The three near-death experiences convinced Li Xi of the thirty-meter death radius. Nasser, with his thirty-meter control range, must have received some divine gift, a domain-like ability.
Two probes revealed Nasser's prowess. He had virtually no weaknesses at short, medium, or long range. His ability to control the blood within people's bodies within thirty meters was truly monstrous. Coupled with the incident where a vampire had drained a tenth of his blood in an instant from a wound, Li Xi knew Nasser would likely possess similar capabilities. He wouldn't assume his opponent was a weakling and would prepare for a fight to the death.
This made Li Xi realize that fighting a high-level vampire like Nasser, even a minor mistake could spell his doom.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu"
"Bang"
Hundreds of Dragon-blooded Li Xis appeared, charging Nasser from various directions. His peculiar thirty-meter ability made Li Xi deeply wary. To discover his weakness, he had no choice but to use shadow clones.
The hundreds of shadow clones formed a sphere around Nasser, and the ninjutsu in their hands fired rapidly. However, the power distributed to each shadow clone was pitifully weak, not even enough to tickle Nasser, causing no damage.
Nasser sneered. Such tactics were, to him, the pathetic struggles of an imbecile, the helpless barks of a cornered beast.
The shadow clones moved with astonishing speed, reaching the thirty-meter death boundary in the blink of an eye.
Without any surprise, all hundred shadow clones were obliterated like fireworks the moment they crossed the thirty-meter threshold.
Not a single one escaped. Not even if one clone had ventured an extra meter. They were all torn apart from within by their own blood.
The perfect egg-shaped defense rendered Li Xi's greatest taijutsu useless. But ninjutsu from outside thirty meters, to be honest, impacting a Level Seven expert like Nasser, was asking too much.
"I will place you somewhere and draw Nasser away. You can escape on your own."
Nasser's current strength far exceeded Li Xi's imagination. He had no confidence in facing such power, let alone slowing him down. As long as Nasser maintained this thirty-meter death radius, no amount of shadow clones could get close enough to impede him even for a moment, let alone with someone he had to protect.
Madame Avri clearly understood she was a liability. But looking at the boundless, roaring Wuyou Forest below, her rosy cheeks immediately turned as white as freshly painted walls. If she were dropped here, she would surely die. In her fear, she tightened her grip on the Dragon-blooded Li Xi, terrified he would cast her away.
"Lord Mourinho, if you drop me, I will die anyway. It's better to die with you. That way, neither of us will be alone."
Madame Avri's flushed face made Li Xi's mind wander to many other interpretations.
In his extreme tension, Li Xi forgot that Madame Avri was just a normal human. In the Wuyou Forest, where even mercenaries were reluctant to venture deep, her situation was indeed precarious.
No matter how peculiar her demeanor, it couldn't negate that she was a weakling of a woman. Since the beauty was willing to accompany him, Li Xi was not the kind of ascetic who would kill beautiful women to prove his devotion.
"Alright, rest assured, you are safe as long as I am unharmed."
Nasser had entered within a thousand-meter range. This distance was within his magical strike capability. If Li Xi continued to flee, he would only be passively beaten and slowly worn down.
Spotting a bald, rocky mountain in the distance, Li Xi flew towards it rapidly, preparing to fight Nasser to the death there.
"You stay here. Don't wander off."
Li Xi gently set down Madame Avri, who was clinging to him like an octopus, and then charged towards Nasser.
The three probes using shadow clones were not entirely in vain. At the very least, from the sensations experienced when the shadow clones died, he could tell that the blood control was significantly weaker when he used the initial three clones compared to the later hundred. This implied that not all individuals received the same level of damage; the stronger an opponent, the less control Nasser could exert.
The first three gates of the Eight Inner Gates were still open. Li Xi clasped his hands together.
"Expansion Jutsu"
Not opening it to its maximum four times, Li Xi currently activated it to two times. His body instantly grew to three point six meters, making him appear like a small giant facing Nasser.
"Your magic is peculiar, but its power is mediocre. Your body is your greatest close-combat asset." Nasser retracted his staff and drew a short sword. "I won't bully you. I'll defeat you with the close-combat ability you're most proud of."
"Heh, I've heard that vampires' words are as fickle as the weather. If I truly believed you, my blood would be filled with foolishness, and my mind would be mush." Li Xi directly exposed Nasser's pretense. Since they were both evil beings, where could their credibility lie? Prostitutes didn't build shrines. That was their way of doing things.
Nasser was unbothered by having his ulterior motives exposed. Age had its benefits; one could develop a thicker skin than a city wall. "Then you should be careful."
"Likewise."
The two, who moments before had been chatting warmly like old friends, now broke the sound barrier and engaged in a fierce battle.
Their speed was so incredible that only a blur of black and red figures could be seen intertwined in the sky, instantly converging and separating. The impact of their collisions generated shockwaves that detonated the air, causing the surrounding trees below to fall outwards in a radial pattern.
"Dragon-blooded, your strength has earned my recognition." Nasser, holding the advantage, was arrogant and defiant.
"You are like night and day compared to before. I spared your life back then, and I never expected you to be so valiant now. Have you received Dracula's favor, eaten some milky-white supplements, and regained your vigor?" Li Xi, though weaker, unleashed a torrent of venomous words without restraint.
