222 How Do You Want To Die?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"My soul core did?" 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How do you want to die?"