Death… and me

Chapter 702: Koran Forest

Rean and Roan then brought Kentucky out. After that, Rean enveloped them all with his Light and Spiritual Sense bending skill before they took off. After that, they kept flying for an entire day. Of course, Kentucky knew about the urgency of the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm situation, so he flew to the limit of his speed and energy conservation.

Kentucky was now a Stage Five Demon Beast, a flying one at that. Thanks to that, his flying speed was unmatched on this planet between cultivators and demon beasts of the same level. Although he only had a single day to fly, that was enough for him to cover another 8000 kilometers on his own. 

Along the way, Rean and Roan looked at the scenery. They even passed by some of the isolated cities, which was a normal thing on this ice planet. However, it was all the same everywhere. Life was blooming as the ice melted. It was not like all the ice was gone, but they knew that it would eventually happen. The only exceptions were high altitude places and obviously areas close to the planet’s poles.

That being said, it didn’t take long for the twins to connect to the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm and ask Celis directly, “Celis, does it have anything to do with your disappearance?”

Celis confirmed. “Isn’t that obvious?” Celis felt like it was an idiotic question. “I and my saplings around the world were absorbing and concentrating all the Spiritual Energy into specific places. Naturally, that affected the environment, making the planet cooler little by little. Considering that I have been alive for millenniums, it eventually turned into that ice world you saw when you first arrived here.”

Celis continued, “That was the way the Soul Rulers used to take control over the world. Without Spiritual Energy outside for other forces to develop, how could anyone contend against them? That would be just suicidal.” Celis also looked at all the green grass outside as he sighed, saying, “Now that the flow of Spiritual Energy was restored, it’s only natural that the planet has recovered its warmth. All the seeds that have been frozen for so long now have a chance to spurt again. That’s why there are almost no trees, but a lot of grass everywhere. As time passes, new forests will appear as the planet recovers its splendor. Of course, that’ll take many years.”

Rean couldn’t help but ask, “Still, isn’t this concentration of Spiritual Energy a bit too dense? Even if it doesn’t reach the level of Rank Two Spirit Stones, it’s still higher than Rank One Stones.” Rean was comparing the energy density with that from Sunkan Planet. “Back on our planet, the Spiritual Energy in the environment definitely didn’t reach the level of Rank One Spirit Stones.”

Celis pondered for a bit before saying, “Hmm…I’m not seeing anything different, though. The Spiritual Energy outside is at its previous level before I started to take it away.” 

He then continued, “There are only two options here. One, our planet always had more Spiritual Energy than your own. Or two, your planet also had someone limiting the amount of Spiritual Energy in the world, just like what I did.”

Rean and Roan had been to the Sasamil Imperial Palace, where the concentration of Spiritual Energy was indeed much higher than other places. Nevertheless, it was not even one-tenth of what the Soul Rulers had. “It’s probably the first option, then.”

“By the way,” Celis remembered to ask something else. “Where are you headed at the moment? Do you have an idea of where to settle down?”

Rean nodded, saying with a smile, “During the time I worked with their Formation Masters, I took the opportunity to study the geography of this planet. I also took several jade slips with maps of many different regions.” 

“Because of their confidence that I wouldn’t be able to ever escape, they didn’t care when I asked for it. I wonder if they would do the same thing now. Hahaha!”

Kentucky then looked at Rean and said, “Still, you haven’t told us where we are going.”

Rean calmed down and then explained, “Roan and I thought a lot about this subject. At first, we were planning to go to some area more isolated where we could bring the kids out. However, we believe that the Soul Rulers will come up with the same idea.”

Roan agreed with Rean, continuing where he left off, “He’s right. That being said, we aren’t going to one of those places. Instead, we’re going to stay in a more open place. It’s just that this area is still rarely visited by other Zasfins.”

Celis and Kentucky were still confused when out of nowhere, Kentucky got an idea. “Oh! I see…we are entering a Demon Beasts’ territory, am I right?”

“Smart!” Rean couldn’t help but smile in response. “That’s indeed correct. We would get one or another Zasfin passing by every now and then to train. However, the numbers wouldn’t be high. Although we have over 3000 kids, we’re still confident that we’re able to hide them.”

