Chapter 649: Lofty Aspiration And Ambition

"Welcome home, Young Master Leonhardt!"

"Welcome home, Young Master Leonhardt!"

Returning to Barrenrock Courtyard, the six maids stood in two lines of three and greeted Leon with a respectful bow. 

At the same time, Darlene and Aria stood at the back and waited as if they had been expecting his arrival.

Leon acknowledged the maids' greeting with a nod before strolling past them and stopped in front of Aria and Darlene. 

"How did the summit go?" Aria asked. 

"I'd say it was going well, but a problem popped up midway," Leon shook his head and said, "A group of Battle Masters is heading to this tribe. Worst-case scenario, we will be fighting a big battle soon." 

"Who might we be fighting?" Aria asked with surprise. 

"It's likely to be the Black Warbear Tribe, one of the four strongest tribes in the Infertile Plains' central region. I'll fill you in on the detail later. Go pick a room and adjust your mental state, Aria. I will visit your room in a bit," Leon said and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. 

Aria did not think much of his words and nodded, "Mm, alright. I'll see you in a bit."

Shortly after, Leon turned to Darlene and gave her a peck on the forehead after saying, "You too, Darlene. I'll visit you in a bit too to talk about…some things."

"I understand, hubby." Darlene's eyes flickered before she smiled knowingly.

Aria suddenly paused her steps as her expression wrinkled with doubt, wondering why Leon needed to visit them separately. 

However, after she glanced back and saw Darlene's expression, she quickly realized Leon's intention for visiting.

She immediately blushed and hastened her steps—before pausing again to gaze at Duna suspiciously. 

Duna gave a provocative smile before Aria snorted.

Before long, Aria and Darlene both disappeared into their selected rooms before Leon turned back to face the six maids. 

"It seems none of you have managed to awaken yet," Leon stated after studying them.

Tia, Chana, Nora, Tess, Zoe, and Kiara all lowered their heads with shame for failing to live up to the young master's expectations.

"We apologize for our incompetence, Young Master Leonhardt!" 

"Don't take it too harshly on yourselves," Leon immediately waved his hands for them to raise their heads before he casually said, "It's just a small matter. We'll talk more about this later. Just take it easy for now." 

"Yes, Young Master Leonhardt," the six maids slightly bowed. 

Shortly after, Leon grabbed Duna's arm and pulled her into an unoccupied bedroom. 

Although he was a bit hopeful, he had expected none of the six maids to be able to awaken naturally within the week. 

To accomplish awakening within the timeframe despite have zero knowledge of Awakening Cultivation prior, they would have needed to be cultivation geniuses.

Inside the bedroom, Duna immediately pushed Leon down on the bed and hopped on top with a condescending look. 

"You want to eat three flowers consecutively? Do you think you will still have the strength after doing it with me?" Duna asked with narrowed eyes. 

"Won't you know in a bit," Leon cracked a confident smile and said, "It won't be the same the previous times."

"Hmph, have you forgotten that your mental strength gets drained by doing it in my spiritual world? I really don't know where you are getting your confidence from," Duna snorted. 

…

Fifteen minutes later, Duna collapsed on top of Leon's bare chest weakly with disbelief and confusion written over her face inside the spiritual world while Leon laid below with a refreshed look on his face.

"This doesn't make… sense!" Duna uttered weakly before looking up at Leon's confident smile with intense curiosity.

"How did you do it? How did you reverse the role and sap my mental strength instead?" Duna asked. 

Leon responded with a silent smile. 

He had been studying soul-related knowledge from [Archive] whenever he had a bit of time to spare for quite a while now. 

Having made love with Duna in the spiritual world a few times, he had gained an understanding of how his mental strength was drained and managed to devise a technique through reverse engineering. 

Not only does this technique preserve his mental strength, but it could also sap Duna's mental strength to replenish his own. 

"I took your mental strength but also gave you True Grandmist Energy in return. I think this was a fair trade, don't you think?" Leon asked with a smile. 

However, Duna was not satisfied with his response and pressed him for an answer while taking his little brother hostage with her firm grip.

"Tell me how!" Duna demanded. 

Leon's lips twitched. 

"I compiled all my knowledge on understanding the soul and devised a soul technique that could improve one's soul quality during spiritual intimacy. But as you can see, this technique is still incomplete at best," Leon explained. 

Shortly after, he added further, "The main idea behind the technique was to wrestle our mental strength back and forth like a game of tug-of-war, which would, in turns, strengthen our mental strength." 

"If this happened while we are both in peak mental states, there's a possibility that it could improve our soul. But as you know, I ended up robbing your mental strength instead," Leon said. 

After hearing from Leon, Duna mustered her strength to pull herself up and gaze back at his face with great shock. 

"You actually tried to create a true soul cultivation technique? Not only that, but it is also a dual cultivation technique?" Duna asked with disbelief. 

She failed to keep calm and indifferent composure. 

What she heard was simply too shocking and utterly ridiculous—yet at the same time, she wanted to see it come to fruition.

Since the birth of Primal Chaos, the world has seen the creation of many dual cultivation methods and soul cultivation methods. 

But none had ever succeeded in creating a true soul cultivation method, let alone a true soul cultivation method through dual cultivation with one's soul. 

Even if there are little hopes and chances of success, Leon's idea was fresh and had potential.

For the first time, Duna saw Leon's lofty aspiration and ambition.