Chapter 576: At Last

"I don't understand what you mean, father," The young Leon said with knitted brows in thought. 

Heinrich Escladus smiled warmly and said, "You don't need to understand now, but one day when you grow up, you will." 

"I still don't understand..." Leon's lips twitched as he watched the past being replayed from a distance.

Suddenly, Leon paused. 

"Come to think of it, I never found out who my mother was, where she was, nor what happened to her..." Leon muttered, "Every time I mention to father, he would also have the same distant look and change the subject..." 

Leon furrowed slightly before glancing in the northern direction, "Was his birth mother somewhere in the north?"

As Leon pondered, his younger self asked his father, "Why do all Divine Practitioners meditate when they cultivate, father? Why don't they cultivate in their sleep or any other positions?" 

"Because it's the easiest position to enter the tranquil state and focus, son. The standard meditative posture is not definite. If you can achieve it any other way, then there's no need to follow conventional means." Heinrich Escladus explained.

"And why must Divine Practitioners enter the tranquil state to cultivate? Does it have something to do with finding the [Heart of Saint Mantra], father?" The young Leon continued to ask questions while Leon furrowed his brows. 

"I don't remember any of this..." He muttered. 

Heinrich Escladus paused his steps in the snow before turning his head towards Leon's direction with a profound look. 

Leon froze as if his father was gazing directly at him. 

At the same time, Heinrich Escladus spoke, "The tranquil state is also called the state of emptiness and mind zero, free from all distracting thoughts. Only when we are empty of all thoughts can we feel the vastness of the world and everything within. The [Heart of Saint Mantra] can help you enter this state quicker."

"To feel everything, you have to feel nothing? Why does this sound so contradictory?" The young Leon wore an incomprehensive look. 

"It doesn't make much sense to father either, but not everything has to. The sense is what we make of the world. But in the beginning, there was nothing. It was from nothing that came everything. Nothing and everything is much closer than you think, just like two sides of a coin, son. With a flip, nothing can become everything and vice versa..."

As Heinrich Escladus explained, Leon fell into deep contemplation, "Nothing becomes everything... Everything becomes nothing...?"

Suddenly, Leon found himself sitting on the ground, reciting the verses of the [Heart of Saint Mantra] to clear his mind and enter a tranquil and calm state. It was like he had touched upon a profound truth.

The surrounding snow world faded like a dissipating illusion before only a dark empty void remained. 

The night sky was dark, and his body remained afloat in the Neutral Zone of zero gravity. His bones were still crushed, but all his bleeding have stopped. 

There was no feeling in his body. 

From Leon's perspective, with his senses shut, he was not floating in the zero-gravity Neutral Zone but the vast emptiness of the void. 

Ka-cha!

Leon broke through his bottleneck and advanced his Nihility Law's comprehension to a higher level. 

There was no worldly phenomenon signifying his breakthrough to transcendent; no change was seen, no sound was heard, not even an instinctive feeling, nothing.

He just understood in that instantaneous moment. 

People would even question if a breakthrough like this could be considered Transcendence. 

But regardless of any doubts that might have surfaced—if there were even any spectators in the vicinity, everything changed the moment Leon opened his eyes. 

The 30-feet radius of space surrounding Leon's body was transformed into a real void. 

All the air and all the elements, light and darkness, space and time itself, were warped, broken back down into their purest form of energy since the beginning of time!

Boom!

All the energy particles surged into Leon's body, and his gathering and refining speed of Grandmist Energy exploded forth by a hundredfold!

Regardless of their elements, they were all transformed into True Grandmist Energy!

True Grandmist Energy surged explosively, filling the Black Vortex Space before seeping out to nourish every part of Leon's and rebuild it.

His body's constitution quickly transitioned from the Five-Element Body into the True Grandmist Body, bypassing the pseudo stages.

Leon quietly studied the changes to his body before he sighed emotionally with incredulity, "I did not expect the first level of the Nihility Law, the law of nothingness, to be this overbearing…"

Achieve Transcendence was a huge step, but he felt that his current accomplishment far more than just a huge step.

