The land started turning into greenery while the frozen Qi floated upward, then gathered into something that looked like a moon.
The pinkish snow stopped falling as the tree grew even larger and more robust. It grew in height and turned even more reddish in color like it was made of blood.
Rain with a greenish hue then fell from the sky, bathing the world with life. New grass and plants sprouted left and right all over the green land.
MingYue's fingers moved, creating a rule in her world. She created a law of weather, making it alternate from rainy periods to dry, then winter when snow would fall.
Outside, her body also started to change, just like the baby. Her skin fell away while new skin grew. The golden core also started changing from a sphere into liquid, which then started spreading all over her body.
It began mixing with the vampire blood, putting it under its dominion. The progress was very smooth, making her lips curl into a smile.
She had been stuck in the golden core realm for a long time despite her combat abilities already reaching the immortal realm.
"If only I could do the same with vampire cultivation," MingYue mumbled with a sigh.
She was now at the peak of the Heavenly Ascension Realm, going straight over three major realms and mastering 12 minor realms.
Unfortunately, vampire cultivation needed time, and who knew how this transformation would affect it? For now, the vampire power was just a part of their cultivation.
Her current power was off the charts. She was sure she could fight against immortals with no problem now.
The rise of her realm allowed her Qi to rise to the same level as her vampire ability.
MingYue opened her eyes, satisfied with the result.
She could feel her body surging with more qi, raising the efficiency of her attack.
Before making a move, she dominated it with blood, then boosted it with qi. But now, she could weave it together without even thinking.
She then turned to Alex, wanting to tell him about her success.
Even though he would possibly face Byakhee, MingYue didn't think he would face any problems. He should have been able to pass through it smoothly, as it was a fight in his inner world.
'Seems it's still going to take him some time,' MingYue thought after seeing Alex sitting cross-legged with sweat dripping from his face.
Based on his expression, it seemed like he was fighting against something. She sat by his side and wiped the sweat with her napkin.
Meanwhile, inside Alex's inner world, the place had completely changed. The crimson sea was parted, revealing a desolate ground. Alex wanted to use lifeforce to create vegetation when something came out from the depths of his soul.
It was a shadow apparition, barely humanoid.
'Even now that it stands before me, I can't feel anything. Just what is this creature?'
The apparition just looked at him with an empty gaze, not making a move. But Alex knew if he continued the process, it would do something.
He had also tried to attack it, but nothing worked, as if hitting an apparition.
'Should I try to cultivate again? But it's too risky if it attacks when I do that.'
After some more observation, Alex concluded that the creature was nothing more than a projection coming from the depths of the crimson sea. He looked down, thoughtful for a moment, then jumped down.
Since it was his own inner world, the sea didn't challenge him; it didn't impede his movement, nor did he need to breathe inside.
He quickly reached the crevice that should have brought him deeper, but now it was covered in some kind of black goo. It hadn't been there when MingYue had come.
MingYue had been more careful, but Alex, since it was his own world, started attacking it. He controlled the inner world. The crevice started moving, and vibrant flames flickered, burning the black goo.
Smoke rose, followed by an otherworldly screech, and the black goo started contorting and gathering together.
The black apparition floated down, fusing with it. The goo then transformed into a humanoid creature with four tentacles coming out of its back.
It lashed out, destroying the area around it. But Alex didn't attack it; instead, he went deeper into the lake.
He could see a thin rope coming out from the creature, deep into his own consciousness. He followed the trail.
The creature stopped its random attacks and swam after Alex. But the ground moved, blocking its path.
It transformed into many giant fists, punching at him. The creature smashed its way forward, but this was more than enough for Alex to build up the distance between them.
As he went deeper, the surroundings turned black, his head began to ache, and his body became translucent. He was not capable enough to look this deep into himself.
Alex's expression turned into a frown, and he stopped.
"Kekeek, just give up, young progenitor. You cannot do anything now."
The sound was different, but the tone was similar to Byakhee. Alex speculated it was another avatar that didn't share memories with the main one.
'Does this mean it was implanted before that time?'
Since his coming to this world was because of the incident in the spire, Alex felt that was the moment this avatar infiltrated his inner world.
It had waited for the right moment to slowly go deeper into his soul.
"Just what do you want, Byakhee?"
"Keke, seeing you survived after knowing my name, it seems you are better than I expected. Alucard chose a good heir."
Alex started retracing his path until the pain reduced and his body became clearer. He then looked around, searching for Byakhee, but other than the strange connection, he couldn't find anything.
Then, an idea came to his mind. Since he couldn't reach it, he might as well bring Byakhee to him.
Alex grasped the connection and started pulling it like yanking a chain.
The water started to churn like it was boiling.