Chapter 2783 - 835-848

Chapter 835 - Luna's True Body

The vastness of the underground ruins could not be seen but only explored to find out.

Ruins of a once majestic city lie in rubbles and debris before him while the giant frames and pillars of their damaged buildings still stood, rusted, deformed, but very much strong as it held up the ceiling.

Even so, these building frames and pillars appeared unnaturally welded together, forming a dome that protected what's left of the ruined city from the masses of land above it.

Leon discovered the scars of battle everywhere he looked.

From the top of the buildings to the ground below, remains of demons and humans lay scattered across the place, whether they were preserved or decayed.

"So this is the underground ruins… It's no doubt, a buried land of treasures," Leon muttered while studying the place.

However, the unnatural form of the building frames and pillars welded together concerned him.

'Were there survivors in this city, Tak-si?' he inquired.

'During the eruption of the Eternal Night Demon Empress's inner world, yes, of course, Master. Thanks to the Celestials' protection, there were still many survivors during that time,' the realm spirit replied.

'Then where are they now?' Leon inquired further.

'Well, that… they're all dead now,' the realm spirit said.

'Even though the Eternal Night Demon Empress's inner world eruption brought the battle between the Celestial Alliance and her faction to an end, it wasn't a conclusive one.'

'The Celestials all fled in fear of the Eternal Night Demon Empress's dark power's corruption while those who got trapped and left behind all died to the dark energy eventually.'

'Only the creatures of darkness have no problem living in such an enclosed world overflowing with dark energy, Master,' the realm spirit explained.

'You should have just said that first instead of saying there were still survivors,' Leon replied with a shrug before landing on the solid ground.

Shortly after looking around for a bit, he asked, 'Where's the core?'

'The core is just a straight road to your left side, Master. It's not hidden, so you will know when you see it," Tak-si answered.

'Straightforward enough,' Leon nodded.

In the next moment, he immediately took in the left direction with a burst of speed, moving swiftly to reach the core in the quickest time possible.

Myriads of treasures lay scattered on the ground, but he ignored everything and headed straight for the realmship's core.

It wasn't too late to pick the treasures up on his way back or another time; binding the realmship's core comes first and foremost.

Swoosh—!

Leon's figure shot past piles of ruins quickly, making them look like blurred afterimages while kicking up a trail of wind behind him.

Grrrr!

However, the sudden growl of a ghoul immediately made him come to an abrupt stop to look before he discovered most of the decayed corpses on the ground began to move.

The least decayed corpses were ghouls in the truest sense, while the most decayed corpses were simply undead skeletons.

Nevertheless, they were all awakened by Leon's presence and vibrant vitality.

'I thought you said there were no survivors?'

Leon frowned while watching the number of ghouls and undead gathered in large numbers, almost nearing the thousands and still growing.

Given the size of the ruined city, there were bound to be at least millions of corpses.

'Can these ghouls and undead skeletons be considered survivors, Master?' Tak-si replied wryly before adding, 'Given Master's strength, these ghouls and undead skeletons pose no threat to you.'

Leon's lips twitched.

While most of the ghouls and undead skeletons were weak, some among them were also close to the Arch Demon level.

Their strength might not be at that level, but their bodily defense was at least at that level.

'These weak mobs don't bother; what does, though, is that there are plenty of Celestial corpses in this underground ruin! Are you trying to screw me over?!' Leon accused the realm spirit.

He should have known that given such overflowing dark energy in the secret realm, it would have given birth to ghouls and other forms of undead beings.

'Definitely not, Master!' Tak-si denied.

The realm spirit had no reason to kill the only person who could repair it. On the contrary, it ought to protect Leon at all costs instead.

'You don't need to worry about the Celestial-level ghouls and undead beings, Master. Celestials can't be influenced by the dark and deathly energy in this space and become undead beings.'

'Oh? Why not?' Leon furrowed his brows.

After hearing the realm spirit's explanation, he had quickly formulated his guesses. Still, he wanted to confirm it from the realm spirit's words.

'Celestial bodies are reforged to cultivate celestial energy that comes from the stars, making them extremely yang in nature, which is very conflicting with Eternal Night Demon Empress's dark energy.'

'As such, evil spirits cannot possess such the Celestial bodies; they will only clash and die inside the Celestial bodies if they attempt to,' The realm spirit explained.

'The reason turns out to be like this after all, huh?' Leon mused before his flickered sharply in the next moment.

Smoosh—!

The Tier-7 White Spear quickly appeared in his grip before he cleaved his way through the army of ghouls and skeletons obstructing his way.

Overlord Spear Art's Second Spear – Spear Vanquishing the Demons!

Hundreds of ghouls and skeletons were immediately cleaved away by his Tier-7 White Spear infused in his dark energy.

Then, he continued to rush forward, whether he had to cut down the undead beings or leap right over them.

'I don't have time to waste on these ghouls and skeletons; I'll just head straight for the core,' he silently decided.

Sometime later, the spherical-shaped core, which was nearly the same size as the support-circuit buildings, came into sight.

Leon immediately darted towards it while being chased by an angry undead mob numbering in the several tens of thousands behind him.

After entering the core, his eyes quickly fell on the realm spirit's heart, an enormous divine crystal many times bigger than the divine crystals found in the other support-circuit buildings.

Nevertheless, put aside its size, his eyes focused on the beautiful girl sleeping inside of it.

She shared a resemblance to the Eternal Night Demon Empress, but it was no doubt her daughter's true body.

Chapter 836 - Creation Law

'Have you seen enough, pervert?' Luna's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

'Uhh… To be honest, no,' Leon replied shamelessly.

'You… You really are a pervert…!'

'I didn't deny it,' he admitted.

Faced with Leon's blunt honesty, Luna found herself at a loss for words, not knowing what to say next.

'But I must say, you have developed nicely, despite your true body being placed in stasis since birth. You have your mother's look, but I wonder who your father is?' Leon wondered.

Even as a pervert, there was no trace of lust in his eyes, just pure appreciation for beautiful things.

He stared at the beauty inside the divine crystal with appreciation as if he was looking at a piece of art behind a glass frame.

Luna did not know how to feel about this, but she didn't answer him.

Even she did not know who her father was.

Nevertheless, Leon didn't spend too much time staring before he bit his finger and dripped a drop of his blood essence onto the divine crystal heart.

There was still an army of undead beings waiting for him outside, but luckily, even though the core was badly damaged, it could still seal off the entrance.

In a short moment, Leon's crimson blood with hints of gold and violet mixed with the divine crystal heart like black ink sinking into deep water, spreading out like dispersing mist until its color fully blended with the divine crystal heart.

Afterward, the divine crystal heart resumed its original appearance and color as if no change had occurred.

However, Leon could feel a subtle connection to it.

'This connection is a lot weaker than it should be…' Leon mused with furrowed brows.

It was no different from a temporary connection, a contrast to the permanent connection he wanted to establish.

'Master, because Luna and I are basically two minds operating a single body, you'll need to drip more blood essence to bind us to you; the more blood essence you feed, the stronger connection,'

Tak-si informed him.

'I see… So that's why,' Leon understood.

Shortly after, he slit a bigger wound on his wrist and dripped even more of his blood essence onto the divine crystal heart, strengthening the connection between them in the process.

Even though his blood contained hundreds of origin blood from other beasts and demons mixed within it, they had already become a part of his body.

As such, his blood is still his blood, even if it is different from birth.

What is important is that his blood contained his spirit, his will, the main determining factor for forging a connection between man and artifact in the blood binding.

Drops after drops of blood essence mixed with the divine crystal heart before its bluish appearance started to turn into a more violet shade.

Due to his strong regeneration ability, Leon had to reopen his wound a few more times during the blood binding process.

The connection reached its peak after he fed the divine crystal heart a hundred drops of his blood.

In that instance, he could sense a certain degree of control over the Radiant Heaven Realmship.

His consciousness perfectly transmitted through the realm spirit and borrowed some of its omniscience to oversee the entire Radiant Heaven Realmship, both inside and outside of it.

'The state of the realmship's damage is even worse than I thought,' Leon furrowed his brows.

The Radiant Heaven Realmship's damage wasn't limited to its interior but also its exterior; deep sword scars and claw marks ran along with its outer shell, affecting some rune circuits running underneath it.

Given such a terrible state, he cannot even shrink the Radiant Heaven Realmship and carry it around with him, let alone travel anywhere in it.

'You took quite the beating, huh?' Leon uttered.

'Yes, Master,' Tak-si replied respectfully.

After Leon official became the Radiant Heaven Realmship's new owner, the realm spirit showed even more respect as if it was a compulsory obligation.

If the realm spirit didn't want Leon as its master, his blood binding would not have proceeded as smoothly as it did.

Divine Artifacts could resist blood-binding by destroying the will in the blood, and the ultimate victor would be determined by whose spirit is more powerful.

After inspecting the core's damage for a few more breaths, Leon summoned a thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy for its repair.

'Take it.'

'Thank you, Master!'

Although a thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy was not enough for the core's complete repair, Tak-si happily accepted whatever Leon had to offer it.

Leon found himself a spot to sit down and silently watched the realm spirit repair the damaged core with the thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy it had.

In that instance, he realized the realm spirit's skillful use of the True Grandmist Energy was far above his level.

