257-265

Chapter 257 - Refine Lots, Kay?

"I don't understand, Sect Master. Why must we withdraw after we destroy the Bloodfiend Sect?"

The Sect Master's decision filled the inner elders with confusion. They could not comprehend why the Sect Master made such a decision, but they were unwilling to give up such a big that is the Valaran Kingdom.

Taking over the Valaran Kingdom meant access to more resources and a wider circle to scout for talented disciples to strengthen and expand their sect.

With such a temptation, how could they simply give up?

The Sect Master knew what they were thinking and snorted.

"Don't think for a second that the Valaran Kingdom is easy picking once the Bloodfiend Sect is removed from the picture. Do not let greed blind your judgment. Treasures are only good if you are alive to enjoy it."

Seeing that the inner elders were unconvinced and not comprehending his meaning, the Sect Master continued.

"Although we have learned to co-exist with the Ishaan Royal family and not control them, it is different for the Bloodfiend Sect and Illusory Butterfly Sect. The people of the Valaran Kingdom had been terrorized by the sect for so long that they formed a prejudice against sects, not to mention both sects had waged on the Crawford Kingdom. That is to say that if we do not pull out after assisting, it would be seen as us trying to reap the benefits of their efforts. Whatever favorable impression we are trying to build, would be lost, do you understand now?"

The inner elders scratched their bald heads with some realization.

Everyone at the round table was bald, tanned brown, topless, and packed with bulging muscles. This was the most distinctive trait of members of the Burning Heaven Sect, which was a result of training their bodies to the limits with the burning sands of the desert that occupied most of the Ishaan Kingdom.

Perhaps as a result of their extreme physical training, they had muscles for brains and were not able to see clearly as the Sect Master could.

Although none of them was a Transcendent due to the bottleneck of their poor cultivation method, each of them could stand their grown against a Transcendent in a fight. They could not win, but they would not lose either.

"Since no one no longer objects, start mobilizing the disciples immediately. We will hit them while they least expect it."

This time, the inner elders all silently agreed without complaint.

…

Capital.

The chaos within the Upper Districts was eventually quelled under everyone's united efforts. The disciples of the Bloodfiend Sect causing trouble in the Upper District were killed. After a quick count, Leon found that they had numbered over fifty people.

Fifty people who had been hidden inside the Upper District all this!

Leon felt grim but did not commence an immediate search for their hideouts.

The surface situation had stabilized for now but the same could not be said for the other cities. If all the people in the other cities were slaughtered, it would impact the whole Human Domain greatly.

A hint of urgency led him to visit the Royal Palace. The grave situation wasn't something he could resolve by himself.

"Grandpa Don!"

Leon immediately cried out the moment he saw the top Grandmaster Alchemist in the kingdom return to the palace from the sky.

Grandpa Don landed nearby after hearing his call.

"Brat, you're back."

The grandmaster was excited to see Leon for reasons unbeknownst to him.

"Where did you just go, Grandpa Don?" Leon immediately followed up with a question, finding it odd that the grandmaster didn't stay in the palace.

"I went to check out the city in the north. Why, what's the matter?"

"How is the situation there? Were there any disciples of the Bloodfiend Sect rampaging in the city?"

"Oh, there was, but they are all dead now." The grandmaster responded with a look of awe. The disciples of the Bloodfiend Sect had all died cleanly.

"As I expected, the Bloodfiend Sect was there." Leon nodded with a look of expectation, mistakenly believed that Grandpa Don was the one who wiped them out.

"Grandpa Don, I need your help. I suspect that every other city is facing the same situation. If we hurry, we might be able to save a few cities from a complete massacre." Leon continued with a grave look. He had already assumed that was the best they could hope for.

Grandpa Don realized the misunderstanding and shook his head. "There's no need for that. A hidden expert solved this problem for us. I just went to confirm that this was the case. All the disciples of Bloodfiend Sect had been dealt with by this person alone."

"A hidden expert?"

Leon was startled. It seems he had underestimated the Human Domain a tad too much.

A brief talk with Grandpa Don allowed him to learn more details on the matter. The hidden expert was a high-level Transcendent with great mastery over the Water Law, something he did not sense because he had reached to touch upon the Transcendent realm.

"By the way, brat. You need to do something about that disciple of yours. That little monster won't leave me alone." Grandpa Don said helplessly.

"My disciple…? Ah…"

Leon paused for a moment before he recalled that he did accept such a person under his tutelage.

However, the master had briefly forgotten about the disciple and the disciple did not seem to care about the master and went to seek someone else's teachings. This was probably the lousiest master-disciple relationship in the history of all worlds.

"Where is he now?" Leon asked.

"He is…"

"Grandmaster Don, there you are! I've been looking for you!"

Grandpa Don was about to answer, but a distant cry interrupted him, and his calm demeanor crumbled with embarrassment. "Ahem, anyway, do something about that little monster, and get him to stop bugging me, alright?"

Little did Leon know, the grandmaster alchemist had gotten his pill disciple to perform many pill refinement sessions in the name of guidance in the past 2 weeks, but in truth, the grandmaster alchemist had been the one to secretly learn from his disciple instead.

With little to teach, the grandmaster alchemist naturally resumed avoided the little monster. Don had once shouted the truth that he had nothing to teach, but the blockhead was not easily convinced.

Before Leon could say something, Grandpa Don had already legged it and disappeared from his view.

Leon was speechless.

"Grandmaster! Wait!" Reginald chased after.

"Stop! Aren't you going to greet your master?" Leon stopped him.

"Y-Your Highness."

Leon raised an eyebrow at this type of greeting. He quite liked Reginald's passion for alchemy and had a favorable impression, but it seems he had still rushed for a pill disciple a tad too much.

The disciple still doesn't seem convinced after all the knowledge he transmitted to the person.

"Call me master." Leon narrowed his eyes.

Reginald suddenly found himself under great pressure from the prince's stare and realized his appropriate form of address.

He was still not used to having someone only a few years older than him as the master as it was not normal. In fact, it was exceedingly rare.

Although it rings true that the proficient one is the teacher, but how many people can actually achieve great success in their profession without the cumulation of time and practice?

"Master." Reginald lowered his head with obedience, nevertheless.

Leon nodded satisfyingly. A rough jade that can still be carved.

"Don't chase after the grandmaster anymore and follow me."

"Yes, Master."

Reginald complied with cold sweat. He felt like an invisible pressure was suffocating him as he followed behind the prince's back.

In a spare pill refining room, Leon ordered with a stern face, "Show me the height of your progress. Refine a batch of All-Purpose Healing Pills and Golden Ointment for me to see."

Half an hour later, two sets of pills were refined with the spirit herbs Leon provided. He began giving guidance like a proper master when his disciple only produced Tier-1 spirit pills with mid-rank quality.

"The pill cauldron wasn't preheated enough…"

"You're spending too much time extracting the herbal essence, burning it in the process. This will lower the amount of herbal essence you can work with, alternatively lowering the quality of the final product…"

"You're being too careful with the merge process. You need to be swift and confident…"

After a round of preaching, Leon checked if Reginald understood. Receiving his disciple's affirmation, he said, "Good, do it again."

Leon took out another set of spirit herbs for his disciple to refine again.

After half an hour had passed, two sets of pills were presented in front of Leon. His disciple had corrected the minor mistakes he pointed out and the refined pills were the exact proof of that.

His disciple had not only succeeded in increasing the number of pills in a single batch of refinement to nine, there even a few high-rank quality pills in the batch.

"Good. Your hands are still a bit shaky, but the improvement is evident. Continue to practice at your own pace." Leon praised lightly.

"Thank you, Master!"

Reginald was inwardly shaken.

If he was unconvinced before, he was totally convinced now. His master possessed true skills. Just a few pointers were enough to raise the quality of his pill refinement.

His master had already given him the framework. He only needed to straighten out the rough edges.

"Alright, I have an assignment for you, my disciple."

"Please tell, Master," Reginald said with newfound respect.

Leon didn't say much and directly transmitted new knowledge and pill recipes to his disciple.

"These… These pills are… what kind of pills are these…"

The disciple was in disbelief as if he had just received something unbelievable. The pill recipes Leon transmitted were all related to divine cultivation.

They were namely, Spirit Enhancing Pills, Spirit Condensation Pills, and Core Strengthening Pills.

"You will know when you take the Spirit Enhancing Pills while practicing the Breathing Technique. Alright, I need you to refine as many of these pills as much as possible. I will pop by from time to time to check on your progress." Leon said.

"What about the shop, master?"

"It's been closed, right? Just continue leaving it closed for now. We will open it when we have a stockpile of the pills to sell."

After a brief pause, Leon also transmitted the first section of the original [Fiery God Manual].

"If you have time, practice according to this. It will help improve your fire control." Leon said.

These were all preparatory steps for the rejuvenation of authentic spirit energy in the world.

"Yes, Master!"

Reginald was completely mind blown. The things he kept receiving were otherworldly, and his respect, as well as his curiosity, were strengthened greatly.

"Very good. Make sure to refine lots, kay?"

After dumping out a truckload of spirit herbs into the room under his disciple's flabbergasted and jaw-dropping look, Leon grinned and left.

Reginald felt his scalps tingled at the mountain of herbs.

Alchemy was a money burning profession and no alchemists would ever complain about not having enough herbs to practice alchemy, but he was starting to feel that it was a mistake to accept the prince as his alchemy master.

It was clear to him that over the next few months, he would be doing nothing but refining pills on ends like a slave.

Was this his master's revenge?

Chapter 258 - Origin Soul

After leaving the pill refining room, Leon intended to seek out his father but after spying on his father with divine sense, he changed his mind.

His father was in the middle of cultivation and interrupting a person's cultivation was potentially dangerous.

He left the Inner Palace and summoned a Shadowguard in the Great Hall.

