"Actually, I..." Liu Xiyun opened her mouth, her gaze settling on the pretty maid before her, but ultimately let the words die unspoken.

Her eyes dipped briefly before lifting again. "By the way, I still don’t know your name. Don’t tell me I’m supposed to call you ‘silly maid’?"

"You’re the silly one!" the maid chirped with a grin. "Just call me Little Green."

"Little Green?" Liu Xiyun stared at her, baffled.

"Yep. Little Green," the maid nodded firmly.

Liu Xiyun’s expression turned utterly speechless. She opened her mouth as if to ask something, then closed it again, shifting her gaze ahead.

The woman from earlier now floated midair. Crimson mist swirled around her, warping her form. Bloodstained robes billowed wildly as her hair lashed like snakes. Devilish wings tore through her back. Razor-sharp fangs erupted from her mouth, twisting her once-alluring face into a grotesque snarl.

A half-breed vampire demon in the flesh.

"You will all die!" One wing slashed forward. The blood mist surged toward Liu Xiyun and the others.

The werewolf blocking their path lunged to intercept—but Little Green’s shout stopped him cold.

"Stupid mutt! Charging in to die? Answer me: do you want to become a god?"

"Huh...?" The werewolf halted reluctantly, turning back with a sigh. "Master, who *wouldn’t* want godhood? But now’s not the time! Run while you can—if that hag breaks through, I can’t protect you!"

"*Protect* me? Ha!" Little Green threw her head back laughing, hands planted defiantly on her narrow hips. "I need *your* protection?"

The werewolf exhaled heavily. Without another word, he charged straight into the oncoming blood mist.

His voice echoed back: "Go! Or you’ll be buried with me!"

*Hssss! Hssss!*

The mist coalesced around him. Liu Xiyun watched the werewolf battering the crimson clouds from within, then turned hesitantly to Little Green.

"Shouldn’t we retreat? She carries a demon’s Divine Gene. We can’t beat her."

"Demon’s Divine Gene?" Little Green scoffed. "A cheap knockoff."

"A fake?" Liu Xiyun’s eyes widened. She glanced up at the vampire woman circling the cavern’s glowing dome. "Can Divine Genes even be copied? I thought only one true sequence existed for each deity..."

"Half-finished junk," Little Green confirmed, eyeing the struggling werewolf. "Still too much for that dumb dog to handle."

"And us?"

Little Green waved dismissively. "Relax. Brother Qin saw this coming. He gave me *this*!"

*Ding-ding-ding-ding!*

A black bird-headed staff materialized in her hand. Liu Xiyun eyed the sooty object dubiously.

"Dog God? What god’s that? Xiaotian Quan?"

"But Xiaotian Quan doesn’t use a staff! And he’s just Erlang Shen’s hound, not a god himself—"

"I wouldn’t know," Little Green snapped, rolling her eyes. She hurled the staff into the blood mist. "Catch, mutt! A gift from Brother Qin!"

"What?" The werewolf instinctively grabbed the staff as it flew toward him.

*...*

Nothing happened.

Every eye swiveled to Little Green.

"Why’re you all staring?" She tilted her head, confused.

"Make that monster attack the dumb dog already!"

*...*

The vampire woman bared bloody fangs at Little Green from the mist. "Wait, little liar! I’ll devour you bite by bite!"

"Huh. Still sane?" Little Green stroked her smooth chin thoughtfully. "They’ve got some skill after all."

"What did you say?" Liu Xiyun stepped closer, her guard lowering slightly.

"Nothing." Little Green shook her head.

"Then explain—this ‘Dog God Divine Gene’ from Qin Ling. Why isn’t it working? Is it fake?"

"*Fake*?" Little Green’s voice cracked with outrage. "Impossible!"

"Then why’s he still losing?" Liu Xiyun pointed at the werewolf getting pummeled in the mist.

Little Green shrugged. "How should I know? Maybe it needs blood to activate?"

"*Blood*?" Liu Xiyun’s eyes lit up.

Just then—a claw ripped through the werewolf’s forearm. Dark blood splattered the black staff.

*Flash!*

Golden light erupted, flooding the cavern.