At the very least, he could not use True Grandmist Energy to create and replicate the core's missing components, materials, and rune circuits.

"Is this Creation Law?" he uttered with surprise.

'Well, yes, but also no, Master,' Tak-si replied.

'I can only use True Grandmist Energy to replicate my body's missing parts based on my memory imprint. Therefore, I cannot actually wield the Creation Law to create wonders like the stars and planets found throughout Primal Chaos.'

'Only True Divinities with even the slightest comprehension of the Creation Law can perform such feats with True Grandmist Energy,' it said.

After hearing that, Leon's eyes flickered with great interest.

"In other words, you can't control the Creation Law, but your ability to repair contains traces of the Creation Law…" he uttered.

If he kept observing the Radiant Heaven Realmship's process of repairing, there was a slim chance of comprehending the Creation Law!

After he understood that much, his gaze sharpened as he watched the core's repair process with complete focus.

'There's a slim chance that I could comprehend the Creation Law with my present cultivation, but this is only looking at things from a normal perspective,' he mused,

If he could even comprehend the Nihility Law, then any other law shouldn't be an impossibility.

Chapter 837 - A Glimpse Of Creation

Before Leon realized it, Tak-si completely used up a thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy, yet he was not even remotely close to understanding anything about the Creation Law.

'Well, I expected it to be difficult, but difficult might be an understatement,' he mused.

Shortly after, he summoned another thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy and offered it up for the core's repair.

'Take it, and continue.'

'Thank you, Master!'

Tak-si was even more jubilant and accepted everything with gratification.

Another half quarter of a burning incense's worth of time passed in the blink of the eye, but Leon still failed to learn anything about the Creation Law.

The progress of the core's repair was evident, and he won't be able to continue observing once the core is fully repaired.

'How many more wisps of True Grandmist Energy do you estimate it will take for your core's full repair, Tak-si?'

'About another 18,000 wisps of True Grandmist Energy would be needed for a full repair of the core, Master. As for restoring my spatial functions, another 8,000 wisps of True Grandmist Energy would suffice.'

'Another 8,000 wisps of True Grandmist Energy, huh?' Leon mused.

That was all he had left in his reserve.

'If I invest my remaining 8,000 wisps of True Grandmist Energy into core repair, I'll have nothing left for viscera consolidation. However, I can always refine more from the excess land…'

More importantly, once the realmship's spatial functions are restored, he could kick anyone out of the secret realm.

At the same time, he can also re-enter the secret realm if someone uses the Teleportation Array to kick everyone out before he can destroy it.

'Guess I'll just invest my remaining wisps of True Grandmist Energy into core repair,' he decided.

However, he couldn't do it right away—not when he could not gain anything from studying the repairing process of transforming True Grandmist Energy into objects.

'There must be some ways to improve my comprehension and perceive the Creation Law within the energy transformation process,' he pondered.

After he told the realm spirit not to disturb him, he entered deep meditation to contemplate.

What was the biggest difference between True Divinities and mortals? Their powerful strength? Their wealth of knowledge? Their limitless lifespan?

Whether it was their strength, knowledge, or lifespan, the gap was insurmountable; it was trying to compare heaven and the earth.

What he really wanted to know was the determining factor for comprehending the Creation Law.

True Divinities practically lived in a different dimension from humans; what they see, hear, smell, taste, and feel may very well be different from human perception.

Thus, how can a human perceive what True Divinities can perceive?

'If I want to see the entire iceberg, I can't just look at its tip; I have to see what's hidden under the sea surface as well… But even then, that's not the whole iceberg… Or at the very least, it is only one side of it.'

In other words, if he wanted to see something in its entirety, he had to look at all its sides, and not just one side.

But even then, that was just scratching the surface.

'This might be a crude way of looking at things, but I shall try it,' he settled on a method for his experimentation.

Shortly after giving the realm spirit another thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy, he spread out his divine sense.

Then, he condensed it into a spiritual body of himself and had it sit on the opposite side of him to watch the energy transformation process from the other end.

What couldn't be seen from the front, could be seen from the back, giving Leon a fresh outlook on the transformation of True Grandmist Energy.

'There's some effect,' Leon narrowed his eyes with great focus.

He could divide his consciousness to create more spiritual clones of himself, but his thought process wouldn't be able to operate at peak capacity.

A short moment passed before Leon watched another thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy disappear without gain.

'If I can simply overlap the entire thing with my divine sense, I would be able to sense all the changes without needing to go through some roundabout and tedious method like this.'

Leon sighed.

Unfortunately, the realm spirit's consciousness had to cover the core repairing spot; if he inserted his divine sense inside, it would affect the realm spirit's ability to repair.

Suddenly, he paused.

'Hold on a minute… There's no need to use my divine sense…' his eyes flickered brightly with sudden enlightenment.

He offered up another thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy to the realm spirit again.

However, this time, he did not rely on his own pair of eyes nor his divine sense, deciding to shut them both off decisively.

He strengthened his connection to the realm spirit with his divine will and borrowed its omniscience to perceive the changes in the True Grandmist Energy.

A whole new world of perspective opened up to him.

As the wisps of True Grandmist Energy restored the core's missing parts, Leon perceived all of its myriad of changes—exactly the same way the realm spirit was perceiving it.

Finally, he managed to catch a glimpse of the Creation Law.

"So the Creation Law can transform True Grandmist Energy like this…" Leon muttered thoughtfully before offering up his remaining 6000 wisps of True Grandmist Energy to the realm spirit.

Through the omniscience of the realm spirit, he could perceive everything, even if he couldn't understand what was happening specifically.

Nevertheless, given time, he will come to understand them eventually.

More importantly, he had discovered new ways to continue perceiving the Creation Law even after the core is fully repaired.

'Like there is yin in yang, and yang in yin, good in evil, and evil in good, there is also creation in destruction, and destruction in creation…'

By understanding the reverse process of a Law, he can understand its opposing Law.

That was one way, the more complicated and uncertain way.

As for the simpler and more defined way…

Chapter 838 - Contact With Black Turtle

The way of fusing laws.

Just like his ability to fuse elements and produce a more powerful one, it was possible to comprehend a higher-order law by fusing its corresponding laws of a lower order.

This didn't necessarily mean that fusing laws would guarantee the production of the desired higher-order law, but the chances are there.

In normal circumstances, there was no way for Leon to understand the specific laws he needed to comprehend and fuse to replicate the power of creation.

However, he was lucky to catch a glimpse of creation through the help of the realm spirit's omniscience.

'Fire, life, wood, light, and even time… These were the main elements I managed to perceive from the transformation of True Grandmist Energy…' Leon mused.

'The fires of creation… the power of fusion… by heating minerals of separate elements to extreme temperatures, it was possible to weld them together and create something new…'

'The miracle of life… a single spark of existence, and the factor of growth and reproduction…'

'The profundity of wood… while it is simple, its abilities to join, intertwine, and assimilate, generates endless possibilities and variable changes in grafting.'

'The all-encompassing light that covers everything within its domain… each element can mingle, combine, merge, or fuse, one way or another… except time…'

Leon furrowed his brows.

He didn't understand where time plays its part in creation, but he understood it wasn't the only element he didn't understand.

There were probably more elements that he didn't pick up in the creation process of the core's missing parts.

'It's easier to destroy than to create something… is because creation requires time?' Leon mused.

Nevertheless, he didn't dwell on the topic.

'Master, my spatial functions have been restored! Wherever Master wants to go, I can immediately send you there, Master!'

Tak-si excitedly informed him after using up all the wisps of True Grandmist Energy in his reserve to repair its core.

'That's great,' Leon replied with a wry smile.

It was good that the spatial function was restored, but now he needed to accumulate more wisps of True Grandmist Energy to consolidate his viscera before all the Purple Coatl Dragon Blood goes to waste.

"There were plenty of excess lands to remove, but I don't want other humans and demons learning of this place… So instead, I should aim for the boundless seawater…" he mused.

At the same time, he wondered whether he should pay the Black Turtle God Beast a visit while he was at it.

Shortly after, he closed his eyes and used the realm spirit's omniscience to spy on the Black Turtle God Beast at the bottom of the Bone Sea.

The moment Leon sensed the Black Turtle God Beast's existence, he was astonished by its size.

'I was expecting the Black Turtle God Beast to be big, but who would have thought that it would be big to this degree… It's basically a moving island… except, it is not moving right now—or rather, it can't…'

Someone at the bottom of Bone Sea will not notice the Black Turtle God Beast unless they had prior knowledge of its existence.

Its entire body was buried under many layers of dark sand while nine enormous needles were drilled into its back, pinning it to the bottommost layer of the secret realm.

'These must be the Godly Divine Needles used by the Great Void Celestial Conqueror…' Leon shifted his attention to the giant pillars that impaled the Black Turtle God Beast.

'Who?'

Suddenly, the Black Turtle God Beast's red eyes snapped open shortly after sensing someone spying on it.

'Is it you, little brat?' it immediately thought of the Eternal Night Demon Empress's daughter.

However, Luna quickly denied, 'No, it wasn't me! It was my master, the new owner of the Radiant Heaven Realmship, Grandpa Turtle!'

'Oh? A new owner? After all these years?' the Black Turtle God Beast frowned.

Unsurprisingly, Luna ratted him out of spite for staring at her naked true body in the divine crystal heart.

