Dario wasn’t slow either. The instant Sarrow turned to flee, his figure blurred and dissolved into the air—activating his innate skill, Space Concealment.
"Nobody leaves!"
Seeing the two trying to escape, Ian Song called out sharply, stepped forward, and chased after Sarrow, slamming his palm down from above.
"I'll fight you to the death!"
Seeing there was no hope of escape, Sarrow’s ferocity erupted. With a furious roar, his Asura Flame surged, and his whole body turned into a massive black fire dragon that crashed toward Ian Song.
"Puff, puff, puff, puff!"
A string of soft pops sounded as Ian Song’s arm plunged into the fire dragon. He stirred it around, and the dragon’s body exploded with a boom—a weakened figure tumbled out, looking utterly drained.
With a casual grab, Ian snatched a diamond-shaped crystal out of Sarrow’s chest and caught it in his hand.
It was Sarrow’s heart core.
The heart core is the source of a vampire’s energy and life. Ian had destroyed six of them before, but after thinking it over, realized these cores should be useful to other vampires—so he decided to give this one to his vampire servants.
With his heart core taken, Sarrow died instantly, beyond any hope of recovery.
Dario, hidden in the void, happened to witness this scene. Terrified to the core, he didn't dare linger nearby and fled at top speed into the distance.
Suddenly, Dario's body froze—he realized the city guardian was standing directly in front of him.
"Can he really see through my concealment?"
Dario couldn't help but doubt himself. He quickly turned and darted to the left, trying to escape.
But in just a split second, he saw the city guardian appear ahead of him again.
Now, he was certain—the other party could see through his every move.
In terms of combat power, he was no match for Sarrow. His greatest asset was Space Concealment. With this skill, even when facing opponents many times stronger, he could still sneak attack and escape confidently.
But against this city guardian, that advantage seemed to have vanished.
Frustrated and deeply afraid, he dismissed Space Concealment and looked at Ian Song, asking, "How did you see through my concealment?"
"I have no need to answer a dead man's question!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Dario felt a chill in his chest. A wave of weakness swept over him, plunging his entire being into darkness as his consciousness rapidly faded away.
Holding the two heart cores in his hand, Ian Song went to find Liza Li, Victor Wang, and Liza Yale.
At that moment, the three were following his orders to wipe out the vampires in Mesa City.
Liza Li was a second-generation vampire, while Victor Wang and Liza Yale were third-generation vampires.
All the vampires in Mesa City were fourth- or fifth-generation, and the trio's bloodline suppression made those lower generations unable to unleash even half their strength.
So in just a few hours, the three of them had already slaughtered nearly a thousand vampires.
Liza Li alone had killed over six hundred vampires.
During the massacre, all three absorbed the energy from the heart cores of their victims, growing stronger with each kill—their strength had already more than doubled.
Victor Wang and Liza Yale had both reached peak baron level, and if they kept killing, they might soon advance to viscount.
Liza Li, already a mid-viscount, had absorbed enough heart core energy to advance straight to late-viscount.
"Vampires really are strange creatures—their power grows almost entirely through plunder!"
With that sigh, Ian flashed into a residential complex. After a moment, a figure slowly stepped out of a villa.
Suddenly, she spotted his shadow beneath the darkness, rushed over, and knelt down: "Liza Li greets Master!"
"Rise."
Ian Song gestured with a wave of his hand.
"Thank you, Master!" Liza Li carefully stood up.
"You did well. This is your reward!" Ian tossed Dario's heart core to her.
"This is...!"
Seeing the heart core in her hand, Liza Li's eyes widened in disbelief. "Master... is this really an earl-rank heart core?"
"Is it useful to you?" Ian asked.
"Yes... it's incredibly useful! I'm already late-viscount. If I devour this earl-rank heart core, I might break through to earl!" Liza Li said, barely able to contain her excitement.
"Then it's yours. Keep clearing out the city's vampires!"
"Yes, Master!" Liza Li knelt down again in gratitude.
With another flash, Ian appeared at the end of a dark alley, where Victor Wang was chasing three fourth-generation vampires.
These three had only been vampires for about a day. Though they'd drunk plenty of blood, they hadn't yet broken through the blood slave barrier to become barons. Even working together, they were no match for Victor and could only run.
Five minutes later, the fight was over. Victor killed all three and immediately devoured their heart cores.
Suddenly, he sensed someone deeper in the alley and called out warily, "Who's there?"
"It's me!"
Hearing that voice, Victor Wang's face instantly turned respectful. "Greetings, Master!"
"Rise."
"Thank you, Master!"
"This is your reward. Make sure to clear out all the vampires in Mesa City tonight!" Ian tossed Dario's heart core to Victor, then vanished.
Back at the villa, Ian locked himself away in the Divine Temple and cranked the time ratio up to one hundred times.
Earlier, he had chosen three immortal arts: World-Shaping Avatar, Primal Heaven-Crushing Palm, and Supreme Slaughter Art. He'd already spent what amounted to three months inside the Temple, pushing all three up to Initiation level.
Each immortal art had five realms: Initiation, Minor Achievement, Proficient, Great Achievement, and Perfection.
Advancing required both combat and time.
Up to now, Ian wasn't the strongest among all transmigrator Hosts, but he'd rarely met anyone who could truly threaten him, so he hadn't had many chances to use these arts in real combat.
But now, with the appearance of a Host whose realm surpassed his, Ian felt genuine pressure.
Determined to catch up, he resolved to grind these three techniques up to at least Minor Achievement as fast as possible.
World-Shaping Avatar!
With a soft shout, Ian activated the spell. His body swelled, transforming into a giant seven-zhang-tall dharma form—about twenty-one meters, the height of a ten-story building.
As his size increased, Ian felt his physical power multiply many times over.
Boom!
He swung his fists, practicing a boxing routine beneath the starry sky of the Divine Temple.
Boom! Boom!
Each punch sent shockwaves through the Temple, but after just two minutes his Nascent Soul true essence was nearly depleted, forcing him to return to normal size.