221-229

Chapter 221 - Blessing In Disguise?

For a while, Leon was blank. He could not think nor speak.

He couldn't draw any power from his cultivation base. Both awakening and divine cultivation were dead like still water, not adhering to his command.

It was like his cultivation was gone. The only thing stopping him from losing his mind was that he could still feel it.

However, what was the difference between having his cultivation and not having it, if he can't use his powers? He would be no different to regular mortals, an ordinary human.

If he had lost his cultivation, although he would be slightly devastated, he could just start from scratch. The problem is he still has his cultivation, but no access to it.

'Dammit, why do problems keep cropping up one after the other?'

Leon frowned. He thought he was supposed to have a lucky halo over his head from exterminate evil nobles and accumulate karmic virtues that bless him with good luck.

He found that in his weakened state, frowning was also a draining task. Leon weakly rubbed his temples and calmed his nerves.

"Got to stay calm… I should first investigate the state of my body first."

His wound was closed, leaving behind a single deep scar and his body was pale from the lack of blood.

Fortunately, he kept some Longevity Blood on him. Although it was meant to be used as gifts, these were desperate times. He would just find another opportunity to refine more or take some from the Treasury once he gets back.

"Although this 5-Year Longevity Blood is mainly used for minor lifespan replenishments and won't be able to replace the blood I lost, it will provide some nourishments for my body's recovery and aid the production of new blood."

"Do you usually talk to yourself? That's so lonely." A voice asked him suddenly before it burped afterward.

"Who?"

Leon became alerted and looked around. Nothing was out of the ordinary. He became doubtful when his gaze landed on the stone coffin.

'The voice didn't happen to be coming from the stone coffin, right?'

"I'm not the dead geezer in the coffin obviously, idiot. Have you ever seen the dead coming back to life?" The voice sounded slightly angry like it was insulting to be mistaken for the corpse within the stone coffin, even if the corpse belonged to a prestigious person of the past.

A little girl soon materialized in front of him. She had starry eyes and pearly skin with a twin ponytail. Her appearance was very adorable and overflowing with cuteness. Anyone would have the sudden urge to hug her once they laid eyes on her.

However, her starry eyes shone with wisdom that did not match her young appearance, making others stop and not treat her as a simple little girl

The girl's image was soon destroyed by her own behavior. She patted her round stomach boldly and unrestraint in satisfaction like she just had a big buffet.

"You are… the artifact spirit of the Divine Book of Life?"

"You may address me as Maya."

The little girl nodded with a sly smile while licking her lips. She seems to still be savoring the sweet aftertaste of a great meal.

"So, what do you think of this form? Don't you just want to commit a crime?" Maya said coyly.

Leon closed his eyes and began chanting like a Buddhist monk.

'The heart sees no evil; the heart sees no evil.'

He was not a lolicon.

Suddenly, he realized why his father never introduced the artifact spirit after the [Divine Book of Life] was exposed.

This artifact spirit's character was rather... peculiar. Despite having an age that most likely longer than his own family's entire ancestral lineage, it chooses to remain in the form of a child and tease him from the get-go!

His father introducing the artifact spirit would be the same as inviting misunderstandings that would hurt his prestige and image.

Although artifact spirits have slower intellectual growth than plants, Leon did not believe that after so many years, the artifact spirit of the divine book did not grow beyond its child form.

Artifact spirits can freely control their form once they reach a certain level of intelligence. Maya, for whatever sick reason, chose to remain in her child form.

After Leon calmed down, he chose to temporarily ignore the artifact spirit and perform self-introspection. He will deal with the artifact spirit later. He had more important matters to be concerned about.

Maya, however, did not seem bothered by his disregard and quietly studied him.

Within Leon glabella, his condensed pseudo-Grandmist energy was no longer present. It was replaced by a greyish core that rotated at a noticeably slower rate.

'Revolving Core Realm?'

Leon creased his brows. How on earth did he jump an entire large realm? No, that is not right. The density of energy in the core was not comparable to someone who had just entered the ranks of Revolving Core Realm experts.

Divine practitioners would usually fill their glabellas to the brim before making their breakthroughs to higher realms because energy is easier to control and collect in its lower state.

Although Energy Condensation Realm practitioners can enter the Revolving Core Realm at any time by compressing their energy into a core, doing so would just slow down their cultivation.

If he had really entered the Revolving Core Realm when he was still in the early-stage Energy Condensation Realm, his current strength would only be comparable to middle-stage Energy Condensation Realm.

But then again, none of that matters if he cannot draw any power from it. He didn't know what was going on, but neither his divine cultivation nor awakening cultivation was reacting to him.

'What about my elemental seeds?' Leon thought with a frown.

Entering the subconscious space of his soul core, Leon's body shook. His elemental seeds were all missing. They weren't orbiting his soul core as they should be. In fact, his soul core looks rather different.

'The elemental seeds are merging with my… soul core? This… where did this wood elemental seed come from?'

Leon attempted to analyze calmly, but he was shocked by the additional elemental seed that complete his five-element cycle.

'Was this change brought forth by the unknown changes of my body?'

From the outside, Leon had his brows furrowed deeply. As this was happening, Maya continued to study him intriguingly. She seems to be more aware of what was happening to him than he was as she was awake during the time he was unconscious.

Leon slowly opened his eyes with a pale face.

'Not good. Nothing's working.'

It feels like his cultivation had been sealed with a lock, but with no key to unlock. Did he have to destroy his cultivation and start over?

Leon became lost.

"Hey, hey, you look like a little kid that's about to cry after losing sight of your mommy," Maya said teasingly.

Glancing at the baby-faced artifact spirit, Leon responded with, "I don't want to hear that coming from you."

"You seem to be wondering what is going on with your cultivation. Good thing is, I know what happened. Bad thing is, I don't know why it happened.

Some color returned to Leon's face as he perked his ears and looked at Maya with rapt attention.

"Tell me," Leon said bluntly.

"Is this how you should be asking someone a favor?" The artifact spirit grumbled in dissatisfaction.

Leon began making a complicated face. He wanted to say since the divine book was bound to him, he was her master, but he did not say this.

This was an artifact spirit with an attitude. Perhaps, it had switched too many owners, thus no longer displaying the loyalty and devotion an artifact spirit would to its master.

Leon could imagine the artifact spirit exploding and saying something like, "You are not the master of me, I am the master of you!!!"

Thus, he had refrained from saying something that would displease it, lest it decides not to tell him what he wanted to know.

However, he could also not get himself to beg. That would be lowering his standing as the master. He did not want to look like a pushover.

Seeing Leon's expression, Maya didn't plan on making it difficult for him. She was only asking casually.

However, she still intended to observe him for a period of time and see if he was a worthy master. None of her previous owners had been able to use her to the full extent of her capability.

"Well, I don't know what kind of body you have, but it was like a black hole, swallowing up all the energy and vitality in the surrounding greedily. Right now, it's in the middle of a transformation process."

That is to say, he won't have access to his own cultivation until the transformation process is completed. But what sparked its initiation?

Did his body know how to gather its energy towards a central point and protect itself? If it did, wouldn't it have been better if it focused on stopping his bleeding?

Leon was puzzled by Maya's statement. His body couldn't possibly ingest all that energy, not to mention where did all that energy go if it did?

"My body did? You don't know anything about my Five Element Body?" Leon asked quizzically.

"I don't. The technique you are practicing seems to be more ancient than I am." Maya shook her head and answered.

"Well… never mind then."

Leon didn't fixate on the matter. Since the artifact spirit didn't know then it didn't know.

"But you said my body absorbed all the energy? How are you awake then? You seemed to have recovered enough not to fall back into a deep slumber, not to mention you once told me you needed a lot of energy." Leon looked at the artifact spirit quizzically with a strong gaze.

Under his strong gaze, Maya became awkward and started fidgeting guiltily with fingers and head lowered.

"Well… your body couldn't hold all that energy, so it began seeping into me and allowed me to wake up. Your body was still pretty swelled up and absorbing the excess energy helps me recover quicker… so I decided to help you out by taking some of that energy away too while I was it."

'Some, you say? More like everything, no?'

Leon's mouth twitched. His own energy didn't increase, only its state had changed.

"Wait, what about all the wood energy? Why didn't it heal my body?"

Chapter 222 - How Do You Want To Die?

"You can blame your soul core for that," Maya said grudgingly like she was still vexed over that matter. If Leon's soul core didn't snatch all of it, she, of course, would have been the first one to snatch all of it instead.

Wood energy had great affinity with life energy, and life energy was the most ideal form of energy for her recovery and functions.

Leon does not know it yet, but the [Divine Book of Life] has an in-built array called the Universal Life Conversion Array that allows the heavenly treasure to refine other forms of energy into life energy.

This was what allowed her to awaken for a brief period the first time. The problem was that true life energy would always be better than ones created from the Universal Life Conversion Array.

This is because the Universal Life Conversion Array requires an astronomical amount of energy for conversion, but it only returns a pitiful amount of life energy in return. Wood energy would allow for more life energy production no matter how small it still was.

