"Junior brother, I believe in you. Although these problems might be an unsurpassable mountain for many, there is no such thing as obstacles for us skywalkers. Even if there is a mountain, we will create a staircase to walk over it," Jasmine said encouragingly when she saw the downcast look on Leon's face.
Leon's mouth twitched when he heard this. "Senior sister, although I am only twenty four years old now, I am not some idiot when it comes to cultivation."
Jasmine smiled awkwardly as she put the blue screen back into her storage ring. Although Leon was not as talented as any of her master's disciples when it came to cultivation, his comprehension talent was far above anyone she had ever known. Even her master's comprehension of runes paled in comparison to Leon's.
Just then, a purple hue suddenly flickered in the room and Edward reappeared along with two little girls around the age of fourteen.
"Senior brother, according to the rules of the thirty sixth stronghold, you are not allowed to use cultivation above silver grade," Leon commented when he saw the old man sitting casually on the sofa with a wine bottle in his hand.
"It has become a habit. Furthermore, only an idiot will crawl when he has legs to walk," Edward sighed and pointed his finger towards the two girls. "This is the task master has given you. You can either accept it or refuse. But if your answer is no, we have no choice but to eliminate them. The threat these two little devils pose is no joke."
The two little girls trembled when they heard Edward's words. The taller one among the two suddenly stepped forward and shielded the shorter one behind her.
Leon looked at the two little girls with a frown. The clothes they wore had many holes and both had short hair with dirt all over their faces and bodies. Their appearance was also somewhat horrifying with emaciated bodies and sunken eyes.
"The white haired one has Frost Phoenix bloodline and Glacial Elixir Physique. As for the black haired one, she has Fire Phoenix bloodline and Infernal Elixir Physique. To top it off, both their physiques and bloodlines are at the divine rank. If you absorb their bloodlines, your Hell Crow bloodline can transition into the Hell Phoenix bloodline without any effort. At the same time, drinking the Glacial Elixir will strengthen your spirit, and the Infernal Elixir will heal your life force. One more thing, if you can tolerate their appearance, dual cultivating with them can even accelerate your cultivation due to their bloodlines and physiques," Edward said matter of factly, as though he was a butcher explaining the benefits of eating meat to a customer.
Even Jasmine nodded. "That's right, junior brother. These two are the perfect cultivation resources you can have at the moment. The debuffs you have just mentioned won't be a problem anymore."
Leon looked at the trembling little girls in front of him and then at his senior brother and sister. After a moment of silence, he smiled bitterly. "Both of you have been seeing me since the age of seven. You know what my personality really is. After I lost my family right before my eyes, I never once feared death. Even though my cultivation talent is trash and there is little to no hope of advancement in this life, I will never stoop to such a low level just to survive."
Edward did not say anything and just waved his hand. Suddenly, the black haired girl stiffened and the shirt she was wearing slightly lifted, revealing a beautiful grey lotus tattoo on her lower stomach.
Leon's expression changed when he saw the tattoo. "Evil Lotus Convergence Art?"
Jasmine nodded. "Both of them were servants at the house of a minister from the first stronghold. From a very young age, that bastard had been extracting their blood and selling it to the Evil Ghost Temple. Recently, these two girls were sold to the Evil Ghost Temple to become the newly ascended evil deity's ghost brides.
"Fortunately, the elders of the elven world got the news and the two girls were rescued. But the Evil Lotus Convergence Art was already cast on them using the deity's spirit power. Since both were humans, the elven elders handed over both of them to the human alliance. After a lengthy trial, our elders arrived at the conclusion that if we keep them alive, once the runes fully integrate into their souls, the deity from the Evil Ghost Temple will be able to recall their souls to his side no matter what we do."
"But our master, seeing that they suits you because of their physique and bloodline, decided to intervene. She told them that the runes have not fully manifested and you might be able to remove the evil mana from the runes. In the end, the elders gave us a week's time. By the end of this week, we have to present these two back to the elders council either without evil mana in their runes or as dead corpses."
After hearing everything, Leon expressionlessly walked towards the black haired girl and squatted down in front of her. After a few minutes, he stood up with a frown. "I can remove the evil mana, but doing so in a week's time is impossible."
Edward released his spiritual energy and the young girl, as though released from an invisible hand, staggered back towards the white haired girl behind her who caught her quickly.
"Since they will surely die, why not use them as cultivation resources? At least their deaths will have some value?" Edward asked lazily.
Leon looked at the two little girls who were not even up to his chest in height and said after a moment of silence, "These two will live with me from now on. I will find a way to remove the evil mana from the runes within a month's time."
Edward's lips curled up when he heard this. "So what explanation do I have to give the elder council when we go back?"
Leon turned to Edward and said coldly, "Just give them my address. I will give them the explanation they want."
Edward burst out laughing when he heard this. "Now that's the Leon we know."
Jasmine also chuckled. She took out a storage ring from her storage ring and threw it towards Leon. "New identities and documents for them, their clothes, and the manual for Sacred Lotus Convergence Art, everything is inside. One more thing, master specifically instructed you to just focus on cleansing the rune while replacing the spirit power in it with yours."
Before the little girls could understand anything, spatial mana flickered around them and the next second, Leon and the two girls appeared at the side of the road where Leon had met Edward.
"Follow me. I will take you to eat something first," Leon said to the two and walked towards an iron grade five star hotel some distance away.
The two little girls followed him without a word, like prisoners following a jail warden.
"Sorry sir, we will not allow beggars to enter," the security at the door stopped Leon when he saw the two little girls following behind him.
Without any change in his expression, Leon opened his bank account and showed his bank balance. "Any more ID card needed?"
Seeing the nine digit bank balance, that too in iron grade coins, the security guard's heart nearly stopped for a moment before he personally escorted Leon and the two girls towards a VIP room.
Seeing the two girls uneasily fidgeting in their chairs, Leon smiled. "Don't worry about anyone. Until I am with you, no one will lay a finger on both of you. Just order anything you want and eat to your heart's content."
Seeing the gentle expression on Leon's face, the black haired girl mustered up some courage and asked, "Sir, can you please not draw blood from my sister? She has been ill recently and will not be able to tolerate the exhaustion from blood loss anymore. You can take mine as much as you want instead."
Leon flicked the girl on her forehead with a speechless expression. "Stop spouting nonsense and eat what you want. I did not bring both of you for blood extraction or for any kind of nonsense that old bastard said back there. Until both of you are capable of protecting yourselves, you can stay at my place, that's all."