Chương 15: Blaise Bellacanicus Nostraga Way

Blaise Blaise stood up, pacing the cave in thought. Her mother would strike her across the face for even considering eating him. Rowan Helsing had risked certain death to save her life - even if he'd been addled. A karmic debt existed between them. This wasn't a thing of honor, or a bleeding heart. Taking his life now could induce a heart devil in her later on, or make her even unluckier in Heaven's eyes than she already was. And lastly, it involved the reputation of the Noble House of Bellacanicus. Her father?

Only someone with as charmed a life as your mother doesn't take advantage of every opportunity. There's only one person in the world who will fight for you, Blaise. Only you. The essence of a Flood Dragon was too dangerous to consume raw, but in human form it could only serve as the highest nourishment. Even one of her immortal ancestors would be tempted. Blaise eyed the boy. He was so exquisite. There were so many strong smells coming off of the boy that sang to her.

Rain on a wooded plain, metal at a forge, the embers of a hearth, experiences that she'd had and she would have. Blood always smelled of potential, and the potential of this blood roamed far and wide. She continued pacing, conflicted. She walked deeper into the cave, stumbling onto a scene of two people. Her divination hadn't been completely wrong. A skeleton lay against the wall, long strands of gray hair sweeping down to the floor. Blaise could only tell it had been a man from his robes.

The corpse of a haggard white-haired woman bowed across his lap, as though to shield his corpse in her death. Two black horns spiraled out of her head. The Flood Dragon and her master. They had both perished of old age many years ago. What had remained from the incredible beast was merely a bit of her vital Water Essence - her last breath, expelled to protect this tomb. Since the Flood Dragon had the ability to take human form… Blaise guessed that she and her master had been no less than Nascent Soul cultivators.

Far more powerful than the rumors of the tomb had led her to believe. What happened here? It appeared that the old man had passed, and instead of leaving his body, the Flood Dragon had wasted away, choosing not to leave. Was she guarding his body, hoping that he'd come back to life? Maybe she was unable to leave, trapped by the formation? No, there was no resentment in the way she embraced him. Blaise frowned at the scene, feeling second-hand embarrassment for the Flood Dragon.

Your master dies, and you decide to spend the rest of your days guarding him? You probably could've broken through the formation easily. His death was your new lease on life! Why… She clenched her fists. No, it's the master's fault. He should've forced her to leave, for her own good. How selfish of him to keep her around after death. Selfish… When someone was loyal enough to die for you, wasn't it your responsibility to cherish that properly? She looked at the boy lying lifelessly on the ground.

Without a second thought, she went up to him and pried opened his mouth. She bit her tongue, fangs scraping deep into the muscle, closed her eyes, and then smashed her mouth against his. This is truly an unbelievable way to have your first kiss. Life-infused blood poured from her mouth into his, a trickle sliding down the corner of his lips down his jaw to pool on the ground. In his chest, the heart began to beat. Rowan Rowan stretched.

Other than the feeling of the bloodstone digging into his upper back, he'd never felt this good before in his life. Silver eyes stared intently down at him. Instinctively, Rowan reared back, the girl too close for comfort. His fingers ghosted across his lips. There was a strong metallic taste in his mouth. Blood.

"Did you - are you - ""Relax. If I were truly evil, I would've used you up by now," she said indolently, the vermillion at the corners of her eyes deepening.

"You shouldn't make a habit of lying around so defenselessly, by the way. It might give demonic cultivators the wrong idea."

"I only see one demonic cultivator around," said Rowan quietly. Silver eyes flitted down his body. He gazed down at himself, realizing he was completely naked. His chest flushed in embarrassment. Did all of his belongings dissolve in the Flood Dragon? Just then, Blaise tossed him a soft, black outer robe. It was sized for a male, not a woman.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, once he had settled it around him. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Off the corpse," she said shamelessly. His mouth ticked downward, but he didn't complain. He prioritized his modesty over a skeleton's. Luckily, even though his own robes had dissolved, all of his items were strewn across the cave, as though the breaking of the formation had interfered with the spellstitching, causing everything to spill out. Hiding the bloodstone in his hand, he went around snatching up his items placing them in the sleeves.

He found his mother's rosary, and carefully wrapped it back around his wrist.

"If you're wondering why you sacrificed your life for someone you barely knew, don't beat yourself up. It's not your fault." She sighed.

"I was born with the peerless Extreme Yin Body. Even women would go out of their way to save me." Rowan glared.

"I would have done that no matter who was in danger."

"No you wouldn't have."

"I would have!" Blaise glared back.

"Maybe you just have brain damage then. Who saves a stranger on the road of cultivation out of the goodness of their own heart?" My father, for one.

"Now that you've seen my secrets, I suppose it is time for my formal introduction," said Blaise, straightening herself up and standing.

"I am Blaise Bellacanicus Nostraga Way, scion of not one, not two, but three great demonic clans. I am the daughter of the Belle of Bellacanicus, and the Daemonissa of the last Way."

"Daemonissa?"

"Goddaughter," she muttered to the side.

"Nostraga, you said?" asked Rowan, suddenly guarded, thinking of the demonic cultivator who'd killed his sectmates.

