Chapter 269 Lethal Force



Peaceful times always passed quickly. Just like that, Leonardo settled down in the Ye Manor of the Skyflare City, occupied in his secluded cultivation. Thus, Julie had almost no chance at all of getting closer to Leonardo with the intent of fishing out for secrets. 

As for Viola, she had also been anticipating word from Leonardo to negotiate or offer up some benefits in exchange for a quota in the expedition. However, she hadn't expected that the man would shut himself in behind closed doors for almost an entire year while the the Judicial Sector's judicial inquisitors tidied up their loose ends near the border of the Seven Stars Province and the ongoing investigations. 

During this one year, Leonardo's presence was slowly receding from the radars of the Renhuang and Qing families, and even Emily withdrew her involvement in the war efforts of expanding more cities and resources throughout the province since she wanted to focus on her cultivation. 

Despite the bleak future described to her by Ingrid about the dead end upon achieving the Unity realm, Emily held a lingering hope that she might turn things around in the future. 

… 

Huu~ 

Leonardo let out a long breath as he inspected his new body of flesh and blood. During his one year of seclusion, he relied on his innate calculative power in conjunction with the ability to read strings of karma to deduce the best way of going around reconstructing his body of flesh. 

In the beginning, that intuition led him to the stretch of mountains he obtained from the Beast Claw Sect's sub-dimension, and upon further investigation, he discovered that each mountain, at its core, held a fragment of ancient bones belonging to a specific God Beast. 

Leonardo knew his current limits and what he should and shouldn't do. Furthermore, he had this conclusion that the God Beasts of that era attacked the inhabitants of that mountain range due to the existence of these bones. Although nothing was concrete yet, history was always just that; history. 

Leonardo started from the strongest bone he found in the main peak. 

He utilized his desolate intent and heavenly redemption intent to the max, yet he couldn't as much as leave a scratch on the bone. He knew that were he to make use of the Black Heart currently sealed within his chest, it might be possible, and if he were to use the Black Sea in his sea of consciousness, it would practically be a guarantee. Nonetheless, that wasn't his power, it could only mean his current power was inadequate to subdue these bones. 

One bone at a time, one failure after another, until Leonardo settled on the bones from the mountains in the outer regions of the sect. Leonardo had no idea whether it was fate or some twisted game of karma, but the bone most suited to him was that of the Celestial Frost Wolf. 

Why was it called the Celestial Frost Wolf when it was obviously utilizing wind attributes in its claw strikes? Even Leonardo didn't know, as the law runes in the bones hinted at multiple elements and the most prominent of them was frost. However, the power wasn't some kind of intent or law; it was something on a higher level. 

It was an invisible energy, but it was omnipresent nonetheless. 

Thinking about it, Leonardo speculated that his cultivation was too low to see through the intricacies in that wolf's attack back then, hence why all he could see was the wind's intent in the attack but nothing else. 

Leonardo spent an entire year circulating his desolate intent and heavenly retribution intent in full capacity until he finally fused the bones into a new skeleton for himself, and this entire cultivation session almost consumed all of his resources. Furthermore, with the directions of his innate martial intent, he reshuffled the millions of cells and their miniature versions of the force field system of nebulas and fused them into his nervous system, which he would rather refer to as the cosmic meridian. 

At this point, not even Leonardo knew how powerful his new body was since he followed the optimal design offered by burning his innate martial intent, investing both his main soul and split soul in the process. 

Dense law runes that once belonged to the Celestial Frost Wolf now covered Leonardo's skeleton, while his nervous system branched out all across his body like pitch-black hollow meridians, even as the sparkling, nebula-like vortexes flowed through them while channeling an inestimable amount of energy. 

The nervous system of the human body was connected to the spine and brain, and thus, Leonardo was able to connect this new cosmic meridian to his soul pearl in his sea of consciousness and his star core that was now located near his lower back, specifically at the base of his spine. 

Clueless as he was, Leonardo understood one thing, albeit barely. The frost power of the Celestial Frost Wolf was called 'Force', or to be more accurate, it was called 'Lethal Force', and the wolf's lethal force was frost attributed. This was the type of energy cultivated upon transcending the Rebirth Realms, otherwise known as the Star Realms. 

He hadn't anticipated coming into contact with lethal force while he was so far away from the Star Lord realm, let alone the Unity realm. Every Star Lord starts cultivating their own lethal force at one point in time, it is this lethal force that leaves everyone else helpless to resist a Star Lord. 

Although Leonardo couldn't use lethal force yet, he gained a semblance of resistance to lethal force, which could be considered a huge benefit as it was. 

As he was contemplating the changes to his body, the communication bracelet left behind by the young man from the Black Market suddenly pulsed. Leonardo knew that the young man most definitely wasn't Viola's cousin, he must have simply assumed the identity due to its convenience and released the original cousin after their meeting last time. 

This way, if Leonardo were to make any moves or reports against Viola's cousin, it would be no different from telling the Black Market how untrustworthy he was. Though, with his current power, Leonardo didn't feel like he should fear anyone below the Star Lord realm. 

Even if he couldn't use lethal force yet, by simply relying on the raw power of the physical body thanks to the nourishment of the Celestial Frost Wolf's bones, Leonardo's body was on par with that of a standard Star Lord. 

With this much confidence, Leonardo picked up the communication bracelet and stealthily left his room of seclusion. 

About one hour later, Leonardo left the Ye Manor unnoticed, his appearance now a splitting image of the 5th-tier low-ranking soldier in the files. An average face, short black hair, and black eyes. 

The young man wasn't particularly tall or fit in build, but he had the basic frame of a diligent soldier. A standard horse carriage quickly pulled over in front of Leonardo, and when the currents lifted, it was an old woman seated within as she held onto a wooden cane. 

"Officer Carlio, this way please," as the old woman spoke, an invisible domain stretched out to engulf Leonardo's body, informing him of her high, 8th-tier cultivation base. 

Leonardo was shocked; how many 8th-tier cultivators are dancing beneath the city lord's nose without him noticing anything? The ranks of the Renhuang family must be in a total mess! 

Leonardo paused for a moment, nodded to the old woman, and proceeded to climb into the horse carriage. 

… 

"This is your official military uniform, identity badge, and instructions on what to do and how to behave once we arrive at the Judicial Sector, a branch of the Interstellar Supreme Court." The old woman passed over a small storage pouch with the aforementioned items. 

She continued, "You don't have to worry about the restrictions in your body; as long as you're obedient and don't cause trouble, we will, of course, return your freedom to you." 

Leonardo paused; these restrictions were since long destroyed in his body, did they not notice anything? That could only mean these restrictions weren't being monitored passively, but if they were to try and activate them in the future, they would definitely find out. 

The old woman took Leonardo's sudden pause for apprehension, a disdainful smile arcing her dry features as she said with a chuckle, "As I said earlier; if you're obedient and follow our instructions to the dot, nothing will go wrong." 

Leonardo sighed. "I understand, Elder…" 

The old woman nodded her head appreciatively and said, "Go ahead and change your clothes now, you won't have the time or place to do so later." 

"I understand," Leonardo nodded his head again. To people on their level, they could change clothes with a simple wave of the hand, and that's what Leonardo did. He didn't utilize any of his laws or martial intent, but by relying purely on his control over the ether, he put on the new clothes while his former outfit was disintegrated to bits. 

The remainder of the journey was rather tranquil and silent, save for the occasional bumps in the road as the horses advanced through hills, towns, and cities as the two pulled further and further away from the Renhuang Province.