Death... and me

Of course, that much the twins knew already. In any case, they needed the Fallen Light Star Fragments, so they had long since braced themselves for that. Then again, it wouldn't take so long as Hurio thought.

*Creeee!*

Kentucky then shot forward through the skies, reaching a speed that far surpassed any Stage Seven Flying Demon Beast that Hurio had ridden on before. "Holy shit! What kind of flying demon beast is he?"

Rean smiled in response, saying, "Let's just say he is quite rare."

Hurio didn't insist on the question. Instead, he warned the twins. "Anyways, ask him to slow down. If he flies this fast, we might end up inside some of the ancient formations. There'll be no time for us to react if that happens."

Rean shook his head, assuring Hurio as he said, "Don't worry. If we really get close to a formation, we'll know beforehand. I have a way to detect them, an incredibly surefire way even."

[Hmph! Only during times like these do you remember I exist.] Sister Orb could not help but say in response.

Rean laughed after hearing that but didn't give her an answer.

Hurio, of course, didn't hear that. "Are you sure? This is no joke. I truly don't wish to die out of carelessness."

"I can guarantee you that we'll be alright when it comes to avoiding ancient formations," Rean said. "The only risk of us falling into one is in case one of them suddenly shifts right under our feet. If that happens, then there's nothing we can do. Then again, Kentucky's speed would have nothing to do with that."

Hurio agreed with that. "That will be based on our luck, so there really is nothing we can do about that. No one can predict such things, after all." Hurio was still concerned with another thing. "However, Kentucky should still slow down. If he keeps flying at this speed, he will get tired too quickly. In the end, we will lose more time if we compared to him flying at a normal speed nonstop."

"But I'm already flying at normal speeds. This grandfather's top speed is nothing like this..." or so Kentucky wanted to say. Unfortunately, he had to keep his mouth shut for now, so Rean was the one who responded.

"Don't worry, Kentucky isn't overexerting himself at all. At the moment, he's only flying at the speed of an Initial Stage Eight Flying Demon Beast. If he really gives his all, he can reach a speed equivalent to a Late or even Peak Stage Eight Flying Demon Beast."

Hurio became even more curious about Kentucky after hearing that. However, Roan didn't let him think over it that much as he asked something else. "At this speed, do you think we'll still take two years to reach the border between the outskirts and the depths of the Lost Star Realm?"

Hurio came back to himself and immediately shook his head, answering, "Two years? Ha! If Kentucky can really fly at this speed for most of the time, I doubt we'll take even a year. We'll reach it at nine to ten months, tops."

"That's good to hear." Rean, Roan, and Kentucky were obviously satisfied with that.

However, a few hours later, Kentucky felt like he was struck by some kind of immense pressure before he plummeted from the skies like a meteor. It wasn't before he reached twenty or so meters from the ground that he finally stabilized himself. 'What the hell was that?!'

Rean and Roan also felt that pressure, so they looked in Hurio's direction.

Hurio noticed that and sighed, explaining, "I thought you knew this already. You can't fly much higher in the skies inside the Lost Star Realm. The pressure just now sends everyone down. Of course, you can still fly as long as you don't try to go any higher than twenty meters. It's just that you'll have to dodge the obstacles that'll appear in the way."

Roan understood why their early investigation didn't mention this point. "We didn't know that because most of the people who entered the Lost Star Realm wouldn't be flying anyway. For them, this pressure from the skies mean nothing. That's why we didn't find any information about it when we asked around."

Hurio nodded. "True. In any case, it was my mistake to not have warned you beforehand. To be honest, even I forgot about it until we were suddenly assaulted by the pressure."

Roan then asked, "Is there anything else we should pay attention to other than the things you told us before?"

Hurio pondered in silence for a bit before shaking his head. "Not that I can remember. Just make sure that you're more careful while flying. After all, we're very close to the ground. That means the ancient beasts here will have a much easier time attacking us. Of course, that depends on whether they're the aggressive type or not."

Rean took the opportunity to inquire more about the beasts. "What kind of cultivation do they have? Also, if they're much stronger than us, doesn't that mean they're already at the Transition Realm or above? They should already be intelligent beings at that point."

"That's not how it works here," Hurio could not help but say in response. "Don't ask me why, but the ancient beasts here are different from the outside ones. They're extremely powerful but only act on instincts, just like demon beasts below the Transition Realm. At the very least, I've never heard of a sentient Ancient Beast in the Lost Star Realm."

Rean then looked at Kentucky and used his Divine Sense to talk, saying, 'You heard him. Pay close attention ahead, and don't get close to anything that resembles a demon beast. Always go around them.'

Kentucky agreed with Rean. 'Don't worry. I wasn't planning to do so anyway.'

With that decided, they resumed their normal journey.

Roan then sat down on Kentucky before taking several Rank Two Divine Stones out. "Even with Kentucky's speed, we'll take at least nine months to reach the border between regions. Let's just cultivate in the meanwhile."

Rean nodded in response and did the same thing as Roan. Hurio, obviously, didn't have anything else to do either, so he joined the party in cultivating.