At the same time, she wanted these two to meet.

'This little snitch…' Leon's lips twitched.

Shortly after, he quickly fixed his expression before transmitting his greetings over, 'Hello, Senior. I am the Radiant Heaven Realmship's new owner, Leon.'

'Are you a demon or a human?' Black Turtle God Beast interrogated.

Despite the great distance between their true bodies, Leon could immediately feel the pressure of the Black Turtle God Beast's mighty aura.

As he expected, the might of a Half-step True Divinity was no joke.

'I am a human, Senior…'

Leon chose to answer with honesty despite sensing the Black Turtle God Beast's intense hostility against humans.

The Black Turtle God Beast hated humans, but he didn't doubt that it hated a human's lies and deceit even more.

'A human, huh? Good… good… good…!' Black Turtle God Beast repeatedly uttered with increasing hostility, like a volcano that's about to erupt. "How dare a mere human appear before me!"

Leon immediately knew shits were serious when something had to be uttered thrice.

However, he stood his ground and confronted the angry Black Turtle God Beast, 'I know you hate humans after what happened to you, Senior, but I am not like those humans.'

'Hah, how ridiculous! Since you know what happened, what makes you think this emperor will believe your words?!'

'Because I cultivate dark energy,' Leon replied.

The Black Turtle God Beast's rampant aura suddenly stagnated after the Black Turtle God Beast heard his words.

'Is it true, little brat?'

'Yes, Grandpa Turtle.'

After the Black Turtle God Beast sought Luna's confirmation, she quickly replied honestly despite wanting to see more of Leon's troubled face.

Nevertheless, the Black Turtle God Beast fell silent, and the riled depths of the Bone Sea calmed down for the time being.

'Cultivating dark energy proves you are not an extremist, but that doesn't tell this emperor anything about your nature. Unless you can also prove that, this emperor won't acknowledge you as the new owner.'

'And why do I need your acknowledge when I've already become the new owner, you old fart? Who do you think you are? Do you want to get ejected?'

Leon retorted in his mind, but he did not actually transmit the message to the Black Turtle God Beast.

Chapter 839 - Black Turtle's Mental Illness

Leon had to stay on the Black Turtle God Beast's good side if he wanted to ask for some of its blood essences.

However, he noticed the sea monsters at the bottom of the Bone Sea could feed on the Black Turtle God Beast's blood essence and enjoy long lifespans.

He might not necessarily need to ask the Black Turtle God Beast for its permission, lest he deems it a proper courtesy to do so.

Nevertheless, before he could reply, Luna interjected, 'Grandpa Turtle, stop making things difficult! Either way, Leon is already the new owner, and it was you who said people who don't discriminate against demons can be friends!'

'I did say that, yes, but you need to understand that 'can be' doesn't imply 'must be.' If this human is untrustworthy, he is better off dead than alive,' the Black Turtle God Beast replied.

Leon could not help but frown.

Just because he wanted to be on the Black Turtle God Beast's good side, it doesn't mean he had to lower himself to its whims.

'I don't know what is going on, but I don't need to prove anything to you. I thought we could be on good terms, but I'm losing interest in a rude old turtle like you, who only knows how to throw your weight around despite your current situation.'

'Hmph!' the Black Turtle God Beast snorted.

'Showing your true self already, huh? How quick you are to change your attitude! Even if this emperor is trapped here, this emperor can still crush your spirit!'

'Don't bother; you'll only hurt yourself. And respect is earned, not given. Since you won't reciprocate, I don't see why I should continue showing you respect,' Leon replied coolly.

With the realm spirit's omniscience, he could see that the Black Turtle God Beast was firmly nailed to the bottom of the Radiant Heaven Realmship.

It has no way of escaping unless someone capable removes the nine Godly Divine Needles from its body.

'Hmph! This human has too much pride! We cannot trust him!' the Black Turtle God Beast's eyes glinted with killing intent.

But before it could send out a spiritual attack, Luna quickly interfered again, 'Grandpa Turtle, you need to calm down! You're being too way agitated again! You need to cool yourself!'

'Perhaps, I am…' the Black Turtle God Beast frowned, sensing its present behavior was unbecoming of its usual self.

At the same time, Tak-si quickly spoke to Leon, 'Master, please go easy on Lord Black Turtle, and be a little more understanding. It is true that Lord Black Turtle has a grudge against humans, but he isn't usually like this.'

'The Eternal Night Demon Empress's dark energy has been influencing Lord Black Turtle for so long and made him more irritable and violent. Think of it like a mental illness, Master.'

Neither Tak-si nor Luna wants the two sides to be hostile to each other; it doesn't benefit anyone.

'I see… so that was the case,' Leon nodded with understanding before taking a step back and said, 'We'll talk another time when Senior has calmed down.'

The realm spirits felt relieved after both sides took a step back instead of escalating their aggression.

Although Leon didn't fear the Black Turtle god Beast's spiritual attacks, it was better for him if he wasn't forced to reveal his Nihility Law.

Shortly after, Leon withdrew his consciousness from the realm spirit's omniscience and opened his eyes.

'Take me back to the surface, Tak-si,' he ordered.

'Yes, Master.'

Within moments, layers of spatial energy wrapped around Leon's body before suddenly contracting, as if in an attempt to crush his body into nothing.

In that instance, his body disappeared in the blink of an eye.

…

On the surface, Darlene immediately sensed a spatial disturbance in her proximity, causing her expression to change to alarm abruptly.

'Sister Aria, be careful! Something is coming!' Darlene quickly warned.

The two immediately drew their weapons with vigilant stances, alerting the rest of the dark faes in the process.

Some distance away, many layers of space unfolded like a blooming lotus before Leon's figure appeared from it.

Leon was immediately taken aback upon seeing all the weapons drawn against him.

"Well, this is quite the warm welcome," he uttered jokingly.

"M-my Lord?" Nyfarella and Saresha exclaimed with shock before urging their clan members, "Quickly put away your weapons! How dare you point your weapons at the lord!"

The dark faes immediately complied, but they wore unhappy expressions while they were at it.

"But you also did it too… Why are we taking all the blame?" they mumbled sulkily.

…

Meanwhile, Leon glanced at Aria and Darlene's surprised looks and said with a smile, "You two aren't going to poke me with that sword and dagger of yours, are you?"

After listening to his teasing tone, the two ladies quickly snap out of their dazes and put away their weapons.

"Did you finish your business down there already?" Aria asked with amazement.

"Yeah, for the time being," Leon admitted with a nod before adding, "But there's still much that I need to do."

"Everything all good while I was gone?" he asked shortly after.

"You were only gone for a few hours," Aria mentioned before saying, "What could have happened due to this short while? Though, I do find it to be a pity that I have no opponent to test my Sword Intent on."

When Aria said that, she revealed a strong desire to fight.

She wanted to know how strong she had become after comprehending her Sword Intent and Concept of Swiftness and Slowness.

"There are plenty of opponents in the Bone Sea; you'll definitely find a chance there even if the chance doesn't find its way here to us," Leon replied with a smile.

However, he suddenly frowned in the next moment.

"But the water pressure in the depths of the Bone Sea would be too much for your present body to handle. Do you want to train it like Darlene?" he inquired.

"Can I?" Aria reveals interest in the matter.

However, shortly after, she knits her brows and asks, "Will it affect your cultivation?"

"How can it?" Leon replied.

Even if it were true, he wouldn't admit it.

Chapter 840 - Visiting The Seafloor

"This method is the Godfiend Body Forging Method; it is supposedly the most widespread and standard method for body cultivation."

Leon began to explain after transmitting the knowledge into her mind.

"Although the Dark Fae Clan and Darlene all practice this standard method, this only continues until I find a more suitable method for everyone to switch over."

"Body Cultivation is a path only for the diligent. Even if you have a good physique for Body Cultivation, it doesn't mean anything if you cannot endure the pain. Thus, diligence is the only real talent needed in Body Cultivation."

Of course, this is only true when cultivation resource for Body Cultivation is not a problem.

After Leon finished running Aria through the general overview on Body Cultivation, he shifted his attention to the Dark Fae Clan.

"You did well to guard this place. We will set up a camp and cultivate here. You may relax until I set up another medicine bath for all of you," he stated to them.

"Yes, my Lord!" Nyfarella and her clan members answered.

Fortunately, there was plenty of place behind the rock walls.

After Leon set up the medicine bath, he restocked on their reserves of Tier-3 Healing Water with the Tier-7 Golden Grail.

Alas, he had to reset the timer on the Golden Grail again.

In order not to rely on the Tier-7 Golden Grail again until he finishes reviewing all its functions, he used the nearby river water and filled the medicine bath entirely in Tier-3 Healing Water.

"Do you still have enough demon core for your cultivation?" he asked Nyfarella shortly after.

"Yes, my Lord!" Nyfarella quickly answered with a nod before adding further, "The remaining demon cores will last us for a while, but it is also true that it's less than half of what we had at the start."

"Less than half?" Leon muttered with a frown.

To think that more than half of the hundreds of Lesser and Great Demon-level demon cores he obtained was only enough to get the Dark Fae Clan halfway through the Primordial Body Tempering Realm.

The Dark Fae Clan's conversion of dark energy into fleshly strength was also terrible.