With everything happening in the kingdom, the available manpower had been stretched thin, including the Shadowguards.

He had never checked the Shadowguards training ground under the palace where they train new recruits, but he was aware that the number of qualified Shadowguards in the palace had been reduced to the number of one's hand.

"How can I help you, Your Highness?"

Leon tapped the armrest repeatedly in thought while he was seated before he asked, "Has there been any investigation progress on the whereabouts of my adoptive parents and little sister?"

The residual energy fluctuation from Leon was almost nonexistent after he converted everything into tempering his body, but when he posed the question, it was like a weighty mountain dropping on the Shadowguard's shoulders.

The Shadowguard sweated and dropped to his knees.

"I beg for your forgiveness for being incompetent, Your Highness. We've searched everywhere, but I could not find a single trace. It's like they had simply disappeared into thin air… However, I believe they should still be somewhere within the Capital."

When Leon heard this, instead of feeling happy, he became gloomy.

This is because it was quite the baseless claim to say that his adoptive parents and Mia were still in the Capital when they do not have a single clue as to where they had disappeared off to.

Coupled with the recent confrontation with the Bloodfiend Sect, it was clear that the Capital had many hidden locations.

From this information, anyone could infer that the Illusory Butterfly Sect must also have their people hidden in the Capital.

He was grateful to the adoptive parents that raised him and did not want to suspect them, but the clues kept hinting that they share some sort of relationship with the Illusory Butterfly Sect.

The world seems to be playing a cruel joke on him.

When the first doubt festered in his mind, it was like a chain reaction that could not be stopped. Past interactions with his adoptive parents begun appearing one after the other.

He tried not to recall it as he had wanted to avoid thinking in that certain direction, but it still ended up resurfacing in his mind.

During the period of his past life memory awakening, his predominant past life mentality created dissonance with his present life and drew distance with his adoptive parents, they happen to get injured on the following day from a run-in with the gang members.

Leon found this very strange.

One had to know that his adoptive parents were smart people who understood the state of the Lower District very well.

Although life in the Lower District was difficult, it was not to the point that they would have days without meals placed on the table.

Allowing the gang members to freeload from time to time made things harder for them, but never too far that it would push them to the end of their road. There was no need to antagonize the gang members and get hurt for it.

Getting hurt would only make surviving more difficult.

They should have known this, but it was like his adoptive parents purposely got hurt to play the sentimental card in order to win back his affection that had been alienated back then. At that time, he had yet to harmonize his dual personality of two lifetimes.

What to do…

While he started to suspect his adoptive parents, he also felt that their love was genuine. He was conflicted.

If they were really related to the Illusory Butterfly Sect, his birth mother would definitely not spare them.

Also, for what purpose would the Illusory Butterfly Sect have in raising him? To prepare a puppet for the throne while they control the kingdom from the dark? Or something else?

'Argh… I don't know!'

Leon wracked his head but could not come up with an answer for the unknown.

"Y-Your Highness…?" The Shadowguard gulped.

While Leon was lost in thought, the Shadowguard had been studying the prince's gradual deteriorating expression and felt great pressure.

This type of pressure was different from the pressure exerted by one's cultivation. Leon's energy fluctuation was faint and was incapable of this, but his true strength had grown much stronger than before.

It was a type of invisible pressure only the strong can exert on people who feel inferior. The pressure was crushing and unknowingly, the Shadowguard's black attire was already drenched with his cold sweat.

Leon closed his eyes and steadied his troubled mind. When his eyes reopened, there was only calm, and collectedness left.

"I have a task for the Shadowguards." He said coolly.

"What are your orders, Your Highness."

"Cooperate with the palace guards and search every nook and cranny of the Upper District. This includes the private property of nobles and aristocrats. Let them know this is a search of the highest order. Anyone found resisting shall be charged with colluding and hiding away foreign forces to harm the king!" Leon said with a glint of coldness.

The Bloodfiend Sect already went crazy and killed a lot of innocents. There was no telling if the Illusory Butterfly Sect would follow in their footstep. He was not going to allow this ticking timebomb to linger in the darkness of the Capital.

"What shall we do if we find the enemy?"

"Capture them if they surrender, kill them if they resist!"

"Yes, Your Highness."

After the Shadowguard disappeared, Leon slumped back on the chair weakly with a bit of absentmindedness.

Three breathes later, he shook his head and stood up.

Turbulent times did not allow him to rest.

Since he learned that there were hidden experts on the level of Elder Evergreen and possibly beyond, he found his own strength inadequate.

He needed to train and become stronger!

Those who cannot keep with the times will be left behind by the times.

The Crawford Kingdom had been out of touch with the rest of the Human Domain for too long!

There was little information on the Ishaan Kingdom and next to no information on the Geyser Kingdom! One could hardly begin to describe how outdated their information was.

Information on the Ishaan Kingdom dated back 50 years, while information on the Geyser Kingdom dated back 300 years!

Leon could not possibly begin to imagine how far they had developed in all these years.

After returning to his room in his private courtyard, Leon locked the doors and commenced his daily routine.

In the Worldspace, a lot of herbs had been emptied out and he needed to plant new herbs in the Sacred Garden. The available spiritual soil he could use had increased since the Artifact Spirit had recovered slightly.

The number of herbal seeds had decreased greatly. He also needed to find some time to restock on his reserves.

He did not bother Maya, who was indulging herself in the mountain of books he pocketed in the subterranean world as she continued to read with interest and did not seem to notice him entering.

After he finished tending to herbs, he jumped into the Whitespace and absorbed the information from three soul-related books from the Archive.

He initially started with books on soul-related pill recipes and exotic plants with soul-nourishing properties, but he eventually changed his focus to the understanding of the soul itself.

Divine Kings wracked their brains for hundreds to thousands of years to understand the profundity of the soul, but here he was, with the [Divine Book of Life] in hand that contained clear knowledge and understanding of the soul.

He had always wondered why the Divine Realm had three cultivation systems, namely, body, energy, and soul, yet many of the myriad races of the Divine Realm choose to practice the energy cultivation system only.

Strangely, despite being named the energy cultivation system, it first focuses on tempering the body, to accommodate the growth of one's energy cultivation, before switching to the soul, or at least, that seems to be the case for all the known powerhouses after reaching peak Divine King.

The soul contained inexplicable secrets about the universe and the everlasting. This was the conclusion every peak Divine King arrived at.

To be honest, they were spot on.

There was a line in one of the soul-related books Leon read that especially drew his attention.

The Origin Soul is Eternal.

It is said that the soul was not made up of nine parts but ten parts, with the tenth part being the Origin Soul, something that is indestructible and imperishable.

When the nine parts separate, they become soul fragments that eventually cease from existence, but the Origin Soul does not. Instead, it returns to a place called the Source of Origin.

Unfortunately, Leon could not find any further information on the Source of Origin. It seems to be something that even transcended the knowledge of the creator of the [Divine Book of Life].

After Leon finished absorbing the last particle of information from the soul-related books, he returned to his room with the Ravenous Black in hand.

Taking his seat and spinning the Ravenous Black on the top of his fingers, Leon pondered for a bit.

His next course of action could be guessed. He was going to carve the next Body Rune and increase his combat and defensive capability.

Let's see… Where should I carve my next Body Rune?

…Pft, do I even need to think? Of course, it's going to be my left arm!

Leon had no wish to continue being misunderstood for being lopsided.

Chapter 259 - Lost Isle Alley

Aurelia Mountain Road was the most prominent street within the Upper District, where the wealthiest of nobles gathered for the most luxurious of entertainments and the highest class of eateries. It was a place painted with riches and glamour.

No other place could compare to the thriving business and overblown prices of Aurelia Mountain Road in the Upper District, but as the universal balance dictates, there were two sides to everything like yin and yang, good and evil, the rich and the poor.

When asked what the most obscured street in the Upper District is, the answer would undoubtedly be Lost Isle Alley.

Lost Isle Alley was an unpopular location that is not easily accessible from any main roads due to the way many high-rise buildings were designed closely like a clump and creating a dark spot that even sunlight does not reach.

It was an eerie place that everyone would avoid like a plague once they learn about it. The temperature of the alley was always low, and the chilly winds send shivers down one's spine. It was like a little ghost town that no one visits, not even rats would dare to go there if there were any.

According to stories, a beautiful young girl was once tricked into that inconspicuous place and subjected to untold humiliation by a group of scummy degenerate young nobles.

The girl eventually died from their restless abuse, but before her untimely and gruesome death, she cursed all the young nobles and their families to die a horrible death.

Since then, strange events began happening in that alley. All the lights lit in that place would die out and plunge the alley into eternal darkness.

All the small-time store owners in the alley were unable to do business. They were also terrified of this unexplainable phenomenon and sold their stores in the alley and moved away.

The family of the degenerate young nobles took advantage of the small-time store owners' plight and bought over their properties at low prices before moving in, but that was when true horror began to unfold.

The degenerate young nobles would disappear one after another each night, only to be found dead at the center of the alley with their limbs bent out of shape, heads twisted a full revolution and eyes gorged out.

At the same time, the family of each degenerate young noble caught an unknown disease with rapidly declining health and would have nightmares every night.

Eventually, it drove them insane until they committed suicide.

Apparently, a powerful vengeful spirit was born due to the unique formation and environment of Lost Isle Alley.

By the time the event blew up, it took the Capital by a storm.

People always had innate fears of the unknown, darkness, and ghosts.

Instead of trying to exterminate the vengeful spirit, they sealed off the place and never tried to demolish the buildings forming Lost Isle Alley.

People were afraid that doing so would anger the vengeful spirit and set it free to unleash its wrath on the rest of the Capital.

This was an event that happened over 400 years ago.

At this moment, a cloaked man was seen walking with hurried footsteps into the taboo alley that people eventually have forgotten with time but still avoid.

