"Why does that violent woman have to stay here? Doesn't she have a home?" After lunch, once Santos and Nia had left, Liu Lei immediately began banging the table, demanding answers from Christopher. Christopher wiped his mouth and explained, "Old Santos—Nia's uncle—needed to go on a long trip. You don't need me to explain further, you can guess why. Most of the family's experts went with him, and he's worried that the Holy See might seize the opportunity to strike. So, he asked us to protect Nia for a few days." Indeed, since Christopher had risen to the rank of councilor, at least fifty new households had moved into the buildings around the villa, making it the safest area in all of France. Liu Lei grumbled under his breath and asked, "Then why does she have to be next door to me?"
"Should I place her next door to myself? I'm an old man, and if the Holy See attacks, I can barely protect myself. It's more convenient for her to stay near you. Besides, Nia is quite a beauty. Don't you have any thoughts about it? 'Near water, the tower is high,'" Christopher teased, but Liu Lei was already gone, disappearing without a word.
In the afternoon, once Santos had left, Nia revealed her true nature as a seductress, pursuing Liu Lei around the villa, making him leap up and down in exhaustion. Panting and swearing, "I'll never do it again!" only then did Nia relent. She then proceeded to install high-voltage electric fences on her bedroom window and CCTV cameras in the hallway, claiming she would eliminate any potential opportunity for perverts to act. Every night, she placed wine bottles behind the door, reasoning that anyone who tried to enter her room would knock them over, alerting her with their loud crash, allowing her to leap out of bed and beat the intruder senseless. But one evening, after Liu Lei had been drinking and mistakenly entered the wrong room, he knocked over the bottles with a loud crash. Did the bottles fall? Yes. Did they make a loud sound? Indeed. Did she wake up? No.
She had placed the bottles to prevent Liu Lei from entering her room at night, believing that with them, she could sleep soundly. But the wine bottles had the opposite effect, leaving her in such a deep slumber that Liu Lei, ever the opportunist, took advantage of the situation. That night, she wore a loose nightgown, hugging a pillow, her soft skin barely visible beneath the fabric. Liu Lei, driven by alcohol and lust, was struck by an impulse and lunged at her, only to step on a bottle and crash to the ground. This fall jolted him awake, and he quickly retreated, closing the door behind him and sneaking back to his room.
The next morning, Nia woke to find the bottles scattered on the floor and blamed herself for not properly setting them up the night before. She silently thanked her lucky stars that Liu Lei had not entered, or else...
After this incident, Nia realized that her foolproof defense system was not as reliable as she had once thought. After much contemplation, she concluded that instead of defending herself, it was better to take the initiative. She restructured her tactics, changing from a defensive to an offensive stance. Nia knocked on Liu Lei's door, forcing him out of his room, and proceeded to install the same CCTV surveillance cameras as the ones in the hallway in his bedroom and bathroom—her goal was to monitor Liu Lei's every move 24/7. This way, she could react quickly to any suspicious activity. Liu Lei, irritated, muttered under his breath, "Am I not even a man anymore?" Nia, indifferent, replied, "Then I'll have to check down there."
"You!" Liu Lei shouted, "How shameless!" He continued, "Do I have no privacy with you spying on me like this?" "Don't worry," Nia responded confidently, "I won't tell anyone..." Liu Lei, in an attempt to change the subject, spoke gently, "You're a woman, right?"
Nia proudly listened, "I'm certainly not like some people who can't even figure out their own gender." Liu Lei gritted his teeth, "But I'm a man, and how can a woman spy on a man?" Nia scoffed, "Don't worry, I wouldn't even look at your little thing if you showed it to me."
Liu Lei finally reached his breaking point. "Enough is enough!" he thought, recalling a phrase he couldn't remember where he'd heard it, but now it seemed to fit perfectly. In that moment, he snapped: with a "Binding Immortal Spell," he restrained Nia—he dared not use the bloodline magic, since Nia was the heir to the Tremere clan, and her magical abilities were no doubt formidable. Instead, he used Daoist magic. He grabbed a bronze statue from the door and began smashing the surveillance cameras, turning them into scrap metal, then twisted the statue in half and tossed it aside, storming out of the room.
That was Liu Lei's first—and last—time using violence against Nia. Many years later, he would come to believe that this event was the direct reason he was never able to restore order to his family in the centuries to come.
After a long day at a bar, Liu Lei, initially fuming with rage, found his mood lifted by playful banter with a beautiful waitress. Whistling a tune as he returned home, he was greeted by a servant who took his coat and informed him, "Miss Nia is ill, sir." "Ill?" Liu Lei asked, bewildered. "That energetic violent woman is sick?" The servant did not reply, but instead pointed upstairs.
