Chapter 797: Fused Spirits
The lower half of the central floating island was missing, the central building was in ruins, the core component was gone, and the only thing keeping the island afloat were the power chains attached to its four corners.
Thus, in a sense, the central island was no longer floating; it was simply hanging.
Nevertheless, most of Leon's attention was drawn to the black coffin in the middle of the ruined building.
Dense dark energy continued to pour out of it, obscuring the vision of the naked eye, while black-purplish flowers of the unknown breed grew around it.
An eerie and gloomy vibe filled the black coffin's surroundings, but there was also a sort of holiness to it as if it was sacred.
'Stay away…'
The realm spirit warned him again, but it had already lost its fierceness and even appeared fearful of him.
Leon did not heed its words and continued to lead the group closer to the black coffin.
"The dark energy is too thick here; I can't see anything…"
"Was that you, Sister Aria? Where are you? I can't see anyone."
After hopping off Leon's back, Darlene quickly lost track of him and the others, lost in the black clouds of dark energy like the dark faes.
"I'm over here; what about you, Sister Darlene?" Aria asked.
She waved her hand and even used her ice-lightning powers to disperse the black clouds obstructing her vision, but her efforts were futile as other black clouds quickly filled the empty space she created.
Suddenly, large amounts of dark energy rushed towards Leon's body as he absorbed them in large quantities to clear up the space.
However, the quality of the dark energy was much better than he expected; it was not at all inferior to absorbing the power of a Demon King-level demon core.
'Is this the power of a Demon Emperor?' he silently thought.
"My Lord! Permission to cultivate here?" Saresha requested with a raised voice in hopes of being heard as she couldn't see.
"Granted."
"Thank you, my Lord!"
Once Leon gave his permission, Saresha and the rest of the dark faes were immediately ecstatic; they meditated on the spot, greedily swallowing in all the dark energy in their surroundings.
Even so, the gathering speed of fifty members from the Dark Fae Clan could not even clear up the dense clouds of dark energy on the central floating island, not even a slight bit of it.
However, the dark faes did not care about that.
As far as they were concerned, the more dark energy there is, the better it is for them; even Leon could not deny the benefits.
He did not doubt that cultivating the Devil Emperor's Tome of Eternal Darkness on the central island would advance his cultivation by leaps and bounds.
Within moments, he was already impacting the walls of the Mid-stage Heaven Ascension Realm.
'There's so much energy here—so much that it might be possible for me to cultivate to the Truth Manifestation Realm within the week of staying in this place,' Leon thought to himself.
Cultivation Pill is the quickest way to increase one's cultivation; that was his belief in the past.
However, such belief was shattered right at this moment.
Waves after waves of dark energy entered his body and flooded his glabella before getting caught in the current of his revolving dark core.
In the next moment, Leon's eyes flickered brightly.
Breakthrough!
Mid-stage Heaven Ascension Realm!
After quickly stabilizing his cultivation at the Mid-stage Heaven Ascension Realm, he had thoughts of continuing his cultivation.
Cultivation is a long, grueling, and tedious process, but when it is fast and easy, it is more addictive than addictive drugs themselves.
"Leon, where are you?"
"I'm over here."
After hearing Aria's voice, Leon forcefully suppressed his urge before using his Divine Will to pull Aria and Darlene towards him.
Although it was uncomfortable, he had no choice but to put cultivation aside for the time being.
"How did you find us so easily?" Darlene asked with surprise.
"I have my ways," Leon casually answered before saying, "Anyways, there's a black coffin ahead; let us check it out together."
"Mm." the two ladies agreed.
A few moments later, they entered the black-purplish flower garden within the ruined building, which no longer had any intact walls or ceiling.
At the same time, the eerie glowing flowers provided some visibility in the dark space, allowing the group of three to see the black coffin lying in its center.
"Is that the black coffin you mentioned, Leon?" Darlene pointed at the black coffin ahead of them before muttering curiously, "I wonder who's in it…"
"The Eternal Night Demon Empress, probably," Leon answered.
Just as they took a step forward, the realm spirit suddenly materialized in front of them with its hands stretched out, barring them from advancing any further.
"Stop! Don't come any closer! Stay away from my mother!" the realm spirit shouted with trembling arms and a cute voice that arouses one's desires to protect.
"Wow! Such a cute little girl!" Aria immediately gasped at the realm spirit's adorable little form with sparkling eyes.
Contrary to Leon's expectation, the handsome male form of the realm spirit he had seen previously was nowhere to be seen, only a cute little girl that would undoubtedly grow into a peerless beauty one day.
"You… Are you Tak-si? What happened to your voice and appearance?" he asked.
"I am not Tak-si!" the little girl asserted with pouty lips and hands on her hips.
However, half the little girl's face suddenly transformed into Tak-si's handsome male face before it replied, "I am here, Master."
"What is going on here?" Leon was taken aback by the situation.
It was the first time he came across a case where two separate spirits had seemingly fused together.
Tak-si and the little girl's face continued to change back and forth as if they were competing for dominance over their spiritual form before the little girl became angry.
"Grandpa Spirit, are you betraying me?!" the little girl cried.
"I am not! But with our strengths, we have no way of stopping them! Since your mother's coffin has been discovered, Let Grandpa Spirit try to talk and reason with them," Tak-si said to its other half.
Despite what it said, the little girl stubbornly fought back.