Immortal Kingdoms



Leonardo looked at the serious Emily and cracked a smile, saying, "I'll give you three strikes to go back to the Qing Sector and practice for now, we can discuss the specifics later." 

"Just three?!" 

Emily's eyes widened as she heaved and panted, not believing her ears. What was she supposed to do with only three strikes? 

Leonardo shook his head, exasperated as he explained patiently, "Are you supposed to be saying that after experiencing it firshand? Each strike has eighty-one variations of parrying, deflecting, slashing, and piercing. They're called Nine by Nine variations… As in, each strike has nine levels of mastery and you can only use the three strikes in sync if your mastery over the variations keeps up. 

"If you master two levels of the first two strikes and only one level of the third strike, you can only release the power of the first level no matter how much you try. In a sense, the twelve strikes you just executed were limited to the first level, the only level plausible for execution in the absence of energy to supplement the technique." 

Leonardo then pointed at the sword and had Emily reflect on one matter; why would there be thousands of chips on the sword if they were only twelve strikes? The variations make use of the entire sword's body in coordination with the practitioner. 

Emily was dumbfounded. 

She asked, "Can't you just transfer the technique to my mind? I won't put any defenses against your entry to my sea of consciousness." 

She didn't have the time or patience to go through all that. However, Leonardo shook his head and refused immediately. If she couldn't go through these fundamentals on her own, her physique and mind wouldn't keep up later on while she practiced the remaining nine strikes. 

Only Rosaline, who had her entire body rebuilt from the soul outward with the inheritance of the Second Twilight, can execute the technique smoothly as though she was breathing. Of course, another reason why Leonardo wouldn't give her the full twelve strikes now was to control this lady from the Black Market. 

Anyone can be addicted to power, and she was no exception. The more she practiced this technique, the more she would understand how destructive it can be, especially when combined with her ridiculous speed. 

After futile attempts of convincing Leonardo to give her more than three strikes, Emily finally succumbed to the fact of how pointless it was. 

"Fine, fine! I get it, three it is. Nonetheless, you need to tell me what must I do for the following nine strikes," Emily sighed in her heart, feeling disappointed. 

If she had the twelve strikes, she would fear no one under the 9th-tier, as this absolute power was beyond mere laws and techniques. 

From the 5th-tier to the 9th-tier, it wasn't a matter of cultivating energy but nurturing laws and assimilating these laws into the seed of a miniature world, a small star that could accommodate life and evolution within one's body. 

The closer they are to perfecting the body of law, becoming the lord of all life and laws within their respective stat cores, and initiating the evolution and upgrade following the inception realm, they become star lords. 

Hence, during this transition period, the powerful cultivators don't care much about ether fragments but they value moments of enlightenment in regard to their core law even more. However, the creation of a new star indeed requires tremendous amounts of energy, which propels these powerful cultivators to horde and accumulate wealth while anticipating that momentous breakthrough. 

The more Emily thought about Leonardo's innate martial intent, the more horrified she became. 

She now understood why his process of understanding and assimilation of laws was so fast; it wasn't because his laws were too few or too weak, but because his mind was too powerful. 

Yet, with all that power of comprehension and processing, Leonardo had spent three years completing the process. 

"Give me the sword," Leonardo stretched his hand over to Emily, not answering her previous inquiries since even he didn't really know what to ask for.

At the moment, keeping her strung along and under control was the best thing he could ask for. 

Emily snorted and tossed the wooden sword over. 

Leonardo grasped the sword as his pupils contracted and then began to dilate, expanding till his eyes reflected nothing but pitch-black darkness. 

Sharp currents of pale blue ether crept into the body of the sword as Leonardo slashed at one of his fingers, a drop of crimson blood landing on the body of the sword as it trickled down to the handguard. 