But then again, dark energy wasn't supposed to be used for tempering the fleshly body; there were other elements more suited for tempering the fleshly body.

Of course, True Grandmist Energy tops the list, but compared to dark energy, there were better alternatives like fire and lightning.

"I'm sorry we failed to live up to your expectation, my Lord."

Nyfarella lowered her head in apology, thinking Leon was disappointed with the Dark Fae Clan's lack of progress despite their high consumption of demon core energy.

"No need to apologize. It was my mistake to give you the wrong approach. I will revise the Dark Fae Clan's cultivation later. But for now, start forging your bones with the demon cores' energy instead," Leon stated.

"Yes, my Lord!" Nyfarella complied.

The Dark Fae Clan had an affinity with darkness, so how could dark energy produce good results in their fleshly tempering when it does little harm to their body?

The Dark Fae Clan's progress was astonishing if Leon thought about it.

'If they can reach the minimum of Rank 5 Body Tempering, how far can they go if they were to temper their bodies in fire or lightning instead?' he wondered.

Perhaps the Dark Fae Clan actually has great talents for Body Cultivation.

After settling the dark faes' matter, Leon returned to inform Aria and Darlene of his intention to leave again.

"I'm going to head over to the Bone Sea alone for a short while. Help me take care of things here for me. If anything big happens, alert the realm spirit, and I will come back immediately."

"Mmm, I will."

Aria nodded obediently, knowing she wouldn't be able to follow him into the depths of the Bone Sea with her fragile body.

Leon smiled at her understanding before glancing at Darlene.

"I will stay and cultivate," Darlene replied before he could say anything.

She knew he wasn't planning to take anyone along on his trip, but it was also fine with her; she wanted to further her Spatial Law's comprehension.

"Alright," Leon nodded with a smile before saying, "Then, I'll be off."

"Mm, be careful."

"I will."

Shortly after promising them, Leon instructed the realm spirit to teleport him to the bottom of the Bone Sea.

Swoosh!

Layers of spatial energy wrapped around his body once more, and before long, his figure disappeared from Aria and Darlene's sight in the blink of an eye.

…

In the next moment, his body quickly plunged into the bottommost depths of the Bone Sea, and an enormous pressure quickly bore down on his body and organs.

However, his outer and inner defenses could withstand the water pressure without a problem.

More importantly, he discovered the enormity of the Peak Arch Demon-level sea monsters at the bottom of Bone Sea.

The glowing vegetation in the region revealed all of their enormous figures as clearly as daytime.

'Hm? It seems like these Peak Arch Demon-level sea monsters are not interested in me,' Leon quickly noticed.

He felt a bit of relief at the discovery.

Given his present strength, he was far from being a match for these behemoths, which may very well be wielding strengths nearing the 100-million jin mark.

However, he was not without his trump cards if he had to deal with them.

'How particular… Why aren't they interested in me? Am I too small to fill their stomach? Given their strength and age, they should have developed their spiritual intelligence… but that doesn't seem to be the case…'

While studying the Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monster, he held his breath underwater.

Although he was also curious about their bloodline and how his cultivation could benefit from them, he had no intention of attacking the behemoths.

'It's better not to rile the hornet's nest for now…' he decided.

Just the Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monsters aren't hostile; it didn't mean that they'll stay docile if he attacked them.

Shortly after, Leon shifted his attention to the spirit herbs growing on the seafloor.

The abundant lifeforce in the region also caught his attention.

Chapter 841 - Tier-6 Divine Herb

The moment Leon locked onto the glowing spirit herbs growing on the seafloor, his eyes beamed with wonder

'This quality… they're Tier-5 Spirit Herbs…!' he mentally exclaimed.

He brought himself closer and inspected each stalk of spirit herb before a blueish-green flower that glowed brighter than the others caught his attention.

'This is… a Tier-6 Divine Herb…!'

Leon wanted to suck in a deep breath after discovering a Tier-6 Divine Herb, but he couldn't breathe underwater, nor could he hold his breath for too long.

'I need some air,' his eyes flickered.

He summoned a Nihility Barrier around himself in the next moment and dispersed all the seawater into countless strands of energy for him to absorb, including air.

Swish!

However, Leon underestimated just how terrifying the water pressure could be.

With such a mass body of seawater pressing down on his Nihility Barrier, the quantity of seawater getting reduced into energy reached an unprecedented level!

Strands of True Grandmist Energy, among multiple other types of energy like dark, life, wood, water, earth, and spirit, flooded into his body.

Any average person would have immediately exploded from absorbing excessive amounts of energy, but his Black Vortex Space devoured everything with a bottomless appetite.

Within several moments, he had already accumulated hundreds of wisps of True Grandmist Energy!

His present speed of accumulating True Grandmist Energy was easily tens of times faster than when he was digging through the land in the western region!

"What a pleasant discovery. I didn't expect this at all," Leon exclaimed.

With this kind of accumulation speed, he had sharply cut down the required time for gathering the True Grandmist Energy he needed!

Nevertheless, Leon did not lose himself in the moment.

He connected himself to the realm spirit's omniscience and surveyed the sea level of the Bone Sea on the surface.

Even though the Bone Sea was losing large quantities of seawater to him right at that moment, there were hardly any changes in the sea level.

The Boundless Sea from outside quickly filled up missing bodies of water in the Bone Sea via the river channels!

After several dozens of breaths, Leon's accumulation of True Grandmist Energy had reached the thousands of wisps!

If he could, he wanted to keep going until his Black Vortex Space fattened up to the brim!

Alas, it didn't take long before the Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monsters in the bottom region of the Bone Sea finally paid attention to his presence—or rather, it was the presence of True Grandmist Energy that caught their attention.

They didn't understand what it was, but they were subconsciously drawn to it—as if their instincts were telling them that the True Grandmist Energy could help them evolve into higher-level beings.

Nevertheless, Leon decisively dispersed his Nihility Barrier and absorbed every last wisp of True Grandmist Energy into his body.

When the only source of Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monsters' attraction disappeared, they halted their advance and resumed their idle life in the depth of the Bone Sea.

'It looks like these sea monsters aren't very intelligent,' Leon assumed while studying a Peak Arch Demon-level octopus.

'Beasts and demons at this level would have already awakened their spiritual intelligence, but these sea monsters are different. Despite living for so long, it seemed their intelligence had degraded instead.'

At least, that was what he felt, but he couldn't be too sure.

It was as if the Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monsters were no longer capable of thought and moved solely on its most basic instincts to live.

Another way of looking at it is that the Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monsters were operating in power-saving modes to expend the least about of their energy.

'Are they nearing the ends of their lifespans?' Leon wondered.

If it was true, there might be chances for him to obtain their blood essences without fighting them for it.

However, he couldn't be so sure if the blood essences of a sea monster that died of natural causes would still be useful or not.

After all, there shouldn't be any lifeforce left if the sea monster's lifespan expires.

'What if these Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monsters' lifespan has already expired, but the Black Turtle God Beast's vibrant lifeforce is keeping them alive, hence their zombie-like state?' Leon speculated.

He could see that traces of the Black Turtle God Beast's blood flowed out from the nine giant pillars impaled in the seafloor.

Thanks to the Black Turtle God Beast's blood, all the vegetation he sees on the seafloor flourished.

He swam over to the foot of a pillar and collected some samples of the bloodsoaked sand before extracting a few drops of the Black Turtle God Beast's blood from it and storing most of them in a glass bottle.

Given the Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monsters' attraction to the True Grandmist Energy, he couldn't use the Black Turtle God Beast's blood to temper his flesh with it.

He would most likely end up in one of the Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monster's bellies if he attempted to do so.

'I'll just refine this drop of Black Turtle God Beast blood for my Everlasting Blood Mantra,' he decided on the last drop of blood he didn't store away.

A few moments later, he finished infusing the refined product, the Black Turtle Origin Blood, into his bloodstream.

Leon's eyes flickered after sensing his body's changes.

It was just a single drop of Black Turtle Origin Blood, but he felt like his lifespan extended by a few hundred years.

At the same time, his regeneration ability improved further.

'How potent…' he was astonished by the result.

'However, I shouldn't just focus on the Black Turtle God Beast's blood; this entire place is a holy land of healing medicine.'

Leon shifted his attention back to the plethora of spirit herbs on the seafloor.

'Although these Tier-5 Spirit Herbs are mainly all spirit herbs with healing properties, if I can refine them into Tier-5 recovery pills, I will no longer have to worry about anyone losing their limbs,' he mused.

If he uses the Tier-6 Divine Herb, he could even help Mia regrow her missing organ.

Chapter 842 - Ancient Crocodile's Mighty Roar

Leon thought about the list of recovery medicine he could refine with Tier-5 Spirit Herbs and above before moving into action, harvesting all the spirit herbs and replanting them in his Worldspace.

More than one Tier-6 Divine Herb was found on the seafloor, but he left them for last.

'Tier-6 Divine Herbs are much more potent than Tier-5 Spirit Herbs, but they are also more delicate,' Leon mused.

He had no choice but to admit that the seafloor was a blessed land incomparable to the Sacred Garden in his Worldspace.

The abundant life energy nurtured many high-quality spirit herbs and even divine herbs, which, in turn, would produce plenty of spirit energy and further bless the seafloor in the region.

Just a moment ago, he had quickly collected a few thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy, but the same applied to life energy and spirit energy.

