Chapter 126 A New Life

Auguste was clearly hesitant about Vivian's suggestion. He had grown accustomed to living alone, secluded, guarding his secrets, and constantly changing identities—he had been a merchant, farmer, hunter, prisoner, soldier, even a smuggler, but each identity never lasted more than two or three decades. Now, going to the Andre Manor would change all that, and he wasn't ready to reintegrate into ordinary society.

"Mistress, I'm sorry," Auguste said, standing up and bowing slightly to Vivian, looking somewhat uneasy. "I... I'm not ready yet. The Andre family might not accept an immortal like me, and most humans probably couldn't. They can accept a witch or wizard who has lived since the Middle Ages, but it's hard for them to accept an ordinary person like this. I..."

"Oh, I didn't consider that," Vivian said, nodding. "So, you'll continue living like this?"

"I'm used to it," Auguste said, forcing a smile. "The cycle of life and death isn't that difficult, and the wizards who seek forbidden power can live well enough. I'll continue to stay in contact with the Andre family, and maybe I'll move to a new place to change my environment. Anyway, the voice is gone, and there won't be any worse days ahead."

Vivian looked at the human who had gained immortality, pondered silently, and suddenly waved her hand, summoning a small bat. "Paal, hold out your hand. I want to take some precautions for the future."

Auguste was perplexed but didn't hesitate. He extended his left hand, and Vivian's little bat quickly flew over and bit a tiny wound on his arm. Auguste frowned, noticing a few faint black lines spreading across his arm before fading and disappearing.

"It's not necessarily a good thing for a short-lived species to gain too much longevity without supervision. Immortality requires special talent and willpower, and I won't allow my servant to do anything that embarrasses me. This blood will protect you, and if you ever meet one of my descendants or other vampires related to me, it will also help you prove your identity and allow you to have equal rights to dialogue with them. But it will also monitor you—Paal, don't disappoint me. If one day you can't stand this immortality, it's best to end it yourself. I don't want to hear from the blood that you've degenerated into a monster."

Auguste's expression changed slightly, but he finally nodded calmly. "Your foresight is necessary, and I won't fail the gift of this blood."

"Relax, Paal," Vivian said, smiling. "I'm not a peeping Tom, and I'm not interested in monitoring your every move. It will only alert me when you go insane, which will be more detrimental than beneficial to you. And... it can also cure your 'bleeding.' You can relax a bit every time you approach the age of sixty."

Auguste: "..."

The group said goodbye to Auguste and came outside the wooden house. Hao Ren then nudged Vivian's arm, his tone quite subtle. "Speaking of which, you had a really strong aura just now. I've never seen you so imposing."

"Did I?" Vivian looked puzzled, then looked down and continued to study the delicate wooden box in her hand, the one that had contained the "stones" earlier. "To be honest, I'm quite curious about this..."

"What's so curious about it?" Hao Ren had already taken the two stones in his hand and was tossing them up and down. "Now it's just an empty box, isn't it?"

"Paal said that I deliberately gave this to him back then, and I specifically instructed him to take good care of it because I would come to get it one day," Vivian said, studying the wooden box from all angles. "This means that I considered this thing very important back then—but I have no memory of it at all now."

Lili stared at the wooden box and thought for a moment. "It should still be because you were poor."

Hao Ren looked at her sideways. "How can this be related to being poor?"

"Look how exquisite this box is. This thing might have been a treasure worth a lot of money back then. Judging by how poor Bat was back then, this was probably the most valuable thing she had on hand, so she definitely wanted her servant to take good care of it. It's much more important than a stone."

"If it was such an important thing, why didn't I just keep it by my side? Why did I give it to someone else to take care of it?"

"Because you were going to sleep for a long time," Lili glanced at Vivian. "Maybe you have a bad sleeping posture and were afraid of crushing it, or maybe you were afraid that you would wake up and completely forget what the box was for, and then casually sell it or break it—so you gave it to your servant and emphasized that it was very important. This way, if you ever have a chance to find Legih's descendants again, even if you forget what the box is for, at least someone will remind you that this thing is important, so you won't be so poor that you casually take it to exchange for money."

