This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 300, Page 299: The Blood-Stealing Ritual
As soon as Louisa stepped into the stone chamber, Lin Jun's voice assistant, Puji, cut to the chase: "Have you ever heard of the blood-stealing ritual?"

We used voice prompts to avoid the yellow book being unclear about what it was saying.

"A blood-stealing ritual?" Louisa shook her head in confusion.

It sounded like some kind of magic circle related to vampires, but she had never heard of it before.

"We haven't found anything out from the humans either..."

He had both Aidin and Inanna investigate the "promotion ceremony" mentioned in the yellow book through their own channels, but they found nothing. Now, even the little pig, who is a vampire viscount, doesn't know about it.

While I don't think the Yellow Book would lie under the current circumstances, it's still worth asking for clarification.

The marshal stretched out a tentacle and gently stroked the thin pages of the yellow book, caressing it back and forth.

[Boss! I'm not lying to you! You can't just tear up a good book like that!] The pages shook violently, and the handwriting became crooked.

[If everyone has heard of it, can it still be called a 'secret ritual'?]
[I bet that, including the emperor and the two princes, no more than five living beings know about it!]
Do you know why?
Lin Jun didn't reply, but simply rolled up the pages of the book and started tearing them.

[No, no! I won't keep you in suspense! I won't keep you in suspense!]
The yellow book is only one page long, so it's very precious. I quickly poured out everything like beans.

[The core of the current vampire advancement ceremony is that a higher-ranking member of the same bloodline voluntarily infuses their essence blood, containing primal power, into a lower-ranking member, helping them break through the shackles of rank!]
[Furthermore, different branches cannot help with promotions.]
[Essence and blood accumulate over time; the higher the rank, the more essence and blood are required for advancement!]
[Most importantly, during the ritual, the superior has absolute, life-or-death control over the inferior!]
These are all characteristics of today's promotion ceremonies.
Louisa nodded subconsciously; what the yellow book described perfectly matched what she knew.

She now knew what the leader and the yellow book were discussing, and couldn't help but clench her fists—was there still hope for her level to continue to improve?
The Yellow Book continues to provide popular science information:
[The blood-snatching ritual is different]
[It disregards bloodlines and the will of those in power! As long as you capture a vampire of a higher rank than yourself, you have the opportunity to forcibly extract their primordial blood essence!]
[Now you understand why it had to be 'hidden', right?]
“Once it’s leaked… the infighting will never end,” Louisa murmured, a chill running down her spine.

Under the current system, while competition among vampires within the same lineage is fierce, their loyalty to the Duke who is the source of their branch is beyond question.

Betrayal means having no hope of advancing in this life, which is why there are so few traitors among the vampires.

But what if this plundering ritual gets out... and someone betrays their own duke in exchange for another race's advancement?
Even hunting down one's own kind for blood essence?

Louisa couldn't even imagine how much chaos would ensue within the vampire clan.

[Of course, it's not that simple,] the Yellow Book added aptly.

[Not only does it require a large amount of high-grade magic crystals, but this kind of unorthodox ritual is naturally fraught with risks.]
[The greater the difference in rank between the target and the target, the higher the risk! While it's possible to seize control of those with different bloodlines, it also significantly increases the risk of sudden death!]
[In fact, since this ritual was created, it has only been officially used once.]
"Who created it? And who used it?" Lin Jun asked.

The Yellow Book didn't keep you in suspense.

The ritual was created by the previous vampire grand duke; the ritual itself was merely a byproduct of a failed attempt to improve the ascension ritual.
[The unlucky guy intended to improve the ritual and strengthen the vampire clan, but he accidentally created this thing, and even used it on himself, hahaha!]
[The only person to have officially used it is the current Grand Duke of the Vampires, now the Emperor of the Empire—Mortis Dracon!]
It seemed that he had casually gleaned some earth-shattering secrets from the yellow book; at least, the little pig looked so shocked that he was speechless.

Lin Jun had little interest in the old secrets of the vampires. She couldn't possibly expect to threaten Mortis into opening the country's gates and welcoming the fungal carpet with some unsubstantiated "dark history of the emperor," could she?

Put yourself in the emperor's shoes. If someone dared to use such a thing to threaten you, regardless of whether it was true or not, your first reaction would definitely be to mobilize all your forces to crush the other party into dust!
Compared to these vague and unsubstantiated secrets, Lin Jun was more concerned about the practicality of the ritual before her: "This thing has only been officially used once, is it reliable?" The yellow book immediately explained:

[It's reliable! It's only been used officially once, but the previous Grand Duke used plenty of 'materials' for experimentation.]
However, as mentioned before, the risks objectively exist. And our partner... has a somewhat special situation, doesn't she!
what's the difference?
That would naturally be the state of a half-pig and half-mushroom person!

"You know so many secrets!" Lin Jun suddenly said.

It's both a core element and a hidden ritual.

[Ahem... I am unworthy, but I had the honor of serving by the Demon King's side for a very short time...]
"Oh? So you're still planning to rescue your 'master' someday?"

[Former master! Boss! It's the former master!]
My life and death are in your hands; I am your most loyal dog!
[Of course... if in the future, you, Boss, possess unparalleled power and happen to pry some information about my soul from my former master... I would be eternally grateful and would gladly die for it!]
"You're thinking too far ahead. You haven't even finished atoning for your sins yet!"

[Yes, yes, yes! I'll do whatever the boss says! I'll face any danger without complaint!]
"What do you think?" This question was directed at Louisa, since she was the one risking her life.

Ritual, Emperor, Demon King...

The amount of information was overwhelming, and Louisa was momentarily dazed, but those words snapped her back to reality like a whip.

“You’ll use Yunier for the ceremony, right?” She looked up abruptly, her eyes flashing with an almost manic light. “I’ll do it! Of course I’ll do it!”

“Even if I die! I want to die on the road to ‘gaining’! Not rot in the mire!” Her voice was hoarse with excitement, and there was no fear of death on her face, only the excitement and ambition of seeing hope again burning brightly.

Wow...

Fanatical and ambitious...

The marshal, without making a sound, subtly moved a short distance to the side to avoid being infected by her.

This kind of life-risking ritual is full of unknown risks, and Lin Jun herself would definitely refuse it.

If he were in Louisa's position, he would probably just accept his fate, lie down, and drift through life.

The key point is that this gamble isn't just a one-time thing, but every subsequent promotion requires it!
Even with an optimistic 4% success rate, it would take four attempts to reach the maximum level of 90 in the vampire race, meaning a one in sixteen chance of surviving. And the actual odds would likely be even lower.

It feels like committing suicide...

However, since it was Xiaozhu's own choice, and she was gambling with her own life, if it succeeded, she could gain a powerful henchman... Lin Jun was naturally happy to see it happen.

The tentacle reached out and symbolically patted Louisa on the shoulder: "Go in peace. If you fail... I'll send the Yellow Book down to accompany you."

[? ? ? ]
(End of this chapter)