A scream came from Wu Hao's mouth. The second time, he collapsed to the ground after a direct hit and blood spurted from his mouth.
"Hey kiddo, you're a surprising one! How did you do that?"
Li Yuanjia could not believe his eyes. Wu Hao was the Wu clan's second-placed prodigy, and the sixth in the last edition of Wu Prefecture City's Prodigy Summit! Even if Li Yuanjia was careful, his chances of winning against such a heavyweight was no more than forty percent!
"Well isn't this my lucky day. I didn't expect to have a breakthrough at this time. It would've been game over otherwise."
Li Ye remarked a little humbly, but Li Yuanjia gave him a profound look instead and no longer enquired further. Everyone had their own secrets, and Li Yuanjia was no exception. In the previous battle between inner disciples, Li Ye showed a formidable talent for overcoming those stronger than him. If the Level Six Li Ye could defeat a Level Eight Eminent Master, such an accomplishment would send shockwaves throughout all other nearby cities, including throughout Wu Prefecture City.
At the other end, Wu Hao had been lifted up by his companions. Although his face was bleeding, his expression was like a wild animal and he was staring at Li Ye fiercely.
"Kiddo! What's your name!"
Obviously, although Wu Hao looked fine on the outside, he was nonetheless injured slightly. At that point, he asked for Li Ye's name with a gloomy look in his eyes.
"Li Ye!"
"Alright then, Li Ye! I, Wu Hao, will remember you! I hope you won't be absent at the Prodigy Summit tomorrow!"
Wu Hao went there with the intention of humiliating the Li clan, but he—as well as the rest of his companions—hardly expected it to turn out that way. However, they were afraid to do anything since they were in the Li clan 's territory. Simple challenges were allowed and the senior members of the Li clan would not move to stop it. However, if the three outsiders went too far, none of them—be it from the Wu clan or the Yuwen clan—would be allowed to walk out the door.
Everyone's expression then changed dramatically. They all felt a strong vital force approaching.
"Wu Hao!"
"Li Mo!"
The visitor was Li Mo. He proceeded to glance at Li Ye and the others, though he was rather surprised to see the presence of Wu Hao's trio. Li Mo's expression remained arrogant beyond comparison.
"Well, well. Look who came to our Li clan to cause trouble at this time. Turns out it's you, Wu Hao. The Prodigy Summit has yet to arrive and you are already so eager to come and humiliate me!"
Li Mo snickered but was rather shocked to see blood on Wu Hao.
He knew Wu Hao well, as he fought Wu Hao one year ago at the Prodigy Summit and won, albeit with great difficulty. Aside from Wu Prefecture City's Four Great Prodigies, Wu Hao could be considered as one of those who were second-best to the four.
"You're still bloody arrogant, Li Mo, but unfortunately you don't have the strength to match it. Don't forget that you weren't the first last year! You were only the third!"
One sentence was enough to sour up Li Mo's expression.
Third place! Others might even regard that as something to be proud of, to be one of the Four Great Prodigies!
Alas, it was like a thorn stuck indefinitely in the throat of the ever-arrogant Li Mo. Every second of every day in the past year was spent waiting for the Prodigy Summit.
"Wu Hao! Even if I kill you here, there's nothing your Wu clan can do about it!"
A terrifying killing intent flared up from his body, causing Wu Hao's face to change. Although he was not a match for Li Mo before then, he was not timid either. At that juncture however, he discovered that the man in front of him was like a savage beast in the wilderness, capable of devouring anyone at any time!
"The mighty Li Mo is barely one of Wu Prefecture City's Four Great Prodigies!"
Wu Hao sneered, unafraid.
Sure enough, Li Mo did not do anything after a brief moment of silence. He smiled coldly, "Wu Hao, I'll spare you your puny life for now. Don't look forward to meeting me in tomorrow's Prodigy Summit, or else you'll be dead by next year!"
"Let's go!"
Wu Hao called on his two companions, then turned and left.
After seeing him leave, Li Mo continued to let loose on him. He swept his cold gaze past Li Ye and others, as if looking at a stranger, and hummed, "You're all trash, you outnumber them but you let them humiliate you. You're all a waste of resources on the clan!"
Those words made many people angry, but before the clan's foremost disciple Li Mo, they could only remain silent. After all, even Li Yuanjia—the second disciple—was far behind Li Mo's standard.
Martial Spirit Level Nine, a Grandmaster! He was on the verge of standing at the pinnacle of strength in Wu Prefecture City! Except for those rumored Masters who stepped into Innatism, a Grandmaster could practically have their way in Wu Prefecture City.
With Wu Hao's departure, everyone else dispersed as well.
Their initial excitement and anticipation of the Prodigy Summit gradually cooled down.
Li Ye and Li Yuanjia were the last to leave and it was clear that Li Yuanjia was in a very sullen mood that day. After all, his goal was to reach the top ten, perhaps even the top eight, of the Prodigy Summit!