Meat was still meat. Maya was not going to be picky, especially when it helps her recover faster. Alas, she, the great artifact spirit of the [Divine Book of Life] was bound to Leon's soul core.

From a visual point of view, she was residing within Leon's soul core. The excess energy absorbed his body would go through his soul core before it gets to her.

For her, this was like looking at a delicious cake on display behind a thin wall of glass. She could see it, but she cannot touch it. She can only watch as it gets gobbled up by someone else and fuels her frustration.

"My soul core did?"

Leon was surprised, although he shouldn't be. He had already seen the wood elemental seed merging with his soul core along with the other elemental seeds.

The wood energy of the withered plants should have been what formed his wood elemental seed. But for it to form on its own, it was like the time he was in deep meditation to form his earth elemental seed, except this time, he was unconscious.

He didn't know that something like this was still possible, but it happened.

Is this supposed to be his blessing after surviving a disaster? Leon didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Perhaps, among the withered plants, there were some amazing spirit herbs that could aid his cultivation greatly and the thousands of transcendent crystals could have been used to train thousands of experts to strengthen the Crawford Kingdom.

But there was no use crying over spilled milk. He now had to look for alternative ways to protect himself until the transformation process completes and he can access his powers granted by his cultivation base again.

'It seems I will be practicing body forging ahead of schedule…' Leon thought wryly.

Leon began looking around the darkroom for a specific item, the real Ravenous Black. After rummaging around the place for a short while, Leon found it within a white box buried underneath the pills of crystal fragments.

The Ravenous Black was identical to the one he had seen and used in the dreamscape.

Leon stared at the Ravenous Black in his hand for a while, before he suddenly said to his artifact spirit with a smile, "Say, Maya, do you happen to know any good body cultivation techniques?"

…

Outside the inheritance building, another three days had passed since Leon had entered the building.

During the first day, the group would still patiently wait for Leon.

They would climb down the elder tree and grab a few ant carcasses during mealtime, but due to the prince's absence, they had resort to primitive means to cook their food.

As for water, some chose to drink the herbal sap obtained from crushing the crimson leaves according to the treant's instructions, while some chose to wait it out.

During the second day since the prince's absence, the Lilith and the palace guards became impatient and anxious. They could no longer wait for the prince to leave the building on his own accord.

They began searching every nook and cranny of the inheritance building for alternative methods to enter.

The Dragon Phoenix Jade seemed to have lost its purpose and no longer powered the outer puzzle, or rather the puzzle itself had short-circuited and no longer draw power from the jade.

At the same time, someone else was even more anxious than them. As time flew by, Zorbek's bearing became more unnatural as his desire to escape grew stronger.

The palace guards had silently noticed his behavior and raised their vigilance.

The tough layer of earth above the elder tree had been removed, but it was only around 15-meter diameter in size. It was pin size in comparison to the elder tree at large.

The palace guard had slowed down their work at this point, despite the earth being easier to move. Zorbek could escape once the opportunity presents itself.

However, the palace guards did not grant him this opportunity.

Silently, they were hindering him from escaping, but openly, they were still pretending that nothing had happened and that he was still their captain.

Such hypocrisy enraged him. Since they suspected him, why keep up the facade? He was not like those people from the Illusory Butterfly Sect. He did not train in their art of disguise and was not good at completely masking his tumultuous emotions.

In truth, the palace guards' thoughts were simple. They wanted to keep the status quo and avoid a direct confrontation. None of them could guarantee that they will incur fatal losses if a battle breaks out between them.

The old treant seemed to have entered deep slumber while it was waiting for their prince.

They had to wait for their prince's return and rouse the old treant awake before they can proceed with Zorbek's capture.

No one had said it, but they had all silently sided with Lilith at this point.

By the third day, something finally happened. The inheritance building began to light up, causing the surrounding palace guards to exclaim in pleasant surprises.

A body of light had appeared in front of the seal entrance, before Leon's silhouette could be slowly seen stepping out. His face was still pale for various reasons, his body seemed to have slimmed down and looked especially fragile and sickly, but his eyes exuded confidence and strength.

The old treant also opened its eyes at this moment and looked at him.

"You're finally out, child. I don't know what's going on with the rest of these kiddos, but they've all been waiting for you." Elder Evergreen said with slight vexation.

Although the old treant had appeared nonchalant from their affairs and kept his eyes closed in waiting, it was because he could not understand anything.

Even if the palace guards proceeded to explain to him patiently, he still wouldn't understand no matter how many times they explain due to the language barrier between them. Only Leon would be able to explain what was going on to him.

"Your Highness! Thank goodness you are safe!" The palace guards stepped forward and greeted with relief, while Lilith also sighed with relief in the back.

Leon smile lightly. He proceeded to look around with cold eyes to see if the traitor was among their midst before his sight finally shifted upwards.

Zorbek seemed to have sensed the changes below and subconsciously glanced down from up top. His expression turned ugly drastically.

He was out of time! Even if he had to break through with brute force, he had to escape now!

Drawing his borrowed sword, he immediately made a mad dash into the upward tunnel they dug and slashed horizontally at one of the palace guard's neck within.

The palace guard seemed to have been prepared and immediately drew his own sword to block the blow. The force of their ex-captain's superior sword blow sent his body smashing into the tunneled walls with a loud clang of metal.

The palace guard groaned in pain, but otherwise, his life was intact. Ignoring the pain, he roared, "Do it now!"

The other palace guards 9 palace guards within tunnel looked at each other with tacit understanding and nodded like they had come to a prior agreement without Zorbek's knowledge.

The 9 palace guards poured their power together to manipulate the weaker layer of earth within the tunnel strike the unprepared Zorbek with a large wave of earthen soil like the rushing tide of a tsunami.

During this journey, the palace guards had all slowly risen to 3-4 stars, while Zorbek was still in the early 6 stars. His strength was stronger than the strongest person from their group of 9 by twofold, but the 9 of joined together, even Zorbek's authority over earth manipulation was not greater than their combined might.

He was unable to stop the earth wave with his strength alone. The earth wave struck him and flushed out of the tunnel like flushing waste down the toilet. He tumbled and smashed into seas of crimson leaves and tree branches on his way down.

He landed with a loud bang before the mountain of earth buried him. If not for the cushioning of his fall, he would have definitely broken a few bones, perhaps even death if he landed on his head.

The palace guards sighed with heavy emotions. If their captain had not betrayed them, they would have been court-martialed for their actions.

Zorbek crawled himself out of a pile of earth and coughed heavily, only to find himself not far from Leon's feet. Looking up, the prince's cold and merciless eyes stared back at him.

"How do you want to die?"

Chapter 223 - How Is That Possible?

"How do you want to die?"

These words spoken by Leon was the same as a death sentence for Zorbek. However, when it entered Zorbek's ears, he thought he heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.

Looking at the prince's stature, he was upright and unyielding, but it did not hide the paleness of his skin and noticeably thinner body.

Obviously, the prince did not have a good time while he was inside the inheritance building after taking his sword blow. He did not sense any cultivation from the prince and thought his poison was more devastating than he had anticipated.

Zorbek had smeared his sword with an odorless and colorless poison he had gotten from the Illusory Butterfly Sect before delivering his blow.

Because Leon's mind was separated from his body shortly after he had entered the inheritance building, he did not know this, but he was much closer to death than he had believed himself to be. While he was in the dreamscape, the poison was wreaking havoc all over his body.

Fortunately, he had a heaven-defying physique that gave him the fighting chance needed to survive the ordeal. All the current changes to his body was a result of the body protecting itself from the poison, otherwise, it would have healed itself from the sword wound more easily.

Even Leon was not fully aware of his own body's capability. If Leon had fully known what the Five Element Body was capable of, he would have also known he would not be left on the brink of death from a simple sword wound that did not strike any of his major arteries and vitals.

However, there was no what if. He had chosen to practice a technique that nobody has been able to practice. He had little information and no one to consult, not even his archaic artifact spirit. He could only rely on himself in discovering all the secrets that lie in his incomplete technique.

A greater mystery was surrounding the origins of the [Hegemon of Primal Chaos] technique.

By the time he had returned to his body, the poison was already resolved.

Zorbek picked himself off the ground and stared at Leon fearlessly before bursting into loud laughter.

"I bet that poison didn't feel good, huh!? You already lost your cultivation, yet you still dare come this close and put up a strong front with me?! I don't know whether you are brave or a fool, but thank you for the opportunity!"

The desire to escape and live could be seen in Zorbek's eyes as it flashed with a dangerous light. The surrounding palace guards all had changes in expression as they heard Zorbek's words.

That was true! They could not feel the prince's cultivation!

But even if the prince's cultivation was still present, the prince was still not Zorbek's match! What the hell were they thinking!?

"Be careful, Your Highness!"

The palace guards all cried out in alarm as they rushed forward, but it was too late. Zorbek had disappeared from his spot and grasped Leon's neck from behind with one hand and swerved them both around to face against the others.

"Stay back! Or else I can't guarantee that your prince's body would remain intact!" Zorbek threatened with a sword pointed at Leon's head with the other hand.

Madness could be seen spewing from his eyes. He would kill their prince if they don't let him escape and push him.

"Shit!!!"

