Lord Leo looked pleased and said, "Qian Nan, you truly are an excellent soldier. I won't hold your earlier mistake against you. My two servants and I have traveled for a long time and need to rest. Help me keep watch tonight."
Charlotte led Lord Leo into the adventurers' camp. The middle-aged Blood Kindred chose a large tree and leaned against its trunk with his eyes closed. His two servants split into shifts to guard their master, clearly distrusting this group of adventurers.
Charlotte wiped the sweat from his forehead, moved away from Lord Leo, found a secluded spot, and dropped to the ground.
After traveling all day and then fighting a battle, the sudden incident just now had been thrilling enough to send his adrenaline soaring. But once it was over, the exhaustion hit twice as hard. Charlotte felt sore all over and did not even want to move a finger.
Though he had temporarily escaped the crisis through quick thinking, Lord Leo would sooner or later discover that he was not one of them.
If Lord Leo discovered that he was not from House of Adonis, but had cultivated Bloody Glory—the art Blood Kindred hated most—how could he preserve his life beneath the wrath of a High-Order Transcendent?
Charlotte still had no answer.
He knew that although things looked safe at the moment, danger lurked everywhere. One careless move could cost him his life. After recovering a little strength, though his body was still exhausted, he forcibly gathered his focus and activated the Protagoras Breathing Method, intending to digest Winterburn's life essence as quickly as possible.
Lord Leo's spear had pierced through Winterburn's body, yet he had not devoured his life force. High-order Blood Kindred placed greater value on the purity of blood energy. Indiscriminate, frenzied devouring of life force could easily cause one to degenerate into a monster, so they would not casually devour prey of a lower Transcendence rank than themselves, only occasionally taking a little to replenish themselves.
But to Charlotte, the life essence of a fourth-rank Knight was far too precious. He had not yet reached the stage where he needed to be picky, which was why he had added that extra thrust.
After more than a hundred breaths, when all the life essence had transformed into Bloody Glory, Charlotte did not open a fifth Bloody Vortex. Instead, he chose to condense a Bloody Rune—Angel's Thorn!
The reason he made this choice—
Was Blood Rose!
Angel's Thorn was one of Bloody Glory's Thirteen Wonders and also the foundation of House of Asilo's Blood Kindred secret arts.
House of Asilo was one of the Three Imperial Blood Kindred Families. They excelled in martial arts, and their swordsmanship ranked first among the Thirty-Seven Blood Kindred Clans. As the foundation of House of Asilo's secret arts, Angel's Thorn was not only a supernatural secret art but also a supernatural sword technique, renowned throughout the Old Continent.
The Protagoras Scroll's records regarding Angel's Thorn were vague and incomplete. No one knew how the great philosopher Protagoras had learned this secret art, mastered it completely, and incorporated it into Bloody Glory.
Among the students at the Empire's four universities, few had cultivated Bloody Glory to begin with. Since the death of the great philosopher Protagoras, people had successfully cultivated every other Wonder Rune, yet no one had ever succeeded in cultivating Angel's Thorn.
After studying the Protagoras Scroll and the customs of House of Asilo, many scholars reached a conclusion: cultivating Angel's Thorn required a Blood Kindred "inheritance."
The elders of House of Asilo would condense all their cultivation into a special "seed." Only Blood Kindred who obtained this "seed" could cultivate Angel's Thorn and step onto the path of House of Asilo's secret arts.
Although Protagoras had gifted the scroll to the four universities, he had never taken any disciples. Later, when Fars and Byron established diplomatic relations, they declared that humans who cultivated Bloody Glory were forbidden from entering their territory. Thus, no human could ever obtain the inheritance of Angel's Thorn again.
Blood Rose's ability to forcibly break open the fourth Bloody Vortex meant that it contained its previous master's insights into House of Asilo's secret arts.
Charlotte had no intention of wasting this opportunity.
With a sweep of his hand, Blood Rose grew slightly warm and transformed into a streak of crimson light that merged into his left arm.
Within the Bloody Vortex in his left arm, the Magic Rapier transformed into a sword-shaped rune structure that trembled continuously and kept launching graceful thrusts.
Charlotte closed his eyes slightly, and countless strange, vicious sword techniques emerged in his mind. Every move was beyond imagination, as swift as lightning and thunder.
Fortunately, he had experienced "gazing directly" upon evil gods twice. His spirituality was now comparable to that of a High-Order Transcendent, allowing him to deeply imprint these sword techniques in his mind and completely receive this inheritance from House of Asilo.
Several hours later, near dawn, Charlotte opened his eyes. Crimson sparks flickered faintly within them. He let out a deep breath and casually shook his hand, causing Blood Rose to appear out of thin air.
He held the Vampiric Rapier in his palm and slowly stroked it, thinking to himself, This Supernatural Weapon Louis gave me probably has quite a history. Him getting the Spear of Sharlons could be chalked up to dumb luck, but getting hold of this Vampiric Rapier too... there must be something else going on.
Louis probably doesn't know the origins of these two weapons. Otherwise, he would never have given one of them to me.
I have a feeling this matter is going to bring trouble.
Charlotte heard someone call Qian Nan's name. Before he had time to grasp the newly cultivated ability, he hurriedly stood and ran over to Lord Leo.
The Blood Kindred lord from Byron had already awakened. He smiled faintly at Charlotte and said, "I brought Blood Bait. Would you like a couple of pieces?"
Blood Bait was a magical blood-based food and one of the Blood Kindred's favorite foods. It could be carried around and stored conveniently for a long time.
Since Blood Bait was made entirely from human blood, Charlotte, being human in both this life and his previous one, wanted nothing to do with it. He had a psychological barrier against such food.
Charlotte smiled slightly and said, "I brought a Blood Servant."
Lord Leo nodded slightly and did not press the matter. Instead, attended by his two servants, he enjoyed a simple yet luxurious breakfast.
The two servants spread a picnic cloth on the ground, brought out exquisite tableware, and placed Blood Bait and some pastries on pewter plates. They also took out a fine wine flask, along with matching pewter cups.
After Lord Leo finished eating, he wiped his mouth with a red napkin and said, "We can set off now."
The two servants efficiently packed away the cloth, tableware, wine flask, and cups, then stayed close behind their master as guards. From beginning to end, neither spoke a word.
Charlotte sent people into Maple Leaf Village to call out the female adventurers. After tidying up the camp, they surrounded Lord Leo and set off for Machu Picchu.
After a morning of long-distance trekking, Charlotte was miserable. He had truly never suffered like this before.
The adventurers he had gathered earned too little, so none of them owned mounts.
As for Lord Leo, whether traveling long distances or sprinting short ones, a High-Order Blood Kindred was faster than any ordinary mount. Since he had infiltrated another country as a spy, bringing a mount would have been inconvenient and unnecessary.
Charlotte alone felt too embarrassed to get himself a horse!
Besides, they had not passed through any major towns during their escape, so there had been nowhere to buy horses.
Charlotte missed the Agility Technique Rune he had yet to cultivate more than ever.
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