Chapter 363: A Welcome Supply of Blood

[Purchased: Legendary Blood Essence ×4. Aether spent: 880,000.]

[Purchased: Legendary Blood Essence...]

The Exchange began chiming almost as soon as Cassian posted his order. Within a few minutes, he had bought several hundred drops.

Legendary monsters were rare, but the sector had been open for a year. Among the Homeworld’s ten billion Lords, there were still plenty with a few drops to sell.

A call interrupted the purchase notices.

Odette Ravelle.

The beautiful Bloodkin Prince wasted no time on greetings.

"If you need Legendary Blood Essence, Lord Cassian, I can arrange a hundred thousand drops for you. At the usual market price."

A hundred thousand!

Almost enough for another Blood Emperor.

Cassian kept his delight behind a mild smile.

"Then I’ll have to thank you, Lady Ravelle. I think you’ll be pleased with your payment."

Anticipation brightened her sapphire eyes.

Before long, the blood arrived. Cassian transferred twenty billion Aether at the market rate. He also had three drops of Emperor Blood Essence condensed through paid Chalice summons and sent them with the payment.

Odette’s face lit up.

"That was the Ravelle clan’s strategic reserve. If you need more, I can approach the other clans for you."

For Emperor Blood Essence, she was willing to put in a little work.

Cassian was happy to let her.

Blood from other races could not directly advance lesser Bloodkin in the way a higher Bloodkin’s vital essence could. It was still their most important food and a valuable source of recovery. Over thousands of years, the clans had built supply networks that Cassian could hardly match by posting a purchase order.

Odette clearly held considerable influence among the Homeworld’s Bloodkin. In less than half an hour, she found another five hundred thousand drops.

By Cassian’s estimate, she had gathered most of the thirteen clans’ reserves in Sector 666.

*Some jobs really are better left to the people who know them.*

Six hundred thousand drops of Legendary blood. At the basic conversion rate, that represented roughly two thousand drops of Emperor Blood Essence, before the other summoning costs. Keep the supplies coming, add what remained of his earlier stock, and another six permanent Blood Emperors within half a month was a goal worth pursuing.

His mood improved with every thought.

For the second shipment, he sent Odette a hundred billion Aether and twenty more drops of Emperor Blood Essence. Then he poured the new blood into the Chalice—all six hundred thousand drops from the clans, along with the smaller purchases that had come through his order.

The six temporary Blood Emperors were soon busy condensing more essence. Cassian paid the Chalice’s summoning and upkeep costs as required, replacing their spent service instead of sending them to battle.

He had found them a very profitable occupation.

Odette was even happier than he was.

"Twenty-three more drops..."

Color rose into her pale cheeks, a rare sight for a Bloodkin.

"If he keeps working with me, I could become a Blood Emperor in little more than a decade."

Ambition shone in her eyes.

——

Half an hour later, cries of alarm flooded the Homeworld Channel.

[Spatial Lock?]

[Someone has sealed Pandora Forest!]

[It has to be Divine Province!]

A respected Western Beacon Lord spoke up.

[Don’t panic. Our settlements each have at least a thousand Domains supporting one another. Pandora’s monsters start at Level 100. The thirteen Crown Provinces can’t march ordinary armies through that forest. I refuse to believe a handful of Divine Province’s strongest Lords would dare attack our defenses.]

His words reassured many of the Lords from Western Beacon, the Black Banner, the Dawn Coast, and Bharan.

They relaxed too soon.

In a relatively open stretch of forest, close to a thousand Domains stood together. Their walls and fortifications extended for dozens of kilometers.

The sudden spatial seal had put the Bharan Lords on alert. Barriers of different colors rose over their Domains, almost joining into a continuous canopy. Patrols moved beneath them—mid-grade and high-grade soldiers, including the monastic troops for which Bharan was known.

According to Cassian’s information, this was Bharan’s strongest settlement in Pandora.

He had paid for his passage back to the forest. Now he floated several hundred meters above the defenses, hidden by Liora’s Invisibility.

"Lord, no other groups of Lords detected within five hundred kilometers," Seven reported.

Cassian nodded and took out a Rare Silence Scroll.

"Seal communications."

The scroll dissolved. Across an area spanning nearly a hundred kilometers, contact with the outside world went dead.

"Begin."

The Bharan Lords noticed immediately.

"We’ve been muted! Who did it?"

"Stay calm! There are too many of us for anyone to attack lightly!"

"Look up! What in the hells is that?"

A blade a kilometer long appeared above them.

It fell.

The Barrier over an outer Domain tore like paper. Beneath it, a Lord’s Hall dozens of meters high collapsed under the blow. The Lord hiding inside did not even have time to scream before the strike turned him into a cloud of blood.

The sacred blade rose again and began chopping through the Domain.

A squad of Legendary Diamond Guardians from the Elder Buddha troop lines tried to stop it. Renowned for their powerful bodies, they threw themselves into its path.

They had no idea that this same attack had recently torn both forearms from a Level-105 Golden Behemoth Hero.

They lasted less than ten seconds.

And the slaughter had barely begun.

A hundred-meter crystal bat plunged out of the sky and smashed into another Lord’s Hall.

Golden crystal shifted among the ruins. One emerged in an eight-meter form, the Maidens who had joined her Crystal Convergence held within her gleaming body.

"Focus fire! Attack!"

The Bharan Lord who had barely escaped the collapsing Hall screamed his orders.

Blades, arrows, and spells struck the Crystal Princess. None left a mark.

With one million two hundred thousand Physique in her combined form, One was beyond anything these ordinary Lords could fight.

She glanced around without expression.

Her arms lengthened into crystal blades hundreds of meters long. Then she turned through half a circle.

The noisy Domain fell silent.

Houses, walls, towers, Heroes, and troops—everything in the path of those two blades had been cut in half.

Over another Domain, Sovereign Bindings reached from the void and crushed every living thing they caught. Aurelia’s Lightning Giant rose above the fighting. Liora’s Deepfrost Field spread across the ground.

The remaining Crystal Maidens, Faerie Dragons, Kinetic Mechs, and Eclipse corps joined the assault. Across the Bharan settlement, Cassian’s forces swept into a slaughter their enemies had no hope of stopping.