Prime Originator

After some time, Leon's excitement toned down. Thinking back, being able to create supreme-grade spirit stones was impressive, but the current world has no market value. 

Nevertheless, it was only a matter of time before it does as people discover their usage in cultivation, formations, and arrays.

At least for now, having the ability to create spirit stones ensured that he would not lack the resource to power his formations and arrays.

After storing the supreme-grade spirit stone in his Worldspace, Leon began to produce his second piece of supreme-grade spirit stone.

Spirit stones were divided into four grades, but their grades were determined by their purity. A spirit stone made of pure spirit energy can only be a supreme-grade spirit stone, while low-grade spirit stones are usually stones with some spirit energy inside them. 

In a short moment, another supreme-grade spirit stone of a similar size was solidified into shape.

"Haiz… How great would it be if divine cultivation also works the same way? Unfortunately, refining energy is not that simple. If I replicate this method, I will feel like having a dead brick in my glabella. The quality will be terrible, and drawing power will be slow. This would be like having the energy reserves of a Revolving Core realm, but only being able to exert the strength of a Body Tempering realm." 

Leon sighed before shaking his head. 

"Never mind. Although I do not need to fear the rush of energy with my tempered meridians, there is no need to rush my divine cultivation. It will be too troublesome to remove it later when I properly start training. The loss time would far outweigh the gains. I better focus on completing my main objectives first."

Time flew in the following period. Leon exhausted all his mental strength to produce a total of 8 supreme-grade spirit stones. 

After that, he moved onto his second objective and manifested the [Divine Book of Life] to absorb the remaining spirit energy in the surroundings to help the heavenly artifact recover. 

The power of a heavenly artifact that came from the era of Old Gods was never to be underestimated, even when it is a damaged one. 

Leon witnessed the powerful absorption ability of the [Divine Book of Life] once more as it whipped up a terrible storm of energy and threatened to devour the spirit energy clean. If not for the World Tree continuously producing spirit energy, he feared that it would have been the case.

After the spirit energy was funneled into the Worldspace, the energy was directly dumped into the [Universal Life Conversion Array] that began to rotate like a grinder after it was activated by the presence of energy.

Once the spirit energy was broken down and transformed into life energy, it was spat out from the other side of the [Universal Life Conversion Array] and scattered onto the Sacred Garden like a water sprinkler. 

Some grey zones on the edges recovered their color, and many spirit herbs grew more lively as their growth slightly accelerated. 

Several stalks of Tier 3 spirit herbs, which were initially going to take a whole year to reach Tier 4, began showing signs of a breakthrough. As for Tier 2 spirit herbs and below, they all leveled up directly.

"Mine, mine, mine, all mine!"

Maya ran into the Sacred Garden and began competing with the spirit herbs for the life energy like a child trying to drink the rainwater. In the end, she managed to wrestle away a larger portion of the life energy, and the Tier 3 spirit herbs failed to reach Tier 4.

Nevertheless, the timing has been greatly reduced, and it was only a matter of time before they reach Tier 4 spirit herbs eventually.

Leon did not mind the artifact spirit's action and allowed it to do as it pleases. There were no urgent needs for Tier 4 spirit herbs, and the artifact spirit was considered the heart of the heavenly artifact. 

He would be too short-sighted if he prioritized a few trivial Tier 4 spirit herbs over the recovery of the artifact spirit.

The manifested [Divine Book of Life] was returned to his soul core after seeing the spirit energy level in the surrounding reduced to a bare minimum. 

After spending the following half an hour resting to recover some mental strength, Leon returned to the surface level. 

…

The surface of the Grassland Region glowed with many dots of light sources as the soldiers continued to clean up the region through the night.

Many areas near the foot of the World Tree were devastated with splashed of ant blood and deep craters created during the battle. 

The two elders had not been idle and contributed significantly to the restoration of the Grassland Region. The craters were patched up, and the corrosive blood were all purified. 

A large mountain of ant carcasses could be seen to one corner of the field as the soldiers continued dumping more scattered ant parts to the pile with their earthen wheelbarrows. 

There were less than 3000 soldiers on the job, not a significant amount of manpower to clean up the several hundred thousand carcasses in a few hours. 

Most of the work had been done by Elder Evergreen after he shifted them to one side like a bulldozer under his manipulation of the earth. The soldiers were only in charge of cleaning up the remnant parts left behind.

Nevertheless, it still took some time to settle everything.

After the last wheelbarrow full of parts were dumped onto the mountain of carcasses, work was pretty much done. There were still large patches of land devoid of grass, but this was not a problem.

Everyone celebrated the completion of the task and began prepping for dinner and relax for the night.

…

After reaching the ground, Leon quickly found Lilith and Faelyn sitting by a small fire with teary expressions next to Lumi. Heading over with a peculiar look, he asked, "What's wrong with you two?" 

Flashing Lumi a quick glance, Leon continued, "Did Lumi bullied you two or something?"

"No, not at all!" The two girls quickly denied in unison. "Lumi's story is just so sad. No woman should have to suffer like her."

Sniff… Sniff…

Recalling the story of how Lumi became a vengeful spirit, Leon did find it unfortunate, but that was it. He was unable to sympathize with the spirit girl like the two ladies are. There is simply too much injustice in the world. 

After some small talk, Leon left them and found a relatively high-ranking soldier to inquire about the war.

"Is there something I can help you with, Your Highness?"

"What's the latest news on the war?"

"Glad you asked, Your Highness." The soldier's eyes lit up with excitement at the question before continuing, "The messenger just arrived earlier today, Your Highness. It was our overwhelming victory. The Bloodfiend Sect was destroyed, and the Valaran Kingdom submitted to our ruling. However, I heard it was the Burning Heaven Sect that destroyed the Bloodfiend Sect."

"The Burning Heaven Sect did? What do they want? Don't tell me they want to play the fisherman in this war?"

"Not at all, Your Highness. They departed as soon as they destroyed the Bloodfiend Sect and left all the loots behind as a greeting gift to express their goodwill to us."

"I see…" 

Leon's brows were knitted, but he no longer bothered the soldier and allowed the soldier to return to his meal after getting all his questions answered.

It appeared that his mother was returning with Lynne and Aria, but he would not be around to welcome them as his adoptive mother's situation grows bleaker with time.

After settling a few things and sending Lumi back into the Worldspace, he began making his journey back to the Capital alone through the night.

Marquis Haldir and Princess Faelyn did not wish to follow him and stay behind to learn more about Elder Evergreen and his people.

…

Capital.

Earlier in the day, just after Leon departed with Marquis Haldir and Faelyn for the World Tree direction, the Capital became busy dealing with the new arrivals from Eastfell Region.

A long line of survivors was seen queueing up for identity recording after their airship was forced to disembark outside the Capital. 

After getting their names and previous occupations recorded, they were escorted to a temporary refugee camp until appropriate lodgings were arranged.

The survivors were very compliant, and everything proceeded smoothly with the palace guards keeping the order. Alas, it was not completely smooth.

Trouble started arising when a few defiant survivors failed to drop their hoods as they were asked to have their facial appearance recognized.