Is That A Wisp?

Because Hanan was all the way back to the first floor, he was several times further from Krune's group than Cinty or Laka were. That being said, Krune found Cinty first in the place which was considered the 45th floor before.

Krune then explained the entire situation to her.

"I see... to think so many things happened in the meantime. But you are right, considering their forces, as long as we get Laka and Alacanta, we shouldn't be in the losing end. To be honest, I think we would have the advantage instead."

Krune nodded.

"I agree, but Little Arty said that they are already coming in our direction, so we should go find Laka straight away."

Cinty agreed with Krune as Little Arty looked for Laka and Alacanta's location.

"If you two are finished, then let's go."

Krune's group once again departed, making their way to where Laka was staying. All the Realms of the higher floors were quite big to start with, so to cross the entire distance still took them two whole weeks. Sure enough, Laka was taken aback when he saw Krune's group appearing inside his Divine Sense.

"Oh?! To think they would appear here."

Not too long after, they met each other.

"Hahaha! Nice to see you guys. It's been nine years, uh?"

Pah!

Suddenly, Alacanta gave Laka a slap on the back of his head. Krune and the others looked at that, puzzled. Did Laka say something wrong?

"Aren't you forgetting something first, idiot?"

In fact, Laka was already stronger than Alancanta. Still, the fear of several years under this Phoenix's watching wasn't something that could be erased that easy. Because of that, Laka didn't dare to go against her words.

"My beloved protector, what did I do wrong?"

"Do you even need to ask? You forgot to tell them a piece of critical information about the Holy Land when they came in, no?"

"Ah!"

Only now Laka remembered that problem.

"Errr... Sorry about that. I completely forgot about the random realms of the Holy Land."

Laex shrugged his shoulders, though.

"Of course you did. You wouldn't dare to hide it from me to start with."

"What do you mean? Do you think I'm afraid of you?"

"You might not be afraid of me, but about a few things that I know."

Laka looked at Laex, not knowing what he meant. But it was then that Laex began to tell a story.

"Cough, cough. Planet Vaiun, close to a particular mountain called Harklin. There you can finmhmhmhhmhmhh..."

Laka's face went pale almost instantly! In a flash, he already appeared in front of Laex, quickly covering his mouth.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Laex glanced at Laka. Anyone could see that he was trying to hold his laugh. Still, he quickly removed Laka's hand before continuing.

"Is that how you should ask me?"

Laka immediately kneeled down again. Sure enough, Laka never felt embarrassed by such actions.

"Oh my Ancestor Laex, is there something you need from this lowly one?"

Everyone looked at that with weird expressions. By now, everyone wanted to know what was the continuation of Laex's story. However, they understood that it was something that Laex had to keep secret.

"Very good. It seems like you still know your place. Don't forget, I'm older than you, so you should treat this ancestor of yours with respect."

"Yes, yes! Definitely!"

As fast as Laka kneeled down, he got up again.

"Good. I need your help with something. We found a treasure in this Holy Land, but it seems like there is a group after it. I need your help to defend against them. For some reason, they seem to be able to find its location. You wouldn't mind offering us a hand, right?"

Laka was obviously curious about what kind of treasure it was, but he knew it was not part of the deal to know.

"Alright! But once I'm done with it, you should never touch that topic ever again. Deal?"

Laex smiled while nodding.

"Deal. I shall bring that thing to my grave."

Laka sighed in relief after hearing that. As for Alacanta, she simply didn't know what to do with Laka anymore. Yet, she had to admit that she was quite curious about Laex's story.

'Perhaps, I can convince him to tell me later. It would be very good to keep this idiot outside trouble.'

Laka then looked at Krune and the others before asking.

"So, what is it that I should expect? For you to ask my help, there should be some strong opponents on the other side, right?"

However, Alacanta was more curious about something else.

"I will help as well since I'm this idiot's protector, but there is one thing I want to know. How did you find us?"

Krune then answered.

"Laka's Dragon Pearl. As long as he isn't too far away, I can use its lingering power to locate him."

