The river of time flowed as usual. The sun was up and the waters were blue. However, there was barely any marine life around. Most had gone into hiding. A body quietly floated on a coral with an energy shield surrounding them. The person inside was pale white and their vitality was pitiful. The person looked as if they had aged to elderly. It was because of this that some stronger and larger marine life came out and surrounded the barrier. They were all greedily looking at the body while others attacked. The barrier grew increasingly dimmer under the attacks.
Within the sand dunes a hundred meters away was a black dome shell mostly below. Some large fish had attacked it several times after spotting the urchin feasting inside. Yet all their attacks rebounded and hurt themselves, without shaking it in the slightest. Already given up, they surrounded the human body even if the vitality is pitiful.
Within that shell was me. It's been several hours since I retreated to this spot. I had just lazily cultivated with nothing else better to do. Even though I don't have any cultivation techniques, it's better than nothing. The result stabilized my foundation and newfound blood essence while refining every part of my body. Although I don't know the cultivation system, I should eventually find out in the future to determine my current status.
I looked back at the body and finally saw some action. The soul shards have finally merge and are fixing themselves. The aura from his body is growing back out and becoming violent, causing many creatures surrounding to quickly retreat. Although extracting his blood essence has probably resulted in a future with no more breakthroughs, his rank is still there.
Finally, his soul seemed to reform completely together. Although it's very dim, it's still there. Finally, the guy's eyes seemed to tremble before they completely opened. The energy barrier dispersed and he got up confused for a few seconds. However, then his eyes turned completely bloodshot as his white face turned red before vomiting blood.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
I heard the angriest roar for the first time in my life. I couldn't help but be shocked as shock-waves of energy rippled out, causing destruction.
"WHO?! WHO TOOK MY ESSENCE?!" His roar shot into the heavens. It had grief and despair in it as well.
"OLD MAN SIMON! I'LL KILL YOU EVEN IF I SACRIFICE MY LIFE!" He stumbled into the air while howling in grief and anger. Coughing up blood again, he nearly fell once more. His divine sense violently search the area, destroying the minds of some fish.
I couldn't help but roar in laughter within the shell as I watched the poor guy. He must've thought that the Simon guy did this to him.
"Sorry bud," I said as I wiped an imaginary tear away.
The guy howled and cried as he fell onto the island beach. He coughed blood again before passing out. Then he woke up and howled again and passed out again. Finally, he stopped and looked into the distance.
I felt a massive divine sense swept the area. This was many times more powerful compared to the two guys when they were fighting. This divine sense seemed to have a water attribute and was enough to make me silent in caution. I even dug myself deeper as marine animals cowered in fear.
"Young master Leonardo. You seem to have been struck with misfortune," said an old voice filled with a hint of sarcasm and an indifferent tone.
The void right above the surface of the water trembled as a figure slowly appeared. The Qi and elemental energies seemed to tremble and be under control. This person quickly came into view.
This person's skin was blue, and very muscular. Tattoos representing unknown marine creatures were everywhere on his body. The body's physique and face characteristics were similar to human with a few exceptions. A purple horn was sticking out from his forehead which seemed to full of mysteries and illusions. A set of gills on the side of his cheeks were apparent. His eyes were as blue and deep as the ocean.
This person looked quite old, as shown by his white hair, and hunched over body. Some wrinkles were apparent on his face and his eyes contained wisdom of the years existing multiple generations back. A blue robe was worn, with an unknown symbol representing a clan, possibly a marine one.
The enraged guy calmed down somewhat and respectfully bowed several degrees. The blue guy instantly appeared in front of him before looking at him up and down. His face frowned and turned a little gloomy.
"What happened?" he demanded. Leonardo explained the fight and what happened afterwards. The elder's face turned dark and more gloomy.
"Somethings not right. I passed by that bastard Simon and his elders at my clans' border, entering the Storm tribe. You said this happened not too longer ago?"
Leonardo nodded.
"Someone else must've been here and taken the chance while you were out," he said as his divine sense carefully spread out once again.
The conversation between the two wasn't hidden at all, so I clearly heard. I retracted back into my body and took control before suppressing the activities of my energies to what they were previously. The divine sense swept across the area, where he was, before passing over. Only after several minutes passed did it retract back.
The elder furrowed his brows, trying to think, but shook his head afterwards.
"B-benefactor Andronicus, could it have been a tribe member?" he asked timidly.
"Tribe member? Are you accusing my members of stealing your blood essence?" his face turned ferocious as if he was about to rip him apart.
"I-I dare not say! Forgive me!" he said as he bowed deeply with a sincere voice. The elders face turned back to normal to a certain degree.
"There's no way other members got through as security is tight. I didn't pick up anything. Can't you feel your blood essence? It can't have been refined that fast," he asked.
"That's the problem benefactor, I can't feel anything no matter how hard I try," said Leonardo with a dark face. The elder rubbed his beard in frustration, trying to think.
"Come back to my palace for recovery. I'll tighten up security for any abnormalities. Anybody that thinks they can get away with offending me has had their skulls on my window," he said angrily.
Waving his hand, the both of them rippled into the void, vanishing from air. Marine life came our tiredly while other larger creatures began leaving the area in fear. However, I slowly crawled out before moving slowly on the surface towards the deep end. The guy's divine sense is still hanging out and it would be quite noticeable if a random marine life creature suddenly ran with a dense trail of Qi and elemental energy, especially a sea urchin.