The cloaked man stopped in front of an old decrepit bar and checked the pitch-black surrounding before he knocked on the worn-out wooden door with a unique rhythmic pattern.

Tap, tap, tap…

The secret knock contained three fast taps, one slow tap, two fast taps, and repeated the process twice.

The wooden door crept open and the cloaked man stepped inside.

"What happened outside—"

Before the person opening the door could finish his question, the cloaked man walked past him, pulled a secret lever that revealed a secret flight of stairs leading downwards, and entered the hidden chamber under the aged-old abandoned bar.

The person closed the creaking door and followed the cloaked man downstairs.

The secret flight of stairs soon disappeared after.

"Shit, shit, shit! Those fucking crazy bastards! They have ruined everything for us!"

The man threw away his cloak and began cursing at once.

Underneath his cloak was a set of noble attire carrying the crest of the Marleigh family, a Baron-level family. The cloaked man had revealed himself to be Grant Marleigh, the current head of the Marleigh family and Baron himself.

He was a lower-class noble of the Crawford Kingdom and not a very prominent figure, inconspicuous in fact.

However, he also had another identity, an inner elder of Illusory Butterfly Sect.

"What exactly happened outside, Elder?"

Hearing this question, Baron Grant Marleigh's blood boiled with more anger.

"The Bloodfiend Sect has gone crazy and deployed all their disciples on a killing spree, shocking the entire Capital! Now, the king is on high alert and a search warrant will most likely be issued soon to have the Capital searched thoroughly!"

"I have official status, so I will be fine as long as I don't blow my cover or reveal anything that will put me under suspicion. You all, on the other hand, do not have official status in this kingdom. You will have nowhere to run once they find this place, especially you two." The inner elder continued grimly while singling out two people.

The two people mentioned were precisely Leon's adoptive father and mother, Brian and Helen who had gone missing with Mia since the start of the spider crisis.

Apart from them, there were 11 other people and one child in the hidden underground chamber. They were all inner disciples of Illusory Butterfly Sect, minus the child.

"If you two didn't use the secret passage to flee suddenly, and with a child no less, our plan might have still had some hope of succeeding."

"We had no choice. If our son… the prince hadn't gained phenomenal skills overnight and we were taken to the palace so suddenly. Who would know the prince's capabilities better than us, the ones who raised him? Even now, we have no idea how he suddenly becomes so capable but those unaware would suspect his skills were taught by us. Facing the Queen's direct scrutinizing gaze. Even if we have a perfect disguise, it's impossible to guarantee that something won't slip. It was too risky. We have no choice but to escape while we had the chance." Brian explained with a sigh.

The inner elder also sighed, but his eyes soon fell on the child with a chilly gaze.

"And what about this child?"

His intention was simple. Why did they bring the child and not just get rid of it?

"This… this child's history is too tragic, but it's also because of the tragic experience that no child her age should experience that she has great potential and affinity to learn our arts, elder…" Helen said as she tightens her grip slightly on the child's hand.

Mia was very sensible for her age. She did not throw any tantrum for her present predicament and just observed everything quietly.

The inner elder looked deeply into her black eyes that were deep like the abyss and felt an instinctive numbing chill with tingling scalps. It was not the first time they told him the story.

A child who experienced the true cruelty and ugliness of reality the world had to offer at such a tender age of 5 would be forced to mature and develop their intelligence early in order to survive. One would not know how terrifyingly crafty the child will become if she was allowed to grow.

Others would see the child as a child, but he saw a witty little demon. Although the elder had only heard the story from another's perspective, he believes it was not luck, that the little girl was able to temporarily escape the gang's clutches and get saved by the prince.

"Then you should continue to teach her well." The inner elder acknowledged after refreshing his memory, before peeling his eyes away from the little girl. All was well if the little girl doesn't turn on them once she spread her wings.

"I heard that both the Bloodfiend Sect and the Illusory Butterfly Sect started a war with the kingdom. Is that the reason for the Bloodfiend Sect's craziness?" An inner disciple inputted.

The Brian, Helen, and the other inner disciples were startled when they heard this.

Although the Illusory Butterfly Sect was also mentioned, no one found it strange that the inner disciple did not add an 'our' in front of it.

"When and where did you hear that from?"

"From an Earl when I was disguised as one of his servants yesterday."

"You crazy bastard. That was a pretty risky move, but well done. Unfortunately, there are no prizes for that." Another inner disciple said dully. Who would be happy about hearing such bad news?

Bang!

Another inner disciple smacked the wall of the hidden chamber with his clenched fist.

"Dammit! Those fools never learn! They are still walking down the road of self-destruction!" He said with gritted teeth.

In a single breath, the inner disciple had cursed all the upper echelons of the Illusory Butterfly Sect, but no one rebutted him as they were all had similar thoughts. The underground chamber was soon plunged in a gloomy mood, Brian and Helen included.

Mia blinked her deep eyes and rubbed Helen's hand with her little thumb as if to console her. Helen smiled weakly and rubbed the little girl's head with affection.

She had truly taken the little girl as her daughter. It was a pity that they were caught in a situation with a bleak future.

The inner elder sighed, seeing that the inner disciples had also caught wind of the news now and did not deny its authenticity.

"That's right, the Illusory Butterfly Sect joined hands with Bloodfiend Sect to wage war against the Crawford Kingdom. In the end, those fools were unable to contain their greed. We are now stuck at an impasse and to be honest, our chances of survival aren't looking great."

Everyone felt sad.

Due to a disagreement in opinions with the ways the Illusory Butterfly Sect were doing things, they had long left the sect and were labeled as traitors as a result of that choice.

The Durham Kingdom was no longer safe with the Illusory Butterfly Sect hunting them, and the Bloodfiend Sect had always been at odds with the Illusory Butterfly Sect. They could escape to the Valaran Kingdom, let alone travel through it to seek refuge in the Ishaan Kingdom.

With no other choice, they could only hideaway in the Crawford Kingdom.

The other inner disciples had settled in the other cities, but they hid in the Capital for the sole desire of being able to live openly under the sun freely instead of hiding away in its darkness.

They were inner disciples when they left, but they are already old enough to be elders now.

Leon's birth was their first ray of hope in realizing their desire 17 years ago.

For that purpose, they had foiled the Illusory Butterfly Sect's plan and saved the baby Leon at that time when he would have died in the fire.

According to the original plan, Leon would have been slowly introduced to their circle through his adoptive parents and one day become the mediator between them and the royal family, but they never commenced with the next step because they felt that Leon wasn't old enough to make mature decisions and intended to wait until he was 18.

After all, it was the same as handing over their lives to the boy. One misstep and they could lose their lives under the Queen's blade.

They were no longer affiliated with Illusory Butterfly Sect, yes, but there was no doubt that they once were.

There was no doubt that they would have died, had they exposed themselves prior and the Queen manages to deduce the mastermind behind the rebellion and saw them as one and the same.

After a long silence, an inner disciple opened his mouth.

"How about we take a gamble?"

Chapter 260 - Strange Request

Once the suggestion was raised, all eyes fell on the inner disciple, silently urging him to elaborate.

Not expecting such great attention, the inner disciple scratched his head awkwardly. His suggestion was not anything great, given the options they had. It was not a do or die, but more like a do and die suggestion.

"Ahem, we can secretly contact the prince and lay everything on the table. We are no longer part of the Illusory Butterfly Sect, not to mention we have saved and raised the prince in the past. If he learns everything, I'm sure he will be more understanding and permit us citizenship."

"That is an extremely stupid idea. Don't forget we also selfishly took the prince away from the Queen during his best years of growing up. The prince would spare us, but would the Queen? If we were brave enough help openly back then, perhaps we would not have wasted so many years in hiding."

The suggestion was immediately rejected. They all knew why they didn't. Exposing themselves openly would have subjected them to being hunted furiously by the Illusory Butterfly Sect.

It was easy to dodge a dagger in the open than a dagger in the dark. Likewise, being in the open was disadvantageous compared to being in the dark, especially when their opponent was the Illusory Butterfly Sect which specializes in disguise and covert killing with poison.

Having grown up in such a sect, they might not necessarily die without knowing why but it would be exhausting to be wary every day. Thus, they had chosen what they believed to be a safer choice.

They had the courage to leave the sect, but chickened out in opposing their ways, ultimately landing themselves in their current awkward predicament.

Fortune favored the bold.

Unfortunately, there was no what if and they could not go back in time to change their choice.

"Then do you have a better suggestion?" The inner disciple argued.

They were at the end of their road. They have nowhere else to hide and run once their hideout was discovered.

Rather than being misunderstood and waiting for their deaths, wasn't it better to be proactive even if it means handing their life to the other party to decide?

They were not the enemy, but they could be seen as the enemy. In the end, it all comes down to one word, trust.

If their words are trusted, they live. If not, they die. It was as simple as that.

No one had an answer when the question was raised, and silence filled the secret chamber with deep frowns and thoughts.

Helen crouched down to face Mia and smiled. "Mia, do you want to see your big brother Leon again?"

"Yeah!"

The adorable response made Helen rub her cheeks against the little thing.

…

Royal Palace.

Leon sat cross-legged within his bedroom with his eyes closed. Heavy perspiration could be seen on his face as his brows locked together.

The process of carving Body Runes into one's own body was never easy and free of pain.

Ravenous Black laid beside him as his left arm dripped with glowing blood.

Originally, he thought might be some problems with carving through his skin after it had been tempered by [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard], but his skin was still split apart easily like a hot knife through butter.

One could see that the sharpness of Ravenous Black was unparalleled, designed to be able to carve through anything, and also capable of being a great weapon.

He was in the middle of fusing the liquid energy with his blood before forming the Body Rune in his left arm, which demanded great focus and mental energy. It was both exhausting and enduring.

In a way, the process was like alchemy, except the body was his cauldron, and blood was his fire.