Nangong Wuyue looked at Lili in a daze. "...Not bad, I didn't realize your logical thinking was so meticulous."

Lili put her hands on her hips, and a tail seemed to be wagging behind her. "I've said it so many times, I'm smart!"

Vivian rarely agreed with Lili this time. "The big dog might be right, this thing must have a special meaning... I asked my servant to take care of it because I foresaw that I would forget the meaning of the box. I'm going to study it carefully when I get back."

"Before that, we have to carefully study whether these two stones are the 'keys' to open the Angry Spirit Gate," Hao Ren put the two ancient devices in his pocket. "Terminal, teleport—I hope Igor has prepared lunch."

The Andre Manor was celebrating its first peaceful day in three hundred years. The servants happily ran up and down, cleaning all corners of the castle. Every window was wiped sparkling clean, and the portraits of Andre's ancestors in the corridors revealed even more radiant colors after the dust was wiped away. Even the zombie-faced butler and the gloomy old servant in the yard were doing their jobs with smiles on their faces.

Igor stood in the hall, watching the servants prepare today's sumptuous lunch. His son and daughter stood beside him. Anna and Akim's physical conditions were still not very good, but even Akim, who was in the worst condition, insisted on wandering around the castle. This poor young man, who had been locked in his room for years, no longer wanted to be confined to that small cage.

"Father, will those masters come back?" Anna looked at her father.

Igor smiled with his belly out. "Yes, they have magical powers that can instantly travel around the world—Anna, remember to bow when you see the witch next time. Our entire family is built on..."

Before Igor could finish speaking, the space beside him suddenly twisted, and then a white light appeared out of thin air. Vivian's voice came from the white light. "I told you not to be so nervous about the legend of the witch. I don't eat people."

Igor was startled and quickly greeted her. Vivian waved her hand. "I can't stand such troublesome etiquette—the second stone is already in hand. We'll start studying the matter of the Evil Spirit Gate now."

Igor cautiously asked, "May I ask about the Legih family..."

"Auguste? He's fine," Vivian nodded. "But he doesn't plan to meet you. The curse of the evil spirits is over, and he plans to start a new life. You 'two families' won't have to worry about this aspect in the future."

"It's like a dream." Igor exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.

Lili stared at the sumptuous lunch on the long table, her tongue almost unable to retract. Even though Hao Ren was pulling her collar from behind, she kept rushing forward. "Eat, eat, eat... I want to eat! I want to eat!"

As soon as Hao Ren let go, he watched Lili sweep to the table like a whirlwind. This idiot probably had never seen such a grand feast in her life. The intellectuals of the Republic of China were probably no match for this three-hundred-year-old local tyrant in terms of extravagance...

After lunch, Hao Ren didn't waste any time and directly took everyone to the underground of the castle to prepare to study the rift.

This time, Igor and his son and daughter, as well as several old servants, followed to the entrance of the underground palace. The iron gate separating the human world from the alien world no longer had frost spreading on it. After the disappearance of the cold aura, it looked like an ordinary door. Igor looked at the darkness behind the iron gate with awe. "Is this another world below?"

"It's another space, in the cracks of the real world," Vivian nodded toward the dark and deep tunnel inside. "Actually, if you plan to go in, it's not impossible, after all, the evil spirits are gone. But if you want to go in, it's best to set up enough lights and small rest stations along the way. The vastness inside is beyond your imagination, and it's as cold as the snowfield outside. Once you get lost in that place, don't expect to come back alive."

Igor shrank his neck. "Please don't joke, who would dare to enter such a place?"

What he didn't notice was that as he said this, Anna beside him was staring at the darkness with a pensive look.

Anna remembered the things that the Angry Spirit had whispered in her mind before, some of which seemed to be helpful.