After reaching the next Truth Manifestation Realm, the next step in the Devil Emperor's Tome of Eternal Darkness was to nurture and bear the first fruit of law, the fruit of the Darkness Law, on the Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness.
However, Leon wasn't in a hurry to complete the next step.
Instead, Leon focused on studying his 1500-feet Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness to gauge his present strength and potential.
'Although a Truth Manifestation Tree can grow much bigger than its initial starting point, its initial starting point also determines how big it can grow,' Leon mused.
And according to the Devil Emperor's Tome of Eternal Darkness, a 300-feet Truth Manifestation Tree is the bare requirement to reach the True Divinity Realm.
Any less than 300 feet was considered flawed.
To reach Beyond True Divinity Realm, a 600-feet Truth Manifestation Tree was required upon stepping into the Truth Manifestation Realm.
Following that trend, Leon assumed a 900-feet Truth Manifestation Tree would give one the potential to surpass Beyond True Divinity.
Nevertheless, that was just blind speculation on Leon's end. He wouldn't know what is required unless he personally reached that realm one day.
Even so, it still showed that his 1500-feet tall Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness had the endless potential to reach that peak and beyond.
'According to the Devil Emperor's Tome of Eternal Darkness, every fold increase of the initial tree size is a breakthrough to the next stage…' Leon recalled.
That would mean 600 feet is the standard for Mid-stage Truth Manifestation Realm, 900 feet for Late-stage Truth Manifestation Realm, and 1200 feet for Peak-stage Truth Manifestation Realm.
However, Leon's Truth Manifestation Tree was beyond that.
'The moment I stepped into Truth Manifestation Realm, I already have the energy capacity of someone half a step into the Divine Origin Realm, huh? Not bad.'
Leon understood that possessing the energy capacity of someone half a step into the Divine Origin Realm was not the equivalent of possessing the strength of one at the Half-step Divine Origin.
It just means that he had a much bigger energy reserve than the average cultivators at the early stage of the Truth Manifestation Realm.
'Without bearing my first fruit of law, I won't be able to wield the true strength of someone in the Truth Manifestation Realm. It's time to take the next step,' Leon decided.
As its name suggests, the Truth Manifestation Tree was a tree that manifested the truth. Feeding energy to the tree would slowly manifest the law of that respective energy on its empty branches.
As such, even if one doesn't understand the law itself, one can still utilize the power of laws through the Truth Manifestation Tree.
Considering Leon's Truth Manifestation Tree was born from his dark energy, feeding dark energy to the tree doesn't just nurture his fruit of the Darkness Law; it also grows the tree itself.
However, simply feeding dark energy to the Truth Manifestation Tree was the slowest way to manifest the law. Only those who lack comprehension of laws would rely on feeding energy to the tree to acquire the power of laws.
'Since I've already reached the Seeking Insight-stage Transcendent Realm in the Darkness Law, I can use my comprehension of the Darkness Law to quickly nurture my first fruit of the Darkness Law.'
After Leon had that thought, he immediately followed through with it.
There was not much difference between a law fruit and a law seed; the only difference was the way they were formed.
However, something unexpected happened when Leon channeled dark power from his Seeking Insight-stage Transcendent-level Darkness Law towards the Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness.
The dark power was swallowed by the Black Vortex Space's 'grinder,' the Black Vortex situated between them.
'This…' Leon was immediately at a loss for what to do.
He watched the dark power disappear into the Black Vortex for refinement like all the other Wrathful Demon Energy that entered the Black Vortex Space.
Nevertheless, Leon was shortly relieved after seeing the Black Vortex spit the dark power back out without any apparent changes to it.
Afterward, the dark power proceeded to reach the Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness as intended before it was quickly devoured from the roots where his dark energy core used to be.
From there, the dark power slowly flowed through the roots, up the trunk, and along the branches in a vein-like pattern before it gathered on the tip of a single branch, where it quickly formed the fruit of the Darkness Law at a noticeable rate.
But as the fruit of the Darkness Law was steadily forming, Leon frowned at the profound connection being established between the Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness, the Black Vortex Space, and the soul core containing all his laws.
And as the profound connection strengthened, a tugging force pulled the three entities together.
Leon was immediately alarmed by the change.
However, no matter how he tried to stop the connection, it was already well beyond his abilities to control the situation.
Even without doing anything, dark power was channeled out of his soul core, into the Black Vortex, and proceeded to be devoured by the Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness.
No, it wasn't quite channeling.
It was more accurate to say the Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness drew the dark power out of his soul core.
The three entities each had a protective barrier to repel and prevent interference with each other. But after the profound connection was formed, they were attracted to each other instead!
'This is bad!' Leon mentally cried with alarm.
He didn't dare imagine what would happen once the Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness and his soul core were dragged into the Black Vortex.
They would most likely be shredded into pieces.
He wasn't concerned if his Truth Manifestation Tree of Darkness was destroyed. After all, he can just start over.
However, if his soul core was shredded, he would most likely die. It was the essence of his soul, his being, his existence!
"Dammit! Why is this happening?!' Leon urgently pondered for a solution.