Chapter 180 Just Like That

While everyone was shocked, it was Maiden 001 who was the one affected the most by this voice. The restlessness in her heart finally calmed down, but she then recalled their current situation.

Even if Leonardo's will reached that height, it was useless as his spiritual strength wouldn't be strong enough to smoothly control it, possibly inflicting self-harm even.

If he pushed himself, the damage might prove irreparable.

"Master, hurry up and leave!" Maiden 001's anxious, high-pitched, yet tender shout echoed.

This was the first time she spoke in the presence of everyone present, leaving the vampire woman as the only individual at the scene who had yet to open her mouth.

"Your master?" The woman with a black scarf raised her brows, did her master possess the body of a High Saint to come to rescue her? That would explain a lot then.

Of course, everyone else would have arrived at a similar conclusion, but Leonardo didn't care for these little things as he tore open the fog surrounding the shallow water and stepped in.

Other than a black cloak that concealed his figure and features, there was a conspicuous long, bloody halberd in his hand.

Moreover, a pair of malevolent crimson eyes sparkled in the darkness of his lowered hood, apparently not intending to reveal his identity to the people present.

Only the vampire woman and the humanoid creature noticed the peculiarities of that halberd— it was actually condensed from pure blood essence that gave off a similar feeling and fluctuations to the creature's heart.

"You stole my blood essence!" The creature roared with anger, finally understanding why the volume of blood essence was inadequate to push the final barrier to level 91, it was this bastard's doing!

"Is that so?" Leonardo responded in a faint tone, not overly worried about the domain of a High Divinity after personally experiencing the power of a rebirth realm cultivator.

Moreover, it was Rosaline who was using her remnant will as a conduit for his bloodthirsty and desolate martial intents at the moment, although this came at the cost of prolonging her dormant slumber in the future.

Nonetheless, if it was to obtain the blood essence of a level 90 High Divinity, this price was all too worth it.

As for controlling someone's blood essence? That was a joke when compared with the bloodthirsty territory, let alone the fact that a pseudo-rebirth realm was behind it.

Even as Leonardo spoke, the bloodthirsty domain exploded from his body, immediately encompassing the entire lake of shallow water even as he stood on its borders, not precisely on the surface.

Then, the ripples began to riddle the surface of this once-calm body of water, and the four suddenly felt as though the shackles on their powers shattered, shocking them to the core.

"Run!"

The man in a dark red uniform didn't even hesitate to turn around, his energy exploding as he dashed away. Although flight was impossible, running away wasn't.

Moreover, he could foresee a clash of epic proportions— no, practically a one-sided slaughter, and he didn't wish to be silenced before reporting the news of a pseudo-rebirth making an appearance in the region.

The woman next to him also didn't hesitate to dash away, her thoughts in line with the man.

Leonardo noticed that both of them wore similar uniforms, but he knew that his time was limited as Rosaline wouldn't be able to keep up with exerting her will, thus he simply ignored them.

The air began to quake as the two invisible domains clashed, while Maiden 001 was shocked, recalling how Leonardo mentioned having multiple martial intents.

She knew that this martial intent didn't belong to any of Memento Mori's rebirth realm cultivators, meaning that this was purely Leonardo's power, which was the reason behind her shock.

As for the vampire woman, her crimson eyes glowed with an unknown glimmer as she focused on Leonardo's body, carefully sensing the profound laws of his domain.

It seemed as though the longer she spent in this domain, the higher the comprehension of her martial intent which was both smoke and blood subcategory.

"Master… This creature is dangerous," Maiden 001 knew that this woman wouldn't warn Leonardo for whatever reason, but she also didn't know why she didn't leave this place.

Leonardo didn't respond as his actions were mostly dominated by Rosaline at the moment, and he couldn't afford a distraction.

The creature didn't know the limitations on the body of a saint in case the will of a pseudo-rebirth possessed them, hence why he was so careful. As for the other two who ran away, they didn't know that this wasn't a possession of a cultivator who was nearby, so they assumed that leaving now is better than offending a potential future rebirth cultivator.

