Outside Delin Town.
In a deep forest.
A massive ancient castle was situated deep within this forest; there was no living creature within a radius of several thousand meters.
Some jungle beasts, when occasionally passing by, would quickly depart like startled birds.
As if some particularly terrifying existence resided within that ancient castle.
This was the aura of a seasoned Blood Clan Viscount; ordinary creatures dared not approach it.
This was Viscountess Catherine's dwelling place.
Inside the ancient castle.
Ms. Mary knelt on the ground, trembling all over.
Above her.
A beautiful, elegant young woman reclined casually on a soft couch.
"Mary, how long have you been with me?"
A clear voice sounded.
Ms. Mary's body tensed; she pursed her lips and said:
"Replying to Viscount, it has been three hundred and fifty-seven years."
Viscountess Catherine chuckled, looking at Ms. Mary, and said softly:
"It's been that long, huh?
Counting the days.
There are only about ten years left until the family's stipulated deadline for developing a Bloodline.
I have no one else by my side, so you are naturally the first choice."
At this point, she changed her tone.
She chuckled softly:
"But why did you steal something?
Those manuscripts my father placed in the vault, you were the one who took them out, weren't you?"
Drops of sweat dripped from Ms. Mary's forehead.
Thousands of parchment manuscripts were stored in Viscountess Catherine's ancient castle.
They were all piled up in a dusty vault.
She had thought Viscountess Catherine would not discover it... "I'm sorry, Viscount..."
Ms. Mary did not argue, only apologized in a low voice.
Viscountess Catherine gently pinched Ms. Mary's snow-white chin with her hand, her deep blue eyes fixed on Ms. Mary's pale face.
"This is your last chance.
If you try any more tricks next time, my Bloodline candidate will go to someone else."
A voice like a heavenly melody sounded in Ms. Mary's ears.
Ms. Mary, however, was filled with pleasant surprise.
Viscountess Catherine's willingness to give her a chance was already an immense grace for her.
She said excitedly:
"Thank you, Viscount, I..."
Before she could finish, Viscountess Catherine gently placed a finger over Ms. Mary's lips.
A clear and melodious voice sounded.
"Do your job well..."
Ms. Mary quickly nodded, the surprise still evident on her face.
"You may leave."
Viscountess Catherine suddenly seemed a bit tired.
She turned on her side on the soft couch and waved her hand at Ms. Mary.
Ms. Mary slowly withdrew.
Viscountess Catherine looked at a mirror in her hand.
On the mirror's surface, her ethereal beauty was reflected.
She could also clearly see Ms. Mary's figure slowly retreating behind her.
After Ms. Mary had exited the room and gently closed the door.
Viscountess Catherine retracted her gaze.
She casually twirled a strand of her dark hair around her finger, bored.
In the room, she chuckled softly.
"Heh, for a man."
She naturally knew why Ms. Mary had dared to take the parchment manuscripts from the vault.
A man named John had completely captivated Ms. Mary.
That John, she heard, had now become a Blood Clan Baron.
Her little Mary seemed to be truly smitten.
John's master, Ryan.
Catherine had heard that name before.
But she only knew that Ryan was the Bloodline of that old geezer, Viscount William.
He seemed to have only become a Blood Clan member a little over a hundred years ago.
However, she had never interacted with Ryan, nor had she met him.
Now, because of Ms. Mary, she clearly understood that Ryan had advanced to Blood Clan Viscount.
"In just over a hundred years, he advanced from the Baron rank to Viscount.
It seems the Victor Family has produced another genius.
That old miser William has really struck gold."
Viscountess Catherine muttered.
She did not know that Ryan had to offer half of his Blood Energy to Viscount William every fifty years.
Viscount William also did not want other Blood Clan members to know about such a deprivation of his Bloodline.
Therefore, he strictly forbade Ryan and another Bloodline from revealing this matter to others.
As a result, very few people knew that Viscount William would be so shameless as to treat his Bloodline as a human Blood Bank, harvesting it every fifty years.
If Viscountess Catherine knew about this, she would definitely not believe that Ryan had advanced to Blood Clan Viscount purely by his own talent.
Genii who advanced to the Viscount rank in just over a hundred years, though rare, did exist.
In Viscountess Catherine's long life, she had encountered many such genii.
However, if the condition of offering half of one's Blood Energy every fifty years was added.
It could no longer be explained by exceptional talent.
"Such a genius, I can try to find a way to get in touch with him.
Mary is a very good breakthrough point."
Viscountess Catherine thought.
The former Ryan was just a small Blood Clan Baron, naturally not in her eyes, nor would she have any thought of getting to know him.
Now, after knowing Ryan's "talent," and with Ryan having already advanced to Viscount, placing him on the same level as her.
She naturally wouldn't mind getting to know a genius with extraordinary potential.
The Victor Family would surely provide such a genius with high-grade Blood Cores; his future prospects were limitless.
"Since he likes Demon Magician's things, I'll use those as a Meeting gift when the time comes."
Viscountess Catherine closed her eyes, and after making a decision, she slowly drifted off to sleep.
There were many things in the vault.
Viscountess Catherine actually didn't care.
She had been a bit angry before, simply because Ms. Mary had taken matters into her own hands, secretly taking things to give to an outsider.
Her maid, who had been with her for several hundred years, was turning her back on her for a man; she was naturally somewhat displeased.
Compared to that, the things Ms. Mary took from the vault were minor issues.
Her vault contained too many various collections.
It almost filled the entire vault.
Most of them were left by her father.
Her father was a Fourth-Order Demon Magician.
Originally, her father had intended to train Viscountess Catherine to be a Demon Magician, but she had been uninterested in things filled with evil aura since childhood.
She wasn't even willing to learn the Demonic Language, nor did she learn it.
After an accident, Viscountess Catherine became a Blood Clan member.
Naturally, she would even less learn the Demonic Language or become a Demon Magician.
In a fit of pique, his father didn't even pass on the precious Spiritual Power cultivation method he possessed to Catherine.
However, she was his daughter after all.
Her father eventually made a concession.
He recorded the Spiritual Power cultivation method, along with his Demon Magician inheritance, in Demonic Language on parchment manuscripts and placed them in Viscountess Catherine's ancient castle vault.
Her father prepared thousands of identical parchment manuscripts, scattered throughout the vault.
As long as Catherine learned the Demonic Language, she would definitely discover these precious parchment manuscripts.
This father had once subtly reminded Viscountess Catherine:
"My daughter, if you learn the Demonic Language.
You will receive the most precious gift I have for you."
But he didn't expect Viscountess Catherine to have no interest in the Demonic Language whatsoever.
She had never thought of learning this language.
She merely chuckled at her father's mention of a gift.
Until one day.
Ms. Mary opened the dusty vault.
First, she took out twelve ordinary manuscripts.
Then.
The most recent time she entered the vault.
Ms. Mary took one of the parchment manuscripts, which contained a complete Demon Magician inheritance, and gave it to John.
As a gift for John becoming a Blood Clan member.