The palace guards all halted their steps cautiously, and Lilith also began showing a worried look. Although she never expressed it, she was indebted to Leon.

She had helped him out once, but it wasn't much compared to how much he helped her. She did not want to see anything happen to Leon, not to mention she needed him if she wanted to leave the Human Domain and return to her clan.

"What do you want, Zorbek!? What must we do for you to let his Highness go?" A palace guard said. Anything was open for negotiating so long as they can keep their prince alive and out of harm's way. If the prince dies, they all die.

Zorbek looked at the palace guard scornfully and mockingly said, "Yo~ You used to call me captain so respectfully, but now you call me by name."

"Respect? Do you deserve our respect!? We used to look up to you, yet you betrayed our trust and turned back on us! And on the kingdom!!! Have you no honor?! What happened to the oath we've all sworn to serve and protect!!!"

Another palace guard interjected agitatedly. He was much closer to their ex-captain as he had joined the palace guards around the same time as Zorbek. However, Zorbek was more talented than him and was able to join the honorable rank of captain of the palace guards.

Zorbek looked at this palace guard, whom he could consider an 'old friend' and sighed sentimentally. He may have chosen a different path, but he was still a human being, filled with emotions.

"The Illusory Butterfly Sect is much more powerful than you can imagine, and their forces runs very deep in this country. This country has no more future. It's not too late for you to join me, Thiago." Zorbek offered sincerely.

Thiago shook his head. He looked Zorbek in the eyes and said seriously, "Sworn to valor and have virtue in our hearts. I would rather die proudly on my feet than live my life ashamed."

Zorbek was disappointed in Thiago's answer, but he soon chuckled coldly. "The hell's that? The chivalric code of Knights? Have you ever wondered why other kingdoms have knights, while ours don't? It's because our kingdom is a kingdom without honor to begin with!"

"Everyone worships the Hero King and hailed him a hero of all times, but how many know of the heinous crimes he committed? The unaccountable amount of royal blood on his hands, that Kingslayer?"

Everyone all had changes in expression. Some were angry and some were curious to understand what he meant, but Zorbek did not wait to be refuted as he continued, "Can't accept what I said the past king? Fine. Let's talk about the current royalties of our kingdom. How many lives had already been lost in the past decade and a half? Who should be responsible for these lives lost? The murderers? Definitely. But who is the biggest murderer? It's the royal family of course! Their neglect and incompetence kingdom management is what indirectly killed all the people who have died in the last 17 years! Do such incompetent rulers even deserve your loyalty and service!? Who can bring my wife and daughter back to life?!"

Zorbek's eyes glowed red and warm tears flowed down from his face. He had kept it in for far too long and burst, spewing about how tragic his wife and daughter's death were.

His wife and daughter were commoners who were both victims of the chaos in the capital and he had wallowed in despair after learning of their deaths. The people of the Illusory Butterfly Sect reached out to him shortly after.

Under their eloquent speech, instead of hating the man that was responsible for their deaths, he hated the royal family that allowed for it to happen!

Lilith creased her brows together and looked at him like she was looking at an idiot.

"The person… that killed your wife and daughter… did you ever find out who? Or did those people find out for you?" Lilith asked with a sneer.

"Of course, it was—"

Zorbek was about to answer when he suddenly froze with a pale face. The Illusory Butterfly Sect people were the people that found the murderer for him, but could they be trusted? Definitely not. They could have sowed the chaos and find a scapegoat just to get him on their side to do their bidding…

Zorbek almost turned insane that thought that he might have been helping his wife and daughter's real murderer all these years.

'I have to avenge them!'

Zorbek was already committed. He had to live and join their sect! Join their sect so he can tear it from inside out with his own hands!

Sip…

The sound of sipping tea was heard at this moment as everyone's attention was slowly drawn to the old treant.

Elder Evergreen had pulled out Leon's teapot at a time unbeknownst to them and begun enjoying himself, a cup of tea without any concern.

"What the hell… how can you be drinking tea calmly at a time like this?" A palace guard grudgingly said.

Elder Evergreen turned to look at the palace guard. He didn't understand, but he could kind of guess. He shrugged his shoulders and nonchalantly said, "Your prince is not even fazed, so why should I be concerned?"

Zorbek became alarmed as he remembered that this old treant had already awoken. He faced the old treant vigilantly while dragging Leon's body in front before shaking. "Answer me! What hell did that treant just say!? You better not be asking it do anything funny, or I'll…"

Zorbek slowed his words to a complete stop as Leon's quiet snoring could be heard by everyone.

Zzz…

However, being shaken so violently, it was like an imaginary sleep bubble on Leon had popped, rousing him awake shortly after.

"Huh? Is it over? Sorry, the story was so boring, I couldn't help but fall asleep."

One could not blame Leon for this. He had been through a lot and hadn't had any sleep in the past three days as he was training wholeheartedly.

Besides, he didn't really care what others thought of the Hero King. He had already learned that the history of the founding of Crawford Kingdom might not be as beautiful as it appeared to be and didn't give a rat ass for this supposed 'ancestor' of his.

After saying his piece, Leon yawned right after.

As for what happened after, he didn't know. He had already fallen asleep by then. However, Zorbek viewed it as Leon's blatant disregard for his wife and daughter.

"Y-You bastard!"

Zorbek was enraged and lost his rationality. He just wants to flay Leon's skin alive! His sword was swung horizontally at Leon with full force!

"Your Highness!"

"Leon!"

Lilith and everyone paled in alarm. Leon did not seem to have any intention of dodging as he yawned again with his right hand over his mouth.

Just as everyone was about to see a gory scene of Leon's right arm along with his head cleaved away from his body, their eyes widened in the next moment.

CLANG!!

The sword stopped at Leon's skin and went no further. Underneath the skin of his right arm, blue runes began to shine brightly.

Zorbek's eyes widened unbelievably at Leon like he had just seen a ghost. No human could possibly stop a blade with the flesh.

"How is that… possible? W-What kind of monster are you?"

Chapter 224 - I Don't Know!

The runes that shone brightly on Leon's arm looked like a single and simple symbol, but if one truly thought it was as simple as it appears to be, they couldn't be more wrong.

Under the veil of light, they would find that the seemingly simple runic symbol was in fact, made up of hundreds of tiny runic lines and runic circles linked together neatly.

The introduction to runes is actually quite straightforward and simple, but as one progresses through to higher levels, the structure of runes grows increasingly complex.

However, Arden was able to return complexity back to simplicity, but not in the literal sense, obviously. That would be degrading the runes.

What is meant by returning complexity to simplicity is organizing. For example, picture runes as the rooms of any common household. It can be messy, or it can be neat. Whether it is messy or neat, the room will still be a room.

The difference is finding the items within the said room. One can spend minutes to hours searching a messy room for a single pen, yet only take a few seconds to pull out a drawer and find it there within a neat room.

This is the height of Arden's runic attainment that Leon had inherited. Under his own systematic runic structuring, the same rune can be 50% more effective.

…

While looking at the shocked expressions registered on the surrounding palace guards in addition to Zorbek's own horrified look, Leon thought it was to be expected.

Even he was surprised by the height his body's defense had reached, despite being the one coming up with the training plan that allowed it to happen.

The artifact spirit had given him a body cultivation technique called [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard], a defensive technique that focuses on refining the body to become hard as the Black Turtle, one of the divine beast of the four directions.

The first stage of [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard] is the skin refining stage. Reaching initial success will allow him to have a body comparable to one-star materials.

This means that one-star ranked awakeners with the physical strength of 1800-jin would not be able to break his body's defense with ordinary swords.

Naturally, three days was not enough time for him to reach initial success with his whole body, but if it was just his right arm, it was more than enough with time to spare.

In addition to raising his right arm to initial success in the technique, he had completed a defense rune for his right arm as well.

When Body Rune and Black Turtle Heavenly Guard were coupled together, the defensive effects stacked and worked wonders, raising the defensive attributes of his right arm all the way to 9 stars.

Furthermore, with such a strong right arm, he no longer had to worry about the repercussions of using the subsequent levels of [9 Echo Oscillating Fist].

Without being able to circulate the energy of his divine cultivation, he would normally not be able to retain his physical strength of 1800-jin, but he was also a one-star ranked awakener.

Although his elemental powers couldn't be used, his physical strength was still there. This was the difference between divine practitioners that practice the energy cultivations system and awakeners. Energy was needed to boost their body attributes.

Awakeners didn't have this problem, and neither did offensive-type body cultivators.

There are also more balanced techniques among the body cultivation system that grants both even strength and defense, but Leon did not choose this path. Leon felt he had adequate speed and attacking means, and was only lacking in defense.

His sealed cultivation made him feel vulnerable, but not only did not grow weaker, but he had also grown stronger instead.

Once he creates more Body Runes and refines the rest of his body, he would be invincible under the Transcendent Realm.

Leon eyed Zorbek calmly, despite the latter's sword being so near to his neck. His strong right arm was like an impenetrable shield, block anything and everything from harm's way.

His lips began to curve upwards into a provocative but cold smile. He was still waiting for an answer.

