Chapter 901 - The More You Look, The Less You See
After spending several hours dual cultivating with Maya in her spiritual world, Leon returned his consciousness to the real world, albeit mentally exhausted.
He had transferred most of his spiritual strength to Maya once more.
Even so, it was a necessary step to take in order to test his theory on entering the Astral Soul Realm.
He quickly ingested a Spiritual Replenishment Pill and found himself a comfortable spot to lay down and fall into slumber.
However, half an hour passed without success.
Nevertheless, Leon adjusted his sleeping posture on the ground and tried again. Alas, he ended up sleeping for several hours.
When he woke up, Aria and Darlene had already finished absorbing his essence.
At that moment, they were sitting in meditative positions with their eyes closed and cultivating. But when they sensed his gaze on them, they quickly opened their eyes.
"You're awake," Aria softly uttered with a pleasant smile.
Leon nodded.
He seemed fine, but Aria noticed the slight crease on his forehead with her sharp gaze, causing her forehead to form creases as well.
She was baffled.
"You didn't sleep well?" Aria inquired with a wondering look.
"I wasn't trying to sleep," Leon shook his head and replied with a wry smile, "I was trying to enter the Astral Soul Realm again. However, I ended up sleeping normally instead."
Although he had finally caught sight of the Astral Soul Realm, he should have known that reentry wasn't going to be easy.
Out of all the recorded cases in the Archive, not a single person experienced the out-of-body experience for a second time.
It was as if they had lost their qualification to enter the Astral Soul Realm after the guardian devoured them.
'The guardian also devoured me… If my defeat in the Astral Soul Realm has anything to do with entry qualifications, my reentry's difficulty will be much higher…'
Leon furrowed his brows in thought.
Nevertheless, he quickly shook his head and refocused his attention on Aria and Darlene.
"It seems like the both of you didn't benefit as much from our second dual cultivation session," Leon mentioned while he observed them.
Aria barely improved from the Mid Rank 1 Body Transformation Realm. Even so, she was still a step closer to reaching Late Rank 1 Body Transformation in the five phases.
As for Darlene, her flesh-tempering and bone-forging phases did not progress from Early Rank 2 Body Transformation.
Instead, her consolidating-viscera phase progressed the most, reaching Late Rank 1 Body Transformation.
Leon silently gave her his approval.
It was evident that Darlene had some self-awareness. She didn't blindly focus on the improvement of her physical strength and neglect defense.
"Well, even if we want to keep making large improvements through dual cultivation, what can we do if we milked you dry?" Darlene smiled impishly.
"Hm? But can you? If I recall correctly, you were the one begging me to stop the most," Leon grinned back at Darlene confidently without backing down.
Darlene was immediately at a loss for words. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment before she pouted.
Nevertheless, Leon understood her original meaning.
Given his Rank 9 Body Transformation in the consolidating viscera phase, his little brother wasn't just durable, but his yang essence was also limitless.
However, it was a different story for his essence of True Grandmist Energy.
Even if he could keep producing yang essence to unload every round, the quality of his essence of True Grandmist Energy couldn't keep up.
He needed time to recharge.
When Leon arrived at that thought, the word 'recharge' suddenly made him realize that he had been too hasty to reenter the Astral Soul Realm.
Although his mind was spiritually exhausted, his body already had too much rest. It wouldn't reach the same level of relaxation even if he slept any further.
It needed time to cool down.
'I was too confident after the Astral Soul Realm experience improved my soul's quality. But, now that I have more time to think about it, I realize my theory was flawed, to begin with…' Leon mused.
'The level of body relaxation wasn't just the problem. Even if my mind was spiritually exhausted, it wasn't empty of thoughts. My mind was filled with thoughts of entering the Astral Soul Realm that it held me back…'
In other words, if he wanted to have a real chance at entering the Astral Soul Realm again, he didn't just need the right level of body relaxation. His mind also needs to be in a state of emptiness, free of thoughts and distractions.
'I have to consider the environment as well,' Leon mused.
It'll be easy for various noises to distract him from entering the state of emptiness if he doesn't have a sound-insulated stone room like this one.
Leon realized what he was doing wrong.
Entering the Astral Soul Realm was not the same as comprehending laws. Rather, it was the complete opposite.
'The more I try to look for it, the less likely I'll find it. I can find the Astral Soul Realm, the Astral Soul Realm finds me…'
Once Leon understood that logic, his fixation on the Astral Soul Realm stopped, and his mind became clear.
"Shall we take a bath together before we leave?" Leon suggested to the ladies.
Aria and Darlene glanced at their sweat-stained bodies and messy clothes scattered across the room before they nodded.
A bath was just what they needed.
Shortly after, Leon summoned a bathtub from the Worldspace. Aria filled it with ice before he melted it fire, heating the water to a perfect temperature.
Once he added some fragrant herbs, the bath exuded a pleasant scent.
Then, Leon carried Aria and Darlene into the bath one by one before they enjoyed soaking themselves in the warm bath water together.
"Moments like this are nice," Darlene commented while washing herself with the herb-infused bathwater.
"Then we better enjoy it while we can. Once we return to the Infertile Plains, we might not get many chances like this," Leon stated.
"Mm," Aria and Darlene nodded.
…
Sometime later, Leon left the stone room in a fresh set of clothes with Aria and Darlene. They picked up Duna from her room before meeting Nyfarella in the great hall.
"My Lord, what do you need from me?" Nyfarella asked.
"It's time for us to leave."