Leon stored away the bottles of longevity blood and exited the Worldspace.
"Oh? What do we have here?"
Leon himself surrounded by mutated ghouls. "It seems these ghouls were attracted by the traces of ghoul blood left behind." He really couldn't see these ghouls the same way, when he can refine longevity blood from them.
"Unfortunately, I don't have enough bottles for all of you. I guess I will just kill a few and incapacitated the rest. It will be a waste of resource to kill more than necessary." He mused in the middle of 20 mutated ghouls, ranging between level 5 to level 7.
With flames coating his body, he charged into the fray with his black spear and pierced the heads of 4 Level-5 Mutated Ghouls and 1 Level-7 Mutated Ghoul. His killing blow was clean and swift, minimizing the loss of blood. He grabbed their bodies, before disappearing into the Worldspace.
"???"
The rest of the mutate ghouls were like disorderly pack of disabled lambs cluelessly wriggling and squirming about on the ground after losing their targets. 3 hours later, Leon returned with 40 bottles of 3-Year Longevity Blood and 10 5-Year Longevity Blood richer.
3-Year Longevity Blood to sell and 5-Year Longevity Blood to gift to his in-laws who took the flawed Awakening Pills before. His mother might also need one since she may have taken some before, she married into the royal family.
Leon quickly left the mutated ghoul infested area. He did not need to kill anymore. Wherever he went to search for herbs, the vengeful spirits would give way and stare at him venomously in fear of his flames. It may have just been his imagination, but the deeper he went, the more intelligent the vengeful spirits he encountered seemed to be.
Pshh** "Reeeee..." A daring spirit attacked him, only to get vaporized into nihility by the flames. It issued a screeching cry before every last traces of its existence were erased.
"Not as intelligent as I thought... but definitely more aggressive." Leon scrunched his brows in thought. "Although, I would like to uncover the secrets of this place, I should just settle for the herbs."
The unnatural amount of yin energy in the Extreme Misty Forest had piqued his interest, but it was not worth it to lose his life over it. The ghouls and spirits were getting stronger, the deeper he went. He was starting to feel a sense of unease and apprehension from the forest. He was becoming dangerous for him.
"I probably shouldn't proceed any further beyond this point. It seems my current cultivation is inefficient to fully explore this place and I sense a very powerful entity lurking deeper inside. strong to the point of making my hair stand on end." Leon seriously contemplated. "As expected of a Perilous Land."
Leon was 500 yards deep beyond the safe boundary. If he calculated the distance he had traversed, starting from the entry point of the Blackwillow Town, it would be no more than 5000 yards into the forest.
5000 yards was just the tip of the iceberg for a great forest like the Extreme Misty Forest that stretches 500 miles north, all the way to the Boundless Sea. This was also only the width of the forest. The north of the Human Domain was almost completely occupied by Extreme Misty Forest.
It was just a bit shy of being connected to three kingdoms; the Crawford Kingdom, Durham Kingdom and the far eastern Geyser Kingdom. Such length was in the thousands of miles. Perhaps, it was possible for a Transcendent to lose their life in this place.
…
While Leon continued his search for precious herbs, Elena and the rest had long returned to Blackwillow Town.
Both Primrose Merchant Association and Lucretius Merchant Association had a small branch in Blackwillow Town. The Primrose Merchant Association branch was the place, where hunters and adventurers visit to sell their yin cores, while the other merchant branch was where they sell their blood vitality.
After Elena and her group had sold their loot, before gathering inside of a private room in one of the town's inn.
"How should we split this money?" Jeremiah asked abruptly, from one corner of the dark room.
Over at the candle-lit table, the others frowned upon hearing his words. "Don't you think your question is inappropriate? There's more important things to be concerned about." Nina said with displeasure.
"You are not in any position to lecture me. I don't hail from a noble family like you three. I won't be able to help Leo even if I want to. Thus, I might as well just take my share and leave. I also have my own problems to settle." Jeremiah said coolly.
"How can you be so selfish?" Elena said.
"Selfish? I'm just making the most logical choice to survive. Did you really think someone from the royal family would really be in a place like this by himself without any guards? Let's take a step and think about what they said before. Metal manipulation isn't unique to the Crawford royal family. This means there could be other metal-users outside the kingdom.
What if that person was actually a foreign metal-user that was just borrowing the status of the royal family to scare that person off? Perhaps, you have forgotten, but he was also a 7th step fire-user. Maybe his metal manipulation was just a trick to fool the other party. You have to remember that the other party was a 9th step Awakener!" Jeremiah coldly explained.
The others were immediately startled. His words made a lot of sense. That's right! Perhaps, Leo did it in order to save them!
"That still doesn't change the fact that we have to save him!" Nina strongly interjected.