Celis was still puzzled, though. “What about the demon beasts themselves? A demon beast region is anything but safe for kids without any cultivation.” Sure enough, that was the main issue.

“That’s not a problem. We’re going to a Demon Beast Forest called Koran. It is located in the Tribes’ Zone, where no Empire has taken place. From what I found out, the Tribes’ Zone has so many tribes that none of them have the power to take control over the others and start their own dynasties,” Rean replied.

He then continued, “The strongest powers there are the so-called Consummated Tribes, which number in the hundreds. If any of these Consummated Tribes starts becoming too strong, all the others around it will join forces and attack it.” He shrugged his shoulders as he added, “In the end, none of them dares to become too big, afraid of being destroyed by the others.”

Rean then smiled, saying, “The most impressive thing about that place is that many of the surrounding empires tried to take over the area in the past. However, once an enemy from the outside appears, all the tribes, big and small, join forces and counterattack. Those events happened quite a few times in the past several millenniums, which forced the Empires to give up. In the end, the Empire suffered way too many losses and only made the Tribes even more enraged. The tribes there were simply not willing to submit at all, regardless of how strong the Empires’ experts were.”

Kentucky’s eyes shone as he could not help but say, “They look so cool!”

Rean couldn’t help but laugh out loud, responding, “Hahaha! That’s because you’re only seeing it from the outside. Believe me, you wouldn’t want to live with them at all. It was the Tribes’ mercilessness that drove away all enemies. There, the strong reign supreme while the weak turn into slaves. Killing, r*pe, robbery, you name it. It happens there.”

Kentucky’s opinion of the Tribes’ Zone immediately plummeted, muttering, “Suddenly, they’re not so cool anymore.”

Rean agreed with him. “Well, that’s true. Fortunately, the Demon Beasts’ regions in that place aren’t dominated by the tribes. After all, the demon beasts themselves are just as strong. Except for some Demon Beasts’ tides against the cultivator tribes, or tribes banding together to subjugate demon beasts in certain places where they become too problematic, they mostly stay away from each other. As I said, the Zasfins only enter the Demon Beasts’ territories alone or in small groups to train themselves. It’s basically what Roan and I did back on Sunkan Planet at some point.”

Rean then went back to Celis’s question, responding, “Anyway, all you need to know is that the Demon Beasts’ region is the perfect choice for us. That’s because the Koran Forest’s main rulers are also Stage Five Demon Beasts, just like Kentucky. As you know, Stage Five is equivalent to Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, like Roan and I. Last but not least, we also have you, Celis. With the four of us, it’ll be easy to take control of a part of the core region of the Koran Forest.”

Kentucky understood, saying, “I see…you’re intending to use me as the leader of this group and pretend to be my subordinates, right?”

Roan nodded, explaining, “That’s correct. The other Demon Beast Rulers there are already at Stage Five, so they also have intelligence. To prevent them from creating a problem, they must think that you’re controlling us. Of course, as demon beasts, they will definitely challenge us for the territory we take, but we aren’t afraid of anyone at our own level.”

Kentucky’s eyes shone as he said, “Does that mean I can order Roan around?!”

Roan snorted in response, saying, “As long as you bear the consequences when the demon beasts aren’t looking, sure…”

Kentucky immediately dropped the idea. “Ahem…I’m just joking.”

Celis felt something was off, though. “Why does it feel like you wouldn’t use me unless you guys have no other choice?”

Roan shrugged his shoulders in response, saying, “Isn’t that obvious? First, you’re very easily recognizable. There should be no other tree in the Koren Forest that is even half of your size. What if the Soul Rulers spread information, looking for you? Second, we don’t know if there’s anything in your body that the Soul Rulers can use to track you down. The Soul Gem Dimensional Realm can definitely block any signal from escaping or entering it. But it can’t do the same if you’re outside.”

Celis immediately answered back, “I understand the first option. However, there’s no need to be afraid of the second option. I can guarantee you that they can’t find my location through any means you might imagine. Don’t forget, I’ve lived for way too long already and had the highest cultivation on this planet. There’s no way they could put a tracker on me without knowing. Besides, they wouldn’t dare try it since they knew I would rampage. Hahaha!”

Roan didn’t believe it 100%, but that was good news nevertheless. “Alright, then. I’ll think about it.