By the time, Leon completed the Body Rune, the sun had already risen high in the sky. The process had taken him an entire night.

After getting a maid to prepare the warm water, Leon took a bath and cleaned himself before taking out a bottle of Golden Ointment to rub the medicine on his left arm to close the wound left behind from last night.

Once he was finished, he was dressed in a set of royal attire and headed out to find his father. He rarely wears his royal attire, but today was a formal occasion.

…

In the king's study, Heinrich was already up early and working through some documents that covered a wide range of subjects and concerns within the kingdom.

Apart from the few documents in Heinrich's hand, there were two tall stacks of similar documents to the side.

Just looking at the stack of documents gave the king a headache, but it cannot be helped. If he did not sort them out, who would?

To ease his workload, he had already begun assigning new ministers and officials to work for him.

At this moment, the maid, Lily walked in with a new stack of paper.

"These were sent over today from the new officials," Lily said.

The new documents contained requests for building permissions of sorts from various nobles and commoners. They were arranged neatly alongside the background details and history of the nobles and commoners making the request.

The king was only required to read through the document and stamp his approval if no problems were found.

Nevertheless, Heinrich could not help but twitched his mouth when he saw the new stack.

After receiving the king's nod of acknowledgment, Lily placed the stack of requests on the king's desk and stepped to the side quietly to await further orders.

Heinrich finished his new present documents and decided to commence with the new stack of documents. They were considered on the lighter side of work among other things on his desk. He did not want to do heavy and be mentally exhausted first thing in the morning.

Lily prepare the morning tea for the king aptly as Heinrich began reading through the documents.

'A request for a new mode of transport to the underground district directly from the upper district? A long cable lift?' Heinrich read with interest.

The proposal was ultimately capitalized on the possible profits for nobles, but the idea of making the underground easily accessible from the Upper District does have its merits. It was convenient.

But considering the proximity to the foundation holding the Capital up and preventing it from sinking into the underground, Heinrich felt that the matter had to be tread carefully. A single mistake would damn everyone in the Capital.

Heinrich flipped the page and begun looking at the thesis and design of the cable lift. Everything was well thought out from the beginning to the end. It was detailed and well explained.

The king smiled wryly when he found out later that it was jointly proposed by Ignis Lancaster and Bromley Cromwell.

He was assured if it was these two people working together. Flipping back to the first page, he picked up the royal stamp and stamped the document with his approval.

Taking a sip of his Earl Grey tea, the king moved onto the next set of documents. It was a request from the commoners.

Anything related to commoners was a sensitive topic these days. The King had learned after his long slumber that the commoners suffered the most in the past 17 years due to the unruly noble treatment, discrimination, and exploitation.

'A request for the construction of a church?" Heinrich became serious immediately.

No religion exists within the Crawford Kingdom. Everyone worships the Hero King and that was enough. The kingdom did not need a bunch of worshippers of some unknown god that may or may not exist. It was detrimental to royal authority.

Heinrich wanted to toss the document away and move on, but he still forces himself to finish reading at least. By the time, he reached the end, he was dumbfounded.

The request came from a group of survivors from a human trafficking business. Their story was truly tragic, but in their moment of despair, they were saved by something anyone would find hard to believe.

This was the strangest thing he read all morning. It was not a request to build a church to worship some god but a holy shield. Looking at the picture attached to the document, it looked like a cauldron lid…

Heinrich wore a really peculiar expression while closing the document. He had approved the request with his royal stamp.

"Your Majesty, the general marquis, Hendrick Graham, and envoys of an Elven Tribe of the Wildlands, Elvengarde has come to seek an audience." A new maid stepped in and reported.

Heinrich stared blankly with doubt. Elves were real? And the general marquis personally escorted them here instead of stopping them at the border? These envoys must be important.

"Did they state the reason for their visit?"

"The general marquis stated that they have come to discuss an alliance between their tribe and our kingdom."

Heinrich subconsciously glanced in the direction of the World Tree. Did they come for that? Turning to a dark spot in the study room, he asked, "Do we have any news on the big tree in the east yet?"

"Not yet, Your Majesty. My men are still on their way to find out the reason for its sudden appearance."

An old voice responded from the dark spot.

Heinrich creased his brows and turned back to the maid. "Where are the elven envoys right now?"

"They are currently waiting in the Great Hall, Your Majesty."

"Very well, let us go meet these elven friends who have come from afar."

Heinrich nodded and got up. The maids accompanied him on the way and the dark spot flickered ever so slightly before becoming still again.

The study room was silent after everyone left.

Chapter 261 - Unconsiousness

The King's arrival was announced upon arriving at the Great Hall along with Grandmaster Don tagging along. The general marquis was the first to kneel and paid his respects to the king.

"Greetings, your Majesty."

"Arise," Heinrich said and glanced at the elven envoys. He had affirmed that the beauty of elves depicted in stories was not an exaggeration at all. His eyes lingered on the Princess for a few instances longer before retracting his gaze. He was simply admiring their beauty and had no further thoughts.

"Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty."

The two envoys, the Supreme Elder and Princess Faelyn greeted.

"Thank you for coming out to meet us. I pray that you are not offended by our sudden visit to your domain."

"You are too humble. I welcome you both to my kingdom." The king said coolly.

At the side, Grandmaster Don was especially surprised. He had quickly guessed that the Supreme Elder was most likely stronger than him from the fact that he could not see through the other party's cultivation.

For a Transcendent more powerful than him to be this respect to a human king who had yet to reach the Transcendent Realm, he found this unbelievable.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. And this is…?" The Supreme Elder naturally noticed Grandmaster Don's studying gaze and asked.

"Oh, pardon my late introduction, esteemed envoys. I am Don, a Grandmaster Alchemist of this kingdom." Grandmaster Don introduced himself respectfully, before continuing, "With all due respect for someone stronger than myself, I believe there is no need for the esteemed envoy to be overly humble, right?"

"Not too humble… not too humble at all." The Supreme Elder waved it off nonchalantly as he recalls the expert last night. He really wanted to ask about the experts in their kingdom, but it was insensitive and inappropriate to pry.

Seeing the grandmaster being so respectful, Heinrich also looked at him questioningly. It took a moment to understand before he looked back at the Supreme Elder with shock.

This person was also a Transcendent? And he is more powerful than his Uncle Don? An elf really cannot be judged by their appearance!

The Supreme Elder looked like he was in his 30s and the King totally treated him like a junior! Heinrich gulped with a dribble of sweat. Was there anyone more powerful than this person in their kingdom?

This was not someone they could offend and should be treated with all due respect. Heinrich was totally caught off-guard by the Supreme Elder's humble attitude.

'So, it was true that all elves were good-natured and humble?!' Heinrich mistakenly thought.

"Ahem." Heinrich cleared his throat and asked, "Is it true that your Elven Tribe is seeking an alliance with our kingdom?"

"Ah, yes. That is correct…"

…

Leon thought he had gotten up early, but when he went to look for his father, he failed to find the king after visiting the bedchamber and study room. In fact, the king was nowhere to be found in the Inner Palace. Even Grandmaster Don was missing.

'Don't tell me the meeting with the envoys had already started? So early. There are a lot of people that still sleep at this time.' Leon thought wryly as he scratched his head.

The sun rises early during the cold seasons just as night also arrives early. Most people would not get up this early in the morning unless they had something to do like early morning exercise before breakfast.

After asking around, Leon found out that was truly the case. The king had taken the grandmaster with him to meet the envoys in the Great Hall.

Knowing this, Leon prepared to make his way over. He was interested in what the elves were seeking from forming an alliance with them, although he already had a few guesses in mind.

It was at this moment that something happened.

Click.

Akin to something clicking into place in his mind, the elemental seeds had completely merged with his soul core, slightly ahead of time.

Leon was pleasantly surprised, but before he could celebrate, something else also happened subsequently.

"What the… what is happen—"

He could not finish speaking when his world started spinning and blacked out. His consciousness slipped into the darkness of his own sea of consciousness as his body slumped onto the ground with a thud.

The nearby palace guard sentries were shocked and rushed over immediately.

"Your Highness! Are you okay?!"

"His Highness isn't responding! Was it an enemy attack?"

"There's no wound and his Highness's breathing is steady."

"Was it a soul attack? The same one that put his Majesty in a deep coma?! Alarm the others and search the perimeters!"

"Guard his Highness properly!"

The Royal Palace was quickly stirred, and the palace guards and maid all began freaking out.

Something happened to the prince and no one knew why or how. What they do know is that if the Queen returns and find out something happened to her darling son in the safety of their own palace, a violent storm will soon shake the entire place.

…

In the Great Hall, Heinrich met with the envoys of Elvengarde and was already in the final stages of their discussion.

Contrary to what the envoys originally intended; some details they had once discussed with general marquis were changed after the events the Supreme Elder sensed last night.

Rather than an alliance, they were willing to recognize the Crawford Kingdom as their sovereign so long as the Crawford Kingdom could provide a patch of land for the refuge of their people.

Strangely, the Supreme Elder did not mention anything about the World Tree. Simply said, any land would do for them.

Such a thing baffled the king. This went beyond the realm of being humble. They were simply submitting to them, an entire tribe no less!

"Is this appropriate, Supreme Elder? I don't think the tribe will agree to this arrangement." Princess Faelyn whispered. She did not doubt that her father would disagree along with the elders of the opposing faction. Elves also have their own pride. How could they lower themselves to humans?

"Even if they disagree, they have no choice but to agree!" The Supreme Elder said firmly back.

With the great mountain range as a natural barrier for the Human Domain, they would be able to keep themselves safe from the growing rampage of the beasts.

The beasts still made up the greatest numbers in the Wildlands. The day all beasts begin rampaging was not something their mid-rank tribe could weather through.

They must be willing to live under the rule of humans if they want to move their tribe into the Human Domain. Any other reason would be seen as an act of aggression, an invasion of the Human Domain.

