"So, this is a Half-King? That's it?"Leander stepped out of the collapsing blood coffin. Within the crimson domain, thin scarlet threads lashed at him from every direction, trying desperately to reel him back in and bind him.But each of his steps landed with iron weight. No matter how those threads tightened or knotted, they couldn't slow him, not even for a heartbeat."How is this possible?"While Christopher and Jimmy were alight with relief, the Blood Demon's face twisted in disbelief.He was Half-King. Although he didn't yet possess the power of a true King Phase, he was capable of sealing space with a gesture, shaping an entire domain of his own within a hundred-foot radius. Here, within this blood-soaked world, he was supposed to be the god, capable of ruling everything.The blood coffin was shut, and Leander was trapped in it. Even if it were another Half-King, he should have suffered agony beyond imagination, if not outright death. In his estimation, he had a seventy-percent chance of killing Leander outright.Yet Ashcroft had shattered the coffin as though brushing dust off his sleeve, and walked through those devouring blood threads as if they weren't even there.What kind of cultivation is this man in?"Don't tell me... you have already reached the King Phase?" The Blood Demon's pupils shrank violently."I haven't." Leander's tone was calm, almost casual. The next instant, his gaze sharpened like a blade drawn from its scabbard.noveldrama"But if we're speaking purely of strength, you're nowhere near qualified to compare yourself to me."You want to kill me? You're nowhere close to doing that."A streak of light tore across the air, and Leander's figure vanished in an instant.Up in the sky, the Blood Demon's pupils condensed. He sensed the shift in airflow a fraction of a second later. His instincts roared. With a sweep of his hand, the blood world surged upward. Above him, two pillars of blood condensed into existence, crashing down in front of him like fortress gates.Thud!A fist materialized out of nothing and smashed into the pillars of blood. One pillar caved inward with a deep crater.The Blood Demon staggered back as both pillars shattered into dust."Your life is mine now." Leander's gaze was stone cold. He didn't pause after his first punch. He stamped down, detonating the air behind him, and shot forward again, trailing a clean white arc.The Blood Demon had no time to even shout. He retreated in panic as the blood sea rolled overhead. Two massive bloody palms clapped inward from both sides, trying to crush Leander between them.Leander didn't even bother to dodge. He rammed straight into the palms head-on with nothing but his body. He felt no more than a breeze, and strode straight through them."What?" The Blood Demon's face drained of color. He flung his arms wide, and every shred of blood-essence in the sky surged into his right arm, coating it in a wicked, pulsing crimson glow.With a roar, he hurled a punch powerful enough to split the clouds. The night above Swallow Hill turned scarlet as corrosive blood-essence surged forward. It was not just raw power, but also a corrosive force so vicious it seemed to rot the very wind it touched.He condensed power through blood, drawing in all the ambient energy of heaven and earth within the domain, certain that a single punch would be enough to blast Leander back.Leander still didn't bother to lift an extra dinger. He simply met him with a punch of his own.Boom!A thunderous blast ripped through the sky. A blood-red silhouette shot backward, skidding through the air and carving gouges in the sky. The Blood Demon's arm shook violently, its gathered blood essence blown apart."How is this possible?" He was shaken to his very core. That strike had carried the full weight of his Bloodsea Prison, his condensed blood essence, and theaccumulated essence of heaven and earth within his domain.By right, that punch should have been enough to reduce ten Infernal Crown Transcendents to pulp. Yet when his fist met Leander's, the man's strength felt endless, crushing and unstoppable.Leander didn't slow down. He blurred forward, each strike, whether a fist or a kick, hammering down with brutal simplicity. No flourishes. No techniques. Just raw, overwhelming power. Swallow Hill shuddered beneath every blow.As for the Blood Demon, no matter how he drew upon his Bloodsea Prison or pulled in the essence of heaven and earth, found himself battered backward, dodging wildly and staggering helplessly, unable to form even a single proper counterattack.All around Swallow Hill, residents looked up at the sky where blue and crimson clashed. Awe and terror shone in their eyes.Christopher and Jimmy finally allowed themselves to breathe. Far away, Celia, having just arrived, stopped dead in her tracks. The sight of the Blood Demon being pummeled helplessly stunned her.The Blood Demon, wielding the full might of his Bloodsea Prison, looked like some god-level being. His power was unfathomable, enough to make the world's elites shudder. Even she felt her heart quake. Yet this ery grandmaster, was being pummeled by Leander without the faintest ability to strike back, reduced to dodging and blocking. How could she not be shaken to her core? "So this is the man who topped the International Combat Rankings in the entirety ofrecorded history?" Her eyes flickered with disbelief and something deeper.Up ahead, the battle surged into its fiercest moment yet.Bang!With a dull thud, the Blood Demon was knocked back again, tumbling several dozen meters. A line of blood traced down the corner of his mouth.Leander kept advancing, each strike heavier than the last. Even with the Blood Demon channeling all the energy he could muster from the essence of heaven and earth and his Bloodsea Prison, he was rattled until his organs churned and his blood surged painfully.How is Jeff Ashcroft this strong? He hasn't reached King Phase. How can he wield this kind of power?The Blood Demon roared inside, bitter and baffled.He had been forced off a cliff in his youth by his enemies. But instead of dying, he survived the fall and stumbled into a cavern beneath a cliff, where he discovered the legacy of a peerless warrior, that of the Blood Demon Patriarch, from three centuries ago. He inherited his vicious cultivation technique.He had spent fifty long years training, tempering his body until it bordered on madness, sharpening his will against pain, and slaughtering countless lives to build his Bloodsea Prison. With that technique, he wiped out every last enemy, and rose to be the world-renowned assassin fearedeverywhere, the Blood Demon. During that same fifty years, riding on the strength of his Bloodsea Prison, he ambushed and slew a contemporary King Phase,devouring the man's flesh.andelcultivation took another leap, stepping into the Half-King realm. From then on, he believed that as long as a true King Phase didn't personally appear, no one under the heavens could challenge him. Now that he was in Astria, he was confident that raw power would be enough to crush Leander. Yet here he was, being crushed. Nothing turned out the way he thought things would.Leander's terrifying power had already surpassed anything he could comprehend.He simply couldn't imagine that anyone, aside from a King Phase, could completely overpower him."Jeff Ashcroft, you've forced me into this!"Even cornered, he didn't panic, which was expected of one of the deadliest assassins alive.With a sharp shout, he flung himself back, widening the distance between them. Bloodlight erupted from his eyes, shooting twin beams into the sky and striking the blood sea above.The moment the red beams touched it, the Bloodsea Prison convulsed. Then, as if yanked by an invisible chain, it collapsed inward, surging back into the Blood Demon's body.His entire form swelled. A solid, armor-like sheen of red coated his skin. A cold, oppressive aura spread across the mountaintop. Even the moon overhead dimmed, bathed in an eerie crimson glow."Jeff Ashcroft, I'll admit, forcing me this far is an achievement."My cultivation comes from the grandmaster, the Blood Demon Patriarch himself. Irefuse to believe I'll lose to you!"With a deafening roar, his hands folded together, palms pressing forward atLeander."Blood Fusion Technique, Bloodsea Prison!"