Given the vibrant lifeforce and vitality provided by his ever-improving blood and viscera, Leon had no use for the few thousand wisps of life energy he acquired.

Thus, Leon unloaded his life energy reserve into the Sacred Garden to improve its soil's ability to nurture the spirit herbs.

As for the spirit energy, he fed it all to the Divine Book of Life itself, hoping it would help Maya, the artifact spirit, to recover her consciousness.

Alas, he received no response from Maya even after waiting for a while.

'Seems like this much spirit energy isn't enough, huh? Well, there's no rush… There's still plenty of life energy and spirit energy in this sea region…' Leon mused.

The Divine Book of Life was not only his father's memento but also a divine artifact among divine artifacts; he'd definitely prioritize its restoration over the realmship.

'If I can awaken Maya, she should be able to use True Grandmist Energy to repair the Divine Book of Life…'

'I wouldn't be lacking high-quality spirit herbs and divine herbs if I can restore the Divine Book of Life's full potential—or so I believe... Father didn't exactly hand me an instruction manual when he transferred the Divine Book of Life to me…'

Leon recalled his father with a self-deprecating and sad smile.

Nevertheless, he didn't dwell on his memories and continued to harvest the herbs on the seafloor, replanting them all in the Sacred Garden.

With the Tier-5 Spirit Herbs disappearing one by one, the seafloor started to lose its green brilliance and slowly darkened.

Even so, he had only collected a tiny fraction of the thousands of herbs found along the seafloor; one place darkened, but the other areas remain illuminated.

However, as he worked his way to the other areas, they also darkened.

Swish!

Leon immediately felt a large movement in the water before detecting the Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monsters' agitated states.

It would be strange if the decrease in life and spirit energy didn't affect them.

Roar!

The mighty roar of a Peak Arch Demon-level Ancient Crocodile sent reverberating sound waves throughout the sea region like ripples.

Although the Ancient Crocodile didn't directly roar at Leon, he felt like he was struck by mountains over and over again, shaking up his internal organs.

Pfft!

Leon coughed up a mouthful of blood after being injured by the powerful sounds waves that shook his body and soul.

He bled from his nose, ears, and eyes.

His face paled with weakness, but it didn't take long before his blood quickly worked itself, allowing him to recover from his internal injuries.

Within moments, his complexion returned to normal.

However, his head continued to ring, and he couldn't hear anything else around him; the sound waves had deafened him.

Fortunately, it was a temporary effect.

After several minutes quickly passed, Leon regained his senses and health.

'As expected of a Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monster… Even it was an indirect attack, it can still injure me to such a state…'

Leon wiped his lips with a thumb while gazing at the Peak Arch Demon-level Ancient Crocodile in the distance with lingering fear.

'Fortunately, I consolidated my viscera earlier. Otherwise, Ancient Crocodile's sound waves alone would have been enough to kill me…'

Paragon-level existences were not to be underestimated.

Shortly after, Leon furrowed his brows.

'If I want to continue harvesting the herbs, I have to deal with these powerful sea monsters. However, I am too weak to deal with them personally… and if I use the realmship's spatial power to remove them from the realmship, I won't be able to obtain their blood…' he mused.

Nevertheless, it's not like the herbs will run away if he leaves them for the time being; the Sacred Garden couldn't nurture the Tier-6 Divine Herbs with its present level either way.

'I've already collected a few hundred stalks of Tier-5 Spirit Herbs… I can collect the rest later when I am more capable… For now, I should focus on accumulating True Grandmist Energy and refine the rest of the Purple Coatl Dragon Blood…' Leon decided.

However, he can't do that with so many Peak Arch Demon-level Sea Monsters around, but he can still move to a different sea region to do so.

'Duna shouldn't be too far from here. I reckon that Ancient Crocodile's roar would have alerted her,' Leon thought.

After he used the realm spirit's omniscience to check on her location, he found it was indeed the case; the commotion had attracted Duna.

She was roughly a dozen miles away.

Nevertheless, his air supply was running out again, so he summoned the Nihility Barrier for a short instance to catch his breath and simultaneously collected hundreds of new energy wisps.

Shortly after, he kicked against the water and headed towards Duna's location.

…

…

…

Meanwhile, at roughly 5000ft depth, Arch Demons from the Starfall Dominion's Nine Great Clans were alerted by the sound wave that reached them from the depths of the Bone Sea.

"What did you guys think that sound was?" a female Black Jackal Arch Demon sought the other Arch Demons' opinion.

"The roar of an existence none of us can hope to defeat even if we combine our strengths," answered the one with the best underwater, a Three-Headed Serpent Arch Demon.

"It's that powerful, Lord Serpas? Can you guess how strong it is, exactly?"

Chapter 843 - The Arch Demons' Greed

"How is it possible for me to know how powerful the thing down there is?" the Three-headed Serpent Arch Demon, Lord Serpas, responded.

"We are nowhere close to the bottom of the Bone Sea, but these Low-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters already have us pinned here. Can you imagine much stronger the sea monsters down there are?"

"Probably around the Peak-rank Arch Demon-level; it wouldn't surprise me," a Black Jackal Arch Demon replied.

"However, the Bone Sea's depths had always been relatively unknown. Why would there be a sudden commotion now?"

"Clearly, something happened down there; but what happened down there is the real question," said Yakshan, the Evil Eye Arch Demon.

"Could the humans have reached the seafloor before us?" a Red-Horned Orc Arch Demon made a wild assumption, but the other Arch Demons didn't take it kindly.

"Your jokes aren't even funny, Lord Rakhama," Serpas snorted and said, "How is it possible for humans to reach the seafloor when we can't even surpass the 10-thousand feet depth?"

"Does that even make sense?"

"No, but not everything needs to," said Rakhama, the Red-Horned Orc Arch Demon, "Sense is only relative to what we understand and not what we don't know."

"What doesn't make sense to use could make sense to others because they know what we don't know, or we don't know what they know."

"Speak properly; I don't speak riddles," Serpas said displeasedly.

Nevertheless, the Arch Demons of the Nine Great Clans remained divided in their opinions.

Without hard proof regarding the truth of the seafloor, none of their assumptions held any weight over the others.

"Enough! This is getting us nowhere!" Yakshan said snappishly.

"We don't have time to be deliberating over something we know little to nothing, especially when the sea monster tide could erupt at any time. We came here to strengthen ourselves, not to argue among ourselves!"

"Lord Yakshan is right," the Black Jackal Arch Demon agreed.

"Black Jackal Elders, heed my orders! Grab a sea monster corpse and let's go; we are heading back to the surface to replenish our air supply!"

"Yes, Clan Leader!" the other Black Jackal Arch Demons complied.

Shortly after, the Black Jackal Arch Demons collected all the corpses of the Arch Demon-level sea monsters they killed and made their way back to the surface.

Even if they couldn't reach the Demon King-level Tombs, the sea monsters' flesh and red cores provided them with sufficient resources for improvement.

"Evil Eye Elders, we're heading back too! Grab our spoils and follow me!" Yakshan ordered before leaving after the Black Jackal Clan.

One by one, the Arch Demons of the Nine Great Clan left with their spoils while the living Arch Demon-level sea monsters tailed after them.

Nevertheless, it was easier to resurface than to submerge in the depths of the Bone Sea.

It didn't take long before the Arch Demons left the sea region of Low-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters and entered the sea region of Greater Demon-level sea monsters.

The other Greater Demons of the Nine Great Clans quickly spotted their clan leaders and elders returning.

"My Lords, you've returned!" they greeted their respective clan elders and leaders.

"If you have something to say, say it later; we're heading back to the surface first," Yakshan said to the Greater Demons of his Evil Eye Clan.

"Yes, Clan Leader."

…

Sometime later, the Nine Great Clans resurfaced from the depths of the Bone Sea.

However, the Arch Demon Clan Leaders and Elders quickly noticed something off after returning to the sea surface.

The number of demons had considerably declined, whether it was the Lesser Demons or the Greater Demons in their ranks.

Even some of the newly ascended Arch Demons were missing.

"Where is that brat, Teshafir?" Serpas interrogated his Three-Headed Serpent Clan.

"Lord Teshafir led an army of demons to the east region with Lord Grunganir and Lord Kaligan to investigate a strange phenomenon and didn't return ever since, Clan Leader."

Three-Headed Serpent Greater Demon informed him before mentioning, "More importantly, we've received news of a Noble Demon from the west side."

"What?! A Noble Demon? Are you sure?" Serpas questioned with a deep tone.

At the same time, multiple pairs of Arch Demon eyes turned sharp and solemn at once after overhearing the Three-Headed Serpent Greater Demon's report.

"That is what I have been told, my Lord," the Greater Demon confirmed.

"What kind of Noble Demon was it? Is it a Noble Demon from the Holy Demon Land?"

"According to my source, Lesser Demon Helshan, it was a human—a human that became a Noble Demon, no less. He also speculated that the human may have gotten his hand on the Eternal Night Demon Emperor's inheritance."

The atmosphere suddenly became heavy after the report ended.

"A non-demonborn human that became a Noble Demon… If it's the Eternal Night Demon Emperor's inheritance, it might be possible…" Serpas muttered a deep frown.

In truth, no one even knew what the Eternal Night Demon Emperor's inheritance contained; the demons only believed it would give them unparalleled power and authority over other demons.

