ren heard Vivian’s voice, turned around in astonishment, and asked, “Is this really you?!”

Vivian looked at the portrait, and some fragments of memory finally reorganized themselves in her mind. “…Well, yes, I did have this outfit. I saved up two months for a French tailor. I did live here.”

Then she frowned, looked around and said, “But, it didn’t look this way back then…”

Becky looked at Vivian in horror and asked, “You-You’re the Andrea Family witch?”

“That’s not the way they used to call me,” Vivian said as she frowned, trying to recall her past. She shook her hand and said, “Wait a minute, I need to recall my memories. That period of time has been the mistiest part of my memory, and… the changes here have been too great. Hold on…”

Vivian summoned a group of small bats to create a seat and sat there with her eyes closed. She was lost in her thoughts. White Flame looked at this scene with great surprise. She never thought of looking for a portrait of the witch when she got there. As a demon hunter, she was only interested in her prey, and clearly, she was not interested in the witch, who had been away for hundreds of years. But now, she was just as curious about the matter as everybody else.

Hao Ren pinched his face to confirm that the whole thing was not an illusion. Then, he subtly looked at Vivian: This prehistoric being could really bring to light a bunch of shocking dark history anytime, anywhere. If she had suddenly stood up and announced that the Code of Hammurabi was actually written by her, it would not have been surprising as well…

Lily held up her Flamejoy in front of Vivian’s 300-year-old portrait. Comparing it with to the present Vivian, she muttered, “You used to be so graceful… How did you end up beocming someone who like to haggle over prices?

Before Lily continued any further, Vivian suddenly stood up and said, “I remember now!”

Lily was startled by the sudden move and accidentally thrust her Flamejoy into the antique portrait. It was at least 300 years old and this gave Hao Ren a terrible shock. “This is a 300-year-old antique!”

Lily’s tail suddenly stood on end. “My paws have already ruined stuff that’s worth at least five million dollars…”

Vivian ignored the two of them and quickly talked about the things she managed to recall. “Yes, I did know a human named Andrea… He, and another guy, we did business together!”

“Business?” When Hao Ren heard this word and associated it to Vivian’s bad fortune, he suddenly got it and asked, “You harmed the Romans as well as the Egyptians, and you still wanted to harm the Russians?”

“During that period, I felt like I had a lot of advantages.” Vivian put her hands on her hips and said, “I was in Kama… or the vicinity of Kamsk… I don’t know what the name of the place is right now. Anyway, I knew the two men there. They were small businessmen, unable to make big money, but they made enough to put food on the table. However, they were actually more like my servants: At that time, the village where they lived was being attacked by werewolves, and I helped them. But when I was fighting with the werewolves, they saw everything. They thought I was a witch. Fearing that I would kill them, they surrendered themselves to me without waiting for my explanation… That was the way back then; people were so superstitious, and those in the lower class societies were more accustomed to being submissive. So, I started to think about it. I didn’t have good luck with fortune, but if I collaborated with two humans, and let them make money for me, wouldn’t that be good? Hence, I decided to tryit out. They used their fortune, while I used my knowledge and magic. The three of us collaborated in a wool business…”

Hao Ren raised his eyebrow. “Then?”

“And then, they lost everything,” Vivian said, lowering her head and rubbing her hands. “Not only did they lose all the capital, they even encountered some trouble and caused the Czar to be exiled to Siberia to dig potatoes. A few days later, he was framed by some people and exiled again to the coldest place in the North to die…”

Everybody was at a lost for words.

Lily then muttered, “Luckily the two of them went bankrupt early, otherwise tsarist Russia could have been destroyed 300 years ago.”

“They were exiled, but I wasn’t affected,” Vivian said, and she scratched her face awkwardly. “So, I felt very sorry for them.I went to Siberia to find them both… Oh! That’s when I met the vengeful spirit!”

This attracted Hao Ren’s attention. This was the point he wanted to know more of.

“Those exiled slaves dug the cellar to preserve food for the winter, and the vengeful spirit ran out from underground. I happened to arrive at that moment.” Vivian clapped her hands lightly and continued, “This is the place. I sealed the vengeful spirit, and in the process, I found two things in a ‘den’. I didn’t know what they were for, but they looked beautiful, so I gave them to the two men.”

While Vivian was talking, she looked around again, and her sight seemed to go beyond the stone walls. “This place was also a different dimension at that time, but it was more stable than it is now. There was only one crypt back then. After sealing the vengeful spirit, this place was completely stable. I built a big, sealing altar here… But, I didn’t expect it to be loose to this extent 300 years later. I can barely recognize this place.”

Lily could not wait to know what happened next. “And then? What happened after you sealed the vengeful spirit?”

Vivian laughed awkwardly and said, “Ah ha… Maybe it consumed too much of my energy. After I gave the two men the ‘gems’ I found, I felt a little sleepy and found a place to sleep … When I woke up, Alexander I was dead. Then, I left Europe…”

Hao Ren covered his forehead and asked, “You completely forgot about the two unlucky kids?”