Alacanta quickly nodded. She really thought that it had something to do with the Dragon Pearl.

In fact, it wasn't totally a lie. As long as Laka is close enough, Light Spirit can use the Purple Flame Dragon Pearl's lingering power to find its location. Krune had done it to find Laex in the past too. Of course, this time, they used Little Arty since it was a lot more practical.

Alacanta didn't complain about this ability to find Laka's position through his Dragon Pearl. Considering the benefit that it brought to him, this was a small price to pay.

With that out of the way, Krune began to explain everything while hiding the fact that Little Arty was the Holy Land's Artifact.

"A peak Heavenly Divine Soul Owner?! Great! I haven't found a real match in a long time. Ever since I passed the 5th Stage of the Divine Path Realm, my combat power became higher than most of Heavenly Divine Soul Owners."

Krune wasn't surprised to hear that.

"That's the power of the Dragon Pearl, after all. Anyway, we need help to protect it. Since this is already the last year of Holy Land, you wouldn't mind giving us a hand, yea?"

Laka patted his chest.

"Leave it to me! I won't ask what this treasure is either. After all, your special Dragon Pearl is a lot more critical for the Dragon Race."

Alacanta also nodded. She, too, thinks that the Dragon Pearl is better than anything else they might find.

Krune's group had now two 9th Stage Divine Path Realm demon beasts, Alacanta and Cinty. Laex was in the 7th Stage while Laka was on the 6th. However, Laka was definitely the strongest one in the group, thanks to his Heavenly Divine Soul and Purple Flame Dragon Pearl. For Krune to battle him, being three stages behind wasn't enough anymore. Krune would have to be in the same cultivation stage for sure. That's how heaven-defying a Dragon Pearl is for the Dragons and Dragonkin races.

In the last five months, while the Dimensional Realms were fusing, Krune had another breakthrough and was now in the 4th Stage of the Divine Path Realm. Lala was still in the 5th while Feifei was in the 2nd.

The plan was simple. Laka and Alacanta would take care of the Peak Heavenly Divine Soul Owner cultivator. Laex, with his own Purple Flame Dragon Pearl, would take care of one of the 9th Stage enemies. Cinty had both the Elemental Meridians and Chaos Meridians. Not to mention her Blackhole Major Divine Soul, so she was also responsible for another 9th Stage oppo.

Finally, Krune, Feifei, and Lala would take care of the last one. As long as it is not a Heavenly Divine Soul Owner, Krune is confident that he can take one of them head-on. Let alone with Feifei and Lala's help. That is also why Krune believes that his group definitely had the advantage. Last but not least, they had Heavin on their side, which was kind of a secret weapon.

After they discussed the plan, everyone found a good place to wait. They could keep running away, trying to avoid this battle, but that wasn't what Krune desired. Since they can find Little Arty's location, it was better to get over with it before they need to exit the Holy Land.

Alacanta then took the opportunity to make a few more questions.

"By the way, I won't ask you what kind of treasure it is. However, does it have something to do with the actual state of the Holy Land? All the Dimensional Realms Fused together, something that never happened in the past."

Krune pondered a bit and nodded.

"It is indeed related. But you don't need to worry. From what we found out, the Holy Land will not be destroyed with us inside it or anything like that. Once the ten years have passed, everyone will be teleported out as always."

Alacanta nodded, satisfied. Her main concern was that they might have been in danger of dying because of the Holy Land transformation. But if they can all leave this place safely, then that is enough. As for why the change was happening, she wasn't interested. The Holy Land is considered part of the Dalin Universe. It goes without saying that the Dalin Universe Management thought about it as something extremely important. That being said, someone like her or her Universe did not have the power to meddle on whatever might be happening with this place. If anything, she doesn't even want to get involved.

The days passed in a flash, and another two weeks went by. Eventually, Little Arty warned everyone.

"They are here."

Heavin spread his Mental Energy, and sure enough, he was the first to detect their presence.

Krune then got up while looking in the direction they were coming from.

"Well, let's say hello to our new 'friends.'"