In the silent banquet hall, the Saint's pressure bore down on everyone. If not for the special nature of Night Manor and the unique restraint of the God, only Xia De would likely be able to sit here at this moment.
“I understand, God, thank you for allowing me to attend your banquet.”
Xia De nodded, saying pretty words about not wanting pounds, while his peripheral vision caught sight of the other five people at the table.
These five people had come here voluntarily because of their respective desires, hoping to achieve goals unattainable by mortals through participating in the banquet, so they were not surprised by the instructions given by the God.
“But they actually dared to seek help from an Evil God. Are the people of the fifth epoch all so courageous?”
Xia De thought silently to himself.
After a snap of the fingers, a glass goblet appeared beside everyone’s hand.
“Unexpected guests, it seems you cannot stay long at the banquet. So this time, we will first taste the blood you each brought, and then listen to your stories. This will surely be very interesting. Next time, I will provide my blood brew, and after you taste it, you will give your respective thoughts. As for the last time, we can taste the three types of blood brought by the unexpected guests. If you can survive, then you will naturally receive my grace.”
He finished speaking, paused, and looked at Xia De:
“You are the same.”
Except for Xia De, the other five people each took out their sealed containers.
In the hands of the middle-aged half-bald King was a smooth silver bottle, its opening sealed with tin; the armored old man took out a somewhat worn leather waterskin, firmly stoppered with a wooden plug; the Witch took out a pure gold cube, which Xia De recognized—it was mentioned in Miss Felianna’s notebook as an alchemical item used to seal and preserve precious materials; as for the two little girls, they jointly took out a porcelain bottle.
The God waved his hand, and the silver bottle in the King’s hand opened by itself. Foul-smelling crimson liquid flew out, finally falling evenly into the seven glass wine cups. Xia De estimated that the liquid level in everyone’s cup was the same height.
“So, what’s your story?”
The Saint raised his wine cup and gently swirled it, as if decanting wine. And as He swirled it, Xia De noticed that the color of the blood seemed to have changed slightly.
So he also picked up the cup beside him and gently swirled it. Although his technique was not skilled, the blood in the cup indeed changed. The color became a bit lighter, the bloody smell noticeably weakened, and Xia De even smelled alcohol.
The wine cup given by Vampire Duke Loyaer could actually directly turn ordinary blood into blood brew.
“Is it a relic?”
“The cup itself does not sense whisper element, only blasphemy element.”
“It is the power of an Evil God.”
Xia De and the others looked at the half-bald King, who nervously bowed his head, staring at the table, and said tremblingly:
“I... I am the King of the Xiapar Kingdom on the West Continent. My country is about to perish. Those greedy knights want to divide my land, my property, and my family. I want to defeat them, hang them all, and decorate my castle with their heads. I know you, great Vampire God, Duke Loyaer, I know your greatness.”
He also did as Xia De did, picking up the wine cup beside him and gently swirling it. Although his hand trembled violently, the cup itself did not waste a single drop of liquid:
“I found the Witch living in the forest and exchanged a large sum of pounds for this. This is dragon blood, the blood of a pure-blooded dragon.”
“No, this is the blood of a mixed-blood dragon. I think that Witch lied to you.”
The Saint said calmly. For a moment, Xia De thought the half-bald King would raise his head in surprise, but he controlled his innate desire:
“What... I... I didn’t mean to blaspheme…”
His voice grew softer and softer.
“It doesn’t matter. A clown like you is enough to open the banquet. But the blood you brought is not good enough. Even if you survive to the end, what you receive will only be of equal value to what you brought.”
The God drank the blood brew in his hand, while the mortals on the other side of the table all swirled their wine cups and then looked at each other. Finally, the other five people all looked at Xia De, obviously wanting to see what this seemingly extraordinary fellow would do.
Xia De brought the cup to his mouth, frowned, and carefully took a sip.
“There’s poison, but it’s negligible for you. It doesn’t contain curses itself.”
It was normal for there to be poison; dragon blood itself was poisonous, not like in fairy tales where drinking it would make people stronger.
“It’s poisonous.”
He simply told the others, then drank the bloody beverage in one gulp. Although it had transformed from blood into blood wine, the bloody taste still lingered. Xia De frowned and endured the nausea as he drank the blood brew, but he still felt an urge to gag; this was definitely not something humans should drink.
The Witch didn't care about the poison and, like Xia De, drank the blood brew in one gulp; the old man in cloth armor took out another wooden bottle, drank what appeared to be a potion from it, and then drank the blood brew; the two little girls frowned and sipped the contents of the cup little by little; the middle-aged King hesitated for a moment, glanced at the old man, and seeing that he had no intention of sharing the potion, he also learned from the little girls opposite him and drank in small sips.
After the third sip, he convulsed and fell from his chair. The armored old man sitting beside him widened his eyes and looked:
“He’s dead.”
The corpse melted into a crimson bloodstain on the floor, then seeped into the ground, as if it had never appeared.
No one, including Xia De, commented on this. But Xia De gave the twins an extra glance; he and the Witch endured it directly, the white-haired old man had prepared an antidote in advance, but these two young girls, who were not Witches, were actually able to drink the impure dragon blood directly, which was a bit strange.
Next, the blood from the leather waterskin brought by the armored old man was evenly distributed to everyone. As everyone swirled their wine cups and under the gaze of the God, he also lowered his head and told his story:
“This is the blood of an ice crystal butterfly that I hunted in the far north of the North Continent, over the course of an entire winter. It’s a top-tier magic potion ingredient for Witches; it has nothing to do with power, only the most patient hunters using the most meticulous methods can capture them. As for my purpose, my friend, the Poet Mr. Von Klee Qing, died during an expedition in the North Continent. I want to know who killed him.”
As he spoke, he was the first to drink the blood brew in his hand, and the Saint also narrowed his eyes and drank the cup of blood:
“Though not delicious enough, at least this chill is quite nice.”
Xia De, as before, brought the wine cup to his mouth and took a sip.
A very faint bloody smell rushed into his mouth, and the extreme chill emanating from the liquid on his lips made Xia De shiver all over. Just taking a sip, he felt his scalp tingle and his limbs completely frozen. It was as if the wine cup in his hand contained not blood wine, but ten-thousand-year-old ice stored beneath the polar ice cap. He had never heard of a creature called “ice crystal butterfly,” and he didn’t know if its name had changed in the sixth epoch or if it was already extinct. But he could endure this chill, so he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, raised the wine cup to his mouth, and then took a large gulp.
The liquid entered his throat from his mouth, then slid down his esophagus into his stomach.
That temperature, which seemed capable of freezing blood, for the first time allowed Xia De to clearly perceive the entire path of the ingestion process. For a moment, he thought his body was starting to freeze, and he might never see Mia again, only to then realize that only a layer of frost had appeared on the surface of his skin.
After the paralyzing sensation that rendered his entire body immobile, as his body temperature returned to normal, Xia De felt as comfortable as if he had been soaked in warm water. He tried clenching his fists and found that his body was completely normal. It was just that the numbness caused by the cold had made his body's reactions a bit sluggish, but the impact was not significant and was rapidly recovering:
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Specifically, your cold resistance might have improved somewhat.”
This blood brew was even more precious than Xia De had imagined.
