It had been months since the Black Scorpion's defeat. The world felt strangely calm, too calm. Those who knew him truly understood what that quiet meant. It wasn't peace. It was the calm that comes before a violent storm. Somewhere out there, he was still moving, plotting. Becoming something far worse than before. And they were right.
While ordinary people went on with their lives, unaware, something terrible was already being born in the new devil who now walked the earth… was Fang Leng.
Once Hei Xiezhi, his soul had been overtaken and possessed by Fang Leng a dark force with no mercy. With Ji Woo by his side, he began rebuilding his empire. But not as a man, as something else entirely.
Together, they captured the strongest of Hei Xiezhi's former soldiers — warriors once feared across nations — and turned them into vampires.
Not ordinary ones.
Dark magic, blood spells, and forbidden incantations were performed deep within stone chambers carved into the mountain. Ji Woo would draw sigils in ash and bone dust, whispering ancient words that bent human will. She'd slit their skin with cursed silver and place drops of Fang Leng's blood directly onto their hearts. A burning sigil would appear on their chests as their screams echoed through the walls.
Their eyes turned a sickly shade — not red, but something emptier. Their skin grew pale and their veins darkened. They no longer looked fully human because they no longer were.
These vampires had no self-control. No minds of their own. Once hunger struck, they tore through flesh without thought. They drank blood until nothing was left.
That's exactly what Fang Leng wanted.
Because he was the only one who could control them.
One woman dared to step into this darkness. Her name was Lei Min. She had gone to look for her husband — one of many men who had gone to the mountains and never returned. While other women wept and waited, too afraid to leave their homes, Lei Min couldn't sit still. Fear clawed at her chest, but she held it down and walked into the unknown.
When she arrived at the ruined fortress now reborn in evil, she saw something that made her blood run cold.
Hei xiezhi sat on a black throne made of twisted obsidian, carved with the bones of animals or men. At his side was a woman Lei Min had never seen before. She was stunning but unfamiliar. Her beauty was unnatural — her skin glowing faintly like moonlight. She sat like a queen beside her king. Both of them looked wrong.
The moment Lei Min laid eyes on them, her back went cold.
She felt it — something terrible in that room. Something watching her from every shadow. Her legs trembled. But she didn't run.
She bowed politely, voice quiet but steady.
"I… I came looking for my husband."
Fang Leng raised one hand lazily. Two soldiers stepped forward — tall, dressed in dark armor, eyes empty like glass.
"We'll take you to him," one said ". She nodded, clinging to hope. They led her down a narrow corridor lit with flickering blue torches, until they reached a thick wooden door. Without a word, they shoved it open and pushed her inside.
The door slammed shut behind her. She turned, startled, banging on it. "Wait! What is this?!". But there was no answer.
Then she heard something — breathing. She turned slowly. At the far end of the hall stood a man. He looked like her husband. Same height and same shoulders. Even the same scar beneath the chin. But his eyes…they weren't his.
They were hollow, starved, sunken. His skin was pale, stretched tight over his face. Black veins spidered across his arms. Blood dripped from his mouth. She took a step back. "Liang…?" she whispered.
The man twitched. His eyes locked onto her.
And then he lunged. She barely had time to scream. He slammed her against the wall, fangs sinking into her neck. She struggled, sobbing, hitting him — but there was nothing left of the man she married.
Only the monster Fang Leng had created.
Her screams echoed through the fortress — high and sharp — then fell silent.
Far above, behind sealed doors, lay the operation chamber — where the transformations took place.
Soldiers lay on iron slabs, their chests carved open with ritual knives. Ji Woo hovered over them, chanting, while black smoke curled from their wounds. Magic symbols bound their minds and nerves. The pain no longer reached them. Their free will had already been taken. They didn't fight and they didn't scream anymore. They just waited for the curse to be completed.
---
Far away, in a quiet palace, Prince Leng Yue tossed in restless sleep. His soul was no longer still.
It wandered, drifting toward the fortress of evil through dreams. He didn't know how — only that he was being pulled.
And he saw it.
The rituals, the soldiers and the woman's death. He saw Hei xiezhi and saw Ji Woo.
He saw the mark of darkness spreading like a disease.
He hovered above the chamber, his soul flickering faintly like a ghost's shadow.
Ji Woo's eyes suddenly widened. She looked up sharply — directly at him. "Fang Leng," she said in a low voice, " someone is here."
Fang Leng turned, he didn't see anything.
Leng Yue felt their gazes hit him like a force. He gape, his breaths were shallow, chest still heaving as if he'd run through a thousand nightmares. His palms were cold with sweat, and his heart... it thundered with dread.
He didn't wait to calm himself. Still barefoot, still half in shock, he walked swiftly — then ran — through the corridors of the palace, ignoring the greetings of startled guards. He needed to speak with his father because what he had was not just a dream but vision.
The Emperor was alone, surrounded by scrolls, candles, and silence. He looked up when the door burst open.
"Leng Yue?" he said, rising. "What is it?" the prince dropped to one knee, voice uneven.
"Father… I saw them." the Emperor's brows furrowed. "Who? "
"Hei xiezhi and Ji woo, the woman I saw in my vision. But she was working with Hei xiezhi instead of fang Leng. He's taking the soldiers and turning them into… monsters. " Leng Yue's voice cracked
The Emperor stared at his son in silence, absorbing each word like poison.Then slowly, he sat back down. "Then we must see Tian yu," be murmured.