127: Bloodline of the Ancient Harpy

The next day, early morning.

Tara meticulously washed herself and changed into a clean maid's dress.

She even cleverly found a pair of lace-trimmed stockings from her old clothes.

Paired with the simple maid's dress, it surprisingly created a subtle sense of allure.

Then, with a very uneasy heart,

Tara followed Butler Barton out of the eerie castle.

In silence, Barton led her to the side of the castle, to a dark underground passage entrance.

"Ba... Butler Barton..."

A surge of panic gradually rose in Tara's heart.

This was unlike any situation she had anticipated.

"Am I going to meet... that Lord here?"

Inside the passage, Barton did not turn around.

His back, holding the oil lamp, swayed slightly as he spoke in a gentle voice:

"Yes, the Master has been doing some scholarly work here recently."

"I don't understand the specifics; you just need to cooperate."

At the end of the passage was a very spacious underground area.

A pungent smell of blood, mixed with the unique musky odor of twisted creatures, assailed her.

On the walls hung several crystals emitting a pale white light, illuminating a sturdy Flame Gold Platform in the center.

Around it were scattered black iron cages, from which occasionally came the low roars of twisted creatures.

A young figure stood with his back to her in front of the Platform, seemingly busy with something.

After leading her there,

Barton left without a sound, his figure quickly disappearing into the black passage.

"Lo... Lord..."

Tara hesitated for a moment where she stood,

but ultimately, she steeled herself and walked forward alone.

"Have you ever seen the Sea of Ancestors?"

The young figure did not turn around, asking in a calm voice.

"The Sea of Ancestors..."

Tara paused slightly, answering subconsciously.

"I haven't seen it..."

"Legend has it that only first-generation Bloodline nobles, when first excavating their extraordinary Bloodline, might glimpse the Sea of Ancestors."

"I am a descendant of the Osiri Family, born with the Ancient Harpy Bloodline, so it's impossible for me to see it."

"Is that so? As expected of a thousand-year Family; many hidden secrets are known only to you."

The figure spoke, slowly turning around.

The moment she saw that face,

Tara's pupils sharply contracted.

"Li Ke Charles?"

"How could it be him?"

The mysterious strong person who saved her,

the man who had filled her heart with countless conjectures and fantasies,

was actually that country bumpkin she had completely looked down upon at the Oak Tree Earl's Mansion previously?!

After Li Ke turned around, Tara saw that

on the Flame Gold Platform in front of him lay a fragmented ape-Li Ke twisted creature, a bloody and terrifying sight.

"Since you previously promised to dedicate everything you have to me,"

"then from now on, you are my private property."

Li Ke's voice was calm and cold, devoid of any emotion, as if merely stating an established fact.

"I have absolute right to use you, understand?"

Tara trembled violently all over.

As a descendant of the thousand-year Legacy Osiri Family, to be reduced to a slave of a country bumpkin minor noble,

years of Family education filled her with unparalleled shame and humiliation.

But she looked up at that incredibly calm, emotionless young face,

opened her mouth, and finally abandoned all dignity, humbly lowering her head.

"I understand... Master."

Li Ke made no comment on the address, and with a wave of his hand, he cleared the Flame Gold Platform.

"Take off your clothes and lie down."

Tara's body stiffened abruptly, and a wave of humiliation surged through her again.

But under Li Ke's emotionless gaze,

she could only unfasten the ties of her maid's dress with trembling hands.

Above the Flame Gold Platform, an embedded pebble-sized glowing gem cast an even light, illuminating everything below in vivid detail.

When Tara lay naked and submissive on the cold Flame Gold Platform,

her hands placed in front of her, the intense shame almost made her faint.

However, Li Ke's gaze did not linger on her curvaceous body at all.

He silently used the Blood Fusion Technique from the True Spirit Blood Fusion Secret Method to carefully observe the extraordinary Bloodline within Tara.

A moment later, Li Ke extended a slender silver needle,

and slowly extracted a wisp of Bloodline from Tara's arm.

Once separated from the body, this wisp of Bloodline appeared as a strange, purple, smoky state, slowly swirling at the tip of the needle.

"Is this the Ancient Harpy Bloodline?"

Li Ke held the wisp of purple smoke and walked to a nearby cage,

injecting the purple smoke into three different twisted creatures.

The most violent reaction came from an ape-Li Ke twisted creature.

Its body instantly underwent drastic changes, rapidly growing dense, greenish feathers.

The flesh on its back wriggled frantically, swelling into a large tumor, Li Ke an unexpanded folded wing.

"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"

The ape let out an incredibly excited shriek, desperately hitting the bars of the Flame Gold cage,

and a strange energy fluctuation spread out from its center.

All the twisted creatures in the surrounding cages instantly became incredibly agitated,

as if their most primitive desires had been aroused, wildly crashing against their cages.

This strange energy fluctuation

only caused a faint ripple in Li Ke's spiritual consciousness.

However, Tara, lying on the Platform, felt an inexplicable agitation in her heart, and her legs unconsciously crossed.

Just then, the ape's aura reached its peak.

"Bang!"

Its body suddenly exploded, turning into a mist of blood and flesh.

The strange fluctuation also ceased abruptly.

Immediately after, another twisted creature in an adjacent cage also exploded and died.

Conversely, a lowest-tier mud dog barely survived,

but it lay limp in the cage, its extraordinary Bloodline becoming chaotic and completely losing all its extraordinary characteristics.

"As expected of a thousand-year Legacy Bloodline, its rank is indeed much higher..."

Li Ke returned to the Flame Gold Platform.

He took a prepared wisp of dark red Bloodline from a glass bottle on the nearby experimental table.

"Next, let's try the Fusion."

He used the Blood Fusion Technique from the True Spirit Blood Fusion Secret Method,

slowly injecting that wisp of Red Cave Bat Bloodline into Tara's body.

In fact, this process,

for Li Ke, was equivalent to Cultivating the True Spirit Blood Fusion Secret Method.

But he did not want to use his own body to bear the unknown risks of Bloodline Fusion.

Tara was a perfect substitute.

He could use this to observe potential infection and mutation phenomena during Bloodline Fusion,

and even have a chance to glimpse the source of the Bloodline known as the Sea of Ancestors.

If it succeeded, Tara would also gain considerable benefits.

If it failed, only Tara would be mutated; he himself would not be affected in any way.

Soon, that wisp of Red Cave Bat Bloodline, under the effect of the Blood Fusion Technique, achieved a preliminary Fusion with Tara's body.

Then, under Li Ke's careful observation with his spiritual sense, it was clearly visible that

a wisp of faint purple Ancient Harpy Bloodline actively separated within Tara's body, easily devouring the foreign wisp of Red Cave Bat Bloodline.

Then, the purple Bloodline itself seemed to have gained a subtle, almost imperceptible increase.

In other words, Tara's extraordinary Bloodline concentration increased by a trace.