425 Truth Behind the Slumbering Battle Kings

The chief position might be really appealing, but it was not worth offending everyone for it. The short-term benefits were not worth the price in the long term.

Once Chief Baskara recovers from his coma, Ironfist can expect many naughty kids to be spanked.

…

Darkmoon Tribe, Great Hall.

Leon and the six Venerable Shamans continued to transcribe the ancient book collection. Much more dragon-related heritage began to appear so frequently that they were allocated their own section in the Great Hall to be placed.

Of course, the one who volunteered to move the dragon-related books was Leon. And he did so shamelessly with an honest look, saying that the young had more energy and should naturally work harder when in truth, he was just scanning a copy of everything in the [Archive].

"Dragon God Consolidating Viscera Method, first volume."

"Dragon God Consolidating Viscera Method, second volume."

"Divine Empyrean Sutra, second volume."

"Roar of the Dragon King, third volume."

"Star God's Finger Art, second volume."

"Devil Emperor's Tome of Darkness, fourth volume."

Leon continued to hear dragon this and dragon that from the Venerable Shamans.

At the rate that they were going through the piles of ancient heritages, he estimated that there would at least be five completed volumes of techniques relating to dragons by the time they are done with it.

Dragon heritage aside, other techniques began making recurring appearances, such as the Star God's Finger Art, Divine Empyrean Sutra, and Devil Emperor's Tome of Darkness.

"Ice Phoenix's Frozen Calamity, first volume."

"Archaic Flesh Refining Technique, second volume."

"Everlasting Blood Mantra, second volume."

"Indestructible Bone Transformation Method, fourth volume."

At this point, Leon has heard at least one body forging method for each of the five phases pertaining to Body Cultivation. However, there did not seem to be a technique relating to tempering muscles and meridians.

This is because muscle tempering was included in the tempering flesh phase, while meridians were part of the consolidating viscera phase.

When Leon understood this point, he was relieved that he did not cultivate incorrectly when he tempered his meridians.

Nevertheless, it seemed that his meridians would undergo another round of tempering after he obtains a suitable consolidating viscera method.

Two hours quickly passed in the blink of an eye before Leon, and the six Venerable Shamans sorted out the mountain of ancient heritage, containing hundreds of books.

Each technique, method, and battle skills were neatly arranged into their own separate stack on the ground.

"Haiz, let us divide these books into two groups; the complete volumes and the incomplete volumes." Old Tailor said with a sigh.

Master Woodrow raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why do you sigh, Old Tailor? We are making good progress right now."

"Haiz…" Old Tailor shook his head and sighed again. After he cracked his stiff neck and said, "Maybe I am getting old. I'm getting a bit tired. It took us nearly two houses to transcribing the titles on these things. However, each title is only a few runic characters long. Can you imagine how long it will take us to translate the entire texts in each of them?"

"Each of these books contains at least hundreds to thousands of runic characters. I'm afraid it will take us a long while to finish translating them all." Old Hammer said with a startled expression.

"A year at the very least, I'd say." Master Woodrow commented.

"But this only if we are trying to translate everything. We just need to focus on one at a time. However, what do we focus on is the question. Do we work on the cultivation methods of ancient times, or do we work on the miscellaneous items and learn about our ancient past?"

"What does everyone think?" Old Tailor asked. 

When this question was raised, everyone was immediately in favor of translating one of the ancient cultivation methods over learning history. 

Learning history would satisfy their curiosity, but the ancient cultivation methods could improve the [Darkmoon Body Forging Method] and strengthen their tribe.

"How about you, Little Brother Leonhardt?" Master Woodrow turned to Leon, who did not insert an opinion.

"Me? I'm equally interested in both. I do not mind what we focus on." Leon said wryly. In truth, it did not care too much what the Venerable Shamans decided. He had taken his chance to scan everything he could.

"Fair enough."

Master Woodrow did not ask further. 

The six Venerable Shamans gathered around to discuss which method to translate. There were numerous grand and imposing names, but they had to choose carefully.

The [Darkmoon Body Forging Method] was created after the Darkmoon Tribe's ancestor gain inspiration for several individual volumes of different techniques. 

