On the flying sword, the junior brother gave Leonardo a translucent white pill with a smile.
"This is a minor ether rejuvenation pill, it will help you familiarize yourself with the ether in the atmosphere. In the Core Mainland, regular worldly energy is nearly nonexistent, and your body will treat the unfamiliar ether energy as a virus, instinctively rejecting it. This is the cause of your discomfort and nausea."
This junior brother who looked younger than Leona in Leonardo's eyes pinched open Leonardo's mouth and popped the medicinal pill into his mouth. Sighing in amazement, "If you had the body of an ordinary saint, with your cultivation sealed, you'd have died long ago."
Leonardo felt a warm stream of energy dissolve inside his mouth, the feeling prompting him to unseal his energy from the soul pearl and irrigate it throughout his body like a great flood in a stormy season.
Usually, this unrestrained flood of energy would have been enough to shake and perhaps collapse an entire mountain in a middle-realm planet, but it barely produced a gust of air around Leonardo's frame.
"I know you must have a lot of questions, but I don't know much. I can only say that it is some prophecy that caught Lord Sin's attention, and we had to sacrifice a brother to see it through."
Although the kid was smiling, Leonardo could sense the deep air of melancholy.
"I know this isn't your fault, but some of the brothers and sisters are very narro-minded, hence why your situation has been kept a core secret even in the gang. For now, we have arranged a new identity for you as a humble shopkeeper in a small town."
"From now on, you're shopkeeper Shi Yunhei, you better keep low-key until someone from the gang comes to find you. However, if you can climb the ranks in an above-board manner, that would be even better."
He then tossed a rectangular piece of jade to Leonardo.
"Everything you need to know about the Luan Dynasty, our current destination, is stored there. I recommend you to stay put until you achieve divinity."
Leonardo didn't have the energy to speak yet, so he simply listened with rapt attention. With a simple scan of his consciousness, the amount of information within the jade stunned him.
He would need months to digest this much information.
The kid looked at Leonardo's expression, seemingly understanding his plight as he chuckled and explained, "We have a long way to cross from the Jin Dynasty to the Luan Dynasty, we have to continually go through teleportation formations for the next year at least."
Leonardo had many questions, but his body was in the process of adjusting to the ether, his entire system undergoing some sort of a remodeling process pursuing adaptation. Thus, he simply closed his eyes and entered a meditative state of mind, continuing to absorb the medicinal properties of the minor ether rejuvenation pill.
Leonardo hoped that his sudden breakout wouldn't negatively impact the others as they made their way into the Core Mainland. However, he was simply unaware that with the time dilation, Nier and her peers had already gone through the entrance ceremony and made it inside the Core Mainland.
Currently, Nier and Ingrid were roaming this vast Core Mainland on their own, the latter having advanced to a divinity long ago.
…
House Hestia's Immortal Kingdom.
Other than the sound of running streams of blood that echoed in the void far and near, the entire continent was very silent. Let alone the Crimson Blood Palace, not even the seventy-two continents attached to the main dimension seemed to have a trace of life left.
The thirty-six divinities of the branch families were nowhere to be seen, only a woman in a long crimson dress stood on the peak of the palace with a waterfall of blood that poured through the void and into a deep ocean below the castle was behind her.
"Since you've come, you can stop hiding already."
Her cold voice caused the space to quake and the multiple sub-dimensions within to shake.
"Haha, you seem quite lonely, Lady Hestia, what happened to your people?"
A cryptic voice responded as one cloaked and masked figure appeared one after another, their identities unrecognizable.
"Dignified Immortals don't even dare reveal their faces, how laughable! You came to bully a woman when the man isn't home, but I reckon you'll be disappointed." Rosaline laughed coldly.
"If it weren't for the curse in your Hestia's Bloodline, every widow of your house would've had a second chance for another man to shelter them. Alas, your bloodline is quite unique…" Another voice sighed in lamentation.
"What a pity, I guess even the heavens don't want your bloodline to conquer the world. Don't hold it against us, we got our own difficulties, but orders are orders… Sigh, if only that little girl Nier was more obedient."
"Haha! I knew it! Those bastards from the Interstellar Supreme Court wanted my House Hestia's martial intent, but we never publicly announce our daughters unless they've lost their virginity and had their womb branded. Thus, they trapped my husband and son, just to prevent them from carrying out the rituals!"
"Impudent! Lady Hestia, don't you dare slander the Interstellar Supreme Court, you are accused of sheltering a planeswalker! That's a capital crime! You better tell us the location of your daughter immediately!"
Someone else snapped, his veins throbbing.
"Haha! Report to the dogs above you that Nier's womb had been marked! She already gave birth to that planeswalker's child, I wonder if they'll still consider her whereabouts after finding out about this piece of information?"
Boom!
Space buzzed as a massive hand tore through the void and slapped into the Immortal Kingdom.
The entire Crimson Palace began to shake as Rosaline's figure exploded into a mist of blood.
"Mhm?! Damn it! This was a clone!"
"She actually split her soul and fused it with this clone to deceive us, her true body will have no more than 20% of its power now, trace her soul to the source!" A furious voice reverberated across the empty void.
The twelve Immortals hurriedly unleashed their domains. However, they couldn't find any trace of that remnant soul.
"We can't find it!" One of them shouted out loud. Then, his communication bracelet that had nine large pearls flashed, the message within shocking him.
"She's attacking our headquarters!"
This man didn't even care about the reaction of everyone else, tearing the void and rushing back while cursing. Even if she had 20% of her power, that is more than enough to absolutely obliterate everyone within their territories.
Almost two hours later, the Crimson Palace grew dim and began to fracture, the Immortal Kingdom of House Hestia collapsing.
Then, space tore open again as more than twenty men arrived, watching the collapsing Immortal Kingdom with grave expressions.
"Fuck! She actually dared kill herself?! Fuck! House Hestia!"
A roar that shook the upper realms caused the world barrier to tremble, foreshadowing the anger contained within.
They lost Maria Evernight's traces on Earth while their forces met a mysterious wipeout!
Memento Mori abducted Leonardo from the underground prison!
Nier's womb is already branded!
And now, Rosaline committed suicide after destroying three Immortal Kingdoms!
Intolerable!
…
While the Immortals from the Interstellar Supreme Court in the stellar world were on a rampage of wrath, Leonardo who just stepped out from a teleportation formation with that junior brother and flew across the skies, suddenly closed his eyes in meditation.
The moment Rosaline's clone and real body got destroyed, the mark she left behind within Leonardo's soul pearl began to flicker, prompting Leonardo to open his sea of consciousness.
Just like that, two crimson streaks of light one dimmer than the last, unnoticed by even the junior brother, rushed into Leonardo's mind. Then, they immediately melded into the tiny nebula revolving around the bloodthirsty nebula.
At this moment, a fascinating mutation happened as the nebula molded into a shining crimson pearl with the phantom of an infant embryo within, only for the bloodthirsty nebula to automatically absorb this pearl into its depths.
Then, a portion of the bloodthirsty nebula began to automatically draw in the ether to nourish this embryo, shocking Leonardo. He could sense that when Rosaline attempted to guide the remnant soul to form an incarnation, the bloodthirsty martial intent automatically triggered the bloodthirsty armament, resonating with the soul incarnation before this mutation happened.
Although shocked with worry, Leonardo could feel that Rosaline wasn't resisting the least, allowing him to at least relax...