Almost one month later.
In a dimly lit cave underground.
Leonardo and the Maiden sat in one corner of the cave. The latter had many medicines and pills to treat wounds in her storage ring but they weren't of a high grade.
At most, they were peak third-tier or low fourth-tier pills. However, just because they weren't of high efficiency on a divinity like her, that didn't mean they weren't helpful to Leonardo.
So she thought, but only Leonardo knew that his physique was already stronger than an ordinary High Saint, otherwise the inertia force from Rosaline's attack would have shattered his bones to bits and pieces.
Leonardo silently took the pills and began to digest them while circulating his worldly energy. For the moment, he didn't dare draw in ether from the environment lest the flow of energy drew the attention of some unwanted cultivators outside.
Neither Maiden 001 nor Zaylee were the talkative types so they patiently waited on Leonardo to finish with his recuperation.
On this day, Leonardo coughed lightly and with a soft crackling noise, he stretched his limbs as scabs of skin fell off his body.
He then stood up.
"How long has it been?" Leonardo asked, seemingly talking to himself while looking at the slanted tunnel leading outside.
"About 27 days since we entered this underground cave. As for our time roaming the uncharted wilderness…" Maiden 001 bit her bottom lip with a frown, "It's inestimable…"
"I see," Leonardo held the tip of his chin, muttering something before looking up at the vampire woman who sat silently to the side, "I have yet to thank you for finding me a place, Zaylee."
"Don't mention it, Yunhei," Zaylee smiled faintly, but her eyes revealed otherwise. After a bit of hesitation, she decided to take the initiative, "That blood control…"
Just as he thought, she didn't do it out of the goodness in her heart. Nonetheless, Leonardo still played dumb and answered with a faint smile, "It's not a subcategory martial intent, but a primary law."
"Primary law…" Zaylee muttered to herself with a lowered head, contemplating. Leonardo also realized that in the stellar world earlier, House Hestia's bloodthirsty was probably one of a few primary law martial intents which explained why the Interstellar Supreme Court would act against them.
Although Leonardo didn't have enough power now, he was sure that once he reached rebirth or pseudo-rebirth, he would cross all the way to the Jin Dynasty and join up with the Memento Mori to slowly wreak havoc across the dynasty.
He was sure that the Interstellar Supreme Court wasn't having it easy at the moment, and he felt thankful for that. Like this, they wouldn't have the time to chase after Wendy, Ingrid, and Nier.
Leonardo suddenly had an absurd thought that his relationships with women were rather odd, too odd actually.
Wendy was his student, but he didn't know how to feel about the co-soul.
Ingrid is supposedly one of his Six Twilights, but what position would she hold in his heart? He remembered how Pandora behaved after Zofia and the rest committed suicide, how would he feel if Ingrid died?
Other than some discomfort, perhaps nothing else.
That's not a good mindset at all, Leonardo thought to himself.
What about Nier? Having never experienced love, Leonardo wasn't sure of his feelings toward this woman. However, she was the mother to his child, and feelings aside, he would always cherish and protect her.
"Will you come to visit our Sanguis Castle?" Zaylee suddenly stood up and asked, her expression serious.
Leonardo gave her a weird look, but then he remembered that old man from the Alchemy Association and shook his head. "I can't for the moment, I have some other things to do,"
Leonardo would never enter a place he suspected to be someone's domain, especially a rebirth realm cultivator.
That old man didn't even bother examining Leonardo's body and he could already see through a few of the secrets hidden in Leonardo's body. Even if they couldn't pry all his secrets with a casual glance, Leonardo didn't wish to risk it.
"If you're worried about the clan lord, he wouldn't dare to do anything to someone protected by a rebirth realm cultivator," Zaylee tried to persuade, her tone gentle.
"Are you an idiot?" Leonardo couldn't be bothered with playing dumb anymore, "So what if he doesn't kill me? What value does a dead man hold to him or your entire vampire race? If I'm not wrong, you should be someone from a branch diluted bloodline, hence the segmentation of your martial intent into subcategories."
Zaylee was speechless by the sudden shift in tone, looking up at this young man once again.
His smile was nowhere to be seen, his lifeless eyes seemingly peering through her mind and heart all the same.
He casually leaned on the damp surface of the inner walls of this cave, but a barely distinct film of worldly energy coated his body.
Zaylee sighed, "I'm not from a branch family, but I'm not that far off either. There are but a few pure vampires left in our hidden dimension, but on the flip side, the ones with diluted bloodlines have much more freedom to roam the outside world," She went silent for a moment and continued in a downcast voice, "Our mission is simple, to find a path of survival, and I was caught by your martial intent. However, you're right, although I can guarantee you wouldn't be killed, that's the most I can guarantee."
She was too excited and overlooked how desperate her clan was. Moreover, a new martial intent doesn't mean that they could be saved.
Leonardo thought for a moment and said, "Does your hidden dimension have a lot of blood essence?"
This hidden dimension reminded Leonardo of House Hestia's Crimson Castle, prompting him to ask. If that were the case, it might be worth it to pay that place a visit in the future.
"We used to have 108 blood essence pools. However, that was in the ancient times when we had 108 clan lords, and now we have only 3 pools remaining and all of them are supporting the current clan lord," Zaylee's tone was a bit distant and despondent as she spoke.
Leonardo was dazed for a moment. How would a clan fall to such an extent? He couldn't help but ask, "What is the reason behind that?"
Zaylee sighed and sat down, "It started when many of the followers and branch families began to get closer to the main bloodline, and thousands of years of intermarriage between pure and diluted bloodlines."
"According to the customs and teachings of our ancestors, when a clan member is dying, they would be returned to the blood essence pool to provide for the later generations. However, it could be said that the intermarriage was a slow-acting poison that diluted almost all of our blood essence pools, except for three clan lords who remained adamant."
"Who would have thought that when the 105 blood essence pools were diluted, a war would erupt and the 108 Sanguine Castles of the clan would go from intermarriage to a bloody inner strife, with only three castles sealing down the mountains to shun the war away. By the time the war ended, the pollution spread to the remaining three pure blood essence pools."
"To persevere their later generations, two of the clan lords returned to the blood essence pool, and the final clan lord is currently sustaining himself with the remaining pure pools, but they are slowly being diluted by the atmosphere of the hidden dimension. As for people like me with subcategory martial intent, we have to shoulder the responsibility for the war, roaming the uncharted wilderness for a solution…"
After briefly explaining the situation, Zaylee sighed.
Leonardo's brows locked together as he silently thought to himself and asked, "Are the other 105 blood essence pools still there?"
Zaylee nodded, "They are, but the martial intent inherited in the mixed bloodlines is still acting up, meaning we can't use them to nurture anymore pure blood young clan lords…"
Leonardo's eyes lit up. However, he quickly pushed the thought away as it was too dangerous. He slowly opened his mouth and said, "Although I can't help you directly, I know someone who can…"
"Are you talking about that pseudo-rebirth senior? Can they really help?" Zaylee immediately interrupted Leonardo from talking, her tone anxious.
Leonardo blinked. In a sense, Rosaline can indeed help, but he could also help if he was strong enough.
He wouldn't dare enter their hidden dimension with his current strength, but he was also sure that the only thing that could help them was the bloodthirsty territory.
The bloodthirsty armament would indiscriminately devour blood, but the bloodthirsty territory is all about control. Until the next time Rosaline wakes up from her slumber and digesting the current blood essence, it wouldn't be suitable to force her into making a move.