Chapter 158 [Chapter Four: A National Tragedy Like Snow]

Chapter 158: Chapter Four: Final Chapter: National Mourning Like Snow

One hour before the resurrection of the Vampire Mother God...

Bound by the five royal vampires—King Jinling, King Qingming, King Blood Spirit, King Black Prison, and King Charm—Xia Zheng successfully broke through to the Spirit Fetus Realm. An expression of sheer disbelief began to surface on the face of the once-confident and arrogant King Charm.

"This... What is happening here? Why can I no longer sense his presence?" King Charm said in astonishment, alarming the other four royal vampires around her.

In her original plan, she intended to completely shatter Xia Zheng's will through her seductive psychic ability and then absorb him to augment her own power, hoping to leap into the strongest royal vampire in one stroke. Yet right now, she could no longer perceive Xia Zheng's existence; the cooked duck had flown away.

"What is going on, King Charm? Weren't you so confident in your seduction?" King Jinling mocked.

King Charm's face flushed slightly as she retorted, "Your Innate Domain must have malfunctioned. This is not my fault."

"Crap. No one can escape my Innate Domain, not even you lot," King Jinling said with utter dominance, leaving the others with nothing to say.

However, an anomaly was indeed occurring within the Innate Domain at this moment. Even the others sensed it, and King Jinling was naturally no exception.

A mysterious green energy gradually bloomed, its radiance growing increasingly intense. King Jinling immediately amplified the power of his Innate Domain, but to his shock, he discovered that this mysterious green energy possessed spatial attributes—something that had never appeared before.

"Damn it!" King Jinling was now exerting his spatial domain to the absolute limit, but the next second, to the utter astonishment of all five, the mysterious green energy suddenly shrank and then rapidly vanished without a trace.

"He... has vanished..." King Jinling dispelled his Innate Domain in frustration. Sure enough, there was nothing inside.

"How is this possible? His strength hasn't even reached the royal tier; how could he possibly master spatial power?" King Qingming cried out in incomprehension.

Yet the reality before them was just like that. Xia Zheng seemed to have utilized spatial power to escape from his Innate Domain.

"Pursue him! We must not let him escape. Although he has only temporarily awakened spatial power, he must still be weaker than us. This boy's growth is terrifying; we can never let him get away again," King Qingming said with firm resolve.

King Black Prison and King Jinling both expressed their agreement. At that moment, an unusual disturbance coming from a certain direction made their expressions change drastically.

"It's the altar. There's movement over at the altar. The Mother God..." King Blood Spirit said with a pale face.

King Black Prison, who had remained silent all this time, finally spoke, "King Qingming, you, King Blood Spirit, and King Charm must immediately return to guard the altar. King Jinling and I will take charge of hunting down this boy. Once we succeed, we will return promptly."

No one questioned the order, not even King Jinling. Though King Black Prison rarely spoke, whenever he did, he commanded immense authority, and even King Qingming would not object.

Thus, the five royal vampires split into two paths. King Qingming, King Blood Spirit, and King Charm hurried back to the altar, while the other two continued the pursuit of Xia Zheng.

In the eyes of King Qingming and the other two, the two strongest princes would undoubtedly accomplish this mission. Xia Zheng's growth was too terrifying; if he were allowed to escape again, no one knew to what extent he might grow, and he would undoubtedly become a grave threat to the vampires.

In a patch of space a dozen kilometers away, amidst a ripple of distortion, Xia Zheng materialized, his eyes seemingly flashing with starlight.

"Is this... the power of space?" Xia Zheng looked at his own hands while recalling the mysterious green energy within his body that he had perceived in his subconscious.

"What on earth is that mysterious energy inside me? It seems to have accompanied me for a very long time. Every time I encounter a crisis, it benefits me immensely. Unfortunately, my current realm and strength are still insufficient to know the truth behind this power." Xia Zheng quickly put those thoughts away; he had not yet escaped danger.

With a slight raise of his brows, he immediately sensed the intensely fierce fluctuations emanating from the direction of the altar. That must be the army led by Luo Bing launching an all-out assault on the altar, and simultaneously, he felt a power originating from the domain instance.

Yet this time, he was not expelled from the instance; instead, the surrounding time and space abruptly froze, and several lines of white, translucent text materialized before his eyes.

"Evernight City welcomes its ultimate decisive battle. The human army and the vampires fight to the death. This is a battle concerning survival, resulting in heavy casualties. Once the Vampire Mother God is resurrected, the entire Federation will face a colossal threat from then on. Meanwhile, the garrison forces remaining outside the Eternal Grand District are sparing no cost to destroy the entirety of Evernight City, even if it means perishing alongside the vampires. How the ending will unfold remains unknown to all, but countless individuals will inevitably fall."

Immediately after, another prompt appeared: "Current Instance Progress: 90%, Overall Evaluation: Excellent, Interpersonal Relationships: Excellent, Prestige: Excellent, Combat Might: Exceptional."

Following that, Chapter Four directly displayed its commencement, which was also the final chapter of this instance—"National Mourning Like Snow."

As these prompts concluded, the previously frozen time and space resumed operation, and Xia Zheng's mood grew increasingly heavy.

"Is it truly impossible to change the ending of Evernight City's fall?" Xia Zheng sighed, but the moment he thought of Luo Bing leading tens of thousands of comrades right now in a desperate, all-out assault on the altar, he banished that inner weakness.

Xia Zheng's gaze gradually turned resolute. Soon, he sensed two astonishing auras hurtling toward him in pursuit, having likewise employed the skill of "Spatial Shifting."

"Come then. Even knowing fate is hard to defy, I must rise to the challenge. Regardless of the outcome after my utmost effort, my conscience will be clear." Xia Zheng fished out his remaining spiritual mind beads to ensure he possessed an ample supply of mental energy.

He could sense that the two pursuing royal vampires possessed formidable strength; fighting two against one left him with very little certainty.

His divine sense rapidly transformed, morphing into floating shields that orbited his body, while his Dripping Water Sword simultaneously morphed into an ice-sword form, revolving around him.

"Willpower Bonus—Slowness!" For the first time, Xia Zheng executed a skill of the Spirit Fetus Realm. First, he imparted a "slowness" attribute to the primary layer of protective floating shields, which he easily accomplished in coordination with his imagination trait.

Once the floating shields were imbued with the slowness attribute, any opponent who launched an attack would be affected by this attribute's power. Although the effect wouldn't be massive, it would still create openings—precisely what Xia Zheng desired.

"Willpower Bonus—Paralyzing Venom!" Simultaneously, he added a toxic attribute to the ice sword revolving outside the floating shields, which similarly served to restrict the opponent. How effective this kind of additive attribute would actually be depended on the practical combat results.

Following that, his divine sense directly materialized a longbow. Drawing the bow and notching an arrow, his combo skill—"Blazing Ice Sword"—was primed and ready.

A hundred meters away in the distance, a patch of space rippled, and two figures tore through the void and emerged. They were none other than King Jinling and King Black Prison, who had pursued him relentlessly.

"Boy, you cannot escape today," King Jinling sneered.

King Black Prison wore a somewhat solemn expression. He could sense Xia Zheng's fighting spirit and realized the boy was not afraid of engaging in battle against the two of them. His courage was commendable, yet utterly foolish.

"Too much idle chatter! Come and fight!" Releasing the bowstring, the Blazing Ice Sword instantly detached from him, and Xia Zheng simultaneously applied an extra "daze" attribute to the projectile.

Boom!

Wherever the Blazing Ice Sword passed, space itself trembled slightly. Under its high-frequency vibration, various molecules in the air underwent drastic transformations.