Zorbek recovered from his shock quickly. His expression darkened immediately and roared, "Don't get cocky just because you manage to block a blow of mine, bastard!"

"Let's see how many you'll be able to block!"

Zorbek retracted his borrowed sword before slashing at Leon furiously. The sword blurred and many found it hard to follow, but it was no problem for Leon with his sharp eyes.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Each time Leon blocked a blow, the rune on his right arm would shine with blue light upon impact. This blue light did not come from true spirit energy.

After the fall of the Nova Empire, Arden had revised and created an improved version of the artificial spirit energy that appeared in red light.

The purple light emitted by the Dragon Phoenix Jade was its improved version. It no longer had the harmful properties hidden within it, but even so, it was still not true spirit energy. Ravenous Black also utilizes this improved version.

The color had turn blue due to Leon mixing it into his bloodstream as part of the process of creating Body Runes. The process is also excruciatingly painful when the blood rejects the energy.

Each time Zorbek's blow was blocked, it was like blow to his confidence as his courage begins to waver and replaced with fear. But even then, his will to live prevented him from giving up.

The palace guard's tensed bodies relaxed when they saw how at ease their prince was at blocking the blows. Their prince had the situation under control.

Zorbek felt like his common sense had been flipped upside down. In fact, it was the same for the palace guards as well. All, except Lilith.

However, her mouth still formed an 'O' shape in surprise. Beasts had superior physiques, but their flesh still takes damage, no matter how little. Leon's defense was on a whole new level.

"This is impossible! You, you are not human! You cannot possibly be the prince! My sword was coating with a special poison. Even if the prince is a divine doctor, he could not have come up with a cure to save himself in such a short time! Who are you exactly?!"

Zorbek roared in denial and incited doubt.

The palace guards became startled when they heard this, but Leon did not seem to notice their doubt. Even if he did, he would not care. He was the one and only him. Why would he need to prove his identity?

Leon's expression was grim.

"So, you are the reason my cultivation is like this. Since you did not choose how you want to die, I will choose for you!"

Zorbek's face fell as Leon closed the small gap between them and gripped onto his sword arm before he could retract it. He was quick, but Leon was quicker.

"What do you want to—"

He became terrified by the brutal light in Leon's eyes. It seemed abnormally vicious and cruel.

RIP!

"AHHHH!"

Leon tore his sword arm from his body and the pain assaulted him like a clap of thunder, but that was not the end of it.

RIP! RIP! RIP!

Leon tore apart each of Zorbek's limbs consecutively with ease and unobstructed. Even without his metal manipulation, the armor on Zorbek's body was just like decorations. It didn't stop him from being pulled apart as the joints were weak.

Without his limbs to support him, Zorbek's body plopped onto the ground as his helmet fell off his head and rolled some distance away. His face paled at the state his body had become. He had been crippled. Even if he lived, he would be useless.

If nothing were done, he would slowly bleed to death. But even if he wanted to save himself, he no longer had the ability to without his limbs.

"Just kill me," Zorbek said.

He was still hopeful when he had his limbs intact, but without them, his hope crushed more swiftly than the snap of a finger as he fell into a chasm of despair. He began to regret his choices, but there was no medicine for regret.

"I gave you the chance to choose a quick death. Now, how you die is for me to decide. If you still want a swift death, that will depend on how cooperative you are." Leon stated expressionlessly, before proceeding to ask, "How many spies are there in the kingdom? How many had defected?"

"I don't know." Zorbek shook his head weakly.

Leon picked up the sword on the ground and jabbed it into Zorbek's limbless wound before giving it a twist.

While Zorbek screamed in pain, Leon expressionlessly asked again, "How many?"

"I don't know, dammit!"

Leon hacked away one of his eyes and jabbed a different wound, giving it a more vicious twist to inflict greater pain.

"How many?"

The same expressionlessly question rang again in Zorbek's ears as he looked at Leon with half his vision left. Despair and helplessness could be seen in his single eye. He could no longer take the torment and broke down.

"I really don't know! Only the messenger would know, but don't ask me who because don't know who the messenger is. They conceal their identity and only contact me when they have a task or needed information from me."

With tears in his eye, Zorbek explained. He could choose to detonate his own earthseed and end it all, but somewhere deep down, he was still unwilling to.

How much did it take to force a grown man to cry? The palace guards could see that their prince had pushed their ex-captain to the end of his rope.

No one spoke up for Zorbek, but everyone felt heavy-hearted, and at the same time, a chill in their hearts at the prince's cruelty and extreme means.

The queen was frightening, but the prince was even more so. They were truly a pair of mother and son.

"It seems you really don't know."

Zorbek wanted to cry harder when he heard this. That's what he had been fucking saying!

Leon strolled forward and prepared to put Zorbek out of his misery.

With his impending doom drawing nearer, Zorbek had one last wish he wanted to convey before his inevitable departure from the world.

"Before I go, I sincerely hope that you can avenge my wife and daughter in my stead by killing all the people from—"

Zorbek did not get to finish his words before his head was splattered mercilessly with a single hard stomp from Leon.

Everything finally ended. Lilith strolled forward and asked concernedly, "Are you alright? This person was probably used by your enemy, but he should not have had to suffer through all this. Also, this does not seem like something you would usually do…"

"And how will you know what I would do and not do? Do you know me? Are we close?" Leon responded with a hard gaze.

"I…" Tears began to well up in her eyes. Lilith did not expect just a heartless response.

Realizing he had misspoken, he chose to soften up a bit.

"Sorry."

With his back facing her, Leon continued to explain, "A traitor is a traitor, regardless of their reasons. I especially loathe traitors and will continue to condemn every last one of them I see."

It was unknown whether his words were meant for Lilith alone, or for the palace guards around them to hear also.

Lilith looked at Leon's back with a complicated gaze. Had he been betrayed before? What kind of betrayal would cause a person to loathe traitors to the point of turning evil?

Chapter 225 - Encounter

After a while, Leon seemed to have returned to his normal self and apologized to everyone and offered the palace guards some praise. They had done well in his absence.

Afterward, he turned his attention to Elder Evergreen and flashed him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, you had to see something unsightly."

"No matter. On the contrary, I got to see something interesting." Elder Evergreen waved it off with a simple hand gesture.

In some ways, Elder Evergreen felt the boy was similar to him, except he wasn't as extreme. Perhaps, it was the hot-bloodedness of youths that caused such extremity.

However, he also followed the principle that a drop of water should be returned with a gushing spring, and blood debts must be repaid a hundredfold.

Leon smiled wryly while scratching his sideburns. "Something interesting, huh? I suppose to don't usually see such human gore often down here."

"Not that." Elder Evergreen shook his head and corrected him. "I'm talking about your right arm. It's unbelievable how powerful the human flesh can be."

Leon smiled wryly. As he continues to advance his mastery over the [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard] technique, it would only continue to grow stronger. He cannot imagine how they would react then.

"However, it seems like it is only limited to your right arm, right? The rest of your body doesn't seem to be as powerful." Elder Evergreen added.

"For now."

Leon nodded before Lilith attracted his attention when his right was suddenly lifted. She did not dwell on the previous matter and resumed focus on his right arm like she wanted to understand the secret behind its power.

"What are you doing?" Leon asked.

"Hm? Ahem, I was just wondering how your right arm is so powerful." Lilith responded with curiosity. After all, the beasts were known for their powerful bodies, but hers wasn't as powerful as Leon's right arm even though she was training in a body cultivation method.

Realizing something, Leon looked around. The palace guards all had their attention on him. They had not gotten over their initial shock of the scene of him blocking a sword with his arm. It was like the headless corpse on the ground did not exist.

"It seems you are also all curious how I got my right arm to be so powerful," Leon said to the palace guards as they all nodded like pecking ducks.

"Yes, Your Highness, we are all very curious!"

"Are you going to share your secret?"

"Yeah, I'm also lopsided, but I don't think—"

Everyone responded with anticipation, hoping to find out more, but the last line immediately made Leon's face turn black.

Although the palace guard had immediately kept mum, he had said enough for all the men to understand what he was intending to say.

There was a trend that says that if a man was lopsided then it meant that he…

"I'm suddenly not interested in sharing. Alright, get back to work all of you. I'm sure we all have families who are anxious to find out how we are doing. The sooner we return to the surface, the sooner you all can reunite with them and let them know." Leon said before he left with Lilith and Elder Evergreen.

The palace guards all nodded heavily at his words, but after their prince was gone, they all began cursing the one that mentioned 'lopsided' while throwing kicks and punches at him.

"Look at what you did, you bastard!"

Pow! Pow! Pow!

"I didn't mean it that way…" The palace guard wanted to cry. He had called upon an unexpected disaster for himself. Is this what it meant by loose lips sinks ships?

"Then what did you mean exactly?!"

Pow! Pow!

The palace guards were still angry and continued their barrage.

"Bastard, even if you fap until you are dry, your arm still wouldn't be as strong as the prince's arm!"

Right after that line was said, the palace guard that said it, realized how misleading it was and panicked.

"I mean…"

He wanted to correct himself, but it was too late.

