Divine Emperor of Death

Isabella aided Fiora to absorb diluted drops of Earth Dragon Blood Essence while Natalya and Evelynn were similar, obtaining more drops of blood in varying quantities and qualities to achieve equilibrium among the three of them.

However, Natalya rejected, explaining that she got more diluted drops of blood essence from Clara.

Indeed, Clara, upon noticing that her sister-in-law Natalya was practicing Ice and Yin Laws, decided to give her three diluted drops of blood essence of the Ice Phoenix Immortal. Natalya was deeply hesitant because she didn't think it was appropriate to take it from her sister-in-law, but both Davis and Clara convinced her otherwise for twenty minutes straight, making her cry from being moved in the end.

On the other hand, Davis himself got three drops of blood essence from Isabella, going into seclusion to enter the Martial Sage Stage.

He had thought of entering Martial Sage Stage later due to Law Intent constraints as he didn't want to inscribe lower-level laws into his body on the first try. Otherwise, he would've already used up the Million Emerald Calamity Vines Nectar to enter the Martial Sage Stage.

However, with these blood essences on his hands, he didn't reject Isabella's gift and decided to enter the Martial Sage Stage. Like Shirley, he felt that it would be fine if he inscribed more powerful laws in his body after making a solid foundation. That was also a valid way to become powerful, while the achievement of succeeding on the first try sometimes didn't count for anything as repeated practice even after facing failure always makes a person perfect or hone their skills.

With that kind of mindset, he entered seclusion and began absorbing the blood essences while Evelynn and Natalya could also hold on their own with their cultivation stages on top of the fact that they already had Earth Dragon Blood in them. It just became easier to absorb the blood essences, and that's it.

Nevertheless, Natalya did have aid from Clara in absorbing the three diluted drops of Ice Phoenix Blood Essence. Fortunately, both blood essences in her body didn't seem to reject each other as one provided nutrition for the body while the other provided nutrition for the essence and the soul.

She didn't mix them but kept them away from each other, focused, with difficulty, as if she was going into labor without those painful movements. Fortunately, what she had absorbed was just diluted blood essences and not the complete ones. Otherwise, she might be spitting blood, trying to absorb them into her body while there were also numerous chances that she might fail, ending up incurring a backlash.

Nevertheless, feeling that it was worth it, Natalya took her chances and entered seclusion along with Clara aiding her.

After helping Fiora absorb the fifteen diluted drops of blood essences within three days, Isabella came out and counted her pockets.

'Davis and I share about six drops of blood essences at this point, with him absorbing five while I finished absorbing one long ago. I gave one to Evelynn while he gave one to her, making it two blood essences. I have only one left which Natalya rejected, so whom should I give?'

Isabella thought really hard before she decided to give it to her Imperial Father. It was unlikely she would see her father again if she and Davis went to the First Layer, so she felt that it was imperative that she left a few resources for her father to be able to defend himself and live a long life.

She didn't decide to consume it by herself because it wouldn't be a major increase in power, although it might be good if she had consumed it along with the four blood essence she gave to the others. However, she didn't want to hoard but wanted to be like Davis, wanting to increase the overall prowess of the family, her new family.

For the same reason as Natalya opting for Ice Phoenix Immortal Blood Essence, Isabella didn't want to let Fiora absorb a complete blood essence since Fiora trained in Wind Laws and might train in another if she gets the opportunity. Therefore, it was crucial that she does not absorb the complete blood essence like her elder sister Natalya to maintain the capability of being flexible enough to accommodate other sources of energy.

Isabella mused that if she were to absorb ice-attributed Ice Phoenix Blood Essence out of nowhere and with no preparation, she knew that she would be massively harming herself, possibly endangering herself to become a cripple.

In any case, she wasn't worried about wanting to take other blood essences since she absorbed the true blood essence of the Earth Immortal Dragon.

From what she learned, it seemed that a True Blood Essence accounted for fifty to sixty percent of the blood in the Earth Dragon Immortal's body, which meant that it was almost equal to twenty to thirty blood essences because she knew those blood essences each make up one to three percent of the blood in the Earth Dragon Immortal's body.

Even the Diluted Blood Essences stock that she had with her was almost disappearing as she got only around fifty after giving fifteen drops to Fiora and twelve drops to Evelynn, which amounted to one and a half Blood Essence if equated by average.

After inheriting the Immortal Inheritance, Isabella came to learn that there was a single drop of true blood essence, nine drops of blood essence, and ninety-nine drops of diluted blood essence, but these were just the rewards for clearing the trial for the limited number of people who would clear it.

There were also about fifty drops of diluted blood essence that were placed in the Emperor Grade Treasury, of which Davis had initially taken ten of them and gave it to her half-sibling Idric Ruth as part of the deal they had while she took twenty before, giving it to Natalya and Evelyn.

Evelynn shared two with Claire and Logan while she retained three of them, so Isabella took the remaining twenty diluted drops from the Emperor Grade Treasury.

Thus, along with the rewards for clearing the trials that remained, she got fifty diluted drops of blood essence in all.

