Chapter 785: The Gate of Wisdom
'Opening the eight hidden gates is like creating eight new energy cores… the demand on the elasticity and sturdiness of the energy channels and inner organs is very high…' Leon mused.
Only demons and beast could open their hidden gates earlier with their innate gifts, and typically, the Gate of Opening located in their glabella would be their first choice.
There is no actual order to the opening of the Eight Hidden Gates, but the Gate of Opening is also known as the Gate of Wisdom, which grants spiritual intelligence to the lacking demons and beasts.
A true First-Gate Body Cultivator is said to be comparable to Celestial Warriors, but Leon knew that is not the case for the demons who open their hidden gates prematurely.
Weak foundations limit their strength, which also applies to Energy Cultivation.
Energy Condensation Realm Divine Cultivators could indeed enter the Revolving Core Realm early, but their limited energy would only form smaller cores.
'Although the thought of opening my first hidden gate early never crossed my mind, it's still good that I figure its consequences,' Leon thought.
His future opponents are the Peak Divine Kings in Divine Realm.
Limiting his latent potential in Body Cultivation for the sake of short-term benefits is not the mindset of an avenger pursuing the absolute limits of cultivation.
Shortly after Leon finished extracting all the demon cores from the demons, Chief Skyhawk and the other tribe leaders approached him.
"Young Master Leonhardt, do you have any other plans for these demon corpses?" asked Riverstar, the leading warrior of the Western Blackriver Tribe.
Although Leon and Aria killed the Arch Demons and many Greater Demons, the four tribes also made great contributions by killing many Greater Demons and Lesser Demons afterward.
Despite that, they did not say anything when Leon took all the demon cores and a sample of all the demons' blood.
Leon thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"I don't have any other use for these demon bodies," he replied.
"Then, do you mind if we take their bodies while they're still fresh, Young Master Leon? Their flesh and blood can be refined into strong recovery medicine," said a different tribe leader from the Ember Lion Tribe, Dustdawn.
"Please, by all means, take them," Leon gestured to the mountain of demon corpses with his hand.
He was already feeling slightly embarrassed for monopolizing the demon cores, but he needed a longer period of observation before he could deem them trustworthy enough to have a share of the demon cores.
He did not want to carelessly grant people opportunities to grow—only for them to backstab him later.
"Thank you, Young Master Leonhardt."
Unaware of his thoughts, Chief Skyhawk and the other tribe leaders expressed their gratitude before dividing the spoils and taking them back to their tribesmen.
Leon was curious about their medicine refinement method, but not enough to delay his cultivation.
After they were gone, he took out the bottles of demon blood essence he collected earlier and commenced his blood refinement.
While he was at it, he kept a portion of his attention on the spatial storm with his second consciousness.
…
…
…
Inside the spatial storm, Darlene was in a deep trance with her consciousness trapped inside the void that exists in her mind.
She was utterly oblivious to the world-changing commotion she created in the outside world.
The Void Space, something unique to people with the Void Soul Constitution, was a profound subspace of unknown depths and deep secrets.
As Darlene's body underwent the baptism of spatial energy, her consciousness was inadvertently drawn into this subspace with extremely powerful Spatial Law.
Leon had once taken a glimpse of it with his divine sense but proceeded no further than the outer rim, fearing it would pull his consciousness deep within and trap it forever.
Nevertheless, as Darlene's consciousness drifted deeper into the void, she drew closer to her soul core that lies hidden deep within the subspace's center.
It was never found; hence, it was called the Void Soul Constitution.
At the same time, the Spatial Law becomes increasingly rich and overflowing in presence, allowing Darlene to sense and comprehend it easily.
She was completely immersed in the feeling as if in a drunken stupor, floating in a boundless sea and drifting wherever the waves took her.
The things she did not understand about the Spatial Law suddenly became crystal clear to her, almost to the point that she felt a certain intimacy and connection to it.
'Something is calling out to me from the very depths of my own soul…' Darlene thought.
Suddenly, the feeling of anxiety and fear sprouted within her.
She was supposed to feel a deeper connection with herself on a spiritual level as she drew closer to her soul, but instead, she felt something else calling out to her.
Subconsciously, she wanted to reject the calling as if she would lose her sense of self if she did not do it.
"No, I can't run away! I want to change! I want to be reliable! I don't want to be forever protected! I want to be one protecting!" Darlene cried in her mind.
She quickly steeled her resolve and pressed onwards.
'The secret of my soul, I have to understand it! And as long as my will is firm, I will not lose myself!' she convinced herself.
Simply by drifting closer to the source of her own soul, her Spatial Law comprehension improves at a remarkable rate.
By the time she reached her soul core, she felt like her comprehension was already beyond the level of a normal Preliminary Accession-stage Transcendent.
However, the joy of accomplishment did not overwhelm her.
The appearance of the murky semi-transparent soul core had completely captured her attention—or more specifically, the single spot of brilliant light on her soul core did.
That spot of brilliant light illuminated the dark void of subspace like the sparkling stars in the night sky.
'Why does this spot on my soul core seems so special compared to the rest of it? Is this starlight?' Darlene wondered.
"You've finally come…"
"W-who?!"
The foreign voice startled her.