Immortal Kingdoms

"You guys seem awfully excited."

Leonardo said with a chuckle, the desolate martial intent completely isolating his aura. As for Rosaline— well, no one can sense her aura if she wished to conceal it, unless they had a higher cultivation level than her singularity realm.

"Why of course, little brother," a scarcely dressed woman to Leonardo's left side spoke up, chuckling as she did while tapping her cheek with a delicate finger, "You must be the one in charge of this new republic, aren't you?"

"Haha, Sara, we have yet to vote things out," this woman barely finished her words as a man right across from her position stepped up, an amicable smile on his face, "Furthermore, looking after such a large piece of land is very taxing— I'm afraid young brother wouldn't be able to handle the stress… Sigh…"

Leonardo raised an eyebrow, amazed.

Still, he said nothing and merely stood there as one person after the next stepped up, seemingly sprawled up in his favor, to a point where they'd had started designating and self-appointing roles of management to themselves.

In no time at all, they've established the Blackrain Council of Seven, split the territory each council's spokesperson is responsible for, and the tax rates— and the discussion went on.

Leonardo tacitly removed his presence from their senses slowly, erected a simple chair, sat down, and had Victoria give him a massage to the shoulders as he watched with intrigue as the 'Seven' members of the Blackrain Council went so far as to start discussing their individual gains and losses.

Reia and Damian in the distance were speechless.

Not just them, pretty much every divinity didn't know whether to laugh or cry as they observed Leonardo's eyelids growing heavier, his head drooping as though about to fall asleep any given moment now.

"That settles it then," an old man nodded in satisfaction as he held up a parchment with seven different signatures and a blank space for one more signature, obviously very pleased with the negotiations.

Then, the seven people, three of whom were group leaders and four solo yet powerful cultivators looked in Leonardo's direction as though finally remembering him.

They were at first stunned to see him like that, then quickly they realized how everyone around gave them a weird expression, some even struggling to not laugh out loud.

The old man's expression went rigid red with shame and anger before he forcefully bit down on his inner cheek, heaving a deep breath before giving the remaining six a look.

They were doing as bad as he if not worse, which greatly comforted him.

He somehow managed to chuckle and approach Leonardo with the parchment in hand, "Little brother, we only need your signature here and it's all over with, you can relax and let us old people handle your job for you…"

Leonardo seemingly didn't hear anything, his lips parting ever so slightly, a faint snore echoing out far and near.

Rosaline covered her delicate lips and chuckled, her chest rustling like waves that almost drew the eyes of countless men from their sockets.

"Mm? Eh? Yeah no, erm… What happened?"

Leonardo 'stretched' and 'yawned' as he straightened up his posture, leaving the chair to flex his muscles.

Reia was the first to burst out laughing, her sentiment quickly echoing across the remaining divinities like an infectious disease.

The seven council members had dark expressions, but the old man quickly acted and brought up the piece of parchment to Leonardo while a thin needle to extract blood accompanied it. "Just sign in blood, little brother."

"Oh? Must it be in blood?" Leonardo raised an eyebrow again, a bit surprised.

"Indeed it must be so, haha," the old man responded.

"Alright, so be it then," Leonardo nodded his head and reached out with his hand.

"Just like that?!"

People observing were shocked, not expecting Leonardo to cave in so simply, but some thought it was only natural.

At least that was their first reaction until an explosive aura burst from Leonardo's body, followed by a massive bloody halberd crackling with black lightning and a sense of times long gone.

Before anyone could react, this great halberd swung down like the descending crescent moon seeking shelter behind the great mountains beyond.

Some people saw one halberd, some saw two, some saw three, four, and even six— but they've all split like solid afterimages then seamlessly merged together, from start to end, in a fluid motion.

This scene was oddly familiar to the principles behind the Ninth Inception Arrow technique, but it also carried a touch of the twelve lunar changes inherited from Leonardo's former swordplay.

This blend of past and present that seemed to strike the future caught everyone catching their breath in shock— the old man's face yet to register an expression betraying shock and horror as the halberd struck home before his wicked smile had receded.

Boom!

Darkness swept in an arc of lightning that splintered the ground despite the dense ether concentrated within, all standing testimony to the amount of power multiple high-tier martial intents infused into a single attack could cause.

A few meters deep crevice that stretched for as far as the eye could see, splitting the clearance into two uneven portions of land as tongues of black lightning crackled like the hands of the dead, slowly dissipating into the world, following in the tracks of the old man who had long since evaporated under the merciless onslaught of both the heavenly retribution and essence of desolation.

No one was in the mood to laugh anymore.

Let alone them, even Leonardo was stunned by his power scale, not having expected the might to have been amplified to such an extreme.

"Oh no, little Leo— you didn't leave behind a single drop of blood for the contract," Rosaline gasped, covering her little mouth.

"Oh yeah, right right right… My bad…" Leonardo swung the heavy halberd on his shoulder, looking at the remaining six 'councilors' with a somewhat difficult expression.

"Have you got anything else that requires a blood signature?"

By now, everyone could tell that Leonardo was a high divinity— a very powerful one at that.

Thus, unless a rebirth realm cultivator personally made a move, no fighting was worth it.

"Haha, no need, no need," that woman called Sara immediately raised her hands, waving them while 'inadvertently' exposing even more skin. Her smile was obviously forced as perspirations coated her forehead.

Leonardo raised the halberd again, his strength began to accumulate rapidly, "Oh no, I really think some contracts must be signed now since you guys have already mentioned it."

Sara's smile faded as her expression frosted over, her awkwardness withering away as her stance shifted, cold blood lust emanating from her body. "Don't think you can toss your weight around just because you've got a bit of strength— you're still only one man no matter how powerful of a divinity you are."

She obviously understood Leonardo's meaning— he was threatening them to submit to him or face extermination.

Needless to say, although everyone was shocked by Leonardo's power, that merely qualified him to make some rules and keep his position as the lord of this land, at least for now.

However, if he wanted to act against them right off the bat, he needed to think twice about it.

"Oh really?"

Leonardo smiled, a hint of a teasing expression in his eyes. Perhaps, only Reia and Damian knew that behind Leonardo was a potential rebirth realm cultivator hence he wouldn't be afraid.

Only, they didn't know whether or not that expert would make an appearance if a fight broke out.

"Yes. Really."

Sara didn't reply, it was another woman in black who did, stepping towards the remaining four divinities and the surrounding subordinates.

Everyone's eyes grew focused, wanting to view the outcome.

Leonardo's smile was brilliant and his reply was even more so.

"Then die."

And the halberd swung down.