Leon and the other two with him in the distance still managed to hear it. His face darkened even further and quickened his steps while thinking, 'The hell's that supposed to mean?! That they couldn't fap as much as him!? Dammit, this is one big misunderstanding!'

He didn't want to stick around, lest he continues to become the butt of their jokes. If he tried to explain, he would only appear guilty.

At the same time, he made a mental note to quickly refine the rest of his body to the initial success stage.

He did not want to be seen as 'lopsided'. It would only invite misunderstands if word spread within the Royal Palace. Those maids did not seem to like him already. He did not want his image to suffer any more blows.

"What does fap mean?" Lilith asked innocently as she faced Leon.

Leon felt his lips twitched as he became depressed.

"Haha…" Elder Evergreen began to chuckle. Clearly, the Old Treant was amused by what was going on.

Lilith was surprised to hear the Old Treant's raspy laugh. Did she say something funny? She looked at Leon quizzically.

"It's… when you play with yourself…"

Leon tried to explain as vaguely as possible. At the same time, he eyed the elder with a warning look. Elder Evergreen stifled his laughter in response, but he still drew Lilith's suspicion.

Playing by yourself doesn't sound all that fun. What's so funny about it?"

"It's not fun, not fun at all… Don't dwell on it. Let's head back to the elder's dwelling. There's something I want to talk about."

Leon shifted the topic.

Seeing Leon was unwilling to explain, Lilith reluctantly nodded.

The palace guard that got pummeled black and blue only suffered superficial wounds after his armor was stripped and beaten.

The other palace guards were not actually serious in trying to harm him. They had all been feeling tensed the past few days and needed something to vent on. He just happened to be that something.

If the pummeled palace guard knew the real reason he was beaten, he would have cried injustice.

…

With the tension between kingdoms at the eastern borders and the unknown beast situation at the western frontier, manpower had been tight.

As such, the general marquis had begun to make use of the enlisted students. It was unreasonable to through them on the frontline when they had yet to complete their military training, thus he had placed them in charge of logistics, carrying the necessary supplies between the western frontier and eastern borders.

Along the east main road, just west of Azure Verdant Plains, this particular stretch of road was currently being passed by a fleet of military trucks with the loaded supplies.

There were about 200 student soldiers within this entourage with a few veteran soldiers guiding them. Among the 200 students, some were from Crawford University.

Benjamin Farley has had a very miserable experience while he was in the training camp. Due to his relatively 'thicker' physique, he had always been dead last in physical training and assessments.

It made him depressed when the more privileged young nobles and misses were allowed to be exempt from military service after their parents pulled some strings to get them out, while he was still stuck here along with the other students from a common background.

To make matters worse, his instructor would pick on him by making him do extra training as punishment for always ending up in the last place. This is to motivate him to work harder but it is nothing short of hell.

When he is stressed, he would eat and when training is the source of his stress, the harder he trains, the more he would eat. It was a vicious cycle.

But while he was practicing the breathing technique granted to everyone under this vicious cycle, his body had undergone a strange transformation. He had grown fatter, but he was also much stronger, physically.

When he tenses his muscles, all his fat would contract and transform into a well-toned body with defining lines.

As a result of this change, he had steadily improved from dead last to be the forerunner of his group.

At this moment, he was driving the leading military truck, while Commander Eugene sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed.

The road ahead was flat and smooth, but the truck suddenly took a dip and stalled, unable to move forward. Eugene's eyes snapped open due to the sudden bump.

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure. I seemed to have run over a big pothole?" Benjamin said with doubt. He did not see any big pothole.

Commander Eugene was about to call another student on the back of the truck to hop off and check when the truck suddenly sunk deeper into the ground.

When the leading truck had stopped, the following trucks also stopped not far behind it. The added pressure placed the weak ground on the verge of collapse.

"Stop!"

Commander Eugene reacted quickly and roared to the back with his head out from the side window. The driver and passenger in the second still truck glanced at each other dumbly.

'But we've already stopped?'

"Move back!"

Eugene continued to issue his orders.

The road was weak. They had to take a little detour off the road around it.

Unfortunately, when Eugene gave the order for the rest to follow the second truck around while they free the first truck from the ditch, something bad happened.

The ground next to the main road was even weaker!

When the second truck drove over that area, not only did the entire ground collapse, the truck fell through the hollow ground underneath.

At the same time, there were sounds of startled cries and surprises underneath.

"Ahh!"

"What the fuck!"

"What is that?!"

"It's a fucking truck!"

Chapter 226 - Information Exchange

Commander Eugene felt his face burning when the second truck fell through the earth. With how regular the main road was used to travel between regions, he did not think too much about the unstable ground.

He thought that the ground had just grown weak due to poor weather, but who knew that there was a large patch of hollow earth underneath?

Why would the earth suddenly be hollow while they were carrying important war supplies to the eastern camp? Were they being targeted?

"Enemy attack!" Eugene roared.

The startled cries and surprises must be a distraction. Yes, that must be the case!

Everyone reacted quickly when the two words were uttered. They all whipped out their military-issued firearm, including the young recruits from the second truck that fell.

Despite falling into empty space, the second truck did not roll down the slope of the underground tunnel. The second truck had been stopped by 6 palace guards with their bodies.

They had just back to the end of the tunnel to resume tunneling their way to the surface when the truck came out of nowhere!

They never realized how close they had been to the surface. None of them had the time to check after the chunk of the earth was removed to flush their ex-captain out of the tunnel.

After their initial shock and surprises, they became very emotional when they were struck by the first ray of light.

"It's the surface… we finally made it back to the surface!"

"Oh, how I miss the sunlight!"

It was like they had been subterranean world for years and finally made it back. However, their emotional celebration did not last long when they found several guns taking aim at them.

"Huh?"

"Who the hell are you guys?"

The palace guards interrogated squinted. A strong aura emanated from their body as they said so. At their level with full plated armor, they did not fear firearms, especially when it was held by younglings. It was like what was being pointed at them were not firearms but toys.

How could these young recruits hope to bear the weight of the palace guard's pressure? They were at the Body Tempering Realm 2nd layer at best, while the strongest awakened one was only at the 3rd step.

They all immediately keeled to the pressure with pale faces. Commander Eugene arrived shortly after and wore a heavy look with squinted eyes as well.

It was an oddly amusing yet strange scene of both sides squinting at each other.

Some earth around the perimeters of the hole crumbled and more light shone inside the tunnel. The palace guards were still adjusting to the brightness of daylight, while Eugene and the young recruits were squinting due to the reflective light that shone into their eyes from the palace guard's armor.

Both sides were caught in a standoff with vigilance, but no abrupt movements were made. This scene continued for several breaths before the palace guards were able to make out the outline of the young recruit's military uniform.

"You guys are all from the army?" One of them asked.

"And you are?"

…

With the old treant's dwelling, Lilith sat adjacent to Leon and Elder Evergreen while cluelessly and awkwardly listening to them. At the same time, she was jealous of his proficiency in the ancient language.

Leon said he had something to talk about but what was the point of her being here if she wasn't part of the conversation? She could only wait until his attention is turned to her.

"Elder Evergreen, for this alliance to work, communication is of utmost importance. If our two sides cannot communicate, trust cannot be established, and it will be extremely difficult to work together. That being said, I wonder if your people are willing to learn our Gaian language?" Leon stated calmly.

"Naturally, whether you agree or not, I will still have my side educated in the ancient language for the basis of communication between our two sides. Although, I do believe learning the Gaian language will be useful for you once you returned to the surface." He continued.

He did not need to speak further to get his message across. The Gaian language was the native tongue of the entire Human Domain of the present era.

Unless the treants don't intend to interact with the rest of the world and confine themselves to their small village, it was in their best favor to learn the language.

On the other hand, Leon's intention to spread the knowledge of the ancient language had its own advantages. There were many relics scattered across the world that contained knowledge that they could learn from.

Not only that, but Leon had also discovered that the ancient language was actually derived from the runic language. After receiving the inheritance, he could see the signs that the ancient language originated from runes.

Having his people learn the ancient language will help them build the foundation for a swifter understanding of the runic language.

"Haha, willing, of course, we are willing to learn and integrate with the rest of the world. Judging by your confident manner of speaking, you already found a method to revert us back to our old selves, child." Elder Evergreen laughed lightheartedly. He did not ask about the inheritance. That was Leon's fortune.

Leon nodded and said, "I've had a look into the problem and if I'm not wrong, what you and your people are experiencing is a variant type of petrification disease. It's an extremely rare disease but not untreatable in the first stage. However, I will need to diagnosis your body to be completely sure."

"Alright." Elder Evergreen smiled lightly and asked, "What do I need to do?"

"You don't need to do anything. Just don't resist." Leon stated.

Receiving the old treant's affirmation, Leon sent out his divine sense to inspect the old treant's body in detail. The situation was as described in the Archive, albeit with some minor differences.

The petrification disease only occurs to organic lifeforms into places of purely wood and earth elements, but even then, it was extremely rare. As for how the entire treant's village got infected by the disease, Leon attributes it to the impure energy spilling from the power source.