The growing concern of Wildlands was recounted by the general marquis, which in terms gave more credibility to the Elven Tribe's reason to migrate to the Human Domain.

Heinrich's brows were locked into deep thoughts as he carefully considered the matter. The royal family had a more detailed recollection of historical matters.

When he learned about the concerns of the Wildland, a different idea formulated in his mind. Turning to the general marquis, Heinrich asked with all-time seriousness, "What do you think, general? Do you think the Second Cataclysm is upon us?"

"Whether a Second Cataclysm is happening or not, I am not sure. But what I am sure of is that the storm forth by a Second Cataclysm will be incomparable to the First Cataclysm!" Hendrick stated.

Heinrich nodded in agreement.

"The First Cataclysm was the most violent eruption period of solar storms in the history known to men. Not only did beasts grow extreme powerful during this short period, their murderous basic instincts and urges increased exponentially."

"If the beasts undergo a similar power spike again, I'm afraid that even the Great Wall will not be enough to keep the Human Domain safe. The Second Cataclysm bring forth a storm so violent, it will sweep across the entire continent—No, the entire world!"

"Your vassalization proposition, this king accepts!"

Henrich's words echoed throughout the Great Hall, emanating the grandeur and majesty of a king. A free pie falling out of the sky, there was no reason to refuse.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The reason it was a proposition and not simply submission was because there was one thing the Supreme Elder still had to fight for at all cost even if they were yielding to the human king; that is the right to self-govern themselves.

The Supreme Elder was not stupid. The beauty of their elven race was something humans could hardly resist. He would not offer his tribe's allegiance without some guaranteed form of protection. They had to protect the last vestige of their dignity at the very least and not simply becomes slaves to humans.

"However, this matter cannot be settled by my words alone. We will continue to discuss the allocation of land at a later date. There are some people I still wish to speak with beforehand. For now, I shall temporarily grant you the title of Marquis. You may use the guest courtyard for—"

Heinrich's speech was interrupted by a group of palace guards barging into the Great Hall. He looked at the palace guards gloomily.

The palace guard immediately felt the king's displeasure and intention. If they did not have a good reason for barging into the Great Hall, they would be punished severely. A palace guard shook his head from the pressure and said, "Your Majesty! Something has happened to his Highness!"

"What!"

Heinrich immediately stood up from his throne.

"What happened to my son?!"

"His Highness had suddenly collapsed and fallen into a coma, Your Majesty! We've checked his Highness's condition, but we have no idea what is wrong!"

"Take me to see my son right this instance!" Heinrich urged.

There had been an invisible wall between father and son that made them feel awkwardly distant from each other, but at this moment when Heinrich heard something had happened to his son, that invisible wall seemingly collapsed in the brink of an eye.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The palace guard complied immediately.

Hearing something happened to the prince, the Supreme Elder recalled the person he had met in the workshop previously and was interested in meeting the person again.

"A moment please, your Majesty."

"What is it? Make it quick!" Heinrich said with knitted brows, obviously anxious to see his son.

The Supreme Elder was not offended and said, "I don't wish to brag, but our elven race is quite adept in medicine. Perhaps, we can be of assistance."

"Is that so? That's great! Follow me then."

Receiving the king's agreement, everyone left and soon arrived in front of the unconscious Leon, who laid motionless in his own bed.

Alchemy shared a close relationship with medicine. As a Grandmaster Alchemist, Don also had some understanding of medicine. He was the first to diagnose the unconscious Leon, but within a short instance of taking his pulse, he shook his head.

"His breathing is perfectly steady and there are no irregularities in his pulse. He is perfectly fine." Grandmaster Don stated.

'If my son is perfectly fine when why isn't he waking up?'

Heinrich wanted to shout, but held it in and turned to the Supreme Elder. Subsequently, the Supreme Elder turned to the Princess while saying, "The Princess is more adept in medicine than me. Perhaps, she can find an answer."

Of course, this was not true. The Supreme Elder just wanted to give the princess an opportunity to show off her skills. Her presence was completely overshadowed by him. He did not want the humans to think the princess of their tribe was just accompanying him like a porcelain doll.

Receiving the acknowledgment from both the king and Supreme Elder stepped forth to diagnose the prince as her eyes fell upon Leon's soundly sleeping face....

Chapter 262 - Nothingness, Devouring, And Fear

Within a realm of infinite darkness, Leon was dumbfounded and frozen still like a block of wood. The change happened too suddenly.

"What just happened? Why does this place look awfully familiar?" Leon scratched his head. Seeing the slight transparency of his own hand from a corner of his eye, he flinched.

"I am in my soul form? No wonder this place looks so familiar! Isn't this my own damn sea of consciousness?!" Leon cursed in understanding.

There was not a problem with entering his sea of consciousness. The problem was that he did not enter on his own volition! Being trapped in his sea of consciousness once, he developed a slight fear of being trapped inside again.

Not to mention, he was still outside in the open just a moment ago. His defenseless body was there for others to abuse. Who knows if the maids will be able to resist his charms or not? What if they—Ahem, he was thinking nonsense again.

"Hold on. Something is different."

Leon frowned and refocused his gaze on the location of his soul core and froze again with wide eyes. His soul core was missing.

However, he did not freak out. The matter was not as simple as it seems. If the soul core was gone, he would not be alive and conscious of his own thoughts.

Six threads of energy could be seen drawing towards the center in a steady stream from the outside. These threads of energy correlate to each of the elemental seed he had formed. There were fire, ice, lightning, metal, earth, and wood.

At the center of his now absent soul core was a black hole-like object. The energy threads were drawn inside like a vortex and forming a thin ring of multicolored light that made the black vortex visible in the darkness of his sea of consciousness like a sun-moon eclipse.

Expanding his divine sense, Leon was able to sense that his soul core was residing inside the said black vortex.

"How intriguing. A subspace has been formed in my sea of consciousness." Leon rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression. "Of the possible changes I was expecting from my elemental seeds merging with my soul core, I did not expect this one."

Rather than being concerned about the unknown, Leon was intriguing in learning the theory behind the change. He had a gut feeling that it contained the secrets of the universe.

"This is quite similar to the stable inner world of Divine Origin realm practitioners." Leon mused.

Humans can only contain so much energy in their bodies. The Heaven Ascension realm was the limit for humans after compressing energy to the limit.

To go beyond, one must first create more room in their glabella by shattering the core and form a pocket universe within their glabella, also known as the inner world.

Most Heaven Ascension realm practitioners fail at this step and directly blow themselves to death without a speck of their existence left behind. It is one of the most dangerous steps in divine cultivation with a 90% death rate.

Failure equals death and success equal stepping into the Void Realm.

While studying the black vortex, Leon soon shook his head. It was like an inner world, but that was about it.

An inner world could store objects and even nurture life at a higher realm, but the black vortex could only store energy. At least, that was the feeling Leon was getting. But no matter, it was trivial when the Worldspace was already capable of all that.

"What could have caused this change? Is it because a sixth element was introduced? When the five basic elements are fused, pseudo-Grandmist is formed."

However, Leon was puzzled. There was no such thing as pseudo-Grandmist. It was something he made up because the Grandmist energy he refined was not as powerful as what Grandmist energy was described to be.

He thought it was a minor error the creator made in the technique. As a result, he believed that Grandmist energy becomes more complete the higher he advances in the stages, but that no longer seems to be the case.

Legend states that first, there was Grandmist, then there was Primal Chaos. In other words, Primal Chaos was formed after Grandmist first appeared in the world. But after Primal Chaos was formed, Grandmist energy disappeared.

Yet, the [Hegemon of Primal Chaos] states that Grandmist energy was needed to refine primal chaos energy. This was not right. Grandmist energy should be at a higher level than primal chaos energy.

After a round of deep and careful pondering, Leon understood where the contradiction exists.

[Hegemon of Primal Chaos] was an ancient technique created during the primordial era of gods when the disappearing Grandmist still exists, most likely.

When Grandmist disappears, primal chaos energy becomes the next most powerful energy. One who can control primal chaos energy, controls Primal Chaos.

The reason no one could practice the [Hegemon of Primal Chaos] back in the Divine Realm was not that it was incomplete, but because it was flawed, to begin with. There was a great disparity between the eras and the world was no longer the same.

No one would be able to succeed in practicing the technique in the present era even if they were given a million years. Grandmist had practically vanished from the world and only exists at the center of black holes, a place inaccessible to even Divine Kings…

So, why was he able to practice the technique? Because Grandmist energy was present? Recalling the star map, Leon's eyes began to shine. He seemed to have understood something.

The central region of the Divine Realm, the graveyard of divine practitioners… Was that not one massive black hole?

"A world within a black hole, huh? Who would have thought…?" Leon softly murmured as many thoughts flickered across his mind. The veil over his mind was lifted. He was enlightened.

Grandmist formed Primal Chaos, this was true, but it was not the absolute beginning. In the absolute beginning, there was nothing. Everything began with a big bang on the cosmic scale. From nothingness, Grandmist was born. From nothingness, everything was created.

Looking back at the black vortex, Leon hovered in the empty space with a profound look. He knew what played the greatest role in the formation of the black vortex.

When he first started practicing the [Hegemon of Primal Chaos], there was a point when he thought he was going to fail in refining the first strand of pseudo-Grandmist energy, but he managed to draw power from an unknown source and succeeded.

That power was his willpower—No, mental energy—No, that is not correct either. It was soul energy that came from his very soul.

The soul was intangible. It was immaterial, illusory, incorporeal, and transcendental. It was nothingness, but from it, anything was possible. What is reality? What is imaginary? With one's will, the virtual can become reality. Everything can be created with a single thought, including the universe.

All energy was derived from Grandmist energy, but Grandmist energy was derived from soul energy that is illusory. From nothing came everything, and everything will return to nothing.

