Chapter 168: A Month of Rapid Progress
Over the next month, Yu Xian and the rest of Huaxia's population sat back and watched the drama unfold. Huaxia's sudden disappearance had triggered abnormal weather events across the globe, while massive earthquakes and tsunamis affected hundreds of countries.
Fortunately, many nations had Dragon-rank powerhouses. Many of them took action, temporarily bringing the situation under control. They also sealed the enormous chasm left behind by Huaxia's disappearance beneath a barrier.
Since the experts of these countries could not determine why Huaxia had vanished from the Blue Planet, they simply blamed the progenitor of the Blood Race. The president of the Glorious Dragon Empire even appeared on television holding a bag of ashes, which could or could not have belonged to a vampire. He claimed to possess evidence that the progenitor had destroyed Huaxia and declared vampires the public enemy number one. Thus, nations worldwide launched sweeping campaigns to eradicate vampires.
As compensation for the resources spent erecting the barrier, the Dragon-rank powerhouses "confiscated" vast amounts of vampire-owned property. Wealthy individuals who had once served vampires were arrested and imprisoned, while their assets were divided up until nothing remained.
Of course, this was merely the final celebration of a group of shortsighted fools. Any supernatural being with even a little sense had been searching for Edward all along. As long as Edward remained unfound and undefeated, none of them could rest easy.
The problem was that Edward seemed to have vanished. Even when missiles flattened Romulus Dominion, he never made an appearance. He remained hidden in the shadows, draining vampires of their blood.
According to later estimates, it was likely that the number of vampires killed by the missiles was not even one percent of the number of vampires that Edward had killed himself.
In fact, Edward's vicious methods shocked countless supernatural beings. Many supernatural races even grew wary of their progenitors. After all, if the progenitor of the Blood Race could reclaim the power of his descendants, what about their progenitors?
It could be said that Edward had set a very, very dangerous precedent.
***
Inside the Huaxia Pocket Dimension, within Zenith City, the television in Su Zhuo's home broadcast international news. Su Zhuo was in the kitchen, humming a light tune as she cooked.
Yu Xian lay sprawled across the sofa in the living room and watched the international news on television. He looked at Eternal Purity. "Auntie, where do you think Edward is hiding right now?"
Eternal Purity did not fall for it at all. She merely looked at him with a knowing smile and remained silent.
Over the past month, Yu Xian would occasionally pretend to chat casually with Eternal Purity while watching the news, only to suddenly spring a question on her when she least expected it. He had asked her countless questions, but they were all merely cover for the one question he wanted answered: Where is Edward?
His main goal was to find out where the body of Nora's father, Marcus, had been taken. During his month-long vacation, he had not spent all his time lazing around. He had attempted to create a pocket dimension of his own, experimented with controlling his eyeball bubbles from high above the atmosphere to survey the ground, and even made time to accompany Nora to Yanjing Vocational and Technical College so that she could relax.
Of course, he also secretly controlled his eyeball bubbles to search Romulus Dominion for Marcus's body. Unfortunately, missiles from various countries had barraged Romulus Dominion before he had woken up. The entire nation was riddled with devastation, its land strewn with corpses. Most of those bodies were the desiccated remains of vampires. Clearly, Edward had enjoyed quite a feast this time.
Yu Xian patiently inspected every corpse, but he failed to find the body of Nora's father. Marcus's corpse could have been reduced to ashes in the bombardment, or he could have died somewhere else entirely. In any case, Edward was now the only person who knew where Marcus had truly died.
Yu Xian pitifully looked at Eternal Purity and shamelessly put on his cutest expression. "Auntie, you really can't tell me?"
This was a finishing move he had spent the past month perfecting. It was especially effective against his motherly fans. He was now so famous that people who did not recognize him were the rare exception. As a result, when he went out, he inevitably ran into fans. And whenever an enthusiastic crowd surrounded him, he would use this move to ask his motherly fans to help maintain order. Within moments, they could turn even the most chaotic scene into one of perfect order.
Unfortunately, the technique did not work on Eternal Purity. Her expression did not change in the slightest. Yu Xian was used to this. He merely sighed, lay back on the sofa, and continued watching television. After the international news ended, the domestic news began.
The very first report was about him. Fifty-three cities had each announced that they were making Yu Xian their honorary citizen. He could access all public facilities free of charge simply by having his face scanned. They would also construct parks bearing his name and provide him with numerous other benefits and tax exemptions. The cities were offering him all these benefits in the hope that he would visit them more often.
The second news report, however, left him feeling rather embarrassed. It was a video of what had happened when he went out for a meal the day before. A group of young women had grabbed hold of him and showered him with kisses, leaving his cheeks covered in lipstick marks. They had clung to him so tightly that he had not dared to teleport away. Otherwise, someone would almost certainly have been injured.
During the report, the host jokingly remarked that Yu Xian had now become the dream of thirty million young women. At the same time, he urged everyone to remain calm if they encountered Yu Xian and refrain from behaving too aggressively.
Yu Xian repeatedly nodded at the host's words. He did not actually mind being famous. He was merely afraid that people would become overly enthusiastic and lose control.
Every day, vast amounts of positive emotion poured into the Giant Serpent Heart, which had already become the strongest of all his hearts. Over the past month, he had used sunlight to awaken Super Lungs, Super Skin, Super Eyes, Super Liver, Super Kidneys, Super Spleen, and Super Gallbladder from the Perfect Lifeform's ability tree.
Even so, the Giant Serpent Heart was still superior. Not only had it activated the Sacred Flame of Hero, but it had also awakened three other abilities that had not appeared when he previously appraised the Giant Serpent.
The reason Appraisal had not displayed these abilities previously was naturally that even the giant serpent itself had never awakened them. However, they had appeared now because the potential for these abilities was present in the Giant Serpent's genes. For example, one of its ancestors could have once possessed those abilities, even though the giant serpent had never awakened or learned to control them.
Now, Yu Xian had inherited these abilities that had once belonged to the giant serpent's ancestors through the Giant Serpent Heart. These three abilities were marvelous.
Dragon Bones and Python Sinews
—Increases the hardness of the user's bones, tendons, and muscles tenfold while also increasing their flexibility and strength tenfold.
This was a straightforward passive enhancement ability. It had strengthened Yu Xian's bones, tendons, and muscles. He already had an extremely robust body, but now it was even stronger. Although he was still far behind Gong Qian, if the younger generation competed purely in physical strength, he would now rank among the top three.
The Power of Hero
—Burns Faith within the user's body to convert it into the power of a hero. This massively boosts the user's overall combat strength while empowering abilities such as Thousand Eyes and Ten Thousand Vision, Sacred Flame of Hero, Dragon Bones and Python Sinews, and Hero's Majesty.
This was a pure buff ability that consumed the power of positive emotions. Fortunately, he was now extremely famous, and the positive emotions he had accumulated could last him a long time.
Heroic Majesty
—Unleashes the user's aura to awe and deter opponents. If the user has the moral high ground, the efficacy of the deterrence is enhanced tenfold.
Yu Xian had secretly used this ability once. When being surrounded by fans, he had activated it and ordered everyone to maintain order and avoid disturbing others.
As for the effect? If he had to put it in words, the ability had worked exceptionally well at the time. Everyone obediently followed his instructions. However, afterward, many of the fans who had experienced it became his fanatical believers. Their worship of him had grown even more fervent.
Their behavior began to resemble Stockholm syndrome. After noticing this, Yu Xian hurriedly asked Qilin's psychologists to provide them with treatment and never dared use the ability on ordinary people again.