Vivian could only smile awkwardly. She did not say a word.

White Flame had been listening to the whole story, and she finally figured out the ins and outs of the matter. She looked at Vivian in astonishment and asked, “…You’re the witch? You really forgot the whole thing?”

“She has poor memory, can’t blame her. She’s been living from the prehistoric times to the present. Imagine how many things she’s gone through in her life. How can she remember every single thing?”

White Flame’s eyes suddenly turned sharp and she stared at Vivian vigilantly. “Prehistoric… Wait a minute! Are you the legendary countess?”

“You know me too?” Vivian blinked and said, “Oh, of course. I guess every demon hunter knows my name.”

“You’re in our textbook.” White Flame nodded honestly and said, “The oldest vampire, eccentric and fond of mingling about in—”

“Fond of mingling about in human society, penniless, unlucky, had bad fortune, poor memory. Okay, we already know,” Hao Ren interrupted White Flame and looked at Vivian, who was quite embarrassed at this point. He continued, “So we finally figured it out. You’re the so-called witch, and the Andrea Family’s ancestor didn’t steal anything from the witch. You were the one who forgot about them. What about the family’s fortunes later on?”

“It probably has nothing to do with Vivian,” Lily curled her lips and said, “Because Vivian ruined someone else’s life, even God couldn’t stand it and gave them some money to help them get over the shock.”

“It’s the two ‘stones’ I gave them.” Vivian suddenly realized something and said, “‘Legends’ like this, although distorted and fabricated by later generations tend to have a backbone. The Andrea Family recorded that their ancestors found wealth in the stones left by the witch. Such a big thing could not have been made up of.”

“Well, when we go up there, we can find Igor and ask him where the stone is. I wish he hadn’t lost his ancestors’ treasures,” Nangong Sanba said. He then stood up and listened to the distant wind outside. “I feel a blizzard coming soon… We better find a way to get rid of the vengeful spirit.”

A couple of eyes fell on Vivian and her memory began to recover. She smiled confidently and said, “Don’t worry. I know what’s going on with this vengeful spirit.”

Chapter 479: The Door?

 

Y’zaks once said that the history recorded by a short-lived race like humans was not credible. This was because they had short lives and were easily trapped in their emotions. Their records always had fatal deviations after several generations. Now it seemed to be true.

If it had not been for the portrait of the witch, which remained unaltered due to its preservation in the different dimension, and Vivian finally recalling what actually happened in the past, probably no one would have imagined that the penniless vampire was the witch of legend, circulating in the Andrea Family for 300 years. The truth was really simple. A penniless vampire met two humans by chance. However, the two humans lost their fortune because of her, and she felt remorse for it. After destroying a vengeful spirit, she gave treasures to the two men as a gift. One of the men was a descendant of the Andrea Family.

It was difficult to find out how the subsequent descendants accumulated their wealth, built the castle in this ominous land, and became entangled with the vengeful spirit for 300 of years. Nonetheless, they could roughly guess the process.

There had to be something wrong with Vivian’s seal and the gift she left behind for the family’s ancestor.

Vivian found the way to deal with the vengeful spirit from her memory, and she finally remembered why the vengeful spirit was sealed in this world.

“This hall… It wasn’t like this when I was here,” Vivian said as she pointed around. “It was rebuilt by the Andrea Family’s subsequent descendants. They enlarged the crypt and reinforced this place with boulders, but I can still sense the smell in the hall. It’s the blood seal I left behind. With the smell, I should be able to find the location of the seal.”

Hao Ren kept Vivian’s portrait in his Dimensional Pocket, then he quickly stood up and pushed the heavy door open. “Let’s go.”

The creaking of the old hinges, and the cold wind mingled with gray-white snowflakes swept in from the outside. The vengeful spirit seemed to be recovering rapidly, and the snowstorm, which had been far away from the little mound was now coming together. The snowstorm was a projection of the creature’s strong malice. Something shimmered in the deep darkness and some an old, malicious energy eyed them.

Nangong Wuyue cast Misty Shield to ward off the ever-increasing blizzard, allowing Vivian to lead the way in front of them. Vivian tried to recall the rest of her memories while she walked. “I remember going into a cavern to defeat the vengeful spirit… There was a door in the cavern, and the vengeful spirit entered the physical universe via that door. At that time, the vengeful spirit created another dimension as well, but it wasn’t as big as this place now. I think we’re in the cavern at this moment—Andrea’s descendants must have built this castle on the site of the seal.”

Lily raised her claws to illuminate their surroundings. Looking at the vast expanse of dark snow, she said, “…I don’t think this is a cavern.”

“Your memory is hopeless.” Nangong Wuyue was surrounded by many layers of mist, which blocked off the blizzard around them. She was making fun of Vivian. “It’s just been 300 years ago.”

