The moment Michael exposed their secret, the atmosphere changed.

The old man's expression twisted.

The woman's face became incomparably ugly.

Their attacks instantly became more violent.

It was as though Michael had struck a hidden nerve.

KRAAAAAABOOOOOM!!!

A massive serpent made of corrosive fire smashed toward Michael.

At the same time, hundreds of water blades descended from above.

Michael laughed and met them head-on.

The dark spear tore through the serpent.

His fist shattered dozens of water blades.

The battlefield immediately became chaotic.

Yet the more they fought, the more convinced Michael became.

He had guessed correctly.

Perhaps they could still be considered human since they were likely born in that form, but these two truly possessed monster blood.

Enough monster blood to affect their very existence.

KRAAAAAABOOOOOM!!!

The old man was forced backward again.

A trace of killing intent flashed through his eyes.

Then suddenly, his gaze met the woman's.

A silent exchange occurred.

The next moment, the surrounding void distorted.

A strange fluctuation spread outward.

Michael's expression immediately changed.

"No!"

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Michael's vision blurred.

The world around him twisted. Space folded repeatedly as a familiar sensation of transportation engulfed him.

Meanwhile, the old man and woman were equally shocked.

"What?!"

"He actually got pulled in?!"

Both of them looked genuinely stunned.

Their original intention had merely been to test him and try their domain.

A domain was expensive.

Even Legendary beings did not casually activate one.

It consumed significant amounts of energy.

Usually, when two Rank 4 beings fought, their domains would clash and cancel each other out. Very rarely would one side continuously attempt to use a domain against the other.

For a brief moment, the two simply stared.

Neither knew what to think.

Had Michael made a mistake and reacted too slowly?

Or was his domain somehow weaker than theirs?

They could not understand it.

Unfortunately for them, the answer was much simpler.

Michael was not a Rank 4.

The reason he had not been dragged into a domain during the opening exchanges was because one of his undead had secretly covered for him.

Whenever the other Legendary beings attempted to spread their domains earlier, one of Michael's powerful undead had subtly interfered and neutralized the pressure.

As a result, everyone naturally assumed Michael possessed a domain of his own.

If these two had activated their domain from the very beginning of the battle, his secret might have been exposed much earlier.

Fortunately, domain activation was not something Legendary beings used casually.

That single misconception had protected Michael until now.

Unfortunately, that protection had finally disappeared.

When Michael's vision stabilized, the first thing he noticed was that the surroundings had completely changed.

The endless darkness of the void was gone.

In its place stood a vast forest.

Ancient trees stretched thousands of meters into the sky. Their trunks were wider than mountains, while countless vines hung from the heavens like green rivers.

The air itself carried an oppressive vitality.

Everything here was alive.

The ground.

The trees.

The flowers.

Even the wind.

However, Michael immediately felt a powerful suppressive force descend upon his body.

He knew this was the suppression effect of a domain.

His movements became heavier. The mana around him became sluggish.

Even his Laws felt slightly restrained.

"So this is a domain…"

Michael narrowed his eyes.

This was the first time he had truly experienced one alone.

Within a domain, the owner became closer to the embodiment of their Law itself. The world favored them and weakened their enemies.

At the same time, Michael felt another discomfort.

Brutal Rebirth.

The strain from the skill was accumulating.

His body was already consuming life force continuously.

Without hesitation, Michael deactivated it.

The grey-black light vanished.

The miniature giant form rapidly shrank.

His muscles returned to normal size, while the terrifying pressure surrounding him weakened considerably.

His robes, however, had suffered greatly.

The violent battle had left them tattered in several places.

Ignoring the state of his appearance, Michael stored the dark spear away with a thought.

Then he calmly reached into his storage space once more.

A different item appeared in his hand.

It was a pipa with four strings.

At the same time, the old man and woman finally stopped hiding their true forms.

Their human forms exploded apart.

In place of the old man stood a gigantic beast.

It resembled a wolf.

Yet not entirely.

Its body was covered in dark scales rather than fur. Massive antlers grew from its head, while blue-black flames burned within its eye sockets.

In place of the woman emerged a gigantic creature.

A white deer.

At least, part of it was.

The creature possessed six eyes, crystal antlers, and scales covering portions of its body.

Neither of them looked remotely similar to serpents.

Yet Michael could still sense traces of the Black Serpent bloodline within both creatures.

Michael's eyes immediately brightened.

As expected.

His earlier suspicion had been correct.

For something like this to happen, the explanations were limited.

Either two different bloodline warriors had somehow produced offspring whose bloodlines fused and mutated.

Or the possibility Michael considered far more likely.

A bloodline warrior had mated with a monster.

The resulting offspring inherited both lineages.

Half human.

Half monster.

Monster kin.

It was probably why the two had hidden their forms as well.

Their very existence was likely a secret.

Perhaps one the Black Serpent Empire did not want widely known.

The wolf-like creature stared at Michael with murderous eyes.

Its voice echoed throughout the forest.

"You should have kept your mouth shut."

The six-eyed deer lowered its head.

The surrounding trees immediately began moving as they burst into flames.

Seeing this, Michael knew it was the old man's domain he had entered.

However, though he was facing stronger opponents, Michael felt more excited than afraid. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Without hesitation, he reached toward one of the strings of the pipa and plucked it.

*

A/N: Sorry for the late update dear readers!! Might sound like a silly excuse but not only did I sleep through my free time, real life issues caught up with me. I'm so sorry!!! Also thank you Daoist_Eshey for the massive support!!!