"How is this even possible?" Anda stared at the twins in disbelief.
They had not even begun cultivating yet. Not only that, the Zenith State was regarded as one of the most difficult states for a Spiritual Cultivator to enter.
Putting Leyvi aside, even the current strongest Spiritual Cultivators on the continent required several hours of uninterrupted chanting before they could barely reach it.
Yet the twins had entered it almost instantly.
Anda could not help wondering whether they had inherited Leyvi's astonishing Spiritual Cultivation talent. But that explanation did not make sense either. They had only been tested not long ago.
Although both girls possessed exceptional Spiritual Cultivation aptitude, neither of them came anywhere close to Leyvi's monstrous level.
Could the testing method be inaccurate? Or... Was this phenomenon completely unrelated to talent? Could it have happened solely because of Leyvi?
As possibilities flashed through Anda's mind, Leyvi suddenly noticed something unexpected.
The mental power supporting his spiritual sense surged dramatically. It was not a slight increase. It had risen by an entire level.
Someone was helping him.
Although he could not spare the attention to identify the source, there was no mistaking the sudden influx of mental strength.
Leyvi immediately seized the opportunity.
His spiritual sense erupted with renewed force, crashing against the invisible barrier. The repelling force that had stubbornly resisted him moments ago was now steadily pushed backward.
Closer...
Closer...
His spiritual sense rapidly approached the consciousness avatar.
Then, with one final burst of power... The barrier shattered.
The repelling force collapsed completely.
Leyvi's spiritual sense instantly engulfed the consciousness avatar before plunging into the deepest layer of its consciousness.
The moment he entered, countless memories flooded toward him. Just like a human's inner consciousness, the chimpanzee's memories poured in endlessly.
At the same time, an overwhelming torrent of hatred and rage erupted around him. Compared to the emotions lingering in the Sea of Consciousness, the hatred here was magnified countless times over.
Even Leyvi felt a wave of discomfort wash over him. The murderous intent directed toward humanity was almost tangible.
Suppressing the influence with his strengthened mind, he remained calm.
This time, he was not searching for a particular memory. His objective was completely different. He was searching for the source of the Red Eye Craze itself.
Because of that, he deliberately refrained from using the Memory Hunter technique, which was designed to locate specific memories.
Instead, Leyvi slowly spread his spiritual sense throughout the entire inner consciousness, examining every corner with painstaking care, determined to uncover whatever had been hidden behind the barrier.
Thankfully, the tremendous increase in mental power allowed Leyvi to remain completely clear-headed. Even as countless memories flooded into his mind and the overwhelming hatred toward humanity assaulted his consciousness from every direction, he endured everything and continued searching the inner consciousness carefully.
After searching for quite some time, however, he still found nothing unusual.
Everything was simply memories.
This doesn't make sense... Why isn't it here? Leyvi frowned.
Instead of panicking, he quickly calmed himself and thought through the problem logically.
This place contained nothing except memories. If something truly existed here without being noticed, then there was only one possibility.
It had disguised itself as one of the memories.
Without wasting another moment, Leyvi activated the Memory Hunter technique, but instead of searching for a particular memory, he focused on finding one that did not belong here.
He had no idea whether such a method would work.
To his surprise, he did not have to wait long.
The technique Alita had given him once again demonstrated just how extraordinary it was. Out of the countless memories filling the consciousness, it immediately singled out a single foreign memory.
Leyvi's attention instantly converged upon it.
It didn't take long before the foreign memory seemed to realize it had been exposed.
ROAAARRR!
A terrifying roar suddenly erupted from within it.
The deafening roar instantly shattered every memory in the surrounding space, including the foreign memory itself. The entire inner consciousness shook violently, and even Leyvi's strengthened mind was nearly overwhelmed by the impact.
Fortunately, he managed to withstand it.
The roar had not only destroyed the memories. It had also destabilized the entire inner consciousness, causing it to collapse rapidly.
Leyvi immediately understood what that meant. The chimpanzee was about to die.
Seeing there was nothing more to investigate, he did not hesitate. He withdrew his spiritual sense at once before the collapsing consciousness could drag him down with it.
As soon as his spiritual sense returned to his body, his chanting naturally stopped, and the brilliant golden light surrounding him gradually faded.
The restrained chimpanzee also became completely motionless. It no longer struggled. Its crimson eyes lost all signs of life.
"Leyvi! The twins!" Anda's voice immediately pulled him back to reality.