"Li Ye, I'm surprised your strength progressed so fast that you were able to defeat Wu Hao. You'll definitely surprise everyone at this year's Prodigy Summit!"
Due to Li Hounian, the two of them had gotten more amicable with each other. The others were not there at that time, so Li Yuanjia did not need to worry much when talking to Li Ye.
"I'm just lucky. If it was a serious match, Wu Hao would definitely have beaten me."
Li Ye did not want to reveal too much about his own strength. In the previous battle with Wu Hao, he clearly saw that Wu Hao was holding back throughout. Even when facing Li Mo, Wu Hao's calmness showed that he had a strong trump card.
Wu Hao was not the only one who had trump cards—Li Ye did too. His Sword Control Technique was becoming more and more mature. He was ninety percent confident of making a split-second kill if he executed the technique on cultivators below the level of Eminent Masters! Even an Eminent Master powerhouse might inevitably shirk in the face of the pervasive Sword Control Technique.
Then of course, there was also his bloodpupil's illusionary technique. That was his biggest trump card. At the very least, he had discovered that even an Eminent Master would suffer greatly from his bloodpupils.
Back in the courtyard where he stayed, Li Ye discovered that he was inside the weird castle that he had entered once earlier. He had no idea why.
"The Legacy Realm."
The thought came to mind, and in the blink of an eye, Li Ye realized he was already in that weird realm.
The black sky, the barren land, and the old castle situated at the top of that land.
Having already experienced it before, he quickly went to the Marquis' room. Just as before, an elegant man dressed like a medieval nobleman was waiting for him.
"Welcome, young Ichorian. What can I do for you?"
The man who professed to be the legacy elf smiled when he saw Li Ye.
"What exactly is the legacy of the Ichor race that you mentioned previously?"
Ichorians were what ordinary people saw as vampires. Li Ye also only knew about such a race in movies, but his understanding was limited.
Since he had become part of the Ichor race, he wanted to understand it even more as there was a legacy realm for him. In particular, he is looking forward to whether his strength can grow.
"We would have to start with the origin of the Ichor race..."
After listening, Li Ye roughly understood it. The so-called Ichor race was actually human, but with some additional peculiarities. According to the legacy elf, the Ichor race was one of many ancient and noble races.
An Ichorian's strength came from fresh blood. Thus, the impression that Ichorians were vampires was because they drew strength from blood! They were immortal too!
Of course, it was not true immortality, but a tremendous extension of one's life expectancy.
"Ichorians of varying status vary in their strength as well as their life expectancies. The lowest-level Baron is afraid of sunlight, garlic, and silver. They live to about two hundred years.
"Marquis like you are considered to be the more noble of Ichorian bloodlines. There is no need to be afraid of the sun, while garlic and silver are ineffective toward you. Should there be no unforeseen circumstances, your lifespan might even be able to reach a millennium!"
A millennium! Li Ye's eyes widened!
Martial cultivators on Cloudveil Continent were known to go against the laws of heaven to change their fate. Cultivation allowed them to prolong their lives, but even those Innate Sovereigns would not exceed two hundred years in life! That was not even taking into account the great number of people who remained Grandmasters forever, without being able to have a breakthrough! They would die once their lives reached that point.
"As a noble Ichorian, you can enhance your own strength by absorbing the blood essence of other people. You can then transform the other party into your own
"Absorb their blood essence?" Li Ye then realized that the manifestation of his bloodsoul last time was precisely due to that! "What is blood essence?"
"Blood essence is the bloodsoul of a mortal person. You can understand it as absorbing the other person's bloodsoul."
Bloodsoul!
Li Ye nodded and looked forward to it with added excitement. That particular ability of an Ichorian was simply a nightmare for Cloudveil Continent's cultivators, but he knew that no one must ever be allowed to learn of his abilities. Otherwise, he would easily be crowned as an evildoer, which will then lead to him being hunted down by everyone. It was not worth it at all.
"How are servitors created?"
After all, vampires in movies often take a bite of someone else's blood, which subsequently turns the other person into the vampire's own henchmen. He suddenly recalled his own experience—he used to be a human before then, so could it be that he was the beautiful chick's servitor?
The legacy elf was unfortunately unable to inform Li Ye of that.
Frowning, Li Ye then learnt some other general knowledge about the Ichor race.
Broadly speaking, it was similar to what he knew before, but the difference was that Ichorians did not have to drink blood for a living. They could supplement their nourishment with other food, just like normal people. At that point, his own past experience had proved that an Ichorian's practice of drinking blood was nothing more than a means to gain more strength.
In other words, unless the other party had higher strength or a better bloodline, the urge to drink another's blood did not even exist.
"My eyes, what is it about them?"
The Ichor race did not have the so-called blood pupil! Although they did have a strong spiritual strength that was capable of confusing their opponent, his pair of eyes were absolutely unusual!
Faced with that question however, the legacy elf was once again unable to answer again. Li Ye did not know if it was because the elf was deliberately concealing it or if the elf was actually unclear about it.