However, in the Immortal Grade Treasury, there were about thirty-three blood essences, probably from different Earth Dragon Immortals! However, reality hit her when she learned that they were all locked in a glistening jade container that could only be opened with the fabled immortal energy.

It greatly disappointed her to learn that, but she could understand that this was placed here to nurture descendants and keep their bloodline stable. It was not for herself but could be used all the same on whoever she wished to, including herself.

'It seems that this trial is ultimately to see if an inheritor could measure up to be a candidate with these little resources. The resources from the Earth Dragon Immortal Clan must've been divided up between the other Earth Dragon Immortals. There must've been a few other Earth Dragon Immortals in the First Layer once as Noble Benefactor did mention that I might find remnants of the earth dragon there...'

Isabella nodded to her speculation while moving towards Davis.

She was curious to see what kind of progress he had made. Due to the fragility of the Loret Imperial Castle, she had brought them all to her Imperial Palace, which was made up of Peak-Level Spirit Stone Blocks.

They lustrously radiated some light as they were in contact with heaven and earth energy. However, it was not like blocks could hold energy as they were already refined to be created into materials. One could even make weapons with spirit stone blocks, but they were rarely popular as they would just be used as currency instead of weapons as there is no attribute strength, although it was great for decorative purposes.

Nevertheless, when Isabella entered the room sneakily so as not to disturb him, she saw his upper naked body that looked sculpted with desirable features, making her heart skip a beat. He had his pants on as he sat in a lotus position, but his robe was still on in a half-worn style, which made him look sexy.

Isabella bit her lips as she averted her gaze, refocusing her mind before she looked at the inscriptions on his body, glowing in an earthen light of the Earth Dragon. Right now, she could tell that he had finished absorbing the three blood essences, comprehended Level Nine Intent from the level of the martial aura she could feel from him.

When she had broken through to the Martial Sage Stage, she comprehended Level Eight Intent and was near Level Nine Intent. Her martial domain was at the level of Impeccable Domain, the third level of domains, but due to the aura of the Earth Dragon, it appeared way more domineering and was powerful, equal to an average Supreme Domain.

One should remember that although the Law Dominion Stage and Martial Sage Stage were looked at from the same lenses, it does not mean they have the same requirements as one was at the Seventh Stage and the other was at the Eighth Stage.

The requirements to conjure domains in Law Dominion Stage and Martial Sage Stage were different, the latter having a difference of three levels above from the former.

Isabella, therefore, mused that Davis had congealed a Supreme Domain with Level Nine Intent, making him far more powerful than when she stepped into the Martial Sage Stage.

However, she could also see that it was not built on a solid Unblemished Foundation, maybe one level lower, the Flawless Foundation. But, since he had more than five blood essences than her single blood essence, it made up for the difference, making him still powerful than her when she entered the Martial Sage Stage.

Nevertheless, after she consumed the true blood essence of the Earth Dragon Immortal, her cultivation, prowess, comprehension, and even foundation rapidly rose after diminishing when she broke through, making her immensely powerful than him even if he caught up to her eventually.

These thoughts quickly faded away when her focus fell on his upper body again without her knowing, making her avert her gaze as she blushed.

At the moment, Davis was immersed in his breakthrough, maximizing his comprehension and stabilizing his agitated foundation from repeated breakthroughs despite adrenaline rushing through his body. He felt his inner yang overflow as vitality kept building up like mountains in his body, making him feel rejuvenated and powerful.

He felt like he could crush planets with this power!

Despite that, he tried to keep himself from lowering. His foundation was at this moment unstable, with it trying to fall into the Blemished Foundation. He was trying to keep it from happening. If it weren't for the blood essences acting as an anchor, he would've found it hard to even breakthrough as his already shaken Flawless Foundation from the repeated breakthroughs might've acted as a limiter instead, making him experience a backlash instead of a breakthrough, causing him to fall into the lower stratum of Blemished Foundation.

After all, it was common sense that once a person achieves a breakthrough, the chances of the foundation degrading were higher if they were not accompanied with stabilizing resources, but since Davis had more blood essences compared to before, it made it more manageable for him to not regress in terms of foundation.

It took him some torturous time from that point to stabilize in the Flawless Foundation somewhat before he finally opened his eyes, his sapphire eyes reflecting the gorgeous image of Isabella waiting in the distance, seated like him in a lotus position directly opposite to him.

"You've finally opened your eyes..."

Isabella's melodious voice echoed before Davis blinked.

"How long did you wait...?"

"Somewhere around three hours..." Princess Isabella smiled before she grinned, "Congratulation on breaking through to the Martial Sage Stage, Davis. You're now an abnormal person who has his Soul Forging Cultivation and Body Tempering Cultivation higher than his Essence Gathering Cultivation by two stages."

"Hehe... You're one to say that..."

Davis wryly chuckled as he shook his head before he patted his lap.

"Isabella, why don't you come here?"

Isabella's eyes widened before she stiffly yet smilingly shook her head.