'Boom'
Nasser, enraged, kicked Li Xi away.
Li Xi slammed into the bald, rocky mountain, sending rocks flying and creating a human-shaped crater in the mountainside.
"Are you alright, sir?" Madame Avri could only anxiously shout her concern from the sidelines. Powerless as she was, she couldn't even defeat a chicken.
Li Xi couldn't catch his breath and took two seconds to recover. Nasser pursued him. Upon seeing Madame Avri's unparalleled beauty, a lewd smile spread across his face.
"It's been a long time since I've seen such a beautiful woman. Wouldn't you like to share the joys of love with me?"
"A wicked person like you will surely be punished." Madame Avri's face turned ashen. She pulled a short sword from her spatial ring for self-defense. Honestly, even a child wielding such a weapon would be more lethal than Madame Avri.
"What pleasure I enjoy has nothing to do with you. The weak can only accept." The more Madame Avri resisted, the more excited Nasser became.
"Heh, I've heard that you vampires lack the ability for that. Otherwise, why would you expand your population by biting? Pitiful."
Li Xi flew out of the crater, his decapitating saber moving like a war chariot. Such an attack, Li Xi was sure, could cleave mountains, yet Nasser's short sword, with a slight parry, could block it. His strength had indeed increased by seven to eightfold.
Such power had already established a crushing advantage over Li Xi. And he had been fighting Li Xi for so long, completely toying with his emotions. The sight of a once-powerful warrior rendered helpless and in agony before him, unable to struggle, brought extreme pleasure to anyone with a twisted mind. The psychological thrill was even more intense than physical gratification.
Li Xi's speed was already incredible, yet he was constantly suppressed by Nasser, who treated him like a tennis ball, repeatedly smashing him against the mountain wall. The powerful impacts caused the mountain to tremble incessantly, sending countless stones tumbling down. Madame Avri, positioned at the mountaintop, was like a small boat on a stormy sea, swaying precariously, on the verge of capsizing.
Li Xi once again pulled himself out of the mountain's embrace and, with undiminished strength, charged at Nasser. This sustained combat ability and unflagging stamina surprised Nasser. He could play with Li Xi like this because of Dracula's power boost. What was Li Xi relying on? Even a body made of diamond should have been shattered by now.
"I have never seen such a peculiar life form as you. You are not like a Dragon-blooded; rather, you resemble a tireless steel construct puppet."
"Thank you for the compliment from all your vampire mothers." Li Xi had tried all his eighteen martial arts and finally, with resignation, realized that his verbal attacks were the most effective.
"I believe your mouth is the only thing still powerful. Trust me, I will silence you shortly."
Nasser gripped the decapitating saber, and with a slight flicker of his eyes, Li Xi immediately felt an invisible domain radiating from Nasser. Within this domain, Nasser seemed to control the blood of all life.
He had been so cautiously guarding against this move, and now Nasser finally unleashed it.
Similar to the shadow clones that had exploded, Li Xi instantly felt his blood become uncontrollable, surging throughout his body. The speed was so fast it seemed as if capillaries were trying to expand into arteries. His heart, which should have been pumping blood normally throughout his body, suddenly went haywire, accelerating its pumping rate as if the brakes had failed.
He didn't know how many blood vessels had ruptured in that instant, nor how many years of accumulated plaque had been dislodged.
Nasser's gaze shifted upwards, and Li Xi felt all his blood flow in reverse, like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate, surging towards his brain.
The smirk on Nasser's lips was sharp, as if admiring his handiwork. Li Xi, about to have his head explode like fireworks, was his most prized masterpiece. If he had a camera, Nasser would have paid a hefty price for it, waiting to capture the moment Li Xi's head burst open.
Li Xi's eyes turned blood red. Even Nasser, standing so close, was indistinct. Everything was shrouded in a bloody veil, as if the entire world had descended into an abyss of suffering. His heart pounded faster than a general's command, and his brain felt as though it were soaring into the heavens to ride alongside the sun.
Li Xi had been careless. He thought his formidable strength could withstand this move, but only by personally experiencing it did he realize its power. This was not something he could face with his current capabilities.
Blood raged wantonly within his veins, unrestrained. It disliked being confined to predetermined paths, but now, why shouldn't it break through wherever it pleased? Freedom and wildness were not just human pursuits; red blood cells also yearned for them.
Instantly, blood began to flow from every orifice in his body. As he clearly felt the sticky sensation of blood trickling down his skin, Li Xi's heart cried out, "Not good!" Nasser wielded the blood absorption techniques that vampires of Level Four or Five used with such ease, no more difficult than taking a deep breath.
"I'll do it."
Just as Nasser raised his hand, poised to deliver Li Xi's death sentence, at the critical moment, Matatabi's voice from within the sealed space reached Li Xi's mind. Simultaneously, a large surge of chakra poured from the sealed space into Li Xi's body, calming the runaway blood like stroking a kitten's fur in the face of such immense, Jonin-level chakra.
As if a volcano had erupted, or the torch of the Statue of Liberty had been ignited, a five-meter-tall blue flame exploded from Li Xi's body.