As the drop of blood raced down the flat surface and under the scrutiny of Leonardo's eyes, the ether on the sword transitioned into fine threads, splitting into three runes, each rune inscribed with nine characters of the ancient infernal tongue with a hint of dark energy lingering within, quickly infecting the pale blue ether into pitch-black energy that assimilated into the drop of blood. 

The crimson drop quickly turned black and split into thousands of threads that traced the thousands of chips and cuts on the sword's body, blending into the wooden structure seamlessly through a simple application of basic laws. Any rebirth realm cultivator with a basic understanding of laws can accomplish this feat. 

However, this also enhanced the body of the wooden sword with the vitality and energy of a 6th-tier cultivator, and not an ordinary one. 

"Infuse your spiritual sense into the sword," Leonardo said lightly, even as spiritual energy poured from his third eye into the sword. 

Emily didn't hesitate to push her spiritual energy to the limit as her spiritual sense flooded into the sword through the thousands of chips and blended into the world within Leonardo's drop of blood. 

What Emily witnessed within that drop of blood shocked her; a small solar system of three martial intents revolving peacefully in an orbit around a black hole. However, the vision flashed by too quickly and before she knew it, her spiritual sense was cut off, isolated, and merged into the drop of blood at an equal ratio with Leonardo's spiritual sense. 

Bang! 

A wave of spiritual force pulsed from the sword as its earthly texture adopted a black color. Then, the black shrank into thousands of lines crisscrossing the previous locations of chips, giving the wooden sword a strange appearance. 

"Phew!" 

Leonardo breathed easy as his eyes slowly reverted back to honey-brown, tossing the sword back at Emily as he said, "The three strikes and Nine by Nine variations are contained within, and only when you master the variations of all three strikes and execute them successfully would the next layer unlock for you to study. If you try to force your way into it, the sword will self-destruct and you'll have only yourself to blame." 

Leonardo didn't want Emily to overestimate herself and try to mix up the combinations and try playing the genius with the Nine by Nine variations, lest she kills herself with the backlash. Emily thinned her lips while holding the sword, not saying anything. 

"Where are you going now?" 

Only then did she recall how Leonardo mentioned something about having her return to the Qing Sector, indicating that he wouldn't follow. 

Leonardo faced a certain direction and spoke softly, "The right-wing advisor would definitely fail his negotiations, so I'll pay the Levi Sector a visit and negotiate a little with their Commanding General." 

Emily's eyes flashed with a hint of worry as she hurried to say, "Are you using them to suppress me? Don't worry, I won't betray your trust, you don't have to take such precautions." 

Leonardo rolled his eyes. "You worry too much; I'm helping you, not myself." 

Leonardo didn't wait for her to respond as he took a step and vanished into the void, his movement technique was as elusive as always. 

Emily stomped her feet on the ground in frustration. 

Bang! The entire mountain shook, on the verge of collapse. 

Then, Emily gave the wooden sword itched in black lines a look and pursed her lips, thinking that it was worth it after all. This sword was marked by her spirituality and its secrets could only be explored by her senses, credit to Leonardo's sliver of desolate martial intent. 

"Fine! I'll see how you secure an ally for me from the Levi Sector…" Emily muttered under her breath and took a step, disappearing in the direction of the Qing Sector. 

… 

The Levi Sector and the Xia Sector flanked the Qing Sector from the right and left wings respectively, making the Freya Sector the largest obstacle between the Qing Sector and the inland. Any direct trade routes from the Qing Sector inland would have to go through the Freya Sector's customs. 

Thus, House Xia and House Levi didn't have much to gain from suppressing House Qing, but the heavy taxes imposed on the caravans importing and exporting from the territory of House Qing are split between the two houses as payment. 

These extra payments then fill the pockets of the hidden sects as payment for patrolling the uncharted wilderness and completing missions for the two houses. 

In a sense, House Qing had been risking the lives of their soldiers exploring the buffer zone between the two dynasties only to fill the pockets of the hidden sects and allow the soldiers of the other two houses to relax and live a cozy life…