The others looked at her weirdly. First, she fancied the team leader, now it switched to Leo. She was like a stalk of grass that sways wherever the wind blows. No, that's not correct. It should be said that she was like a grasshopper that likes to hop.
Their weird gazes made Nina blush. "Don't misunderstand! Such a young 8th step Awakener should have a very strong background. He could be from the Duke's faction. I-I think we should report to the Queen."
"That's an extremely stupid idea. Forget about whether or not a baron family like yours can request an audience with the Queen, you would only be pushing Leo into a fire pit even if you could. Don't forget, posing as royalty is a serious offense. Even worse, if he truly can manipulate metal, the royal family would hunt him down. Back then, if the Queen hadn't married into royal family, she would have been executed. The Crawford royal family would not allow an outsider to manipulate metal in their kingdom."
Hearing Jeremiah's cold words, Nina froze. Awakening the metal attribute was akin to challenging the Crawford's rule apparently. How come they didn't know that? Wasn't metal attribute unique to the Crawford royal family? Remembering the exchange between Leo and the ex-team leader, it seems to be true that others could have it.
"Then what should we do?" Nina asked helplessly. Unexpectedly, they began valuing Jeremiah's opinion. He was the quietest among them, but he was now the sharpest, being able to see further than them.
"That's why I said I can't do anything. Just take the money and leave. If Leo managed to survive, I will find a way to repay him in the future."
"…"
Jeremiah's words weren't meant to be demoralizing, but it was a truth. The group felt helpless. They weren't obligated to help Leo, since they only knew each other for less than a day, but they weren't ungrateful bastards. Leo saved their lives. They owe him a debt of gratitude. Pity, they were too useless to be of help.
After a few discussions, they agreed to split into 5 equal amounts. The ex-team leader was obviously no longer entitled for a share.
"Alright… just take your share and leave." Garry said after dividing the money into 5 equal amounts. Jeremiah did not waste further words, taking his share and left immediately.
"He left just like that?" Elena asked sadly. She didn't think the team would split up like this. They had worked so well together.
"He made the most logically choice." Garry nodded. "This place is full of hidden masters and dangers. Who would be in the right mind would dare to enter the forest and hunt for treasures again?"
What Garry said made sense. Elena agreed. They didn't belong here. Perhaps, the high prices set by the merchants was purposely used to lure people here. It was too dangerous.
After Garry left, Elena soon left. Nina offered to stay behind and wait for Leo. At the end of the day, their thoughts were still a little simple and funny. Ignoring whether Leo would survive or not, would someone strong enough to be a marquis even care about this little bit of money?
…
In a different inn within Blackwillow Town, a bloodied figured suddenly barged into one of the occupied guestrooms. "Give me a Blood Replenishment Pill. I will pay you back in the future." The person said weakly.
"Oh? Who did you in like this?" the owner of the room said with some mild interest, without being displeased by the sudden intrusion.
"A Crawford royalty at the one-star level. Never mind that, give me the pill!" Elias wore a deathly pale complexion. He desperately needed to replenish his blood with pills. He didn't have the usual strength to find a target to extract and refine their blood. His heart was punctured and the price for using the blood evasion technique was 20% of his blood. He was at death's door.
"Hmm, interesting. Well, you still owe me a few Blood Enhancement Pills. How about you pay me back now?" The room owner said amusingly, before stretching out his hand to grab at Elias's head.
"Huh?" Elias was shocked and retreated, before he became furious. "What are you trying to do, Easton! We are fellow sect members!"
"Since you know we are fellow sect members, you should also know we are a sect full heartless and uncompassionate people, who only care about their own self-interest. Even if you use the Blood Replenishment Pill, you would not be able to recover your strength. Since that is the case, you might as well give your blood to me and help me advance to the one-star."
Easton palm was like a blackhole filled with the force of attraction. No matter how Elias retreated, the palm continued to draw closer, before latching itself onto his head.
"UAHHHH!!"
Elias issued a heart wrenching cry of pain. He was weakened too severely to resist his blood from being drained. The pain he felt was worse than someone being skinned alive.
"Don't worry. Once I successfully advance my strength to one-star, I will go seek revenge for you." Easton said indifferently.
When Elias heard these words, his eyes bulged red with fury. At this moment, the person he hated the most was not Leon, but the person in front of him. Before he could even curse, all traces of redness receded from his eyes along with his life as his body dropped to the floor lifelessly like a deflated balloon.
Easton refined all the blood, before smacking his lips in satisfaction with his eyes closed, feeling the surging strength in his body. A faint image of Leon mystically appeared in his mind. This was a side effect of the victim's grievance and resentment entering Easton.
"So, this person is a member of the Crawford royal family… Interesting!"