"Three weeks, my Lord! You've been in seclusion for three weeks!" Saresha stated.
The moment Leon heard her answer, his eyes widened with shock.
"Three weeks?!"
"Yes, my Lord!"
Leon knew he lost track of time while he was engrossed in his cultivation, but he thought it would only be several days to a week at most.
However, the truth was beyond his imagination.
"Ugh… Three weeks, huh? What a shock…" Leon muttered to himself while rubbing his forehead with distress.
"Even if I rush back to the Infertile Plains now, I'm afraid I'll still be too late. If there weren't any surprising miracles during my three weeks of absence, the Seven Tribes Alliance is mostly like conquered by now…" he pondered.
However, he suddenly recalled the One-Eyed Venerable Shaman.
"…Or perhaps not," Leon changed his assumption.
The One-Eyed Venerable Shaman had become a Battle King, and the old man even has a Quasi Tier-7 Greatsword, which boosts his combat power by a fair deal.
Even if the One-Eyed Venerable Shamand hadn't grown stronger during the three weeks, he could still compete with Mid-rank Battle Kings at the very least.
"Senior One-Eye should be able to buy a lot of time for the Seven Tribes Alliance… As an active Battle King, Senior One-Eye's presence will exert a lot of pressure on the battlefield…" Leon thought.
After all, active Battle Kings are not the same as the slumbering Battle Kings; they don't have a limited lifespan, nor are they at risk of getting bedeviled—or Demonic Possession, as the locals like to call it.
"The Seven Tribes Alliance should be able to hold on unless the other tribes send Battle Kings to subjugate the Seven Tribes Alliance… However, the slumbering Battle Kings are a tribe's trump card…" Leon thought.
No tribe would readily awaken their slumbering Battle Kings unless they have to as a last resort; something like this only happens if the tribe is threatened with annihilation.
After dwelling over the matter for a while, Leon concluded that the Seven Tribes Alliance was still in the game.
They haven't been subjugated yet—but he did not know for how much longer that would remain the case.
Nevertheless, he put the Seven Tribes Alliance's matter aside for the time being.
After rubbing his forehead for a brief moment, Leon shifted his attention back to Saresha and ordered, "Update me on everything that has happened during these three weeks. Where are the others?"
"After exhausting our cultivation resources, the other clan members went to train elsewhere, my Lord. Nothing big has happened during these three weeks—Ah, but if I have to mention something, the number of sea monsters in the Bone Sea seemed to have increased," Saresha mentioned.
"An increase in the number of sea monsters? Is it the sea monster tide?" Leon asked.
"Sea monster tide, my Lord?" Saresha repeated with doubt before saying, "I'm not sure if it's a sea monster tide or not, but most of the Dark Wyrm Clan went hunting along with Miss Aria and Darlene."
After hearing that, Leon connected his consciousness with the realm spirit's omniscience and spied on the situation in the Bone Sea.
He immediately confirmed that the number of sea monsters in the Bone Sea increased, but no one was there—at least, they were nowhere near the central sea region.
They were spread along the coastal regions and western region's rivers, hunting the sea monsters in large numbers before cooking them up and eating them with great relish.
However, the dark wyrms weren't simply eating the sea monsters' tender flesh for the sake of the taste.
No, the sea monsters' flesh was rich in nutrients and very good from nourishing their blood.
Leon could tell that the dark wyrms had grown stronger.
Their True Dragon Origin Blood had become richer, and the number of Arch Demon-level members within their clan had also doubled in these last three weeks.
"According to Tak-si, the sea monster tide has overwhelming numbers… The sea monsters had certainly increased, but this isn't it. Nevertheless, it might be a sign that a sea monster tide is coming soon…" Leon muttered.
'Isn't that right, Tak-si?'
'Yes, Master,' the realm spirit affirmed.
'According to the patterns from the past instances, the number of sea monsters always steadily increases before the big sea monster tide arrives. However, other people wouldn't notice this unless they pay particular attention to the western rivers.'
'I see…' Leon nodded before asking, 'Will the sea monster tide pose a problem?'
'The present Dark Wyrm Clan has no problem dealing with them. And generally, the sea monsters rarely come to shore, so the sea monster tide only poses a problem for those trapped at sea during the tide.'
'Then, there's no problem,' Leon replied.
Shortly after, he shifted his attention to the ladies and the dark faes by the rivers.
By the looks of it, Darlene had broken through to Seeking Insight-stage Transcendent and even reached the peak of it, just a step short from the Paragon stage.
Her rate of improvement was truly impressive—or as he should have expected it from the possessor of an Empyrean God-level soul fragment.
Meanwhile, all the dark faes had at least achieved the early stage of Rank 1 Body Transformation in body cultivation and possess the physical strength of Greater Demons.
On the other hand, Aria didn't show any clear sign of advancement in her awakening cultivation, but her Sword Intent seemed very firm, powerful, and intimidating.
Very few among the Early-rank Arch Demons would be her opponent.
When Leon checked the underground space, he noticed all the undead beings down there had been utterly decimated.
'Did Aria do all this on her own?' he wondered.
'While I was making great progress, the ladies weren't lagging too far behind either, huh? I'm afraid that if I don't keep working hard, I'll be the one to fall behind instead.'
Leon silently thought with a wry smile.
At that moment, Aria, Darlene, and dark faes were catching sea monsters by the rivers.
Then, they gutted the sea monsters they caught, collected their monster cores, kept their flesh for cooking, but threw away their waste organs.
'Doesn't seem like they are collecting the monster cores for cultivation… It looks like they are aware that artificial spirit energy is harmful. That's a relief… Did you teach them about it, Tak-si?'
'Yes, Master.'
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