There were traces of energy cultivation and body forging methods pertaining to the consolidating viscera, forging bone, and tempering flesh phases within the [Darkmoon Body Forging Method].

While Leon listened to the Venerable Shamans discuss which techniques would best help them improve the [Darkmoon Body Forging Method], he gained a clearer understanding of the Darkmoon Tribe's body forging method.

It seemed that the Darkmoon Tribe's ancestors were aware that the godly techniques from ancient times cannot be practiced precisely as they were described due to the absence of Grandmist Energy.

As such, they took into account the abundance of Darkness Profound Energy in the Dark Continent when they created the [Darkmoon Body Forging Method]. 

Even so, the [Darkmoon Body Forging Method] was not without its flaws. It did not include the refining blood and cleansing marrow phase. 

Furthermore, the consolidating viscera and tempering flesh phase were also shallow. Only the forging bone phase had great emphasis within the [Darkmoon Body Forging Method].

From this, Leon could see that while the Darkmoon Tribe's warriors could gain incredible strength from practicing the [Darkmoon Body Forging Method], their defense was not high like demonic beasts, nor did they enjoy longer lifespans.

'Most likely, warriors practicing the [Darkmoon Body Forging Method] do not live past 150 years. However, the Darkmoon Tribe still have two Battle King Ancestors that have lived a few hundred years… It seems they were put into a deep sleep in the Catacombs to preserve their diminished lifespans.'

Leon quietly pondered. 

Deep sleep was not enough to stop the body from aging. There had to be deeper secrets hidden within the Catacombs that allowed the Battle King Ancestors to preserve their diminished lifespans.

'So, the reason the Darkmoon Tribe is reluctant to rely on their Battle King Ancestors is that the Battle King Ancestors will eventually exhaust their lifespans and die after waking up…'

The Battle Kings are the ultimate trump cards and fighting force of every tribe. Once they are gone, it is tough to recover from the loss due to the difficulty of reaching the Battle King Realm.

Suddenly, Leon recalled the story of the Blackwind Tribe's internal conflict. 

'I supposed the Blackwind Tribe's Battle King Ancestors were not stupid to the point of fighting to the death and kill each other off. It seems the truth of the matter was that they died after exhausting their already diminishing lifespans.'

Leon understood.

Sometime later, the Venerable Shamans finally settled their decision on the [Dragon God Consolidating Viscera Method]. This method had seven volumes, enough for everyone to work on a part each if they include Leonhardt.

Leon understood why they chose this method. 

The consolidating viscera method could increase one's lifespan. However, he was not so sure if this would help much for the Battle King Ancestor's already depleted lifespans with one foot in the coffins. 

Their body is aged, and their organs are already failing. Even if the technique successfully injects more lifespan into them, it would only be a small fraction compared to what younger warriors would enjoy if they practice it.

Furthermore, Darkness Profound Energy was ill-suited for the human body. Perhaps, it would shave away more life than it would give.

If the Venerable Shamans' goal were to extend the lives of the Battle King Ancestors, miracle life-extending elixirs and pills would do a better job.

If they aim to produce new Battle Kings, they should work on the energy cultivation aspect instead. Greater control over their energy core will reduce the chance of getting corrupted by Demonic Energy and undergoing Demon Possession.

In the end, these were just Leon's voiceless opinions. Even if he mentioned it, it was not like they could switch to a different energy source for Body Cultivation.

Darkness Profound Energy was still the core of their practice.

Moments later, they packed everything back into the Interspatial Pouches and headed outside, where Darlene and Chief Valencia waited with some servants guarding the entrance.

"How did it go?" Chief Valencia asked.

Old Tailor shook his head and said, "We've made some progress, but we still have a long way to go before we can produce something useful. Keep these locked away safely in the vault, Valencia."

Old Tailor proceeded to pass all the Interspatial Pouches to Chief Valencia. She was surprised by this, but after the Venerable Shamans informed her of the reason, she nodded. 

Shortly after, Leon bid his leave and took Darlene to fetch the six female servants before heading back to the Barrenrock Courtyard together.

Leon was eager to find some time alone to browse the new contents in the [Archive].