Liu Lei ascended the stairs and opened Nia's door to find her lying quietly on the bed, her long hair spread on the pillow. Christopher sat beside her, watching over her. He approached and was struck by how pale Nia looked, her face a dull yellow, her skin appearing to have aged ten years. Her once-silky hair now seemed lifeless. Seeing her in this state, Liu Lei felt an unexpected pang of sorrow—how had she changed so suddenly? When he left, she had been full of energy, fiercely controlling the installation of cameras in his room, yet in a day, she had become like this.
He walked over to Christopher, who raised a finger to his lips, then pointed to the door. The two stepped outside and closed the door quietly behind them. Liu Lei quickly asked, "What happened to her?"
Christopher gave a wry smile. "What spell did you use to bind her? It couldn't have been the 'Shadow Binding,' or she would have broken free by now, and wouldn't need to perform a 'Blood Ritual' to break the bonds..."
"Blood Ritual!" Liu Lei exclaimed.
"Yes, the Blood Ritual."
"She's gone mad? She only stood for half an hour, and she had to sacrifice so much for the 'Blood Ritual'?"
"When has she ever endured such humiliation, being bound and helpless?"
"She shouldn't have done this! She's insane!" Liu Lei growled, before turning and entering the room.
The Blood Ritual, a secret magic available only to vampires of Marquess rank or higher, required the caster to sacrifice half of their blood in an instant to increase their power threefold. Since all of a vampire's energy comes from their blood, the loss of half their blood is catastrophic, causing significant harm to their body. Historical records showed that those who used this magic were incapacitated for ten years in a coffin, only to die within three to six months of revival. Now Nia had used this forbidden magic with ease, and Liu Lei, overcome with sorrow, was filled with anger.
He walked into Nia's room and sat down in the chair Christopher had set up. Looking at her frail form, he was pained to see how weak she had become. Her hand, exposed from under the blanket, was now pale and delicate, no longer the terrifying hand that had once struck him. He reached out and gently took her hand, a determined resolve forming in his heart.
He went to Christopher and told him that he would treat Nia's injuries and ordered that no one be allowed inside, not even Santos. No matter how long he took, no one was to enter until he was finished. Christopher, though puzzled, nodded in agreement.
Back in Nia's room, Liu Lei slit his wrist, dripping a few drops of blood into her mouth, then began to set up a formation. He was about to attempt a powerful spell he had never used before: the Triple Light Formation. It was said that when this formation reached its peak, it could even defy the natural order and bring the dead back to life. However, such a formation typically required a cultivator of at least Yuan Ying level to activate, but Liu Lei had no choice but to attempt it himself.
He worked quickly, placing jade stones and spirit talismans around the room, nearly exhausting the talismans he had brought. When the formation was finally ready, he sat in the center of the formation, placed Nia before him, and began to meditate, absorbing spiritual energy from the heavens at an accelerated pace. Two hours later, his meridians were saturated and he could absorb no more. He released a burst of Qi and activated the formation.
The spiritual energy from the heavens began to gather at a speed Liu Lei had never experienced before. He poured his own energy into the formation to maintain its operation, but soon began to feel drained. As the energy influx became overwhelming, Liu Lei knew he had to act fast. With a grim determination, he shattered his Golden Core, releasing a massive amount of energy and infusing it into the formation.
A brilliant blue light descended from above, enveloping Nia. As the light shone down, Nia's body began to recover, her complexion returning to a healthy color. Liu Lei, though exhausted and weakened, felt a glimmer of hope, though his own energy was rapidly depleting. Despite the exhaustion, he continued to feed the formation, unwilling to stop until Nia was fully healed.
But the price of his efforts was high. As his energy waned and the formation began to flicker, Liu Lei pushed himself to the limit, sacrificing everything to keep the light shining. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the second wave of energy descended.
Exhausted, Liu Lei collapsed on the floor, unable to move. But Nia, though still unconscious, had been saved. He felt a deep pang of regret but also a sense of relief—at least she wouldn't die young. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth; the immense power used had shattered his internal organs. Usually, his vampire and Zombie King abilities would allow him to recover in a few months, but in his current state, with his energy depleted and his Golden Core shattered, his recovery was uncertain.
Sighing, Liu Lei thought to himself, *Perhaps this immortal life is more of a curse than a blessing. With no family, no friends, no lover... what's left to live for?* He found himself strangely at peace with the thought of death.