Xu Qianqin smiled, opening her mouth to reveal sharp fangs, and bit down fiercely on Ye Ling's neck. Ye Ling felt sharp blades pierce his blood vessels, beginning to drain his vital energy, and his strength started to wane.
"Hehehehe... what sweet blood! I haven't tasted such exquisite blood in a long time. Hero, you truly never cease to surprise me!"
With her mouth full of blood, Xu Qianqin laughed heartily, delighted by Ye Ling's blood.
"Thanks for the compliment, elder sister!"
Ye Ling gritted his teeth as he spoke to Xu Qianqin, striving to channel the spiritual energy he had gained from absorbing the blood of Gol and some of the giant beasts.
"Roar!!!"
Suddenly, Calvin, who had been cowering on the ground, sprang up, bared his fanged maw, and latched onto Xu Qianqin's body, tearing her away from Ye Ling and dragging her into the darkness.
Ye Ling plummeted heavily from the air, landing on the floor. He looked at Calvin, who was pinning Xu Qianqin down, and let out a long sigh. "Fortunately, I had a backup plan, or I would have been completely finished by now..."
From the very beginning, Ye Ling had never trusted Xu Qianqin. When she helped him unseal his powers and sent him to deal with Calvin, he had no intention of killing Calvin. Instead, during that brief period, he had used the Ink Chamber to alter Calvin's thoughts, instilling hatred for Xu Qianqin in him, all to prevent the current situation.
"Crazy woman! You dare attack me?"
Xu Qianqin clearly hadn't expected Calvin to attack her and was now in a furious state. She abandoned Ye Ling entirely, stretching her neck to tightly coil around Calvin's massive body, biting into his neck.
"Roar—!"
Calvin let out a pained howl, his colossal body thrashing on the ground, trying to break free from Xu Qianqin's grip, but to no avail.
"It seems Calvin is completely outmatched by Xu Qianqin. It won't be long before she cripples him. I need to recover my strength quickly..."
Observing the battle between Xu Qianqin and Calvin, Ye Ling recognized that Calvin was no match for Xu Qianqin. He immediately used his remaining spiritual energy to construct the Devouring Domain and the Ink Chamber, intending to modify Xu Qianqin's seal.
Fortunately, Xu Qianqin's seal was far less formidable than the masked man's. The moment Ye Ling activated the Ink Chamber, he analyzed a portion of the nature of Xu Qianqin's seal.
"It seems fate has not abandoned me. At this rate, it will only take ten minutes to break that old hag's seal..."
Through the Devouring Domain, Ye Ling continuously absorbed spiritual energy from Xu Qianqin's seal to strengthen the Ink Chamber, quickly forming a small circulation within himself to unseal his powers.
Not long after, while halfway through unsealing, Ye Ling discovered something amiss with the seal within him.
"Hmm... something's wrong. The masked man's seal is still here!"
Within him, beneath Xu Qianqin's seal, the masked man's seal remained, merely covered by Xu Qianqin's.
Realizing this, Ye Ling understood that if he simply broke Xu Qianqin's seal, his outcome would not change in the slightest! After all, his current ability to use spiritual energy relied entirely on Xu Qianqin's peculiar secret technique. Once she removed the secret technique, he would lose all his power!
"No! If I break that old hag's seal, she'll react immediately and won't give me time to break the masked man's seal. I need a different approach!"
With this thought, Ye Ling slowed down the speed at which he was using the Ink Chamber to break Xu Qianqin's seal, instead controlling Calvin to rampage, buying himself more time!
"If I can't break the seal, then I'll have to resort to underhanded tactics..." Ye Ling murmured. "Although it's a bit unsportsmanlike and carries considerable risk, it seems to be the only way to overcome this predicament."
Ye Ling made up his mind, immediately withdrew his Devouring Domain and Ink Chamber, and repaired Xu Qianqin's seal within him.
Having done all this, Ye Ling converted all the power he could mobilize, including the Devouring Domain and Ink Chamber he had previously used to unseal the masked man, into runes, hiding them within his bloodline.
The runes transformed into blood, flowing through Ye Ling's veins alongside his own, quickly spreading throughout his entire body.
After completing this, Ye Ling completely lost all his strength, collapsing onto the ground, utterly immobile.
"Whether I live or die... it all depends on this gamble."
Ye Ling muttered, and the fighting in the dungeon gradually ceased.
Calvin, entangled by Xu Qianqin, was soon drained of blood, his massive body becoming emaciated. In his golden eyes, only fear and pain remained.
Xu Qianqin released Calvin and said coldly, "Hmph... ungrateful, crazy woman. I had intended to save you for last, but you had to disturb my meal at my happiest moment."
With that, Xu Qianqin looked at Ye Ling, lying on the cold floor not far away, and a smile reappeared on her lips. She said dreamily, "Hero, you must have waited long enough. Now that no one will interrupt our time alone, let me savor your power!"
Xu Qianqin smiled, her neck coiling around Ye Ling's body again, gently biting his neck and beginning to drink his blood.
"Hmm?"
The moment Xu Qianqin took her first sip of blood, her brow furrowed slightly. She then released her mouth and asked Ye Ling, "Hero, did you perhaps play a little trick while I wasn't paying attention?"
'She can tell?'
Hearing Xu Qianqin's words, Ye Ling's heart churned like a stormy sea! The reason he had chosen to use runes instead of the Devouring Domain and Ink Chamber was precisely because of the extreme concealment of runes. Now that the runes had completely simulated blood, Xu Qianqin shouldn't have been able to detect them!
Xu Qianqin looked directly into Ye Ling's eyes and asked, "Hero, you must be wondering now, why do I know?"
Ye Ling remained impassive, offering no reply.
Xu Qianqin continued, "Hero may not know, but I am the oldest blood louse demon from chaos, incredibly sensitive to blood."
"Although I don't know what you secretly added to your blood, hero, I can feel that your blood has changed. It's no longer as sweet and delicious as before."
"On the contrary, your blood now is incredibly bitter, making me feel faintly nauseous..."
"Blood with this taste could be harmful to me!"
Hearing Xu Qianqin's words, Ye Ling's pupils contracted sharply.
Encountering such a pervert... Ye Ling felt his scalp tingle!