Death... and me

Rean took several precautions and even tried to lure whoever was pursuing him once to see if the coast was clear. Yet, no one appeared, which made him pretty sure the reason he was being followed was the Core indeed. Since no one appeared, it would be paranoid to continue to expect something, so Rean returned to the training ground directly after the bait didn't work.

Roan was already there with Luan, waiting for Rean to arrive. Rean then noticed that the Divine Energy was quite chaotic as he approached his formation. Rean was the only one who could perceive it, though. When he entered his concealing formation, he saw Roan and Luan fighting in the skies. 'Well, Roan hadn't had a chance to test and train Luan during the past few years, so I guess he couldn't hold himself.'

That was true. Roan was fighting Luan to check how much he had improved during the last trip. One thing he was certain about was that Luan didn't slack in his cultivation. From the looks of it, Luan only needed one last push, and he could break through, entering the Elemental Space Realm. 'I wonder what kind of difference the Elemental Space Realm would make to Luan. After all, his Elemental Affinity is already Space. Is it possible to merge Space with Space? That sounds quite ridiculous, though.'

*Bang!*

Suddenly, Luan was hit by the back of Roan's White Star Scythe, crashing against the ground like a meteor. Roan then landed where Luan fell and gave a slight nod of approval. "It's good to see you didn't slack in your combat training as well. I used a power way above yours in this last attack, but you still managed to block it in the last second. Not too bad."

Luan then came out of the ground, feeling like he was hit by a mountain. "T-Thank you, father." Yet, he was happy with Roan's praise. His trip to the Spirit Race Territory wasn't smooth sailing. He close close to death several times, especially when he tried to acquire the Juniry Flower. But in the end, it all helped in his development. Luan truly had the mind and body to travel around the Realm of Gods on his own, which was another objective of Roan sending him alone on this journey.

Roan then turned to Rean and extended his hand. "Give it to me."

Rean shrugged his shoulders and threw the Spatial Ring with those three Aberrant Devil Flowers inside. "It should be more than enough for Celis."

Roan checked the contents and nodded. "Yes, they are perfect."

Roan then moved to another corner of the area and waved his hand, causing the Alchemy Workshop to appear and land on the ground. Following that, his subordinates appeared as well. "Alright, the holidays are over. Let's go back and have all this equipment figured out to their minimal details."

Rean sighed and then looked at Luan, who was still outside. "So, what do you intend to do? You probably noticed it as well, right? Roan sent you alone to test whether or not you could live on your own. From the moment we took you in, you have always followed us, so I'm happy to see you can take care of yourself. If you want, you don't really need to follow us anymore. Your life is yours, and you can do whatever you want with it."

Luan shook his head. "I'm one of the very few beings in the Universe who knows about Uncle and Father's mission. If my elemental sacred eyes can be of any help at all, I want to be there for you. Once the Universe is reunified, I can think about what I'm gonna do."

"Is that so?" Rean asked back with a smile. "Alright, I won't say anything else. If you wish to leave one day, just tell us. Now, I'm going to send you back into the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. Time there is running 20 times the speed, so it should be perfect for you to get the last step and enter the Elemental Space Realm."

"Yes, Uncle Rean!" Luan agreed with Rean and disappeared a second later. He was very confident he would succeed in the breakthrough.

After that, Rean went to the same empty Space as he used before and made the Blacksmith Workshop appear. Naturally, he also called the Blacksmiths and Formations Masters he had been working within the last five years. "I hope you guys had a good rest. From here onwards, we will focus 100% on the refinement process of the workshop equipment. Other than the time you spend cultivating, you will always be here."

Everyone was excited, especially the people from Earth. If anything, they felt quite bored during the time Rean was gone, as the Workshop needed him to work. They all entered the Workshop and resumed their training from where they stopped.

Time continued to pass, and three months later, Luan succeeded in his breakthrough. He was finally in the same cultivation realm as Rean, Roan, Kentucky, and Celis. Of course, that was mostly because he didn't need anywhere as much energy as Rean and Roan's ridiculously spacious Dantians did. Not to mention Luan's cultivation manual was crafted by both him and Roan, being of really high quality. It was completely new as Luan was the only Space Affinity cultivator they had seen up to this day.

Rean and Roan even came out to check on him since they wanted to see what would happen. Elemental Space Realm allowed one to merge their Elemental Affinity and Space Together, but Luan had Space Affinity. In the end, it truly made no difference for Luan. The only thing he acquired by reaching that Realm was a higher control over his Spatial Power.

If one counts Spatial Power alone, Luan was now better than Rean and Roan and even Kentucky. Minokawas didn't have an Affinity with Space, but they were very close to it. Yet, Luan surpassed Kentucky's control over it while he was still at the Initial Stage of the same Realm.

Of course, it would have been better if he could merge an element into his Spatial Powers, but he was already happy knowing that he was the best of their group in at least one thing.