"I've been so careful to avoid being noticed by a rebirth master for thousands of years, my instincts quickly evolved into intelligence, and my intelligence grew to the point of sentience, I've killed thousands of saints and hundreds of divinities, WHY NOW OF ALL TIMES?!"

The creature was thoroughly enraged to be caught at this moment, as it could feel the heart inside its chest beating out of rhythm.

If the process was complete, then perhaps it would prove difficult for Rosaline to control the blood essence. However, the merger was yet to be completed and hence, it wasn't difficult nor was it easy for her to wrestle control over the blood essence.

The shallow water began to bubble more and more as strings of blood began to seep out from the seemingly not-so-far depths, connecting into a long bridge stretching to all corners of the lake as though a spiderweb.

Leonardo and Rosaline weren't so naive as to step on the water, as it would provide the creature with a medium to interact with Leonardo's blood remotely.

The Maiden and the vampire woman were at first confused. Then, realization dawned upon them and they hurriedly stepped on the blood steps, feeling that their instinctive anxiety lessened greatly.

"That's how it was…" The vampire woman finally spoke, but she was merely muttering to herself.

"It's useless," Maiden 001 shook her head, "Even if we knew, the only things we can materialize are based on smoke, and using smoke on this body of water is no different from providing that thing with more firepower. If it could use the shallow waters as a means to turn gas into solid, I don't think it would be difficult for it to do the opposite."

Although Maiden 001 wasn't too smart, everyone had an area of expertise. When she calmed down, she began to rationalize things and think clearly.

The vampire woman focused on two subcategories of martial intents, while Maiden 001 focused on only one. Thus, systematically speaking, the humanoid creature was more suitable for the vampire woman and not Maiden 001.

However, that also made the vampire woman the best meal and vessel for the creature to take over. Just as Maiden 001 thought like this, the creature also pointed it out.

"Stop! Let's make a deal! You can take your follower and leave, I only want this woman!"

The creature was too uncertain, especially since it didn't see much of this world. Moreover, its domain was cracking, so the voice sounded even more cryptic and harsh, albeit understandable.

As it spoke, it pointed a finger at the vampire woman, who had just now came to the same conclusion as Maiden 001.

Her expression turned cold, the intrigue in her eyes overwritten by unconcealed apprehension while she observed Leonardo's reaction.

Just as the vampire woman was worried, over half of the blood steps exploded into dense blood mist that completely replicated Leonardo's presence, making one feel as though Leonardo was all encompassing.

It was like you were at the bottom of the ocean, and due to the pressure, you knew that your only path to survival was by obliterating this entire ocean.

The humanoid creature instinctively turned to look back as it feared a sneak attack from the flanks or behind, but it never would have expected that Leonardo shot through straightforwardly in a linear path, the halberd drawing a beautiful arc as it stabbed through its back.

This was supposed to be a strike to the chest as Rosaline was very interested in testing the might of the bloodthirsty armament and the bloodthirsty territory when combined, but she never expected this creature to give up his back to her voluntarily.

From the excessive propulsion speed with the help from the bloodthirsty domain, Leonardo's physical speed exceeded the limits of what his body could withstand, and countless tiny cracks riddled his skin and bones.

At this state, one ful power strike from the creature could blow his skeleton to oblivion. Luckily, the creature overestimated Leonardo's current state as it naturally didn't understand the laws of the equivalent exchange.

With a burst of dense white mist, a loud shriek resonated in the skies as the halberd devoured the dark red heart whole, the bloodthirsty martial intent quickly retreating into Leonardo's cells, and from there on it concentrated on the bloodthirsty nebula.

A crystal bead surrounded by 91 petals that seemed to transition from white gaseous mist to soft flower petals landed in Leonardo's palm.

Only, one of the 91 petals seemed too transparent and fragile when compared with the remaining petals.

"Just like that?" The vampire woman asked in shock.