That is what formed the black vortex in his sea of consciousness. As Leon arrived at this conclusion, he seemed to have gained preliminary comprehension of a great law and awoken the black vortex from its slumber as it began to swallow energy like a bottomless pit.

It was not just the six elemental energy he possesses, but all other energy there was. This includes solar, wind, light, and darkness itself. Everything was drawn into the black vortex and ground down into fine particles before they were fused together.

Leon had a feeling the black vortex would be able to devour everything between heaven and earth.

…

Outside, Princess Faelyn began performing her diagnosis on Leon's body. She placed her delicate fair hand on Leon's sturdy chest and sent out her energy to scan his body.

"Hmm…"

At the same, Heinrich blinked as he looked at this scene and hummed a low tune. Much as he was concerned about his son, he was also concerned about the future.

He was not stupid either. The elves' presence was a pleasant surprise, but their beauty was also a source of future trouble. No doubt, there would be friction between their two races due to blind and greedy people. The world never lacked idiots after all.

If the Supreme Elder were enraged due to such a conflict, the king doubt there was anyone in the Crawford Kingdom that could contain the rage of such a Seeking Insight-level Transcendent.

How could he bind their two races together more strongly? Something stronger than a verbal agreement between vassal and lord? A marriage agreement?

'Fuck it, he already engaged to multiple ladies. One more won't hurt.' Heinrich looked at his son's sleeping face and thought.

Like Grandmaster Don, Princess Faelyn found no irregularities with Leon's body condition itself. The problem seems to stem from the soul. As she swept her energy towards Leon's glabella to investigate, she gasped with surprise and retreated.

"Ah!"

"What happened?"

The Supreme Elder caught the princess and asked.

"I'm not sure… Something is wrong with his… his Highness's soul."

The wood energy of elves had curative powers like any wood-user. It could mend any physical wounds, except mental ones. But as she was checking Leon's soul, she felt a strong tug, and her wood energy was wrestled out of her control.

She had decisively cut off her connection to that bit of energy before she sustained any more losses and damage to her own spirit.

"Allow me." The Supreme Elder said with a serious look. He had said that the Princess Faelyn's proficiency in medicine was greater than his, but if none of them could even cure the prince, it would be a great smack to their faces.

He sent out his own powerful energy to diagnosis the prince's soul. He immediately frowned when he felt the same tug, but he did not resist and allow the force to drawn him in.

It was not long after he was sinking deeper inside that he felt that this was a terrible mistake. He felt like he was staring into the deep abyss that wanted to swallow him whole.

The Supreme Elder's face soon changed to one of sheer terror. His cultivation was being devoured! It was not just his wood energy but even his law comprehension that was being devoured!

'Nooo!'

He inwardly roared with fear. The comprehension of laws was the lifeblood of Transcendents. It was more important than the energy that could be replenished anytime.

The Supreme Elder tried to wrestle back what was lost but to no avail. Instead, the more time he wasted, the more energy and comprehension into the law of wood he lost.

'Son of a… Arghhh! Give it back!'

At the same time, inside his sea of consciousness, Leon suddenly felt a surge of energy. He did not know where it came from, but he devoured it happily. His reinstated and unified awakening cultivation began to rise at an alarming rate.

Three-star level…

Four-star level…

Five-star level…

'S-Stop… Stop it!'

The venerated aura of a Seeking Insight-level expert was gone, and in its place was a 400-yr old elf begging like a child who had his candy snatched.

Six-star level…

Seven-star level…

Eight-star level…

The Supreme Elder was at his wit's end. He was about to drop back down to the Preliminary Accession level. He was the venerable Supreme Elder of Elvengarde. Their Elven Tribe will become more vulnerable with one less Seeking Insight-level Transcendent!

'How can this be?! How is this happening?! Why am I losing with my strength? Arghhh… Dammit!'

Seeing that someone at his level had no chance of wrestling back his lost cultivation, he finally decided to cut off his connection. If he were not so stubborn and had done it immediately, he would have cut his losses to a bare minimum.

The Supreme Elder paled and retreated a few steps before falling on his buttocks.

"Are you alright, Supreme Elder?" Princess Faelyn rushed over to support the Supreme Elder.

"What happened?"

The king and Grandmaster Don were both surprised. What on earth did the Supreme Elder see? Peeking into someone's sea of consciousness can bring a Seeking Insight-level expert on their knees?

The Supreme Elder's mouth twitched profusely at the question as he stared at the peacefully sleeping face of Leon with lingering fear.

"M-Monster…"

Chapter 263 - Fleeing The Scene

After escaping the ordeal, the venerate aura of the Supreme Elder was all but gone, and all that was left was a disheveled look like the Supreme Elder had suddenly aged a few decades.

Although Leon remained unconscious and soundly asleep, the rise in cultivation did not go unnoticed. Heinrich, Grandmaster, and Princess Faelyn had all sensed it, let alone the Supreme Elder who had experienced it firsthand.

"Are you alright, Senior Haldir?" Grandmaster Don chose his words carefully, sounding the Supreme Elder out. He hoped the Supreme Elder would not become hostile from his loss in cultivation.

"Haa…" The Supreme Elder peeled his eyes away from Leon and exhaled deeply. His face was still a bit pale from the experience. "I'm alright… I just need some time to rest for a while."

The Supreme Elder sounded rather despondent and depressed. There were no feelings of malice towards the prince, only the small trace of lingering fear. This was what he reaped for being stubborn.

"O-Of course, allow me to escort you to the guest courtyard," Heinrich said, feeling slightly guilty for the Supreme Elder's state.

"That won't be necessary, your Majesty." The Supreme Elder shook his head and declined courtly. "It's improper for your Majesty to personally escort me. A maid or servant will do."

"Alright then." Heinrich did not beat around the bush, seeing the Supreme Elder was firm in his decision. He hesitated for a moment before asking, "About my son… Was there any problem?"

The Supreme Elder shivered slightly at the mention of the prince, but he calmed himself down and answered, "His Highness is perfectly fine and seemed to have entered a strange cultivation state. His Highness should be able to wake after he completes his cultivation. I probably don't need to mention this, but I do strongly advise against any further careless actions of peeking into the prince's sea of consciousness."

Recalling the experience, the Supreme Elder had never felt so shaken. He did not know what the black vortex he glanced upon was, but it was not a power he could mess with. It contained the force of a Great Law—No, Supreme Law behind it!

In front of this law, he was like an insignificant speck of dust in existence. Nothing could compare to it. Was this even something mortals can comprehend?!

The Supreme Elder had experienced too many surprises since his arrival in the Human Domain. He needed some time alone where he could calm his nerves.

After Heinrich called for a maid to send the Supreme Elder away to his living quarters in the Guest Courtyard, the king turned to the elven princess.

"Princess Faelyn, if it's not too much trouble, may I trouble you to look after my son for a while in case anything happens?" The king requested.

Faelyn thought that it was strange that the king was making this request to her when any maid will do. Perhaps, the king was still concerned about the prince and was not assured unless an expert in medicine was watching over the prince.

"I don't mind looking after his Highness… You can just call me Faelyn, your Majesty." Princess Faelyn thought for a moment before she answered.

"Thank you very much. With that, I am assured." Heinrich said, before shaking his head. "However, that won't do. I cannot agree with that. In any case, you are still the princess of a tribe. It is only proper that I show you the basic level of courtesy and recognition deserving of royalty."

Princess Faelyn smiled wryly and said courtly, "As per your wish, your Majesty."

"These maids will tend to all your basic needs and necessity during your stay here. If there is anything you need, feel free to summon them and order them as you wish. They will right outside."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Princess Faelyn soon curtsied in response to the king bidding his leave with the Grandmaster Alchemist after.

After everyone left, it was just Princess Faelyn and the unconscious Leon in the room, while two maids stood outside patiently. Princess Faelyn could not help but heave a sigh of relief. She could relax for a bit.

It was just too exhausting dealing with royalties and nobles with formal speech. She preferred to spend her time among the commoners within her tribe due to this reason. She could speak more freely.

Having some time to think, she could not help but think that the king was giving her preferential treatment. There was this look of approval the king had in his eyes when he looked at her.

Things had also progressed rather smoothly on their trip to the Human Domain. There were some minor scuffles with some young nobles within the Upper District on their way to their accommodation last night, but it was all handled by the general marquis.

Glancing back at the unconscious prince, she found drawn to him. What kind of person was the prince and what kind of secrets were hidden inside his body? She had never seen the Supreme Elder in such a sorry state.

She was also worried about the future. Her father and the elders would not agree willingly to become vassals of humans. There were bound to be disagreements. She only hoped that things do not take a drastic turn for the worse.

If the future was as grim as the Supreme Elder predicted, they should avoid conflict at all costs and work together.

Time slowly passed within the small room. Princess Faelyn felt a bit bored and decided to check on the prince's condition again.

…

Inside his sea of consciousness, Leon felt a bit regretful that the surge of energy ended so soon. Just a little bit more and he would have advanced his cultivation to 9 stars.

'Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.' He shook his head.

After the surge of energy ended, he realized he could leave his sea of consciousness whenever he wishes. However, he did not decide to leave immediately.

The black vortex was no longer devouring energy greedily, but six streams of energy continue to flow towards it in a steady motion.

"Something feels a bit different about my cultivation… Receiving such a large intake of wood energy, I expected my cultivation to lean towards the wood element, but that doesn't seem to be the case. My awakening cultivation feels… uniform."

Inside the black vortex space where his soul core now resides, there was a ring of grey energy circulating around his soul core. It was not Grandmist energy, but a type of neutral energy without any distinct element.

However, Leon had an instinctive feeling that it can become any elemental energy he wants it to be if he wills it. He was not sure how he knew, but after gaining some comprehension into the law of nihility, his mind had gained a greater sense of clarity.