The flawed conversion method to create artificial spirit energy didn't just take the positive properties of the sun's limitless solar energy, but also its negative property, one of which causes the sporadic growth of cancerous cells.

This was what sped up the process and allowed petrification to occur in their current environment.

After Leon was done with his inspection, the old treant's curiosity peaked. The diagnosis was quick and mysterious. He would have thought nothing happened at all if not for the faint illusion of another pair of eyes staring at him.

"You mention this disease is treatable in the first stage, but what is the second stage? Why is it only treatable in the first stage?" Elder Evergreen asked curiously.

"Well, how should I put it? The first stage is just the partial petrification stage. While you look like a plant outwardly, you are still human at your core. Treating it will just be like removing dead skin to allowing new ones to grow."

"It's just that these 'dead skin' belongs to the elder tree, which technically makes you all a part of the elder tree like its leaves, hence why you can't leave it. A leaf that left its branch does not live long."

"As for the second stage, it is also the last stage of petrification. In this stage, the whole body will become petrified wood. Even if I am considered a divine doctor, forget about bringing stones to life, I can't possibly revive a dead wood, right?"

"However, there are some complications if you are to go through with the treatment procedure," Leon mentioned after his explanation.

Elder Evergreen looked at him quietly, waiting for him to continue explaining the consequences.

Understanding the old treant's silent gesture, Leon continued. "You will all lose your long lifespan and only be able to live for a few more years."

When this was said, Elder Evergreen did not seem surprised. Such a scenario was to be expected, but it was inconsequential to being human again. He opened his mouth and said, "A few years is enough as long as my people can reproduce again and not have the Nova descendants end in our generation."

"Very well. We can begin after I make my preparations."

Leon nodded. Truthfully, he had not explained everything.

Although the symptoms and treatment were recorded in the Archive, there was one thing that even the Archive did not have a solution for.

The crystallized spirit on each of the treant's forehead could not be removed. Removing it would kill the treants regardless.

He also did not know what problems may arise in the future as a result of leaving it be. Only time will tell.

Nevertheless, it was no longer his concern as long as he fulfills the treant's wishes and brought them to his side.

After Leon finished his talk with Elder Evergreen, he finally turned to Lilith.

"As you know, I represented my kingdom to establish an alliance with Elder Evergreen's village. I wonder if we can establish an alliance between us too."

Lilith was surprised before she shook her head.

Whether it was her status in the Skysilver Tribe or the Blackwing Tribe that her Desolate Crow Clan ruled, the tribal chief was the ultimate decisionmaker.

Whatever agreement she makes to Leon would just be empty words unless she first consults her father, the chief of Blackwing Tribe, and gets his approval. However, she wasn't really willing to return.

In fact, the alliance between the treant's village and the Crawford Kingdom was not Leon's decision to make either. He should be consulting his parents as they were the real rulers.

However, he doubted that they would reject an alliance that would benefit them in their current precarious situation with the two sects eyeing their kingdom. As such, he had taken action first and only report after he returns.

"I can't make that decision. You have to bring that proposal to the tribal chief." Lilith stated.

"What if it's not an alliance between your tribe and my kingdom but just between us?" Leon asked.

Lilith paused in thought.

"That is possible, but what is the point? Isn't it better to just be friends?"

"Then as friends, shouldn't we be more open with each other?" Leon said with a cunning smile.

Lilith put on a difficult expression and knitted her thin brows.

"Never mind. What are the benefits of an alliance between us?"

"Information exchange," Leon said bluntly.

Lilith was speechless.

Chapter 227 - Do That Trick Again

"Information Exchange?" Lilith's expression abruptly changed and began to look at Leon with alarm. "What do you want to know?"

Leon smiled helplessly at Lilith's wariness.

"There's no need to be this alarmed, right? From what I understand, the Beast Race is far stronger than humanity. Just one beast tribe is enough to make humanity struggle on the edges of extinction, yet there should be countless beast tribes spread across the Wildlands, right?"

Lilith nodded before Leon continued, "Even if all the human kingdoms united, we don't stand much of a chance against the overwhelming numbers and power of the beast race. Thus, we wouldn't be able to do much even if we learned about the Wildlands, don't you agree?"

"That's right."

"So, I don't understand why you are so guarded against sharing information with me. It's not like you would become the sinner of the Wildlands, right? And in exchange, I will share my knowledge of the ancient civilization."

Lilith ruminated over Leon's words with a thoughtful expression. She was tempted by Leon's proficiency in the ancient language.

However, there was a reason why she feared humans learning too much. But at the same time, what Leon said did make some sense. She shook her head with a wry smile. Perhaps, she was just too paranoid.

"You seem to be looking down on your own race a tad too much. Your race is much fiercer than you think, and our race is also not as united as you think."

Leon smiled, seeing that he had got her to start speaking. At the same time, he nodded in agreement to the latter half of what she said. He had expected this to be the case.

The beast kingdom operated by the law of the jungle. It was in their blood to fight, kill, consume, and grow stronger. He could imagine the beasts grew strong by constantly waging battles among themselves and between tribes.

He already understood this from the nature of the beasts within the Divine Realm, thus what he wanted to know wasn't the beasts' situation in the Wildlands, nor their strengths.

Because no matter how strong they were, he just had to grow even stronger. He had that potential and so did the rest of humanity. After all, humans were one of the ruling races of the Divine Realm.

What he really wanted to understand was the situation of the humans within the Wildlands.

Logically speaking, the humans left behind during the Cataclysm should have all become food for the beasts, but considering the beastkins are doing quite well in the Wildlands, it means that the humans there should be doing well too.

From what Leon understood of the beast race from the Divine Realm, they were all quite prideful. If all the humans of Gaia were really as weak as they believed, they would have never been willing to mix their blood with a lower lifeform and allowed the beastkins to rise above them.

Unless of course, this was not true. Leon was able to confirm that it was really the case from Lilith's own words. However, there was something she was mistaken about. Leon shook his head and laugh.

"I don't look down on humans specifically. I simply despise human nature, but never mind that. From what you said, there seems to be a group of especially powerful humans living in the Wildlands?"

"Not a group, but an entire tribe. We call them the Barbarian Tribe."

Seeing Leon was unwilling to elaborate on the topic of why he despises human nature, she chose not to pry and simply answered his question.

"Barbarian Tribe?" Leon mused over her words and seemed thought of something before asking, "Are the humans from the Barbarian Tribe all taller than 8ft and have monstrous physiques?"

"Yes. How do you know that? Have you been to the Wildlands before?" Lilith gaped in surprise, but she soon realizes how stupid her question was.

If Leon had been to the Wildlands before, why would he still need to ask her about it? But then, how does he know about the Barbarian Tribe?

Truth be told, that was her misperception. He did not know about the Barbarian Tribe, he only guessed what kind of humans came from that tribe.

In Leon's knowledge, humans who have grown over 8ft and have monstrous physiques were all survivors of extreme conditions. In the Divine Realm, they were called the Warring Race, but here, they are probably just called barbarians, hence the name Barbarian Tribe.

Leon guessed that humans from the Barbarian Tribe evolved into the Warring Race after dancing in the palms of life and death with the beast race every day.

Humans were the weakest race at birth. They were born with nothing and had to be cared for and taught for many years before they were capable of surviving on their own, while beasts instinctively knew how to hunt with the claws and fangs they were equipped with at birth. If not for the existence of cultivation, humanity would never have stood a chance.

But why were humans, who were the weakest, also the one who is most attuned with the universe and had the greatest potential? Because just as the universe was born from nothing, they too, with nothing, can become anything.

He did not explain how he knew about the barbarians and reminded, "So we are both in agreement to the alliance, yes?"

Hearing Leon's reminder, she soon lost interest in how he knew and was more interested in the knowledge he would share in exchange for the information she provided.

"Yes, that's right. Isn't that why I spoke a bit about the Wildlands so far? Isn't it time you uphold your end of the bargain and share your knowledge of the ancient civilization? Just saying now, I want to learn their language and be able to speak fluently like you, alright?"

Lilith said with a clenched fist with a fierce but cute expression that implied that they would have a fall out if he provides her with cheap knowledge. She wants the whole package!

Leon did not know whether to laugh or cry. Just for that bit of information, she wanted to learn the entire ancient language from him?

Once she learns the language, she would be able to retrieve the lost technology from any relics of the ancient civilization in her possession. This exchange did not seem fair. At least, she should speak about the Wildlands a bit more.

After a short moment, Leon put on a sly smile and said, "You didn't say you agree to the alliance until now so I am not obligated to uphold my end of the bargain and share my knowledge with you. The information you provided me until now was of your own free will. It was not part of the exchange."

Lilith froze before her body began to shake with anger.

"You! Are you kidding me?! How can you be so shameless!" Lilith pointed her finger at him and said angrily.

She was beginning to understand why he despises human nature because she too was beginning to despise it!

Leon laughed and said, "I was talking to Elder Evergreen about learning the Gaian language before, while I am also preparing to teach my people the Ancient language in return to establish communication between our two sides. Alright, you can sit in and learn along with them once I prepare the learning materials."

"Hmph! That's better." Lilith nodded triumphantly, but she soon realized something was off.

