The marquis raised a slender finger at Qianye and fired a wisp of blood energy toward him. The dark beam was mysterious, as sharp as a blade, and left a lingering red trail in its wake.

Qianye sneered secretly. This marquis considered himself a superior vampire and was quite confident in taking Qianye down. A blood-energy attack was extremely effective, but only when the attacker was overwhelmingly powerful in terms of bloodline and strength. The bloodline of the twelve ancient clans was, of course, superior, and the man was also a marquis while Qianye was merely a virtuous count. Hence, this choice of attack was natural—a single strike of this blood energy should’ve been enough to cripple the target.

Nonetheless, arrogance had clouded the marquis’ judgment, preventing him from seeing the essence of the dark golden blood energy.

Qianye made no attempt at evasion. He raised a finger and retaliated with a wisp of his own blood energy.

The blood energies traveled at lightning speed, striking both parties at almost the same time. The extremely sharp attacks produced a small hole each in Qianye’s chest as well as the marquis’. These tiny punctures were akin to needle pricks, no more than minor flesh wounds to a vampire, even if they...