The distance between virtual and reality seemed to have blurred and there was an elusive yet omnipotent feeling of being able to bend the world according to his will.

'I should return and test the extent of my newfound abilities.' Leon decided.

Exiting the sea of consciousness, Leon's perception returned to reality. But before he opened his eyes, he decided to keep it close and studied the surrounding with his divine sense.

He could feel the presence of someone touching him. It was the elven princess, Faelyn.

'What kind of situation is this? What the heck happened while I was out? Why is she in my room alone with me? Where are the others?' Questions flooded his mind.

'Oh, she's holding my arm now… what does she want to do?'

Not knowing that the prince had regained consciousness, Princess Faelyn cluelessly held the prince's left arm closer to her face and inspected a faint scar that she had failed to detect previously.

It was the scar left behind by the Body Rune engraving process last night. The Golden Ointment had closed the wound, but a faint scar was left behind.

A refreshing ball of green light began to light up on Princess Faelyn's delicate finger as she used it to trace along the scar line.

The scar disappeared almost immediately.

'Oh, she's removing my scar. How thoughtful. She seems to be skilled in medicine. Did my father ask her to look after me because I suddenly passed out?' Leon thought.

Leon silently did self-introspection on himself and failed to find any problem with his body. He was perfectly healthy.

'I guess she should be done now… hm?'

Princess Faelyn did not place Leon's arm back down even after a while had passed. She appeared dazed and there was even a slightly envious look in her eyes as she traced along Leon's skin.

'How can a guy have such nice skin?' She thought.

Although Leon's skin was not as fair as her, it was elastic, silky smooth, but also packed with hidden explosiveness underneath.

She could tell that these were very sturdy arms, despite its delicate appearance. Looks were deceiving.

She was confused by the contradiction between sturdiness and delicateness. She did not know it was possible to achieve both things.

'How can this be? How did he do?'

She took a glimpse at Leon's 'sleeping' face and continuing her investigation.

Meanwhile, Leon was feeling conflicted in his heart.

Even if placed in the entire Divine Realm, the beauty of the elven princess could be ranked amongst the very top.

Logically speaking, any guy would die happy if they were being felt all over by such a level of beauty, so where does this conflicted feeling come from? Because such a beautiful princess was secretly a pervert?

'This is considered harassment, right?' He thought wryly.

'Not good, I can't continue pretending like this.'

Leon felt like his heart was continuously being tickled. He was not immune to this level of beauty. His little brother was getting a reaction. If the princess notices the rising tent, he will lose all his face.

Right then, his eyes decisively snapped open and got up.

"I must say, princess, are you trying to awaken the dragon?! Why are you so touchy?"

Leon stared straight into her emerald eyes.

Princess Faelyn froze as her brain got short-circuited in response. Time seemed to have stopped at this moment.

"Hey!"

Leon waved in front of her.

"Ah?"

Princess Faelyn snapped back to reality and her eyes widened as she registered his previous words and realized that Leon had been pretending to be asleep for some time. Recalling what she was doing, she was so surprised for words, she could only yelp.

"Ah!"

"Are you alright?"

The princess had stumbled backward with a deep crimson flush on her face. Her heart was beating like crazy and her mind was in chaos. She just wants to find a hole to crawl into. The embarrassment was killing her!

"I… I should go!"

The princess fled the room like a frightened rabbit no sooner than the words she uttered. Leon could not help but chuckle and shake his head wryly.

"What happened? I heard a scream and the elven princess running…" Heinrich returned to the room in an unnaturally timely manner. He was pleasantly surprised to find his son waking up so soon.

Apparently, the king had been camping around nearby.

Recalling the elven princess fleeing with a flushed face, he seemed to have understood something and a wide smile crept on his face.

He intended to discuss this matter with his son beforehand, but it appears that there was no need. His son was already making his move.

The beauty of the elven princess was irresistible. Why wouldn't his son want an elven wife?

"Nice one, son."

The king gave his son a thumbs up.

"What are you talking about?"

Leon was speechless.

Chapter 264 - New Ability

Ever since the World Tree ascended, the tree spirit had yet to show any sign of activity like it had fallen into some sort of deep slumber. The reason was not far from the truth. The tree spirit had entered a semi-dormant state to adapt to its new realm.

The rapid growth and absorption of sunlight had tired out its spirits like a person experiencing food coma from eating too much. Nevertheless, the World Tree continues to supply the region with spirit energy autonomously from the tree spirit's will.

As long as the World Tree continues to absorb sunlight, it would produce spirit energy without pause.

In a mere two days, the region had already become rich in spirit energy and began spilling to the surrounding region. People would find themselves more lively and refreshed while they are in this region.

Elder Evergreen and his villagers had not been idle during this period. With the help of the palace guards left behind to acquire materials from the nearby city, the nature spirits had quickly rebuilt themselves a new village by the foot of the World Tree.

The village mainly consists of grass huts, constructed by weaving together oversized grass the villagers had cultivated with their newfound wood abilities. It had grown well under the spirit energy-rich environment, or perhaps it should be said that it had grown a little too well.

"Elder Evergreen, are you helping out the soldiers again today?" Lilith asked in the ancient language. It was still lacking but basic communication had been achieved.

"En, that's right. There are still a lot of wounded soldiers to heal. How about you, lass? Looking at your getup, it seems like you are ready to join the exploration group and exploring the underground?"

"Yup, there are still a lot of relics yet to be uncovered and we have left quite a few things behind due to the danger. I think it should be safer to explore now." Lilith said enthusiastically.

"Hoho, aren't you quite passionate about this?" Elder Evergreen asked. "There's really nothing great about the Nova Empire. This was a civilization that ended up destroying themselves and the world. There's nothing to learn from their relics."

"I have to disagree, elder. This civilization had many amazing technologies we can learn from. If we could learn how they were destroyed, we could also learn to avoid the same mistake and prevent history from repeating itself."

Elder Evergreen shook his head, seeing he cannot convince this lass against it.

"Be careful down there. The danger is ever-present in the subterranean world," he warned.

"I will!" Seeing the exploration ready to leave, Lilith said, "Ah, they're leaving now. I'll see you later, elder. Bye!"

Seeing the lass leave, Elder Evergreen shook his head and made his way over the nearby military camp. The battle seemed to have ended but many wounded soldiers returned to get treated.

"You're here again, elder. We will be in your care again."

A commander wrapped in bandages said to Elder Evergreen with respect. The battle in Eastfell City had been quite fierce.

They had suffered various degrees of injuries, including losing their limbs. If not for the miraculous healing abilities of the nature spirits, a lot of his brothers would have lost their lives even if emergency first aid had been performed.

"En." Elder Evergreen nodded and glanced at the wounded soldiers laying on the stretchers in the hospital tent. "Looks like there is no one severely wounded among today's batch of soldiers. You won't refuse my treatment this time, right?"

"That's right, Commander! We can wait for our turns. You have already waited an entire night, despite being one of the first batches to arrive!"

"You don't have to worry about us, Commander! Please get yourself treated! Taking two sword blows from an inner disciple is already you can brag about for days. Compared to that, this is just a scratch!"

"Just a scratch, huh? Why don't we see whether this scratch will hurt or not if I press it?"

"Please… Please don't… Aiyo… so much pain…" the soldier wailed.

"Alright, stop acting tough and let the elder and the others treat you all first." The commander said stubbornly. "This is what you call a real scratch. See? It doesn't even hurt. Hahaha…"

"Umm… Commander, you are bleeding."

"Nonsense. I know my body well—"

Thud.

The sound of a body slapping the ground was heard.

"The commander passed out!"

"Quick, save the Commander!"

The soldiers shouted in panic.

A soft green glow appeared on Elder Evergreen's palm as he hovered it in over the Commander's bandaged upper body.

Although his cultivation was high, it appeared that there was a limit to how quickly wood energy could heal a person as compared to cultivating plants.

This soldier had suffered two long cuts across his chest. Although the wound was not deep enough to reach the organs, a lot of blood had been lost.

The elder was amused by the soldier's stubbornness.

…

After having a long talk with his son, Heinrich left the courtyard and returned to his study room to deal with the daily piles of work that did not seem to have an end.

Back in the courtyard, Leon was standing in the open space. From time to time, a ball of flame would light up on his palm. At other times, there was a ball of lightning, a block of ice, a germinated seed, a piece of rock, and a sharp silver glow.

"This is interesting. Each element is at the 8-star level." Leon mused.

Rather than saying that each of his elemental abilities had been raised to the 8-star level, it was more accurate to say that any element he conjured would possess the strength of 8 stars.

He had discovered that when he uses his fire ability, the grey ring of neutral energy within his black cortex would transform into a ring of fiery energy. When he switches to a different element, the ring of energy would transform accordingly to allow him to use the ability of that correlating element.

Leon attempted to conjure a ball of wind, but he failed. He made similar attempts with light, darkness, and space but nothing happened. The grey ring of energy in his black vortex did not transform.

"It seems like I still need to comprehend the required laws if I want to control the related element…" Leon pondered and frowned, "Hold on, I'm missing something. What can I control if the ring of energy remains neutral?"

Leon glanced at a teacup on the table and lifted it with earth manipulation. The grey ring of energy did not change.

Leon was confused.

"It didn't change?"

He waved his hand and separated the tea from the cup with his ice manipulation. The grey ring of energy also did not change. Leon manipulated the tea back into the teacup and placed it back on the table.

He began to ponder.

"The energy only transforms when I'm trying to conjure the element. It doesn't change if I manipulate an existing element?"

As if to confirm his suspicion, Leon did not try to conjure another ball of wind. Instead, he tried to draw in the existing air from his surroundings.

Swoosh…

The air was moved into action and gather to his palm in a whirling motion. Leon widened his eyes in surprise before he shot it away.

The ball of wind whirled through the sky for some great distance before it lost all momentum and dissipated.

