Chapter 70 Underhanded Methods

"Can you update me on the situation?" Leonardo asked in his usual flat tone, his eyes no longer crimson red but midnight black. He stood straight with his arms crossed to his chest, coldly watching as hundreds of thousands of people trapped his city within their encirclement.

"After Pandora and the rest brought you back, everything was calm for a while. However, two weeks later, the armies of the remaining three provinces decided to take the initiative and bring the battlefield to our territory instead. That way, if your subordinates went all out with large-scale attacks, it'd threaten your people's livelihoods."

"They hoped to indirectly hold your people hostage. Sadly, they never expected that we have constructed such a powerful formation, and their siege had lasted ever since then. As time passed on, more and more soldiers began to pour in from the various provinces under the guise of conscripted citizens, and after four months, this is the result."

"The good news is that they couldn't file in saints with the excuse of conscripted citizens, that would have been an utterly ridiculous excuse. As for the bad news, our reserves of energy crystals are running very low, and I don't think our liquid funds can maintain this formation for long…"

If a dozen or so saints rushed into the formation, Juvia would easily dispatch them with the power invested in it. However, if an entire army rushed in without regard for their lives, indiscriminate killing would be her only option; harming both themselves and the enemy in the process.

Thus, while the situation seemed under control for now, she was actually quite anxious. Especially since Leonardo was in a deep quasi-death state for this whole time.

Now that he woke up, she finally relaxed and melted into his firm back while embracing him. While Leonardo listened calmly, he suddenly looked up in a certain direction for a brief moment before looking down at the troops below once again. Juvia didn't pay particular attention to this, but someone in the far distance did.

Three saints in embroidered clothing floated in the air, their dragon robes billowing from the circulation of their aura. The one to the right raised his eyebrows and exclaimed, "That fellow's intuition isn't half bad, he could actually sense the general direction of my gaze from such a distance!"

"He should be the child of some hidden power on a trip for tempering. Of course, he would have some little ability. Don't let his concealed aura fool you, he probably has some treasure to screen his cultivation base from spiritual probing."

Answered the saint in the middle. Looking closely, the saint in the middle was levitating slightly higher than the other two, not to mention he was at least one step in front of them both. He didn't want them to get used to the misconception that Leonardo was just a normal non-cultivator.

Which human non-cultivator would have a saint elf falling head over heels for them? Acting like a meek kitten in their presence? It almost felt like she wasn't a dignified saint but a housepet.

"Well, we weren't sure if Leonardo was in the palace or not for the past few months. However, now that he has shown himself, we should proceed with dispatching a diplomat."

"According to the battle reports, Bloodthirsty must have died to Arcadia's wrath; this is our best chance to press our advantage."

"I'll pass down the order immediately." The other saint who hasn't spoken yet opened his mouth before closing his eyes for a moment. Visible spiritual fluctuations rippled from his third eye, clearly, he was communicating with someone else.

On the tall pillar far away, Leonardo patted Juvia's hand and spoke softly, "Let's get down from here, I'm expecting guests sometime soon."

"Guests?" Asked a confused Juvia, feeling reluctant to part but acquiescing obediently nonetheless.

"Yes. If I'm not wrong, they should be sending a diplomatic envoy to negotiate with me on the terms of surrender. Since we have no lands under foreign occupation, even if the war ended, they'd have gained nothing but lost thousands of lives and six saints, obviously, they wouldn't want to end the war without any gains."

"Their only option is to intimidate us by threatening to raze the city to the ground, kill us all or simply leave me alive all by my lonesome. Anyway, it's about time they displayed their trump card, then I'll refuse, then they'll display a greater trump card… Now that greater trump card is what I'm curious about."

"Would the greater trump card be enough to sway your mind?" Asked Juvia while she brought Leonardo down through the open ceiling of a luxurious courtyard. Under everyone's eyes, Leonardo couldn't possibly fly down relying on his own ability.

Even if the sharper ones picked up some clues about his hidden cultivation base, the majority of the population in every world was composed of idiots who were easily fooled by whatever was on the surface. Just like an ignorant child looking through the surface of the ocean, easily mistaking the corals below as a colorful colony of fish. Due to ignorance, and fear of the unknown, the solid rock morphs from an inanimate stone to a fearsome organism.

What you can see and what your mind interprets it as are two different concepts, but not many would realize this psychological truth. In fact, while studying the Dao with his Master, Leonardo realized that most of the profound truths of the Dao are either famous or common philosophical inquiries in the river of history in the mundane world, between the mundane lives.

He presumed it had to do with the race against time for these experts that are devoured by the urgency to get stronger, stronger, and even stronger as time passed.

They focus on the path of strength so much so that they either forget, overlook, or wholeheartedly ignore the necessary wisdom required for life. That is, until they reach a realm of strength where they could no longer climb higher, they are forced into taking a break to breathe and observe the world all around them, not that they've deliberately chosen to stop.

Stopping wasn't a choice for them, it was an inevitability.

Hence, Leonardo found the whole sudden enlightenment in the mortal world after ceaselessly roaming the immortal world a huge joke. They're simply patching up holes in their personalities and perspectives about life, holes that have remained void for the majority of their path due to their blind urgency.

"How can you become an immortal if you hadn't even been a mortal?" Leonardo muttered to himself with a sigh as he walked into his throne room, Juvia dutifully followed behind him.

Hearing that sentence, she ruminated about it while flicking up her squared glasses; a flash of comprehension in her eyes. She seemed to understand why Leonardo would rather communicate with everyone in his status as a non-cultivator, and she presumed he was giving her pointers from the higher realms.

She felt immensely grateful.

Unlike the exterior of the palace, the throne room was rather plain, but only in comparison to the exteriors of the palace. That didn't mean the throne room wasn't grand in any means.

Looking at the pitch-black ceiling littered with dazzling energy crystals as though they were twinkling stars, surrounding the graceful angel at the center of it all, allowing slivers of cascading light to bathe the long pathway leading to the high throne.

Looking at the surrounding walls depicting myths and legends of eras long past, forgotten, or even concealed from the public eye.

Looking at the high chair crafted from condensed obsidian essence as the black surface glimmered resplendently, providing Leonardo who sat upon it with a magnificent halo completing his white regal robes inscribed in crimson blood essence.

Leonardo just sat on his chair, Juvia to his right side, curiously reminiscent of their time in the forest near the Sky Mountain Range, and the doors to the throne room swung open with Pandora leading a group of scholarly-looking young men, a middle-aged man, two war generals, and four slaves carrying a heavy sealed box.

Pandora silently took her position behind Leonardo to his left, while the rest stood respectfully in front of him, but they didn't bow, kneel, or display proper etiquette.

"Your Highness…" The scholar began to speak, but he was then interrupted by Leonardo raising his palm.

"How bold, eh?" Leonardo swept his eyes over the slaves in the back. Understanding his meaning, Pandora silently vanished into thin air for just a moment before returning to her original spot.

Blood splashed, and four heads rolled to the floor.

The stars in the ceiling flashed, and the blood on the floor was miraculously sucked into the tiles below to the last drop.

The two war generals were shocked. They too were saints, even if they were at level 45 of the first cycle, they were still saints on guard.

"Kneel or lose an arm each, and that's me being lenient towards your disrespect."

Leonardo spoke coldly. If they were to open their mouths to speak one word, regardless of who opened his mouth, all of them would lose an arm today. They could consider it a punishment for soiling the floor of the throne room by bringing in slaves who wouldn't even greet a prince, let alone kneel to him.

That was a blatant display of their disregard for his status, something he wouldn't tolerate lest they walked all over him after this disgusting prelude.