1562 Vial of Blood

"So, what do you need me to do?" Bai Ning urged in an impatient manner.

Yuan calmly said, "You have a brother, right?"

"Yes… I have several younger brothers, in fact. Why are you asking?" Bai Ning raised her eyebrows with a confused look.

"I am looking for one of them. According to what I was told, he wields a pair of gauntlets." Yuan said, pretending he didn't know Bai Xutao.

"Gaunlet… I know three of them that wield them. Any more specifics?"

"I heard he came down to the lower heaven for some mission."

"Oh, then you must be talking about Bai Xutao, our youngest. Why are you looking for him?"

"I met him not long ago and couldn't finish our conversation because he had to leave suddenly. I'd like to speak with him and repay a little debt I owe him." Yuan said with a calm smile on his face.

"Is that so…" Bai Ning's face became a little nervous as she continued, "Unfortunately, Bai Xutao was heavily injured not long ago, so I had to send him back home to the upper heavens, so you might have to wait until he recovers."

"Heavily injured in the lower heavens? What happened to him?" Yuan acted surprised to hear this information.

"He was viciously beaten by this masked individual."

"What? Why would this individual do such a horrible thing?" Yuan's eyes widened with shock.

"My brother claimed it was a random attack—that he has no idea why he was being attacked. However, Bai Xutao is a troublemaker, so I wouldn't be surprised if he offended someone he shouldn't have. This individual was insanely talented and powerful… there's no way someone like that would attack Bai Xutao without reason."

"This is also why I came to the Pavilion of Knowledge—to find this individual who attacked my younger brother." Bai Ning clenched her fists in frustration.

In her head, she couldn't care less about avenging Bai Xutao. The real reason she wanted to find this individual was to fight him again and to learn about his mysterious power.

"What will you do once you find this individual?" Yuan asked out of curiosity.

"Well, I am going to find out the real reason he attacked Bai Xutao, but regardless of the reason, he'd nearly crippled someone from the Heavenly White Tiger Clan, so he will need to pay for his crimes. I will bring him back to my family so they can deal with him." Bai Ning said.

"I see… I hope you find this individual and find justice for Bai Xutao." Yuan said.

"As for meeting with the Immortal Monarch, he's not in the condition to meet anyone right now, anyway. I'll let you meet him in the future."

"What?! Is he okay?! You make it sound like he's injured or something!" Bai Ning's face darkened, acting like a mother about her missing child.

"It's complicated, but you'll find out in the future. Anyway, can you share your information on the Immortal Monarch with me?"

After a moment of silence, Bai Ning nodded her head, and she retrieved a jade slip from her spatial ring before handing it to him.

"This is my personal logbook. I logged all of my information on the Immortal Monarch here. You can borrow it for now."

Yuan accepted the jade slip and said, "Thank you. As a token of our new friendship and to further develop our trust in each other, I would like you to have this…"

Yuan retrieved an object from his spatial ring and offered it to her.

"This is…"

Bai Ning raised her eyebrows at the vial of blood before her with a puzzled face. Why was he giving her blood, and who does it belong to?

However, not wanting to be rude, Bai Ning accepted it without any question.

"T-thank you…?" she said in a stiff voice.

The vial was the length of her finger, and only a fourth of it contained blood.

"It was nice meeting you. Then I'll go back upstairs now." Yuan turned around and left before Bai Ning could question him about the blood.

Once Yuan left, Bai Ning opened the vial and took a sniff of the blood.

Her senses immediately went crazy from the sweet scent of the blood, and her body trembled uncontrollably from excitement.

"What a profound scent! Whose blood does it belong to?!" Even Xuan Kun could smell it from afar, and the scent made his mouth watery.

"I don't know but… I really want to taste it for some reason." Bai Ning swallowed nervously.

Usually, she'd never even think about tasting a stranger's blood, but the sweet scent was too enticing and compelled her to do so.

"I'll just taste a drop to see if I can identify it…" Bai Ning carefully retrieved a drop of blood from the vial with her Qi Manifestation and placed it in her mouth.

The instant the drop of blood touched her tongue, an overwhelming sensation surged through Bai Ning's entire being, as if she had been touched by the divine itself, baptized in an ethereal purity that transcended all comprehension.

"Good heavens!" she cried out loud and fell to her knees, nearly dropping the vial of blood in the process.

"W-what the?! Lady Bai! Are you okay?! Did that bastard poison you?!" Xuan Wei exclaimed in a terrified voice after seeing her drastic reaction.

Bai Ning didn't respond to him and merely stared toward the sky with a dazed look on her face.

"Lady Bai…?" Xuan Kun swallowed nervously.

"It's… it's so fucking delicious…" she muttered in a dumbfounded voice.

"Huh? Excuse me?"

"This otherworldly taste that's unlike anything I've tasted before… this to-die-for taste… only one individual could make a divine beast fall to their knees with the delicious taste of their blood— the Immortal Monarch! This blood definitely belongs to the Immortal Monarch!!!" Bai Ning exclaimed as she came to a realization.

"T-the Immortal Monarch's blood?!?! Impossible!" Xuan Wei cried out loud, his voice filled with disbelief.