"No, that's not right. Why do I have to sit in and learn? Can't you do that trick again? C'mon, here, poke me again." Lilith offered her forehead to him.

"Ah!"

She exclaimed when Leon poked her forehead with a bit of force, but nothing special seemed to have happened. She looked at Leon with confusion, it soon turned to anger when she saw his playful smile.

"You! Are you playing me!?" Lilith pouted while stamping her feet.

"You told me to poke you, so poked you, I did."

Leon responded nonchalantly while pretending to be dumb.

"You! Argh, you are driven mad!"

Seeing that he was going too far with his teasing, he finally stopped before Lilith completely snap for real.

"Hahaha, alright, alright. Don't be angry, okay? It's might my mistake."

Leon said and transmitted some of the information to her. The ancient language wasn't something that can be transmitted all at once. The language was quite broad. It would overload her brain.

This was different from transmitting tier 3 alchemy knowledge to his disciple that he picked up on a whim. He had only transmitted some techniques, basic herbal understanding, and a few pill recipes to his disciple.

After all, his disciple did not need to learn every single pill formula between tier 1 to tier 3 in his arsenal to qualify as a Tier 3 Grandmaster Alchemist. The only prerequisite for being an alchemist of a tier is to be able to refine a pill of that respective tier.

This is because higher tier pills are harder to refine. But once an alchemist is able to refine it, the lower tier pills would be easier for them to refine.

It wasn't a big deal to Leon whether Lilith learns the ancient language or not. Because even if she can use the lost technology from the relics, he had already inherited how to reproduce them and so much more.

In a way, it was like eating all the meat and giving her the bones. Of course, this cannot be said out loud, lest he incurs her wrath.

Leon turned his attention back to Elder Evergreen, seeing Lilith had become quiet while trying to digest the information transmitted to her.

"Is there a spare room I can use?"

The Old Treant was about to respond when he was interrupted by a timely knock from outside.

"What is it?" Leon called out.

"Report to your Highness, we have reached the surface."

Chapter 228 - The Correct Way To Practice Hegemon Of Primal Chaos

Leon glanced Elder Evergreen with a pleasant surprise at the news but realized the elder did not have the same expression. Instead, a blank one hung on his face.

He smiled wryly, remembering that Elder Evergreen had yet to learn the Gaian language and didn't understand what the palace guard had just said.

"My palace guards have just informed me that they have reached the surface. It seems that you will be able to see the sunlight today, elder."

Elder Evergreen's eyes glowed brilliantly at his words.

Logically speaking, sunlight would not be able to reach the elder tree's subterranean space due to the inclination of the long tunnel. However, reflective mirrors could be used to bend light and beam into the subterranean space.

After Leon gave the palace guard the instruction, he followed Elder Evergreen to a spare dwelling that used to belong to an older generation treant, but it was not used as accommodation for guests after the older generation treant had succumbed to a perpetual stone-like death.

Leon felt like it was disrespectful to the dead, but it seems that the treants did not think the same way. Perhaps, they were already numb to the deaths of their kin as their numbers dwindled over the long passage of time.

If this were the case, it might be the reason why he was able to establish an alliance with the treant's village so smoothly.

After all, a few treants had been killed by them. Although it was under the spy's instigation, it was irrefutable that the treants died by their hands. He was expecting a few treants to still be harboring hatred.

After they arrived at the outside entrance of the spare dwelling, Elder Evergreen left him to his own devices and followed the palace guards towards the location just beneath the tunnel above.

"Unless it's something urgent, do not disturb me," Leon instructed another palace guard that followed him.

"Yes, Your Highness."

The palace guard complied as Leon entered the spare dwelling.

When Leon entered the dwelling, he made sure the surrounding was clear before proceeding to enter his Worldspace.

Once inside the Worldspace, he immediately sat down in meditation and begun drawing in energy to refine new pseudo-Grandmist energy.

Although his cultivation was sealed, it did not stop him from refining more pseudo-Grandmist energy. As long as the new energy he refines does not enter the glabella region and fuse with the Revolving Core, he would still have control of it.

This was the only loophole he had discovered when he was trying to regain control of his cultivation base. It was only through this little bit of energy he still has control over that he was able to transmit knowledge to Lilith.

After circulating the [Hegemon of Primal Chaos] technique and refining a few strands of energy, Leon ended his short cultivation session.

He could not have too many strands drifting through his meridian channels when he cannot store it in his glabella. It would wreak havoc when he is not consciously controlling it.

But what he found surprising was when the energy wreaks havoc on his meridians, it provides some tempering benefits, strengthening it.

He started to wonder if he had been practicing the [Hegemon of Primal Chaos] technique wrong this whole time…

As soon as he opened his eyes, Maya appeared in front of him. She started circulated around him a few times with a studying gaze while her eyes sparkled with intelligence.

"What is it?"

Leon asked inquisitively. Did the artifact spirit discover something?

"Seeing it for a second time, it still amazes me to end. To think that there was such a heaven-defying technique in the world that is capable of creating Grandmist energy… but it seems incomplete. It is pseudo-Grandmist at best." As Maya spoke to this point, her cute brows creased together and slowly said, "It's just that…"

Leon, who was listening with rapt attention, noticed this peculiarity and said, "Just… what? What's wrong?"

"You."

"Pardon?"

Leon thought he heard wrong.

"Are you stupid?"

"What?"

"Are you a pig?" Maya continued.

"I don't think I follow what you are saying?"

Leon was completely nonplussed by the sudden verbal abuse.

"Why are you cultivating pseudo-Grandmist energy like you are cultivating spirit energy?" Maya questioned him with an expression that said she was asking the most obvious thing in the world.

Leon was speechless.

If he does not cultivate pseudo-Grandmist energy like he was cultivating spirit energy, then how else was he supposed to cultivate it? They were both energy and this was the way to cultivate energy.

But then he suddenly became extremely confused.

In the [Divine Fiery God Manual], one was supposed to cultivate with the purest fire energy to become a Fire God, but this was obviously impossible.

No mortal can withstand the high temperatures of the purest flames at the beginning stages of cultivation. They would all be reduced to ashes without exception.

This was why everyone that had practiced [Divine Fiery God Manual] substituted fire energy with the malleable spirit energy and transformed it into fire-attribute spirit energy.

[Divine Fiery God Manual] wasn't created by man but also found from the ancient ruins. Clearly, it wasn't designed to be cultivated by mortals but gods.

Nevertheless, whether it was spirit energy or fire energy, the method was the same. It was about refining energy.

Logically speaking, pseudo-Grandmist energy should fall under the same category. After all, he did not have any problem cultivating it… until the Revolving Core Realm…

Seeing Leon was silent, Maya asked, "What do you think Grandmist energy is?"

"The source of all matter," Leon answered subconsciously.

"That's right, the source of all matter. In other words, the source of 'essence'. Where does energy fit here? Nowhere." Maya said.

Leon had an abrupt change in expression. He had been fooled by the word 'energy' in 'Grandmist energy'. Just because it had the word energy in its name, did not mean that it falls under energy refining.

It was in fact, essence, and what else was essence? The body. Thus, it was actually used for body forging.

Leon didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this revelation. This is what he gets for practicing an incomplete technique.

[Hegemon of Primal Chaos] listed how to create True Grandmist through the five stages of five primal elements, space and time, life and death, creation and destruction, and finally primal chaos, the fusion of all stages through one's body.

But it never said what to do with that energy! Assuming energy cultivation was the way was his mistake and also the Divine Realm's misinterpretation of the technique. He had simply followed what everyone thought.

"Fuck!"

Leon could not help but curse, but he was not all that frustrated. He had been practicing wrong all this while, but it could have been so much worse, had he realized the problem much later.

Maya said no more and allowed Leon to figure the rest out himself. If he could not even do that, then he was not a worthy master of her.

Having understood the problem, Leon realized why the Five Element Body exists and why he advances so slowly after reaching initial success. The Five Element Body correlates to the five-element stage.

He would only gain mastery of the five-element stage when he fully tempered his body with pseudo-Grandmist energy.

Recalling how the energy tempered his meridians when it wasn't being controlled and bumped against the walls of his meridians, and the body forging method of [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard], Leon understood the general direction he should take to temper his body with the pseudo-Grandmist energy.

Wait a minute. Leon suddenly paused.

"Would there be any complications if I temper my body with both pseudo-Grandmist energy from [Hegemon of Primal Chaos] and improved artificial spirit energy for [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard]?"

Leon did not hesitate to ask the artifact spirit. Since there was such a knowledgeable artifact spirit besides, it was only right to ask it instead of wasting time pondering the answer himself.

As the saying goes for efficiency; work smarter, not harder.

There was nothing wrong with seeking expert opinions. He was neither an expert in martial arts nor the divine way. One must know that his cultivation swiftly rose to the Divine Origin Realm through heavy reliance on divine pills.

But when Maya heard the question, she silently grumbled at the stupid question.