"I anticipated that True Grandmist Energy was something I can only refine after fusing Destruction and Creation Laws with the other laws…"

"But the Nihility Law returns all matter to their original form, True Grandmist Energy… This is something even the Temporal Law cannot reverse…" 

The Law of Nothingness was truly unparalleled. 

Leon did not doubt that even True Grandmist Energy itself will be reduced to nothingness at the higher stages of Nihility Law and return to inexistence.

"At last, I have achieved Transcendence and become a Nihility Transcendent…" Leon spoke to himself before muttering thoughtfully, "The first stage of Nihility Law does not grant me incredible battle power…" 

But what it did give him unparalleled speed in cultivation. 

As long as there is matter, it can be transformed into True Grandmist Energy for his Body Cultivation. 

"Even the stars will become nothing more than balls of energy for my cultivation, huh?" Leon mused before shaking his head ruefully. 

His strength was still weak, but his confidence has already reached the level of the gods.

Shortly after, Leon began to study his body's condition more closely. 

His bones were being strengthened, and even his wounds have all closed. But his organs were like mashed potatoes. 

However, he was not dead. 

Evidently, he had also succeeded in comprehended the Profound Law of Life, which bought him the time he needed to go one step further and breakthrough to the Transcendent Realm.

…

Sometime later, Leon fully recovered his damaged organs after swallowing healing pills and refined his own Life Energy.

With the Profound Life Seed, Nihility Law, and Black Vortex, his Life Energy refinement was not inferior to the Universal Life Conversion Array.

Nevertheless, he entered still entered the Worldspace after his recovery.

"Maya!" Leon called out received no response from the Worldspace.

When he relied on his connection to the [Divine Book of Life] to reach the artifact spirit, he still received no response.

Shortly after, Leon noticed his collection of Wrathful Demonic Energy had all disappeared.

"Seems like Maya exhausted herself to save me and fallen back into a deep slumber…" Leon thought while feeling warm inside.

The artifact spirit was not the same as her former self. Leon could see that Maya was still far from making a full recovery.

"Artifact spirits receive nourishment from Spirit Energy… Once I return to the World Tree, I should supply the [Divine Book of Life] with its boundless Spirit Energy…" Leon decided.

"If not for Maya's help, I might have really died this time around… However, given the same situation again, I would have still made the same decision…" Leon frowned.

Shortly after, he shook his head and thought, "I should head back for now. I'm not sure how much time has passed, but the other should be worried sick about me…"

After he decided, he exited the Worldspace.

But after returning to the Neutral Zone, Leon paused, "What is this place? This shouldn't be outer space if there's still air to breathe… But why is there no gravity?"

His body floated weightlessly in the zero-gravity zone as he pondered, "Could this have something to do with the sky's suppressive force? Never mind, I figure it out later."

The no-gravity zone was a perfect place to train—that was before he comprehended the Nihility Law. Now, it did not matter where he cultivated.

Even so, it did not change the fact that the no-gravity zone was an excellent place for cultivation.

However, he was concerned about the others.

"With the Three-Legged Golden Crow's strength, it would be hard-pressed for the others to deal with it without relying on Duna's Destruction Law…" Leon could only hope for the best.

Leon exerted his Divine Will and descended from the no-gravity zone in the sky.

However, just as he reached the invisible barrier separating the no-gravity zone from the mesosphere layer, he was repelled.

"Hm? Such a strong wall of gravitational force has been gathered here…" Leon was surprised for a moment before he muttered, "This might have been a problem in the past, but not anymore."

The Power of Nothingness spread out from Leon's body and formed a barrier that reduced everything into True Grandmist Energy for his consumption.

After the Power of Nothingness contacted the barrier, large amounts of energy particles immediately burst into existence before they were quickly devoured by Leon's ravenous body.

At the same time, his body easily slipped past the barrier and continued his descent towards the surface.

An ocean wave of suppressive force immediately weighed down on Leon's body and accelerated his descent.

However, the force was significantly reduced by the Nihility Law before it could crush his body, becoming True Grandmist Energy to nourish and strengthen his body instead.

It was like the world was pushing for his growth, but in fact, he was closer to a black hole that swallows everything it pulls in.

…