"Everyone should have heard it; what do you all think about this news?" Serpas sought the other Arch Demons' opinion.

"Even if the Noble Demon didn't obtain the Eternal Night Demon Emperor's inheritance, a Noble Demon isn't someone we can ignore."

"Therefore, I propose we organize a team to lead the investigation—and not just any team, but the strongest team possible. We can't underestimate a Noble Demon's strength," said an Arch Demon-level Purple Coatl Dragon.

"I concur," Yakshan voiced his stance before adding with an evil grin, "A Noble Demon that isn't from the Holy Demon Land isn't to be feared and may even benefit us—if you catch my meaning."

Multiple pairs of eyes sparkled with interest and greed at once.

"Kekeke, I am the clan leader of the Black Jackal Clan. You won't find a stronger Black Jackal than me to join the investigation team," the Black Jackal Clan Leader said, volunteering himself for the job.

A Noble Demon's bloodline… there's no way he will miss out on something like that!

Chapter 844 - Duna's Knowledge

While the Nine Great Clans were planning Leon's capture, he reunited with Duna on the seafloor.

The moment Duna's eyes fell onto Leon's figure, she immediately halted her movement with surprise, not expecting to find him in such a place.

"What are you doing here? No, how are you here, Leon?" Duna asked with wide eyes.

"I can ask you the same thing," Leon replied with a smile.

Nevertheless, he knew that she knew he knew it wasn't a problem for her to reach the seafloor with her abilities.

As such, he shortly changed the topic, "Girl, you look rather frustrated. Just what are you trying to accomplish down here? Don't tell me you were trying to find the Eternal Night Demon Empress's tomb?"

"Eternal Night Demon… Empress? So you also know about her," Duna uttered after the quick realization.

"That's right," she admitted with a nod, "I was looking for the Eternal Night Demon Empress's tomb, not for some noble goal like stopping the demons from getting it first, of course."

"Given your character, I'm pretty sure that isn't the case," Leon nodded before asking her, "But why did you disappear on your own? I had no idea what could have happened to you until now."

"And yet it doesn't seem to surprise you to run into me here," Duna casually replied, noticing the subtle detail. "Well, since you sound like you know my character so well, you should also know that I'm not interested in babysitting your chicks."

"This is a secret realm, and opportunities wait for no one. I am better off searching for opportunities on my own; anything I find will be claimed as my own. I wouldn't need to deal with any conflict of interest in the division of spoils."

After listening to Duna's reason, Leon smiled wryly yet also helplessly.

She is a headstrong woman—and perhaps also the most headstrong woman out of everyone he knew.

She wasn't interested in being a flower vase.

She had all the knowledge she needed to cultivate into a strong being and did not need to follow him around.

As he ran out of air, he summoned the Nihility Barrier and replenished himself, surprising Duna in the process.

She watched Leon devour numerous wisps of True Grandmist Energy, among other types of energy with astonishment.

"You… You never cease to surprise me, Leon," Duna complimented.

Leon smiled slightly in response.

"Considering you are looking for the Eternal Night Demon Empress's tomb, you must have something you need from it," Leon mentioned before asking, "What is it that you need from there?"

"How much do you know about the Eternal Night Demon Empress?" Duna replied with a question of her own.

"The Eternal Night Demon Empress is a True Divinity's descendent, and she was also a powerful Demon Emperor, who could stand her ground against Half-step True Divinities," Leon stated some simple truths.

Nevertheless, it was enough to surprise Duna.

"Oh?" Duna softly exclaimed before saying, "You've done a bit of research since we've entered this secret realm."

"That's right; the Eternal Night Demon Empress is a descendant of a True Divinity, whom I suspect is the Eternal Night Devil Empress. But have you ever wondered how that is possible when there are no more True Divinities in this present era?"

"There aren't any living True Divinities in this present era? Are you sure?" Leon repeated with astonishment.

Given the sheer amount of primordial heritage he could find on a single planet, he had been under the impression that he was in the legendary God Realm, or at the very least, the graveyard of god and devils.

"Of course, I am sure. Who do you think you're asking?" Duna nonchalantly replied.

"Nevertheless, it seems like you know nothing, so I will just go ahead and show you just how little you know about the world."

"Even though the Great War destroyed both the gods and devils, whether it was their body or soul, they are still everlasting beings. Their wills are eternal, so they cannot experience true death and part from existence forever."

"Whether it is you or me, all living beings are essentially pieces of gods or devils. Even everything you see about the current world was all formed by the gods and devils' shattered bodies and spiritual seas."

"Think of it as the Second Big Bang. Since gods and devils were essentially made of True Grandmist Energy, it isn't strange for their remains to form new celestial bodies like at the beginning of time when True Grandmist Energy exploded into being and swept throughout Primal Chaos."

"I see…" Leon uttered with a thoughtful look.

He understood why Awakeners could comprehend the laws easier than the denizens of the Divine Realm, but he never understood why the world itself seemed sentient.

However, he finally understood after hearing the missing piece of information from Duna.

Nevertheless, Leon's eyes suddenly flickered.

"Didn't you awaken more memories from your devil soul fragment? Also, it's been days since we last met, but you show no signs of craving blood…" Leon mentioned.

"This means you must have grown quite a bit, but how much blood did you drink? Did you kill a lot of humans?"

"This… Well, I did kill a fair bit of humans and demons... But they all deserved it," Duna replied before asking him, "You're not going to blame, are you?"

"How can I? I have also killed some humans on this trip," Leon scratched his head wryly in response.

However, he was afraid that the number of humans he killed couldn't be compared to Duna at all.

Nevertheless, he did not dwell on it; there were other things on his mind.

"When all is said and done, I still don't understand what you need from the Eternal Night Demon Empress's tomb and how she can be a True Divinity's descendent when there are no more living True Divinities in this world…"

"Oh, right… I haven't answered this, have I? It is all your fault that I got sidetracked," Duna blamed him for it.

Leon was stunned before he replied, "This is my fault? How is this my fault?"

"Because you're too ignorant and don't know anything, so I had to explain it to you!" Duna stated unreasonably.

After hearing that, Leon's lips twitched.

Chapter 845 - The Demon Empress's Origins

If Duna didn't further awaken her devil soul fragment's memories, she wouldn't have known these things either.

Nevertheless, there was no 'what if,' and the truth is that she knew and he didn't; simple as that.

Even so, it was not a big deal, so he simply accepted the fault without excuses.

However, Duna suddenly closed the gap between them and took him by surprise with a peck on his left cheek.

Although the underwater feeling diminished the sensation somewhat, he could still Duna's soft lips.

"What was this for?" Leon asked.

"Well, it's true that I didn't get to see you for a few days… so—Ah, why do I need to explain this? Idiot," Duna suddenly spat without finishing what she planned to say. "Don't get dickstracted now."

"Anyway, the only way True Divinities can still have descendants in this age is if some of their blood essence or flesh survived the destruction of the Great War. I'm not sure if you know, but some True Divinities can regenerate their entire bodies from a single drop of blood."

"However, it's useless to regenerate if their soul fragmented into countless pieces and scattered across the starry skies; they wouldn't be conscious enough to control their regenerated bodies."

"Thus, their regenerated bodies basically become soulless clones that anyone can use as they please once they get their hands on them."

"In other words, the Eternal Night Demon Empress is an offspring of the Eternal Night Devil Empress's clone?" Leon presumed after listening up to that point.

"Essentially, yes," Duna nodded before saying, "But don't forget that the True Divinities' clones can all be considered the True Divinities' true bodies. So, offspring born from them will—"

"—Will carry the True Divinities' bloodlines," Leon completed her sentence before his eyes flickered with realization.

"Since you're at a stage that requires blood to evolve, you want to use the Eternal Night Demon Empress's blood to improve your Devil Spirit Physique?"

"That's right," Duna nodded.

"I see…" Leon uttered with understanding before suddenly shaking his head. "Unfortunately, I can't let you do that."

"Hm? Why not?" Duna narrowed her eyes with a frown.

"Because one of the realm spirits is the Eternal Night Demon Empress's daughter, and the Eternal Night Demon Empress is still alive," Leon explained.

Although a few drops of blood won't affect the Eternal Night Demon Empress's current condition, Luna will never let anyone harm her mother in any way.

At that moment, Luna was already alerted and wary of Duna.

"The Eternal Night Demon Empress is alive?" Duna was astonished by the news before her eyes widened further.

"Hold on. Did you just mention a realm spirit? There's a realm spirit in this secret realm? And it's even the Eternal Night Demon Empress's daughter?"

Even if her wealth of knowledge, Duna was baffled by the revelation.

"Yeah, this isn't just any normal secret realm; we are inside of a realmship called the Radiant Heaven Realmship," Leon informed her.

However, the piece of information only made Duna even more confused.

"The Radiant Heaven Realmship…? The tool made by the Radiant Heaven God-Emperor? That extremist? How can its realm spirit be the Eternal Night Demon Empress's daughter? It doesn't make any sense…" Duna muttered.

She flashed Leon a suspicious look, thinking he was messing with her, only to receive his wry smile and affirmation.

"It's true. There's a reason for this."

Shortly after, Leon explained how Luna became one with the realm spirit through the Eternal Night Demon Empress's miraculous means, which he has yet to understand.

