“You, come here!”
Edward beckoned to Ren Songfei, who immediately trotted over like a pug.
Then he commanded Chen Xiao, “You, come with me!”
Although he had vowed to kill Chen Xiao, he wouldn’t actually do so.
The incident at the press conference had been a desperate gamble that failed, leading to grave consequences.
As the perpetrator of these consequences, he had to take responsibility.
So, he decided to bring these two Chinese men back to atone for his mistakes.
One was a high-ranking official of the Exorcism Division, and the other was a young man with a deep understanding of vampires and immense strength.
He hoped that upon their return, the elders would focus their attention on these two, thereby reducing his own punishment.
Edward walked towards the rooftop entrance, with Chen Xiao and Ren Songfei obediently following behind.
Just as Edward was opening the door, a casual voice suddenly rang out, “Forty-eight seconds…”
Edward froze, “Forty-eight seconds what?”
“Your control over me lasts for a maximum of forty-eight seconds!”
Chen Xiao said calmly.
Edward’s face paled in shock, and he looked at Chen Xiao incredulously.
“You, you, you… the hypnosis failed? How is that possible?”
Chen Xiao smiled slightly, “Why wouldn’t it be possible? I’ve figured it out. Your so-called hypnosis is merely a mental attack. Besides your reinforced bodies and razor-sharp fangs and claws, your mental power is your greatest asset. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be easy for you to make those geniuses in the mortal world serve you.”
Edward’s eyes revealed a look of terror, “How did you know that?”
“Just from personal experience. Otherwise, do you think I would have fallen for your trick?”
Chen Xiao sneered.
It turned out that he had deliberately allowed himself to be controlled by Edward just now.
Otherwise, knowing Edward’s expertise in hypnosis, why wouldn’t he have taken precautions beforehand?
He simply wanted to test how long it would take him to break free from the hypnotic control.
And the result showed that the process required forty-eight seconds!
“Deliberately fell for it?”
Edward was momentarily stunned, then his eyes widened in fury, “Stop bragging. How do you know I wouldn’t have killed you during that time?”
Chen Xiao scoffed, “Who do you think you are? Do I need to explain myself to you?”
“What an arrogant brat! If I could control you once, I can control you a second time, unless you gouge your own eyes out!”
As he spoke, Edward’s eyes suddenly glared, a blue light flashing within them, directed at Chen Xiao’s eyes.
At that moment, a faint crimson glow suddenly flashed in Chen Xiao’s eyes…
The blue light struck the crimson glow and was instantly reflected back into Edward’s eyes.
In an instant, Edward’s eyes became vacant, his gaze turning dull.
“Is this your hypnosis? It seems to be nothing special.”
Chen Xiao said calmly.
He had reflected Edward’s hypnosis back, causing it to directly affect Edward himself.
In fact, the reason Chen Xiao dared to take the hit was because of his divine sense.
To a certain extent, Chen Xiao’s divine sense could be considered a form of astral projection.
Therefore, even though his physical body was under Edward’s hypnotic control, his divine sense remained completely unaffected.
At this point, Chen Xiao also understood what made vampires so formidable.
The so-called mental attack relied on powerful soul force.
Vampires often lived for hundreds or thousands of years in this world, making their soul force incredibly robust.
This also explained why Ava and Schmidt before hadn’t used hypnosis.
Clearly, they hadn’t been vampires for long enough to possess sufficiently strong soul force.
Chen Xiao’s own soul force wasn’t particularly strong, but he possessed divine sense, which was akin to a solidified form of soul force.
The only difference was that one was innate, while the other was cultivated.
Thus, Chen Xiao could be said to have crushed the vampire race from all angles… In terms of strength and speed, you couldn’t match me, and your greatest asset, soul force, was also inferior to mine!
However, for ordinary martial artists or cultivators, vampires were a nightmare.
Although vampires had no cultivation system and no spiritual or vital energy within them, their formidable physical bodies and the soul force cultivated over long ages alone placed them in an invincible position.
Ordinary martial artists and cultivators would find it difficult to escape the vampires’ hypnosis unless they gouged their own eyes out.
Of course, powerful beings who had cultivated a Nascent Soul could also resist the mental attacks of vampires… but Nascent Soul cultivators were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns in this world, and Chen Xiao hadn’t encountered a single one yet.
However, it had to be said that vampires of Edward’s caliber were probably not common either.
After all, he was a Duke of the Fogula clan, and anyone who could become a Duke was certainly not ordinary.
Regardless, Chen Xiao had now thoroughly researched the creature known as a vampire and was confident that the vampire race posed no threat to him.
It was said that werewolves were the bane of vampires, but Chen Xiao felt he was even more of a bane to vampires than werewolves.
“This matter can finally come to a close.”
Chen Xiao looked at Edward and said calmly.
Then he activated his Blazing Qilin Eyes, and a ball of flame shot towards Edward…
Within the flames, Edward held out for more than half an hour before finally turning to ashes.
“Damn it, it seems I underestimated this bloodsucker. With this physical resilience, if I hadn’t hypnotized him beforehand, it would have been quite difficult to deal with!”
After burning Edward to ashes, Chen Xiao was panting, his spiritual energy depleted by more than half.
He had never encountered a creature that could endure his flames for so long!
With Edward’s death, his control over Ren Songfei was also released.
Ren Songfei stood there, bewildered, “Why am I here? Huh? Chen Xiao, why are you here too?”
Then he suddenly remembered what had happened before he was controlled and said nervously, “This is bad, Chen Xiao. The Eight Gate Lock had no effect on Edward; he escaped. Let’s go find him quickly, or it’ll be terrible!”
Chen Xiao said calmly, “No need to look. I’ve already found him, though you probably won’t recognize him now!”
“How is that possible? I’d recognize him even if he turned to ash!”
Ren Songfei said through gritted teeth.
Although he didn’t remember exactly what had happened, he vaguely felt that Edward had subjected him to immense humiliation.
“Oh? That’s great. He’s right here…”
Chen Xiao said expressionlessly, pointing at the pile of ash on the ground.