Meanwhile, inside the Imperial Palace.
Having just returned home, Saliba hurriedly sought out his father and recounted the transaction he had reached with Eros in the Sin Realm. The Emperor of the Empire showed a flash of surprise upon hearing the news; he hadn't expected his son to actually facilitate such a deal, especially under such simple conditions.
Without a moment's hesitation, he immediately summoned several members of the family who were currently idle within the palace to hold a small family council. During the meeting, Saliba repeated the details of the deal to his elders. This time, he didn't skip anything, providing a detailed account from beginning to end—including how Eros had threatened him and blackmailed a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact out of him.
After listening to the entire process, a middle-aged man in the conference room looked at Saliba with approval:
"You did well. We are the noble Augustus family, possessing an incomparably distinguished bloodline. There is truly no need to gamble the safety of our family against others. It’s just a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact; if we gave it, we gave it!"
"But only this once. If he tries to use this kind of threat to extort the Augustus family again, you need not pay him any mind. If he wants to report us, let him. What if we gamble once? Although our family is unwilling to take risks, we are certainly not afraid of them. If he thinks he can blackmail us this way, he truly underestimates us."
Saliba bowed toward the middle-aged man and said respectfully, "Your nephew understands!"
At this point, an elder sitting on the other side of the room spoke up: "Bring out the blood crystal first. Since he wants to exchange this for Spirit Marrow (灵髓), we must see the quality before we can offer a price."
Hearing this, Saliba quickly took a small silver square box from his person and placed it on the table in the center of the room. Looking at the box, the elder tapped the tabletop with a withered finger. In the next second, the silver box slid across the table toward him of its own accord.
The elder picked up the box and dispelled the Spiritual Wall (灵性之墙) on its exterior. Instantly, a dense aura of life began to spread from within, filling the entire room in the blink of an eye. Everyone felt a surge of refreshment, as if they were standing in an open field in spring.
Feeling this wave of vitality, the elder nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad!"
He then opened the box and took out a blood crystal. Just as he was about to crush the outer layer to study the interior, Saliba spoke up. He relayed the precautions Eros had mentioned. Although Saliba didn't think the blood of a Sequence 7 "variant" could be that dangerous, he felt it was right to pass on the warning.
When they heard Eros's warning—to not study his blood, not to divine it, and to prepare for contamination isolation before breaking the crystal—several people in the room burst into laughter.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
One of them shook his head, laughing. "A mere Sequence 7... does he think the Augustus family is as frail as they are?"
The elder holding the crystal also shook his head, a contemptuous smile playing on his lips. Without further hesitation, he crushed the outer crystal. Simultaneously, he extended his spiritual perception, wanting to delve deep into the legendary Elven blood.
However, in an instant, the elder froze in place. Branch after branch began to sprout from his body. In about two or three seconds, the elder vanished, replaced by a massive tree roughly the girth of a man's embrace. The tree's crown pierced through the ceilings of the first and second floors, stopping just beneath the roof.
As for the others in the room, because they hadn't used their spiritual perception to peer into the blood, they were only affected by the inherent contamination of the droplet itself.
Saliba looked at the scene in horror. The exposed skin on his face and head was now covered in multicolored mushrooms. Judging by the bulges in his clothes, one could imagine even more were growing underneath.
The other elders, being stronger, weren't as severely contaminated; their hair had simply turned into a mess of green weeds. The only ones unaffected were the two elders at the head of the table. They were the strongest present—Sequence 4 Transcendents who had stepped beyond the boundaries of humanity.
Those two Transcendents were currently staring at the sudden tree with looks of absolute shock. With their power, they hadn't even been able to react in time to stop it.
What is going on? What did Vito's spiritual perception see? How could he turn into a tree instantly without even a moment to react? Vito was a veteran warlock who had been at Sequence 5 for years!
On the other side, Caesar Augustus touched the green weeds on his head, his expression becoming exceptionally grave. He couldn't believe this was real. Wasn't this just a drop of blood from a low-sequence warlock? Why is the contamination so severe?
Mere contact with the blood's aura affected Sequence 5s, while peering into it turned a veteran Sequence 5 into a tree instantly. Even for "variant" blood, this shouldn't happen. It wasn't like they hadn't dealt with exotic blood before. Was Elven blood truly this special? Or was that brat's lineage not that of a common Elf?
In the North Duke's Manor in Intiles, Eros was lying on a garden bench, comfortably soaking up the winter sun while enjoying Estelle’s ear-cleaning service.
Suddenly, he seemed to perceive something. He opened his eyes, glanced toward the direction of the Imperial Palace, and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Then, he called out in his soul space: "Ariana! Sorry to trouble you!"
As his voice fell, the pitch-black book floating in his soul space shook slightly, and an invisible force rippled outward.
Back in the palace, just as the royals were spiraling into confusion, a "tick-tock" sound echoed from deep within the palace. In the next second, the contamination on everyone in the room was wiped clean—except for the tree.
Accompanying the sound was a weathered, ancient voice that rang through the conference room:
"I have just checked. This is indeed the bloodline of a common Elf. The contamination within his blood is likely due to his other fortuitous encounters."
"As for why Vito was instantly contaminated... perhaps through his peering into the blood, he accidentally glimpsed a mark left in the bloodline by a powerful ancestor of this Elf."
Hearing this voice, everyone in the room showed expressions of respect and fanaticism. One of the Transcendents spoke reverently:
"Lord, should we proceed with the transaction?"
"The transaction continues. Now, let it end here. This awakening has consumed much of my lifespan; I shall likely sleep for a long time now."
The aged voice grew weaker until it fell completely silent. Everyone in the room stood up and spoke in unison, their voices filled with respect:
"We obey your command, Lord!"