"I can't conjure wind, but I can control wind… This doesn't make sense." Leon was a bit dumbfounded, but he found it quite mystical.

Looking down at his shadow, a thought entered his mind.

Soon, something amazing happened. It was like a pair of invisible hands were blocking out the sunlight as his shadow on the ground expanded out of shape and actually formed a circular-shaped dark spot around him.

He was not blocking the sunlight, but bending the light itself with his will. Leon found himself a bit shaken. This kind of ability was… amazing!

Leon continued to test the extent of his abilities. His feet left the ground, but nothing was holding him up. He was suspended in the air without any support.

His body floated higher and all sorts of maneuvers in the air were tested with his will.

"The speed is quite fast, but I think I can still go faster…"

Boom!

Leon kicked against a wall of air in the sky and sparks of fire and wood energy exploded like gunpowder in an instant and his figure shout outside the Capital like a meteor. He flew so fast he lost control and crash-landed on a small hill outside.

Dirt and dust scattered at the crash site before a human head popped out of a little crater in the ground.

"Pfft."

Leon spat out a mouthful of dirt.

"Aiyo, I think I might have broken a few bones…"

He pulled the rest of his body out of the ground before he laid down helplessly. He nearly died just now. He had a big leap in cultivation and did not take any time to stabilize his foundation. He was practically asking for trouble.

Thankfully, his body had undergone a few rounds of tempering and was not so fragile anymore.

Leon rested on the hill as he allowed a green glow to wrap about his body and enjoy the healing effects brought by wood energy.

He had more or less confirmed his new ability. It was the so-called 'mind over matter' ability that only a few selected individuals with powerful mental strength could awaken.

"My soul has grown much stronger."

Leon's eyes beamed.. The soul can grow stronger by comprehending powerful laws.

Chapter 265 - Reforging The Black Spear

A few minutes passed before Leon was fully healed back to peak condition. Looking at his dirtied clothes, Leon shook his head before returning to the Capital.

"Might as well sweat a bit in the workshop, since I'm already this dirty…"

Leon headed straight for Upper North District on his way back. Shortly after entering, he arrived in front of the workshop tower.

"What brings you so early to my workshop this time, my boy?" Ignis greeted him jovially with a few pats and gave the ragged Leon up and down glances. "What happened to you?"

Leon shook his head. "Never mind that, I came to use your forge again, father-in-law."

The atmosphere in the workshop was the same as yesterday, bustling, and noisy. Nothing has changed. It was like the attack on the entire Upper District last night did not happen.

Some people grieved for their lost ones and an upcoming large-scale funeral service will be held soon. It was said that the king would be attending personally and making a speech, but that would be it.

It was unfortunate, but the world would still be spinning, and life had to go on. There was work to do and money to be earned.

"Sure, sure you can use my forge again. Do you need my help again… hm?" Duke Ignis paused as he realized something. "I guess you don't."

The Duke sounded a little depressed towards the end of his words. After Leon recovered his awakening cultivation and even made large strides in it. The Duke could not see through it, but he could tell that his son-in-law's cultivation was already higher than his.

However, the Duke was not a person who would remain dwell on his depression for long periods. In a short instance, he had already recovered and moved on.

"Oh, that reminds me. The Scribing Pen was amazing! It worked wonders as you had described it! Do you want to see the first working levitation stone we made? I can't believe such a simple answer plagued us for years."

"…Nah, I'm good here." Leon smiled wryly. He already expected such a result. The Lancasters had perfected runic lines engravings.

Although they did not understand the details behind the effects, he had given them the blueprint for the levitation stone inner workings. Once everything was retraced by the Scribing Pen, it was not strange for the levitation stone to come to life after receiving the energy to kickstart it.

"I… I see…" Duke Ignis was a bit disheartened that Leon did not share his enthusiasm for such a groundbreaking matter. "Aren't you a bit excited at all, boy? Don't you know what this means? Think about it, it will be the booming age of airships!"

Duke Ignis was simply sparkling at the thought. How amazing would that be? However, Leon was not moved.

"What's so great about airships if you can already fly and have interspatial storages to carry stuff?" Leon asked nonchalantly.

Duke Ignis was immediately tongue-tied for words and began questioning his life's work. Leon had a great point. He had nothing to counter that argument and became depressed.

"I mean… Not everyone is able to fly and have interspatial storages, so it would still become a great asset to the kingdom. At least there will be no shortage of people who would want to own one…" Leon tried to console the Duke.

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore." Duke Ignis shook his head and his eyes became sharp. "Let's talk about you."

"What about me?"

Leon became stunned at the sudden shift of topics.

"When are you going to visit my daughter? You know, both of you have been engaged since birth and it has been some time since you both last seen each other. If you do not interact, how do you plan to cultivate your feelings? I don't know what happened, but as future husband and wife, you both need to get along harmoniously, no?

The Duke skillfully fishing out two pills from his interspatial ring and returned them to Leon. Leon glanced at the two pills and frowned with confusion. They were the Forgetting Nightmare Pill and Reminiscent Trial Pill he refined for Rachel.

"Rachel… she hasn't taken any of these pills yet?"

It was obvious in plain sight with the presence of the two pills in front of Leon, but he still could not help but ask the question with doubts. He wanted to know why.

"She's… quite the stubborn girl." Duke Ignis said helplessly. "She wanted to overcome the trauma by her own efforts and not take the easy solution provided by you."

"By her own efforts, you mean…"

"She's been facing a bucket of blood every day."

Leon was speechless. What was Rachel trying to prove? A woman's thoughts were hard to comprehend.

Fear of blood was not difficult to overcome, but the blood that invokes a traumatic memory was not so simple to overcome. Rachel was basically torturing herself by going about it the hard way when she did not need to.

Nevertheless, he had to at least commend her for her spirit if that was what she had been doing for the past month without giving up.

"I'll visit her after I'm done here, father-in-law." Leon shook his head and said.

"Alright… then I'll leave you to it for now."

After the Duke took the lift to a higher floor in the workshop tower, Leon went ahead and fired up the forge and prepped the materials.

There were quite a few items he intended to forge today now that his awakening cultivation had been unsealed. With his metal and fire manipulation, the forging time was cut down to a fraction of the previous time taken.

By the time Leon was done, there were several more interspatial rings, a few swords with rune enchantments, and even his own black spear had undergone reforging and enchanted with the power of runes.

Leon was quite satisfied with his work. If there was one thing to nitpick about all the items he produced in the span of four hours, it would be his aesthetic sense.

Ignoring the underlying runes hidden underneath and the quality of materials poured into it, the surface appearance of the sword itself was as plain as any other common sword found in the kingdom.

There simply no intricate design or beauty to it. Anyone would mistake it for cheap swords and rings at first glance.

Nevertheless, there was nothing to nitpick about the sword's performance. It was just slightly inferior to his enchanted black spear that received a 150% improvement to its overall quality, whether it was its durability, attack power, and sharpness. The black spear also weighs a staggering 400-jin, thanks to weight rune enchantment he added.

Nodding with satisfaction, Leon wiped his sweat and stowed away the items in his Worldspace before leaving.

Shortly after a quick wash at a public bathhouse, Leon arrived in front the Lancaster's mansion. It had been some time since he last visited.

"Halt! Who goes there?!"

A servant guarding the gate stopped him at the entrance.

Leon looked left and right, before pointing to himself with a weird expression of doubt. Was 3 months too long of a period that servants of the Lancaster family would forget a person of his status? He was not just the prince but the Duke's future son-in-law.

Another new guy that did not do his homework, perhaps? Did Bloodfiend Sect also attack the mansion last night and killed some servants? Where did the Lancasters find this guy?

"Are you talking to me?" He asked doubtfully.

"Who else would I be asking if not you? Quickly state your business here. Not just any cats and dogs can enter this estate." The servant rolled his eyes rudely.

"You must be new, right? With your cultivation, any cats and dogs are still stronger than you. I really wonder where your arrogance comes from." Leon shook his head as he was too lazy to bicker with a servant. "I came to see Rachel."

"You want to see the pearl of the Lancaster family? Who do you think you are? So, what if I am new? I have the Lancaster family behind me. Don't you know the Lancaster family will soon be related to the royal family by marriage? Stop dreaming about the young lady and just give up. You don't have a chance!" The servant said with disdain.

With Leon's young appearance and noble attire, the servant had completely taken him for another annoying young noble admirer who came to pester the young lady.

Leon was quite speechless.

"Who do I think I am? Who do YOU think I am?"

"Hmm, why don't you state your family name and I will tell you who you are? I am quite familiar with all the young nobles in the Capital." The servant said pretentiously after studying Leon's features.

"Crawford family," Leon said flatly with a not-so-impressed expression.

"Crawford family, huh? Then you must be… wait, Crawford?" The servant started off with an arrogant momentum, but the nervousness in his tone could not be hidden towards the end of his words. "Hahaha… I must have heard wrong, what did you say your name was again?"

"Leon Crawford."

Boom!

It was a casual response, but it rang like thunder in the servant's mind as the servant's knees began wobbling with weakness. He did not hear wrong, it really was the Crawford royal family! There could only be one person from the Crawford royal family that would match the person in front of him.

It's over! How could he behave so atrociously and rude to the prince? Who gave him such courage? Who?! If only he knew...

"Erm… please enter as you wish, your Highness." The servant said with an ashen face and forced smile that looked worse than crying.

Leon strolled forward with an impassive expression. As he walked past the servant, he patted the servant on the shoulder.

"A word of advice. Riding on the Lancaster family's fame does not give you the right to become arrogant. Learn to be more humble in the future, lest you lose what you got by luck. The Duke and Duchess really hate these types of people."

Leon did not need to say too much and just left. Recalling the past, he had been quite impulsive. Now, he did not care too much about making things difficult for these small fries.

After he entered the estate, the servant collapsed to the ground with trickling cold sweat.