Everyone’s expression stiffened when they saw what was below the cloth. Some already moved their hands to their backs, intending to take out the guns placed in their belts.

But the middle-aged man was faster. He picked up the massive gatling gun like he was picking up an ordinary toy gun and pointed it at the group with a maniacal grin. "Goodbye."

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The barrel of the gatling gun rotated nonstop and the bullets rained down like fireflies, completely overwhelming the people opposite the middle-aged man, tearing them into pieces.

At close range, some of the people even had their body parts blasted into crimson fireworks from the raw force of the bullets.

.......

"What the fuck."

Leon broke free from this memory after a while. For a moment he thought he had once again returned to Earth, to his previous life.

Taking a deep breath to calm his emotions, Leon extended his hand. The spear qi inside his body poured out in front of him and the shape of his spear spirit was revealed.

Leon’s eyes almost popped out when he saw the beast in front of him.

A heavy, floating weapon spirit shaped like a massive silver gatling gun, wrapped in dark chains. Its overall body was dark silver in color with red dragon symbols etched on its body.

Multiple rotating barrels glowed from within with a burning crimson light, like they were constantly overheated. A swirling crimson aura surrounded it like smoke. Its presence alone felt aggressive and oppressive, like it existed only to overwhelm and destroy everything in front of it.

Swallowing hard, Leon stood up and held the gatling gun with both of his hands. The same feeling of holding a beast in his hand from his past life rushed to his nerves and he had an overwhelming urge to unleash this beast to see its power once more.

But he held himself back. After all, if he used the gatling gun here, his poor house would not be able to withstand its impact.

.........

In the inner parts of the forest, some distance north from the palace Leon used to visit, there was a similar mansion which looked even more run down than the palace with the wall painting.

The two ladies in ninja type battle armor stood before the mansion. Even though it was night, due to the moonlight the entire mansion was visible before them.

"It’s said that the Asura God ascended to godhood from this forest. Even the founding ancestors of the Asura Devil Army are descendants of the Asura God who were born in this 36th stronghold," the young lady explained to her maid who was curiously looking around.

The maid’s eyes lit up. "It seems that no cultivator above the silver realm has dared to step inside the forest due to the rule set by the current Grand Marshal of the Asura Devil Army. This mansion also seems to not have been excavated until now. We may be able to find something useful inside."

The young lady nodded. "According to the news master received, these runes even contain ancient god level cultivation techniques which could alter the potential of one self. There is also talk that one of the caves in this 36th stronghold is the final resting place of the legendary Nyx Demon Emperor who once dominated an entire era."

"The lady is right. The 36th stronghold really does contain the tomb of the Nyx Demon Emperor and I happen to know where it is. I wonder if the lady is interested in exploring the tomb with me," just then a male voice came from their left.

"Who?" The maid beside the young lady immediately became vigilant and two daggers appeared in her hands out of nowhere.

"Hey, I am an admirer of the Moon Palace Academy. The two fairies don’t have to be so vigilant." A handsome young man with a ponytail walked over with eight well built men in battle armor following behind him.

"Ethan Nyxborn. I am a student of the Black Dragon Academy," the young man bowed his head slightly as a gesture of greeting.

The young lady extended her hand to stop her maid and stepped forward. "Thank you for your offer, but we are just wandering around and don’t have any intention of forming a team."

Ethan laughed. "It seems the fairies of the Moon Palace Academy don’t trust me. But that’s okay. After all, we only met just now and asking you on an expedition together is indeed suspicious."

The young lady remained silent, neither denying nor confirming the statement.

Seeing this, Ethan didn’t show any change in his facial expression as he continued earnestly. "Let me be frank with the fairies. I am actually from the original bloodline of the Nyx Demon Emperor and I have inside information regarding the tomb of my ancestor, including all the traps, mechanisms, and opportunities hidden inside it. If you are still suspicious about me, you can search on the Skynet about the Nyxborn family and you will find relevant proof of our connection with the Nyx Demon Emperor."

