"You've worked hard," Leon praised her.

"Mm," Aria nodded.

Shortly after, Leon turned his head to Darlene on his left side and also praised her, "You worked hard as well, and it also seems like you'll be the first among us to reach the Acknowledged Paragon stage."

"Jealous?" Darlene grinned.

"Oh?" Leon uttered with amusement before asking her, "When did you learn to be cheeky, hm?"

He gave Darlene's round bottom a sneaky squeeze, causing her to cry with a startled look before her face flushed with embarrassment.

Shortly after looking around to see no one watching, she pouted at him.

Leon spent some time catching up with Aria and Darlene before Saresha returned with Nyfarella and the rest of the dark faes.

"Congratulations on your successful retreat, my Lord!" Nyfarella and the dark faes quickly dropped down on their knees and greeted.

Just by sensing their Lord's natural aura, which has become more intimidating and grand, they did not doubt that their Lord had become very powerful.

However, they are only half right.

Leon's inner defense had become extremely high, but his combat prowess itself had not risen by much.

"Un," Leon calmly acknowledged their greetings before saying, "The medicine bath is ready; you may resume your body cultivation whenever."

"Thank you, my Lord!" Nyfarella replied.

At the same time, the dark faes' eyes all lit up. They couldn't wait to hop in the medicine bath and resume their body cultivation immediately.

At last, they could forge their bones again.

Although the pain of bone forging was no joke, the explosive strength gained from it filled them with excitement and anticipation.

Every bit of improvement elevated their confidence.

Shortly after the dark faes rushed to the medicine bath to cultivate their body, Aria suddenly pinched Leon in the waist.

"Hm? What's the matter?" Leon asked with a baffled look.

"It suddenly came to my attention that you like watching the dark fae soak their bodies in the medicine bath, isn't that right?" Aria accused him.

"Tell me, which one has caught your eye? Is it that girl, Saresha? Or the leader, Nyfarella?" she speculated before asking with wide eyes, "Don't tell me you've set your eyes on all of them?!"

Although Leon did think the sight was quite a feast for the eyes, there's no way he could admit that he made the dark faes cultivate in the medicine bath for such a reason.

"That's a false accusation, Aria," Leon smiled wryly before saying, "Why would you think that? Do you think everyone can enjoy the benefits of True Grandmist Energy?"

"Hm? Am I wrong? I guess it was just my imagination then.." Aria quickly dropped the matter without bothering to answer his question.

Leon was a bit speechless.

He began to wonder if this was her way of warning him not to lay his hands on any more women when he already had them.

Sometime later, Shadowtail and a small group of dark wyrms returned from the Bone Sea.

"It's good to see you again, my Lord! Congratulations on your successful retreat!"

Shadowtail and the dark wyrms greeted with greater respect and reverence, feeling even closer to their Lord than ever before.

Although Leon's aura was not quite the same as the dark wyrms, he had indeed acquired a dragon aura.

It was the result of reaching the latter stages of the Body Transformation realm after using the Dragon God Consolidating Viscera Method and the Purple Coatly Dragon Origin Blood.

historical

At that moment, even Leon did not know what abilities he might have gained from acquiring the dragon viscera.

Even so, it was a somewhat weak dragon viscera, so his hidden dragon abilities might not be all that strong yet.

"You're not doing too bad yourself. It seems like the Dragon God Bone Forging Method had increased your strength tremendously, but of course, this wouldn't have been possible if you didn't put in the hard work," Leon casually replied to Shadowtail.

Just by sensing its overwhelmingly powerful vitality, he could tell Shadowtail had grown even more powerful in the past three weeks.

Shadowtail was no longer just a High-rank Arch Demon-level Dark Wyrm; he had actually become a Peak-rank Arch Demon-level Dark Wyrm!

"It's all thanks to you, my Lord. It wouldn't have been possible without your grace," Shadowtail lowered his head humbly to Leon.

"Nevertheless, you have now reached a level that most beasts can only reach in their entire lifetimes," Leon stated.

"Even if your strength continues to grow from this point onwards, you still won't be able to reach the next level with just that. Fortunately, your True Dragon Bloodline has been strengthened quite a bit, most likely due to the sea monsters you consumed in the past three weeks."

"I estimate that it will only take a few blood refinement sessions and some blood nourishing supplements before you awaken your True Dragon Bloodline and become a Divine Beast."

That being said, Leon wasn't completely confident; he was not an expert in the field.

"Does that mean.." Shadowtail's eyes lit up before he uttered carefully with doubt, "My Lord intends to.."

"That's right. I'll perform a few blood refinements on the High-rank Arch Demon-level Dark Wyrms," Leon confirmed with a nod before suddenly adding, "But before that, I'm taking a quick bath in the Bone Sea."

"I understand, my Lord. I will gather my clan members in the meantime," Shadowtail stated.

"Alright," Leon acknowledged before informing Aria and Darlene of his short departure, "I'll be back in a bit."

"Mm," Aria and Darlene nodded.

However, they didn't intend on staying within the rock walls and doing nothing, so Aria shortly informed him, "You can find us by the west river; I'll be going back to hunting sea monsters with Sister Darlene."

"Oh? Alright," Leon nodded.

Just as Aria and Darlene turned to leave with their backs facing Leon, an impulse compelled him to smack Darlene's round bottom.

However, Darlene quickly intercepted his hand before it could land as if she possessed ultra instincts or eyes at the back of her head.

Then, Darlene gave Leon a dirty look and asked, "Do you like touching my butt that much or something?"

"Ahem, it was just a joke," Leon coughed before laughing dryly and fleeing from the scene, "Haha.. Well, then. I'll be off now."

He disappeared in the next instance and returned to the bottom of the Bone Sea.