“I didn’t associate it with my memory fast enough,” Vivian said awkwardly. “This place has changed too much. Besides, the Andrea I knew was just a hapless woolen merchant, and the seal I left behind was just a big rock in the depths of the ground—who knew 300 years later there would be a family and an ancient castle? Three hundred years… Man-made things change too fast.”

Hao Ren accepted this explanation, because he could not even remember his primary school teacher’s name. It was easy for people to forget about things that they did not really care about.

More importantly, it was hard for Vivian to associate a super-rich family with herself: starting from the age when Cleopatra was killed by the Romans, she did not expect to have any connections with a wealthy person…

White Flame was looking at Vivian curiously. The eccentric demon hunter behaved quite differently from other demon hunters. Not only did she remain calm, she did not conceal her interest in the group of people before her. Vivian, of course, noticed her gaze. “Why are you looking at me?” she asked.

“You are very… abnormal. Different from what I imagined,” White Flame said honestly. “You’re also quite different from what I’ve read in the books. Many of our elders are very wary of you, and they are even a bit in awe of you. They call you the elder and advise us not to have conflicts with you. I thought you were a moody, stubborn freak. That’s how the young demon hunters describe you when they talk about you.”

Lily could not hold back, she burst out laughing. And of course, she was punched.

“You’re also different from the demon hunters I know,” Vivian said, looking White Flame up and down. At the same time, she pointed to Nangong Sanba and said, “Not including this guy. He’s a problem child and I don’t want to talk about him now. The demon hunters I’ve seen are as stubborn as stones. The only thing on their minds is to kill us. But, you’re strange. I could feel your hostility at first, but I know you’re not going to kill us, and now… your hostility towards us is gone.”

White Flame nodded and said, “My tutor told me the same thing too. He’s always been trying to develop my killing instincts for otherworldlings, but it doesn’t seem to have much effect. The elders said that I should have a natural hostility when I see such creatures, but I find it strange: why should I be hostile to a creature that I don’t even know?”

Then, White Flame blinked. It appeared as though she was thinking about something else. Shortly after, she continued, “He told me my mentality’s a kind of disease. I used to think so too, but today, when dealing with you guys alone for the first time, I’ve found that you guys aren’t very different from us. You guys seem to have feelings too? If that’s true, then there isn’t anything wrong with my point of view.”

“Of course, we all have feelings,” said Hao Ren.

But Vivian looked surprised. She looked at White Flame in disbelief and asked, “You’re saying you don’t have the killing instinct when you see creatures like us?”

White Flame nodded, and Vivian immediately asked another question, “Is there any other demon hunter like you?!”

White Flame looked at Vivian warily and asked, “Why do you ask? Trying to spy for information?”

It seemed that although the attitudes of this strange demon hunter towards the unusual creatures were more moderate than that of other demon hunters, her hostile heart, which had been fostered from an early age was still the same. However, Vivian had found the answer from White Flame’s reaction and she stopped asking. Hao Ren on the other hand was baffled and he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Do you remember the innate hostility between the Blood Clan and werewolves?” Vivian asked.

Hao Ren immediately recalled it: Under normal circumstances, werewolves and the Blood Clan were inherently hostile towards each other. Even if they had never seen each other, even if they did not know the existence of each other, they would still be hostile towards each other the moment they met. In fact, not only werewolves and the Blood Clan had this hostility, all the other unusual creatures did face a similar situation. However, this phenomenon did not exist in the Plane of Dreams. So, Hao Ren had been wondering about the thing that led creatures, who came to Earth from the Plane of Dreams to this bizarre heredity.

“As far as I know, the hostility demon hunters have towards all otherworldlings is similar,” Vivian whispered. “And the demon hunter’s innate hostility towards creatures is so serious that the moment they meet, they will definitely kill each other without the need to introduce themselves.”

“However, the innate hostility of the younger generation of werewolves and Blood Clan members has weakened for unknown reasons.” Hao Ren immediately realized something and said, “In addition, the demon hunters…”

“There must have been some kind of mutation when they time-traveled from the Plane of Dreams to Earth,” Vivian sounded very serious. “I think I’m starting to connect a lot of things and it makes sense now… This ‘innate hostility’ in their veins is weakening, and it seems that the situation among demon hunters is more serious. The bodies of their offsprings have weakened as well… except White Flame. She’s a gifted child.”

White Flame looked at them with suspicion and asked, “What are you muttering about? Conspiracy? If you want to fight, just say it! I’m in a hurry!”

“The way you speak really irritates me!” Hao Ren was annoyed.

At this moment, Becky suddenly saw something in the snow in front of them. She interrupted Hao Ren, “Is that the seal?”

Hao Ren and White Flame immediately turned their heads at the same time.

They could saw a vaguely grotesque giant stone in the blizzard. A lavender light curtain was rising and surging above the giant stone.

The blizzard suddenly began to grow stronger.