The maid beside the young lady put away her daggers back in her storage ring and slightly parted her long sleeve, revealing an elegant artifact that looked like a high end smart watch on her wrist. As the maid touched the screen of the watch, a holographic screen appeared above her Skynet watch like a panel made of glass. She tapped the name Nyxborn on the search bar before pressing enter.

Before long, a Skynet page detailing the information on the Nyxborn family appeared on the screen. After skipping her eyes over the content, she tapped her watch again and the holographic panel disappeared.

"What he said is true," she said to her young lady in a low voice.

The young man’s face still bore the same smile as he extended his hand and a family crest in the shape of a demon face appeared in his palm.

"You are free to inspect it as well, so that both of you can be rest assured of my identity." He tossed the token in his hand to the maid.

The maid caught it with a frown and placed it above the Skynet watch in her hand after tapping something on the watch’s screen.

Next second, a series of mechanical voices came from the device.

Scanning...

Scanning complete...

5th tier ally family of human alliance: Nyxborn.

Qi detection confirmed: direct descendant of Nyxborn family. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

.......

After nodding to her young lady, she tossed the crest back to the young man.

"Why are you inviting us? If there is an opportunity, you could have gone inside yourself, right?" the young lady asked calmly as she met the young man’s eyes.

The young man was momentarily stunned seeing a pair of beautiful eyes looking back at him. He coughed to hide his embarrassment and said, "Actually, I also don’t want to split this opportunity with anyone. But the problem is that we need exactly twelve people to enter the secret cave left behind by my ancestor. That’s a predetermined rule engraved in the formation protecting the cave. I am helpless about it."

The young lady looked at the eight burly bodyguards behind the young man suspiciously. "Didn’t you say you know some inside information about this tomb? Were you not aware of this type of restriction placed on the cave?"

The young man looked back at his bodyguards and instantly understood the meaning behind her words. "Actually, when I left home we did have twelve people including me. But three of them died in an ambush by some evil cultivators on the way."

The young lady remained silent for a long time and shook her head. "I can’t give you an answer immediately. This matter is rather complicated and I need time to think."

The young man’s brow furrowed for an instant before he steadied his expression with a laugh. "Of course. In a week’s time we will finish our other explorations and come back to this place. If you are willing to trust me, please come back at the same time on that day."

The young lady nodded indifferently.

"Then we will take our leave." The young man bowed once more and said sincerely, "According to our information, inside my ancestor’s tomb there is an emperor level bloodline heart artifact and there are exactly two of them. If you can give up on all the other treasures inside, I am willing to give you one of those bloodline heart artifacts. With my help, this is a sure win scenario for you. Please consider wisely before you make your choice."

The young lady and her maid showed some astonishment in their eyes when they heard this.

As students of one of the prestigious academies of the 1st stronghold, they were well aware of the significance and importance of a bloodline.

Apart from being naturally born with one, there were two ways to acquire a bloodline.

The first was by extracting the bloodline from a demon beast and transforming it into a bloodline heart artifact that a person could integrate into their body. This would be similar to an inborn bloodline heart but in the shape of an artifact. The successive generations would inherit the same bloodline in the form of bloodline hearts on the left side of their chest.

In fact, every first generation ancestor of every family with a bloodline was a person who had integrated a bloodline heart artifact into their body. Their successive generations inherited the bloodline from them in the form of bloodline hearts present inside their body without the need for a bloodline heart artifact.

Of course, the first generation ancestors had it much more difficult integrating the bloodline heart and comprehending the bloodline skills hidden inside it, since it was technically an external component forcefully added to their body. But this disadvantage wouldn’t be there if the bloodline was passed onto their next generation, because by that time the bloodline was practically an inborn part of their body.

The second way of acquiring a bloodline was somewhat brutal, as it involved tearing the bloodline heart from one person and transplanting it to another person.

But there were several restrictions when it came to this. Naturally, taking a fellow human’s bloodline heart was seen as a crime akin to cannibalism and was considered severely punishable if the human didn’t willingly donate his bloodline heart.

Even in case of donation, if the bloodline heart was not donated to a family member who shared a close bloodline with the donor, there was a high chance of rejection and accompanying health conditions which were far worse than the gains.