Chapter 857 - Rewarding The Dark Wyrms

Shortly after, Nyfarella quickly led her clan members to work through the mountain of demon corpses, collecting demon cores and salvaging whatever useful resources they could obtain.

While Leon briefly watched them busy themselves, he had to admit the dark faes were quite the natural beauties.

Although they only wore coarse and cheap black robes with tears and stains due to their poverty, it could not hide their perfect figures and smooth skin underneath.

After soaking themselves in medicine baths and tempering their bodies, whatever scars they once had, it all disappeared under the effects of the healing water.

Leon was curious why there were no men in the Dark Fae Clan, but it was just a passing thought, not enough interest for him to inquire about it.

'Aria and Darlene should be returning soon now,' Leon mused while shifting his gaze to the east.

…

After Leon kicked out all the humans and demons, the Dark Wyrm Clan gradually returned to Shadowtail's side to report the surviving demons' disappearance.

Shadowtail and the dark wyrms were baffled by the situation, but their doubts were answered by the realm spirit shortly after.

…

Leon only waited a few short minutes before Aria and Darlene returned to the rock wall with the Dark Wyrm Clan.

"We're back," Aria stated before adding, "You were… waiting for us?"

"Un, welcome back," Leon nodded.

"You should have already understood the current situation after talking to Tak-si, but I'll inform you again. Right now, there are no longer any other humans and demons in the secret realm beside us."

"In other words, we have this entire sub-realm to ourselves?" Aria asked with surprise.

"That's right," Leon admitted with a nod.

"However, since I've sent back the humans, the battle for hegemony in the Infertile Plains will soon enter its full swing. Given my present strength, I won't be able to stir significant waves unless I rely on the Dark Wyrm Clan—which isn't my style."

"Thus, I intend to enter a period of secluded cultivation to raise my strength as much as possible quickly until we leave," Leon stated before seeking Aria and Darlene's choices, "What do you two want to do during this time?"

"I will enter deep meditation and continue to comprehend the Spatial Law. I want to achieve the Seeking Insight-stage Transcendent at the very least before we leave," Darlene decided.

"Ah, but you don't have to worry about me," she suddenly added before reassuring everyone, "I have no intention of accepting the fragment of Empyrean Infinite Void."

"I see..." Leon uttered with understanding before commenting, "Given the speed you've shown, you'll definitely achieve it."

"But… do you not wish to further your progress in body cultivation?" Leon asked shortly after.

"No," Darlene shook her head.

"I'm not that invested in body cultivation; I just needed a body strong enough to withstand the recoil of my spatial ability, and I've already achieved that for now. If I want to become stronger, it's best not to divert my focus too much."

"That makes sense," Leon nodded before saying with a smile, "It seems you are very clear on the direction you want to take. That's great."

Shortly after, he turned to Aria for her answer.

'If I want to keep up with Leon in the future, I can't just stick to him all the time. I need to experience self-tempering and cultivate my independence,' Aria pondered.

"I will explore the secret realm and look for opponents to perfect my Sword Intent while I'm at it," Aria shortly answered before adding, "I'll also practice the Godfiend Body Forging Method when I can."

"I see… If that is your choice, I won't stop you," Leon replied solemnly.

It might be dangerous for Aria to explore the secret realm on her own, but he couldn't shelter her from danger every time.

She also needed to experience the danger to grow.

Furthermore, he had control of the Radiant Heaven Realmship and could have Tak-si keep an eye on her and intervene when necessary.

If Leon didn't have these reassurances, he would not have agreed with Aria's choice so readily.

After pondering for a moment, Leon lifted Aria's hand and deposited 5000 wisps of True Grandmist Energy into her Interspatial Ring.

"I've stored the energy you need for body cultivation into your storage ring; remember to use it when you practice the Godfiend Body Forging Method," Leon reminded.

"You can also find a lot of opponents in the underground space at the bottom of that hole I dug over there. There are also plenty of treasures lying around down there for you to find too."

"Oh? I got it," Aria nodded with a smile and said, "I will check it out first."

"The undead beings down there can be pretty powerful, though, so be careful," Leon warned her.

"I will," Aria promised with a sweet smile.

After giving him a peck on the cheek, she jumped into the deep hole and descended into darkness without hesitation.

'Keep an eye on her, Tak-si. Only intervene if her life's in danger,' Leon instructed.

'Yes, Master,' the realm spirit complied.

After settling Aria and Darlene's matters, Leon finally gave his attention to the Dark Wyrm Clan; they had been waiting patiently for him all this while.

"Your clan made quite the mess out of the demons, huh? Perhaps, a little too eager even," Leon commented.

Shadowtail glanced at the mountain of demon corpses on the side before he smiled wryly, knowing that the Lord had seen through his clan's intention.

"The demons all deserve death for targeting my Lord," Shadowtail said.

"I know what you all want, but I don't have time to refine everyone's blood for the time being," Leon calmly stated.

"Furthermore, you just had your blood refined not long ago. You need to give your blood essence time to adapt to the True Dragon Origin Blood and reproduce it."

"I understand, my Lord," Shadowtail replied with his head slightly lowered in disappointment.

"Don't be disappointed too soon, though. I have another reward in mind that you'll like just as much as the blood refinement," Leon reassured it.

In the next moment, Leon transmitted the Dragon God Bone Forging Method into Shadowtail's mind before it could even guess what the reward was.