"So the Eternal Night Demon Empress's blood is off-limits… fine, I promise I won't touch her," Duna nodded compliantly with understanding.

However, she suddenly adds, "But the Eternal Night Demon Empress's daughter's blood should be okay, right?"

"You really want to obtain that Devil Empress's bloodline, huh? Is my True Grandmist Energy not enough for you?" Leon asked wryly.

He isn't sure if it is even possible to extract blood from Luna's true body when it is trapped inside the divine crystal heart.

Damaging the divine crystal heart was the last thing he wanted to happen.

Nevertheless, Duna suddenly paused in silent contemplation for a moment before answering, "It's enough, but are you sure you have enough True Grandmist Energy to cover my Devil Spirit Physique's improvement?"

"You have seen for yourself, so what do you think? I'll give you as many wisps of True Grandmist Energy as you require," Leon replied with a confident smile.

Recalling what happened earlier, Duna had to admit that Leon did have the means to supply her with as many wisps of True Grandmist Energy as required.

"However, I draw too much attention when I'm producing True Grandmist Energy. If you can keep the sea monsters away, I can keep producing True Grandmist Energy without an issue," Leon added.

"My spiritual attacks don't have much effect on Peak Arch Demon-level sea monsters with my present soul strength, but if I make a breakthrough to the next level, I should have no problem keeping them away," Duna stated.

"What do you need for that to happen? What level is your current strength?" Leon asked curiously.

He couldn't see through her strength; it was as if Duna was purposely hiding her cultivation from him.

Nevertheless, Duna casually answered, "My cultivation… I'm not really sure what it is myself, but my soul strength should be equivalent to a Low-rank Arch Demon in physical strength or so… I just need more souls to consume."

When Leon heard that, his lips twitched a few times.

It became apparent to him that all the humans and demons who crossed her path didn't just get their blood sucked, but even their souls weren't spared.

More importantly, her speed of improvement was startling.

'Is this the difference between a person who has awakened a True Divinity's soul fragment and another person who hasn't?' Leon mused.

Recalling Darlene's cultivation leap after her Transcendence, he could help but wonder if it was also possible for him to awaken his soul fragment.

'The stronger a soul fragment is, the earlier and easier it is to awaken… Does this mean I have a weak soul fragment?'

Leon wondered.

Chapter 846 - A Possible Soul Realm

"Will the souls of sea monsters suffice?" Leon inquired.

"All types of souls will help me improve, but it also depends on their quality. It will take a lot of sea monster souls to achieve any significant improvement, especially if it's only the souls of Lesser Demon-level sea monsters," Duna answered.

"How many souls are we looking at, though? Do you have an estimate for Lesser Demon-level sea monster souls?"

"We're probably looking around 10-million souls if they're only Lesser Demon-level sea monsters," Duna casually replied after a brief moment of contemplation.

However, Leon's lips twitched upon hearing such a high number.

"That's quite a high number of souls…" Leon rubbed his forehead with a wry smile.

"Fortunately, the Bone Sea has quite a lot of sea monsters… So we can aim for some Greater Demon-level sea monsters and maybe even some weak Arch Demon-level sea monsters…" he added.

Nevertheless, Leon could not help but feel conflicted.

Even if the lives of sea monsters didn't concern him, the method of sacrificing the souls of others to improve one's soul seemed rather evil.

"Unfortunately, there aren't many ways to cultivate the soul efficiency, and even then, they aren't considered true soul cultivation methods; it's not possible to keep a pure soul when cultivating it."

Duna spoke after reading his thoughts.

"A true soul cultivation method doesn't exist—or at the very least, the gods and devils in the primordial era never figured one out," Leon added with a wry smile.

He remembered conversing on the topic with Maya.

"That's right," Duna nodded and said, "True soul cultivations methods don't exist, or rather, they can't exist. After all, no one can change the very source of existence they are born without dying."

"Unless you can die and revive yourself as you please, it's not possible to cultivate a pure soul," she stated.

After hearing that, Leon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Is it truly impossible, though? I thought the True Divinities are everlasting? They can die and revive themselves, no?" he wondered.

However, Duna shook her head.

"It's not the same; I'm talking about a true death of the soul, and that doesn't apply to True Divinities. As you said, True Divinities are everlasting, existing eternally; when their souls shatter, they remain in the world, never disappearing."

Leon felt pained when he had to recall his father's true death.

Duna noticed his mood and decided to quickly wrap up the topic, "Anyways, a soul can't experience a true death and come back. Once it's gone, it's gone for good."

"I don't think so," Leon suddenly said with a hint of confidence as his eyes brightened.

However, Duna furrowed her brows with confusion, not knowing where he suddenly gained his source of confidence.

"This might sound harsh, but I wasn't stating an opinion; I was stating the truth," she reiterated.

"And who determined the truths? You? The True Divinities?" Leon questioned her before adding, "They may have been the forerunners, the supremes, and the wisest in the pursuit of knowledge and cultivation, but that is it."

"Did the True Divinities believe reversing matter in True Grandmist Energy was possible? They didn't; only Hegemon Primal Madness believed it was possible," he stated.

At the very least, that is what he believed.

Otherwise, what other reasons could Hegemon Primal Madness have for creating the Hegemon of Primal Chaos technique?

Duna glanced at Leon's firm look before she conceded helplessly and asked, "Do you have some basis for your belief at least, Leon?"

"Of course," Leon nodded as if it was natural for him to do so.

"I don't know whether I am the first, the second, or whatnot, but since I comprehended Nihility, my understanding of nothingness is above everyone else."

"I see… Go on," Duna urged, sensing he was onto something.

"Only Nihility can reduce anything into nothingness. All other powers can only transform them into imperceptible forms. Just because we can no longer see or sense them, it doesn't mean they no longer exist."

"Thus, I believe after experiencing true death, a person's soul travels to a different realm—a soul realm that not even True Divinities can perceive or reach."

"How is that any different from being impossible?" Duna said with knitted brows.

"It's different, of course. The difference between zero possibility and a slight possibility completely changes everything," Leon replied.

"True Divinities couldn't touch upon the realm, but what about Beyond True Divinity? And if Beyond True Divinity isn't enough, then perhaps the realm even beyond that; there's bound to be a level of existence that can touch upon the realm of those lost souls."

Even if everything he said seemed nonsensical and out of reach, he will not, shall not, and cannot stop believing that it's possible.

So long as the possibility is there, he will always have hope of bringing his father back from the realm of true death.

Duna's eyes flickered as she looked at Leon.

No matter how crazy he sounded, she should never stop nor discourage him from pursuing his dream and ambition.

"As much as I want to believe such realms and possibilities exist, we are still far from reaching that level. Forget about the True Divinity Realm; we are not even Celestials," Duna reminded.

Dreams are nice, but they shouldn't lose sight of reality.

"This is why we have to work hard to cultivate and prove that such realms exist," Leon said with a determined look.

Revenge was his driving force to live, but what happens after revenge?

He would feel empty and bitter.

However, it's different if he still had hope of bringing his father back; it'll keep him going after his revenge.

"Come, I'll take you to hunt sea monsters right now!"

Leon suddenly grabbed Duna's wrist while swimming towards the surface, causing her to flash him a puzzled look.

"But we are already moving at our quickest pace," she stated.

"I'll show you an even faster way of traveling," Leon replied with a smile before calling for the realm spirit's service, "Tak-si, take us to the Low-rank Arch Demon-level sea monster region."

"Yes, Master," Tak-si answered.

In a short instance, Leon and Duna's figures disappeared from the deep depths of the Bone Sea and reappeared roughly 8000 feet below sea level.

Duna was greatly astonished after the discovery.

Chapter 847 - Sea Monster Core's Energy

"This is… teleportation? When did you master Spatial Law? No, this wasn't your doing," Duna muttered with surprise and wonder.

"It's the realm spirit's ability. Though, I did feed it 10-thousand wisps of True Grandmist Energy to restore this ability," Leon explained before his gaze sharpened in the next instant.

"More importantly, we have company."

Their sudden appearance in the new sea region quickly attracted the nearby Low-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters.

Swoosh—!

Leon and Duna could sense the large movements of water in the dark depths of the Bone Sea, which provided zero visibility to the eye.

However, neither of them had any trouble seeing the Low-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters in their surroundings.

Duna could see the shape of their souls overlapping with their enormous bodies.

On the other hand, Leon sensed them with his all-encompassing divine sense, and if that isn't enough, he still had the realm spirit's omniscience to rely on.

The Low-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters weren't as massive as the Peak-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters at the bottom of Bone Sea.

Even so, their bodies were still massive, nonetheless, easily a hundredfold over humans.

However, with a single Banshee Scream, the Low-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters squirmed and shook their heads with pain before swimming away.

"We came to kill them, not shoo them away," Leon reminded with a wry smile.

"Hmph, we can do the killing later. I wasn't done talking to you yet," Duna replied with a snort.

"How did you know the realm spirit is the Eternal Night Demon Empress's daughter? Why does she listen to you? Did you hook up with her?" she interrogated before adding with a grumpy tone, "I guess you do have a fetish for spirits."

Leon gaped, feeling at a loss for words.

Duna suddenly pulled him close and looked him directly in the eye before spouting domineeringly, "I may not be the only p*ssy you have, but I'll definitely be the only spirit you can have."