"Hmm?" Leyvi turned around and was greeted by an unexpected sight.
Leyana and Leyina were standing completely motionless, their eyes closed as the golden glow surrounding them gradually faded.
His eyes widened slightly. "The Zenith State... What's happening?"
"They entered the Zenith State not long after you did," Anda replied, shaking her head. "I don't know what's happening either."
She looked at the twins with unconcealed concern. "Will they be alright?"
What worried her most was the possibility that forcing themselves into such a profound state without any cultivation foundation might damage their minds.
Leyvi observed them for a moment before answering.
"Let's wait."
Although he was equally worried, he felt it would be safer to let them awaken naturally. Forcefully interrupting whatever state they were in might do more harm than good.
As he waited, another realization surfaced.
The enormous surge of mental power he had received moments earlier... It had almost certainly come from the twins. Even Leyvi himself had never imagined such a thing was possible.
Several minutes after the last traces of golden light disappeared, the twins' eyelashes fluttered.
Then, almost simultaneously, they opened their eyes. They blinked a few times before spotting Leyvi. Without hesitation, both girls rushed forward and happily hugged one of his arms.
"Daddy! Daddy! We heard you needed help, so we tried our best! Were we helpful?"
Their sparkling eyes were filled with excitement, clearly delighted that they had been able to help their father.
Seeing how energetic they looked, both Leyvi and Anda finally let out relieved sighs. Thankfully, they appeared completely unharmed.
At the same time, Leyvi's curiosity only deepened.
The twins had somehow heard his thoughts at the exact moment he desperately needed more mental power.
Could it be because they were under the influence of my mantra? Were they somehow compatible with it?
He quietly pieced together everything he knew.
Previous research had already confirmed that a Spiritual Cultivator's mind normally showed no response when someone else chanted a mantra. Each person's mantra only resonated with themselves.
The lack of compatibility between different individuals was considered an established fact. Yet the twins had clearly resonated with his.
Is it because they're my daughters?
That was the only explanation Leyvi could come up with. At the moment, it was also the most reasonable one.
"Hahaha! My daughters are really amazing." Leyvi laughed as he rubbed the twins' heads affectionately.
"Daddy was almost stopped in there, but the two of you came and helped me at exactly the right moment. Without your help, we might never have uncovered the truth behind this case," he said.
"Really?" The twins' eyes sparkled.
"Yay! Yay!"
Holding onto one of Leyvi's hands each, they happily skipped around him in circles, celebrating as though they had just achieved the greatest accomplishment in the world. Hearing their father's sincere praise filled them with indescribable joy.
Off to the side, Leywini puffed out her cheeks.
"Wini wanted to help Daddy too... It's not fair..." she mumbled to herself.
Leylin felt much the same. Watching his younger sisters receive such praise made him wish he could contribute to his father as well.
After celebrating for a while, Leyana and Leyina suddenly stopped. They exchanged a glance, nodded to one another, then turned toward Leyvi with unusually determined expressions.
"Daddy, we want to become Spiritual Cultivators. We want to help Daddy more in the future. Will you teach us?"
Leyvi was caught slightly off guard.
It wasn't their decision that surprised him. After everything that had happened today, he had already guessed they would become more interested in Spiritual Cultivation. What surprised him was that they had made up their minds so quickly, without the slightest hesitation.
Since they had already chosen, there was naturally no reason for him to refuse.
"Alright. Daddy will guide the two of you personally later. But make sure you tell your mother first," Leyvi nodded.
"But…" The twins looked at each other briefly before continuing, "Won't Mommy disagree?"
Leyvi smiled. "Don't worry. Just tell her honestly how the two of you feel, and she won't object. Trust Daddy."
"Em!" The twins nodded happily, their confidence immediately returning.
Soon afterward, the children left the cultivation room together. Even the restrained crazed demonic beasts had already been taken away, leaving only Leyvi and Anda behind.
The cheerful atmosphere disappeared almost instantly.
Anda's expression gradually became serious as she looked at her husband.
"What exactly did you discover?"
She knew Leyvi well enough to notice that he had been hiding his true emotions from the children ever since the investigation ended. Whatever he had found was clearly far more disturbing than he had wanted them to know.
Leyvi remained silent for several seconds, his brows tightly furrowed.
Only after organizing his thoughts did he finally speak.
"We have to meet with the Protectors immediately. Our Cloud Continent is in grave danger."