Chapter 872 - Duna Exits Her Retreat
"When are we returning to the Darkmoon Tribe, Leon?" Darlene asked.
Leon slowly turned his head to face Darlene before he said, "We'll return without Duna within two days if she doesn't finish her cultivation by then."
"Why do you ask, Darlene? Do you miss home?" Leon asked shortly after.
However, Darlene shook her head at his question.
"Wherever you are, that is where my home is now," Darlene softly said.
"I don't miss the Darkmoon Tribe; I'm just wondering what the situation in the Infertile Plains is like now that everyone else had gone back."
"True," Leon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Definitely not a peaceful one considering he Infertile Plain's only supply, the Divine Water Spark, is running out of juice. In fact, things should be getting pretty heated up in the Infertile Plains."
"Shouldn't we return sooner to help then? It's been more than three weeks. The situation might be pretty bad for the Darkmoon Tribe," Aria mentioned with knitted brows.
"Not necessarily. We have Senior One-Eye holding the fort for us," Leon replied.
After a short pause, he added, "Also, the Battle God Palace owes me a favor for saving their third young master. Given my affiliation to the Darkmoon Tribe and the Battle God Palace's influence in the Infertile Plains, the Darkmoon Tribe might even be trouble-free."
"Eh, I guess when you put it like that, there's nothing to worry about," Aria said without adding further to the topic.
However, whether it was Leon or her, they both knew that things don't always go according to one's expectations.
"That being said, it is true that we've been away for too long and should head back soon. It'll be interesting to see how much the empire's new capital has developed during this period," Leon said.
"Mm," Aria nodded.
"Anyway, that aside, it seems like you two enjoying hunting sea monsters very much, or should I say eating them?"
Leon changed the topic with a knowing look as he pointed to the corners of his mouth as if something was supposed to be stuck there.
The two ladies immediately scratched the corners of the mouth before shortly realizing they had fallen for Leon's trick.
However, they blushed with embarrassment instead of getting angry.
"The sea monsters' flesh is so tender and tasty; it's something I've never tried before, so I can't help myself," Aria said wryly.
"Mm, mm! Same here!" Darlene added with a nod.
"I've seen," Leon smiled before saying, "But do you know there's a special way of eating fresh sea monsters without cooking them?"
"Eating sea monsters without cooking them? Won't you get sick or food poisoning?" Darlene asked with doubt.
She also doubted the taste with be good.
"Of course, such risk exists, especially if the sea monster itself is sick or belongs to a poisonous kind," Leon did not deny the possibility.
"That's why a special way of preparing the sea monsters' flesh is needed, and to enrich the taste and experience, I'd need to prepare a special sauce for it as well. Anyway, you'll understand once you try it."
After Leon spoke about it, Darlene remained hesitant about the whole idea of eating raw sea monster flesh, while Aria expressed her willingness to try.
The memories of Aria White revealed that such a special way of eating raw fish exists in the Divine Realm, but she had yet to try it for herself, making her all the more eager to try it.
"I'll try it," Aria stated firmly.
"Good, I knew you'll agree," Leon commented before saying, "However, let's leave it for later. I'll go play with these sea monsters for a bit."
Shortly after saying that, Leon went ahead and joined the dark wyrms in hunting the sea monsters rushing through the river.
Thanks to the dark wyrms' collective efforts, none of the sea monsters made it on land up to this point.
"Are you sure about this, Sister Aria? It's… raw sea monster flesh, you know?" Darlene whispered into Aria's ears with concern a few moments later.
However, Aria smiled back at her.
"Since Leon spoke positively about it, it should be bad. We should at least give it a try to find out, no?"
"But… what if he's tricking us again?" Darlene mentioned.
"Ah…" Aria uttered.
She quickly understood the source of Darlene's hesitation.
After a short moment of silent contemplation, she suggested, "How about I try it first and tell you if it's actually delicious or not, Sister Darlene?"
"Really? Are you sure, Sister Aria?"
"Yeah," Aria calmly affirmed.
"It's settled then!"
…
Sometime later, Leon slaughtered enough sea monsters to build a mountain out of them and finished adapting to his strength.
Even when he dived in the river and allowed the sea monsters to attack him freely, not a single sea monster was able to harm him, not even the Mid-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters.
Nevertheless, that only applied to the weakest of Mid-rank Arch Demon-level sea monsters.
Any sea monster slightly stronger than that could break his fleshly body's defense but still wouldn't be able to hurt his inner organs.
"I'm back," Leon uttered before suggesting, "Shall I prepare fresh sea monster flesh for—"
Leon did not finish speaking when he suddenly felt a massive spike in soul energy coming from within the rock walls.
His eyes quickly flickered.
'Duna's cultivation must have ended,' he determined.
Nevertheless, he was not the only one to have felt the enormous surge in soul energy; everyone within the vicinity of the source also felt it.
Some were even alarmed by it.
Shadowtail and the other Demon Lord-level Earth Dragons all shot their gazes to the rock wall's direction with solemn expressions.
"Was that from… Duna?" Aria turned to Leon with surprise.
"Un," Leon affirmed with a nod after observing the situation through the realm spirit's omniscience before saying, "Let us go over and see her."
At that moment, Duna had officially exited her retreat.
When Leon, Aria, and Darlene returned to the rock wall, they quickly spotted Duna standing outside her cultivation chamber.
She appeared aloof and unapproachable while gazing into the distant sky.