"Since you have the superior pseudo-Grandmist energy, why would you still use the inferior artificial spirit energy?" Maya rolled her eyes before she continued, "But answering your question, there are no complications when practicing two similar body forging method. It is just that only the superior one would show results, while the inferior one would be wasted efforts. However, practicing the [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard] is like putting on a big sturdy shell. It protects the outer body, but not the inner parts. Your pseudo-Grandmist energy should be able to temper your inner body…"

No further explanation was needed. Leon had understood and experienced the internal tempering. After thanking the artifact spirit, Leon refined a few more strands of energy within the Worldspace before his eyes snapped open with determination.

There was no pain-free body forging methods. Tempering his internal body was no exception and would only be worse than creating his first Body Rune. However, he was prepared.

Without further ado, he purposely drove the few strands of pseudo-Grandmist energy roaming mindlessly in his meridians, amok.

His determination was noteworthy, but reality was often brutal. It was he was being electrocuted after being struck by lightning with 10 million voltage of power.

His meditative posture broke as his body fell sideways in a violent spasm. His eyes rolled back until the whites were seen and passed out, but no real harm befell him.

The pseudo-Grandmist energy continued to work wonders in his unconsciousness as it rampaged throughout his meridian channels and strengthened them like a bunch of balls scattering from a powerful break in pool.

Chapter 229 - A Miracle Of Life

An unknown amount of time passed before Leon was able to regain his consciousness. The turbidity in his eyes cleared and he immediately inspected himself for any damages. There was none.

As a doctor, he understood that the pain that comes from tempering his meridians would be like striking his nerves. The pain would be much greater than creating Body Runes, but he still underestimated his own pain tolerance and passed out.

"You're awake."

Maya said nonchalantly on the side.

"How long had I passed out?"

"10 minutes."

"Only 10 minutes?"

Leon creased his brows. It was a lot shorter than he expected, but he immediately understood why after he finished his self-inspection. He had run out of pseudo-Grandmist energy.

The few strands he had refined had already merged with his meridian channels during the tempering process and became a part of it.

He could see parts of his meridians shining with a soft tinge of grey, the color of pseudo-Grandmist, but it was only part and not all.

"Only about 20% has been tempered, huh?"

Leon quietly murmured. It was not bad for a few strands.

"However, If I want to completely temper both inner and outer body, I will need so much more energy."

Leon slowly lapsed in silence.

The artifact spirit said that he could not use his Revolving Core until it completes its transformation, but as he discovered that Grandmist energy should be used for body forging, it makes no sense to continue the energy refining path.

It was already problematic in the Revolving Core realm. Who is to say that Heaven Ascension realm and Void realm won't have their own sets of problems?

Leon could already foresee the problem that awaits in him on the energy refining path if he was to continue with it.

Grandmist energy was the source of all matter that formed the universe. The stars and stellar bodies were all formed by Grandmist energy.

Hypothetically speaking, if he was to make it to the Heaven Ascension, his pseudo-Grandmist energy might reach a certain level of density and solidification that it might just condense into a star.

Even if it's just a miniature star, the weight and gravitational force isn't something a normal Heaven Ascension Realm practitioner can handle. It would crush him to death.

And to go beyond that, the Void Realm, this realm requires shattering the core to mimic the big bang and form their own miniature universe, the inner world.

This was the first big hurdle of divine practitioners, the tribulation of man before they face the Divine Damnation of heaven.

Most practitioners fail at this step and blow themselves up into nihility, but he might not even put a crack on his core even if he miraculous make it to this step.

Since the future of energy refining with pseudo-Grandmist energy was wrought with problems, he might as well focus all that energy into body forging.

He would simply just be converting his cultivation from an Energy Refiner to a Body Forger, albeit with a lot of pain to endure in between.

Having decided on his objective, Leon had a look at his Revolving Core. It was slightly smaller than the last time he checked.

This was not good news, but it did not mean it was very bad news either. It just means that he had no time to waste. It will be harder to revert the core energy back to a lower state, the denser it becomes.

He currently had no control over it, and he simply cannot wait for the transformation to be completed on its own. But what method could he use to regain control of his energy?

"Seems like I have to result to pills," Leon concluded.

Alchemy was his area of expertise and there were indeed a few pill formulas that appear in his mind without having to browse through the Archive in the Whitespace.

It was not uncommon for divine practitioners to advance their realms without establishing a firm foundation.

The ignorant ones would continue to press forward and hope to correct their mistake by establishing a firmer foundation in their new realm, but courageous and ambitious ones would go back when they realized their foundation was not firm enough.

These are the ones that would seek alchemists to help them correct their mistakes even if it meant dropping an entire realm in cultivation.

After all, a person cannot build a skyscraper with weak and shaky foundations. It would crumble at some point and the whole thing would come crashing down.

Leon took time to check the inventory of his grown herbs and browse through his memories, before settling on a single pill formula.

'A Tier-3 Realm Reversal Pill should do the trick. Thankfully, I collected a wide range of herbal seeds and planted a lot of supplementary herbs, but I am barely meeting the demands. Out of 10 pill formulas, I only have the herbs available for 2 of them.'

'Now that the available herbal garden had grown larger with the artifact spirit's small recovery, I should plant more miscellaneous herbs. I might not need it now, but it's hard to say in the future.'

Leon began to plan ahead and started grabbing a selected bunch of herbals seeds from a small mountain of seeds he had thrown into one corner of the Worldspace.

He should really get a cabinet to organize his seeds, but since he could easily identify each seed anyway, he didn't think it was necessary.

'Hmm.'

Leon suddenly thought of something. A Realm Reversal Pill was designed for spirit energy, but would it work on pseudo-Grandmist energy?

'It seems like I will have to cross-check with the Archive for answers in the end.'

Leon spent a few minutes in the Whitespace, browsing through the related information before making some revisions to the Realm Reversal Pill by adding another 5 supplementary herbs.

Returning to the Worldspace, he grabbed all the required herbs from the herbal garden before planting new seeds in its place. After he was done with that, he grabbed his pill cauldron as well, but then he suddenly froze.

'Well this is awkward. I won't be able to refine pills as I normally would without my fire manipulation ability.' He thought to himself.

"It seems my only choice is to go back to using lowly earthly fire. Although there will be a drop in quality, I don't really have any other options available to me." Leon muttered to himself.

He did not have the materials to start an earthly fire in his Worldspace, nor was it possible in the subterranean space. He would need to return to the surface for that.

"It also seems like I have to temporarily postpone my plans and return to the Capital first before I can resolve my issues and head back hereafter to treat the treants."

Leon said wryly while scratching his cheek.

That was life for you. Not everything will go the way you want it, and more often than not, you have to work around what the world had in store for you instead.

Exiting the Worldspace with nothing except the black spear he usually carries, Leon was prepared to head outside the spare dwelling and bid Elder Evergreen a temporary goodbye. Little did he know, some startling changes had taken place while he was absent.

"Your Highness."

A palace guard greeted as soon as he exited.

Leon noticed the palace guard's yet-to-fade-away awed expression and asked, "Had anything happened while I was away?"

The palace guard opened his mouth with the intention to explain, but words did not form. He did not know how to describe the situation. In the end, the palace guard said, "It's better if I take you to see for yourself, Your Highness."

"Oh?" Leon raised an eyebrow, before he nodded, "Alright. Lead the way."

The palace guard complied with respect.

The path was unsurprising. It led towards the tunnel, but due to the large open space of the treetop and the layout of the treant's village, Leon only had to climb one point and turn one corner to see what was up.

It was currently the peak of the day upon the surface. The sun was the brightest at this time and the reflective mirrors in the tunnel had been set up.

Leon could see the beam of sunlight shining down from the tunnel hole above.

What was surprising to see was that some of the supposedly crimson leaves in the sunlight's path had already turned a vibrant green.

But this was not the reason for the palace guard's hard-to-describe expression. It was due to the treants bathing in the sunlight. Elder Evergreen was also seen among them.

At this moment, the Old Treant along with the others looked a lot less like 'treants'. They seemed to have shed their bark-like wooden skin and regained their mortal flesh.

However, more leaves seemed to have sprouted from their head. It was big, green, and very vibrant.

Looking at Elder Evergreen's change in appearance, he finally looked a lot more… well, evergreen.

Making his way over, Leon asked with surprise, "How did this all happen, Elder?"

"You're here, Child." Elder Evergreen acknowledged his presence, before shaking his head. "I don't know. It just happened after we walked into the sunlight. However, I have not felt this refreshed and pleasant for a long time. I feel… young again."

Leon also noticed the newfound vigor in the surrounding 'treants'. They were practically overflowing with lifeforce and youthfulness.

Apart from the green jewel on their forehead and the few branch and leaves on their head, they looked practically human again and they did not look like they were over 500 years of age. Even the Old Treant seemed to have lost a few wrinkles.

Was this a miracle of life?

The treants seemed to have undergone a round of evolution, but what about the elder tree? Leon immediately returned his attention back to the elder tree.

Nothing significant seemed to have happened to the elder tree yet, most likely due to its sheer size. However, the green leaves were spreading beyond the sunlight zone.

Will all the crimson leaves turn green eventually? What will happen after? Leon couldn't wait to find out.

He knew the sunlight would bring about a positive effect, but he would have never thought that the effect would be so exaggerated!

It was overpowering.