"By way of my father, through a branch line," she said.

"Why did you feed me your blood?" She paused, seemingly finding it hard to answer.

"It's the only thing I could think of that would have saved you. There's nothing in this backwater peninsula which could have returned your consciousness, but luckily I'm from more civilized parts."

"Kyrr Peninsula is a place of great importance! The Helsings have guarded it for generations with our cultivation endowments." Blaise leered.

"Can you use those endowments to cultivate us a way out of this cave?" That was when he noticed that the cave's opening had been caved in. In fact, the only source of light was the lava of the broken Earth formation, glowing merrily. There was a long, shallow pool of water between them and the exit which seemed to drink in the heat without boiling. Rowan realized that the onion bulb was trying its best to drink the water. All of its roots were stuffed into the pool and little air bubbles rose from all around it.

"What's in there?" Rowan asked.

"I have no idea," said Blaise, cheerfully. They walked over to the bulb. Rowan reached out for the onion bulb but it shook itself violently, not wanting to let go of whatever it was eating.

"I think that's what I was looking for," she said, as Rowan methodically pried the bulb's roots off of an oblong black shard. A pungent metallic smell emanated. Ghostly faces appeared inside the crystal, pressing up against the various facets, mirroring and multiplying. They howled silently. Rowan's fingers started to grow numb, the tips of his nails blackening. Before he could drop it in horror, Blaise deftly snatched it from him.

"A Fading Yin Diamond," Blaise muttered with glee.

"Even my august house only possesses one."

"Is it valuable?" Rowan asked, knowing the answer.

"To the right person," Blaise said with a nasty smile.

"Let's go loot the corpses." Without seemingly any caution, the girl went up to the two corpses and fished out a storage pouch from each body. The one belonging to the male cultivator was made of silken black fabric with embroidery of a farmer reaping wheat in gold stitching. The woman's pouch was a dusty, dull red, with no embellishments. It looked like she'd once just selected the cheapest pouch at the market, and it had accompanied her through every realm of cultivation.

"Which pouch do you want?" asked Rowan. Blaise smiled.

"Both." He crossed his arms.

"By the rules of common practice, I should be getting the lion's share since I defeated the Flood Dragon. But I'll be magnanimous and concede to split the spoils evenly, since you found the place."

"Oh? Fine." She tossed him the threadbare red pouch.

"Shamelessly tossing over the less fancy one?" Rowan tried to tug open the red spatial pouch but it wouldn't budge. A problem for later, he decided. Asking Blaise for help was a dangerous game - if she saw something good inside of the pouch, who knew what she would do. She snickered at him.

"That woman was the Flood Dragon and the old man was the demonic cultivator. Since your physique took in the Flood Dragon's Water Essence, her items might be of some use to you. As for this…" She gestured at the black pouch.

"Who knows what horrors might lie within?"

"And what about the crystal? If your family only has one, it must be precious."

"If you had the diamond, would you even dare to sell it? Your precious Alliance of Earthly Harmony would kill you in an instant for possessing such a thing. By keeping it, I'm already doing you a favor." Rowan hated that she was right. But he didn't want to let her get away with dragging him into this mess, and also leaving with the most benefits.

"Then trade me something for it." Blaise stopped, looking at him.

"I think what you need the most right now is money," she decided. The crystal jumped up and down as she bounced it in her palm.

"How many taels do you want for this?" Rowan saw an opportunity beyond his wildest dreams.

"Do you have spirit stones?"

"Oh, of course," she said.

"Yes, that would be much more valuable in this situation. Now I'm not going to give you auction price for this, but how does fifty spirit stones sound?" Did the Decatours even make fifty spirit stones a year?

"Stingy, but fair," said Rowan, trying to not give away his excitement.

"Fifty spirit stones it is," she said. She sat down on the ground and reached into her own pouch, pulling out fistfuls of the stones and dumping them unceremoniously onto the dirt floor. How rich was this Bellacanicus family?

"Looks like fifty to me," she declared. Rowan counted them as he put them into the sleeves of his new robes. There were fifty-seven. He didn't complain.

"Okay, I think it's time that we find our way out of here," said Blaise. They walked over to the exit, which had caved in.

"What do we do about the blocked entrance? Do you have any ways to clear it?" asked Rowan. Blaise flicked a strand of hair over her shoulder.

"Yeah - you can start moving the rocks." Rowan stared at her. Didn't he basically just come back to life only a few minutes ago? With a sigh, he began moving the rocks, pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. This new body of his was amazing. He was excited to move each rock, testing his strength, and noticing how he didn't run out of stamina or get sore muscles. As he did so, Blaise meandered around the cove, slipping well-preserved bones into her pouch.

She even pocketed the bodies of the demonic cultivator and his Flood Dragon companion. Noticing his stare, she gave him a sheepish smile.

"Human bones are worth less than dirt, but you can get a few taels for the bones of Qi Refiners and beyond. You need money in order to spend money, right?" She cleared her throat.

"You should hurry up. Blackscale Sect could arrive at any moment and kill us for looting their cove." He hurried.