After hearing that, Leon gaped even more widely before Duna suddenly took the chance to press her lips against his.

Alas, he was forced to separate himself from her shortly while coughing after some seawater entered his system.

He summoned another Nihility Barrier and took the chance to recover.

"What an overbearing ghost you are," Leon spouted wryly while coughing up the seawater and gasping for air. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Heh, not a bad idea. We can both be ghosts together," Duna snickered.

Leon could not help but shake his head helplessly before explaining with a sigh, "There are two realm spirits; the original and the Eternal Night Demon Emperor's daughter."

"The original realm spirit takes on a male form, and it was the one who reached out to me after I tore a hole in it—"

"You even swing that way?"

Duna gasped with an exaggerated look of disbelief, causing Leon's expression to stiffen with a dark look of distress.

"Hahaha, I'm joking. Loosen up, man," Duna patted him on the back from within his Nihility Barrier, completely amused with his distressed look.

Leon could only smile ruefully in response.

"Absorb the True Grandmist Energy while you still can," he said with a sigh.

He absorbed all the other types of energy in the refined seawater, leaving only the True Grandmist Energy for her to absorb.

At the same time, the Low-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters returned in groups, attracted by the True Grandmist Energy's existence.

"From what I've discovered earlier, True Grandmist Energy attracts the sea monsters," he informed her.

"Of course," Duna affirmed with a look of certainty.

"Even if they are beings with low intelligence, they can still understand the extraordinariness of True Grandmist Energy with their basic instincts."

"Hmph, I've scared them off, yet they still have the gall to come for something that belongs to me!" she snorted.

Shortly after, Duna shot towards the Low-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters after Leon created an opening in his Nihility Barrier to leave.

Just as she was about to get swallowed whole by a Red-horned Whale, her Banshee Cry made the Low-rank Arch Demon-level Red-horned Whale turn its head away.

Then, Duna took the opportunity to latch onto its giant head, bite at its flesh, and slowly devour its huge soul.

The Red-horned Whale squirmed in resistance, but it could not shake Duna off its head with its great strength—or rather, it couldn't make use of its great strength to shake her off.

It was considerably weakened after having its soul caught by Duna.

A short while later, the Red-horned Whale's soul was utterly devoured, stripped away from its body, which was left to float soullessly in the depth of the Bone Sea.

Duna quickly parted from it and shot to her next target.

At the same time, a group of Arch Demon-level sea monsters rushed over to devour the soulless Red-horn Whale's flesh while others targeted Duna and Leon's True Grandmist Energy.

However, Leon simply let Duna use her Banshee Scream to deal with them while he continued producing True Grandmist Energy and watching her fight.

Her soul-devouring art seemed powerful, overbearing, and somewhat evil, making him wonder where she learned it.

But considering her devil soul fragment was further awakened, it wouldn't be strange if it came from there.

As Duna devoured more souls, the Arch Demon-level sea monsters' corpses attracted more Arch Demon-level sea monsters to them.

"Hm?"

Leon narrowed his eyes on a sea monster's half-eaten corpse, which revealed its bones and inner organs, but more importantly, its red sea monster core.

"Artificial spirit energy?" Leon immediately determined the source of energy within the sea monster core.

Suddenly, many things about sea monsters became apparent to him.

For instance, their mutated appearance, level of intelligence, monstrous size, and powerful strength were all caused by artificial spirit energy.

"Does every sea monster in the Bone Sea have artificial spirit energy cores like this?" Leon furrowed his brows in wonder.

"I haven't discovered artificial spirit energy towers or power sources in the secret realm… so the sea monsters could only have formed these artificial spirit energy cores in the Boundless Sea…"

Chapter 848 - Dark Wyrm Clan And The Demons

Leon could not help but deepen his frown after the discovery.

"Just how many relics of the Nova civilization were buried in the Boundless Sea?" Leon muttered to himself while feeling a headache.

"It's not a problem if all the fish turned into sea monsters… the real problem is humans have begun to rely on these sea monsters for cultivation…"

Looking at the situation at the edge of the western region through the realm spirit's omniscience, Leon could see humans eating sea monster meat and absorbing artificial spirit energy from the red sea monster cores.

The side-effects of sea monster meat were unknown to him, but he was pretty clear on the detriments of artificial spirit energy.

"The warriors of the Infertile Plains have already shortened their lifespans with improper tempering of their bodies with dark energy… If they absorb artificial spirit energy, their lifespans will shorten even further…" Leon mused.

Nevertheless, a shortened lifespan was probably the least harmful effect artificial spirit energy could have on living beings.

A single solar wave from the sun would turn all creatures under its influence into grotesque mutants with degraded intelligence.

"This isn't a problem I can solve…" Leon frowned.

Even if he told the humans to stop relying on the artificial spirit energy, they have little chance of complying.

"All tribes are trying to strengthen themselves for the Battle of Hegemony on the Infertile Plains… Only the Seven Tribes Alliance have hopes of heeding my warnings…"

Nevertheless, the Dark Abyss Continent was covered by a veil of dark clouds, protecting all its inhabitants from the harmful rays of the cataclysmic sun—but for how long is the real question.

Leon didn't doubt that once he takes away the realmship, the dark clouds looming over the Dark Abyss Continent will gradually disperse.

"Well… That's a problem to worry about later," Leon shrugged and pushed aside the thoughts, refocusing his attention on Duna and the Arch Demon-level sea monsters.

At the same time, he continued to maintain his Nihility Barrier and accumulated energy from the dispersed seawater.

The current speed couldn't be compared to when he was on the seafloor, but it was still faster than when he dug through the land to reach the core.

He would have never thought he would gather so much True Grandmist Energy in the past.

'If I invest all this True Grandmist Energy into body cultivation, I could reach Rank 2 Body Transformation in multiple areas… or even Rank 4 Body Transformation in a single area…' Leon mused.

Alas, the realm spirit and his women were also dependent on this energy.

He might end up using all his True Grandmist Energy, but he would never be truly lacking in True Grandmist Energy as long as he has his ability to create more of it.

'The only thing I lack is patience; I'm too impatient. I can achieve what takes others years in a single day, yet that still isn't enough for me…'

'The desire for revenge is ever driving me forward. However, revenge cannot be rushed; if it must be enacted, it must succeed.'

As Duna devoured more and more souls, Leon noticed she was becoming increasingly proficient in her soul-devouring art.

She was becoming more powerful but still far from a breakthrough.

"How many more Arch Demon-level souls do you need for a breakthrough, Duna?" Leon inquired while she was busy preying on the Arch Demon-level sea monsters.

"About another 980 souls of this level, probably," Duna replied while latching onto her next target like a parasite before suddenly adding with a frown, "However, don't you think it's strange?"

Leon's lips twitched after hearing Duna's answer.

In other words, she needed 1000 Arch Demon-level souls to make a breakthrough, a huge contrast to 10-million Lesser Demon-level souls.

Even so, the number was still staggering.

Leon wondered if the Bone Sea even had 1000 Arch Demon-level souls to feed her breakthrough, let alone in their present sea region.

"What is strange?" Leon asked after failing to see anything strange about their present situation.

"There are no demons around here," Duna stated.

"Oh, so it was about this matter…" Leon casually uttered without surprise.

"There's nothing strange about this. The demons have returned to the surface to get some air—Oh, they're gathering their forces and plotting something now."

"Hm? They're moving westward, huh? It seems like my previous visit alerted them…"

The demons' every move could not be hidden from Leon as he spied on them through the realm spirit's omniscience.

However, Duna wasn't aware of his omniscience as the realmship's owner and understood even less why he could be so calm in the face of the situation.

"How—"

Duna wanted to ask, but she was interrupted by another Arch Demon-level sea monster, a giant black squid with dozens of tentacles.

"Courting death!" Duna spat at it with cold eyes.

…

…

…

Meanwhile, the Dark Wyrm Clan finally finished gathering their members from across the Blacksand Desert and started traveling to the western region.

As the entire Dark Wyrm Clan, which numbered more than 2300 members, left the soft sands of the Blacksand Desert and entered the solid yet grassy plains of the western region, the land rumbled from their heavy movements.

Smaller creatures fled out of their way while some humans from the Blacksand Desert watched on with stunned expressions.

"The secret realm had such a monstrous group of demonic beasts? Who can even stop such a force?" a human warrior wondered.

The Dark Wyrm Clan was no different from a moving mountain range.

Nevertheless, Dark Wyrm Clan showed no interest in the other lifeforms that crossed their paths.

They simply ignored everyone and continued on their journey, moving along the shores facing the Bone Sea.

Eventually, Shadowtail led his clan members to the shores of the western region.

"Lord Leon isn't here, Lord Shadowtail," Nightingale mentioned after the Dark Wyrm Clan settled down in the area.

"I can see that," Lord Shadowtail nodded after inspecting the empty western shore before he said, "Lord Leon may have headed further west."

"Lord Shadowtail, and Lord Nightingale, take a look; it's an army of demons!" Shadowfang suddenly alerted them.

"Oh?"

At the same time, Yakshan and the rest of the demons were also alerted of the scene ahead of them.

"Since when was there such large black mountains at the western shores?"

"Those ain't no mountains; those are f*cking dark wyrms!"