Death... and me

When the Umbral Sect entered the Laan Maze, they had separated into two groups. One was Sames and Vio's group, while the other one had Lian Buran. Unfortunately, they had encountered Rean's group. Naturally, Sames tried to make his way back to Lian's group.

They had noticed that people were being teleported when they entered the maze. Because of that, they made sure to keep together to be teleported to the same place, just like how Sister Orb warned Rean and the others to do so. They didn't know that it was a maze at first and only separated after discovering it. Of course, they also made plans to meet again before that.

Sames had stopped at some point to recover from his injuries. After stabilizing his own condition, he once again made his way to the meeting point. Then again, it was easier said than done. They knew that the maze frequently changed shape, making it very hard for either Lian or Sames to go where they wanted.

Because of that, it took Lian an entire day and several dangers to finally find his way back to Lian's group. It couldn't be helped. If it was easy, the maze wouldn't have any meaning.

Lian's group had five members, different from Vio and Sames' group with 11 in total. However, they were definitely the strongest group between the two. That's because Lian was at the Peak of the Core and Soul Fusion Realm, not to mention having two members at the Initial and Middle Stage of the same Realm. With Sames coming back, they now had four members in that Realm.

Lian narrowed his eyes when he saw Sames approaching. After all, Sames wasn't supposed to be alone.

"What happened?"

Sames bitterly smiled as he organized his thoughts before sending a Spiritual Sense message with the entire story in tow. Of course, he sent the same message to everyone in Lian's group.

"What?! Are you serious?"

"Can two Initial Stage Core Formation Realm kids be that strong?"

"You must be kidding, right?"

Sames shook his head.

"I wish I was. Everyone other than me died because of them. Beal thought that they were not a threat and was the first one to die because of that. Of course, I can't blame them since I would probably have thought the same."

Lian nodded.

"I was thinking about ignoring the twins for now since we found this place. However, considering their growth rate and strength, we better get rid of them as soon as possible. Not to mention, our Umbal Sect and the Dalamu Sect has been on bad terms for quite some time. It will be problematic if they reach the Core and Soul Fusion Realm or even the Nascent Soul Realm in the future."

Everyone nodded. It was already under their orders to kill the twins, especially Rean, but mostly because of Rean's ability to heal Umbral Energy. Right now, however, their own strength was the problem in this place.

"Do you know where they have gone?"

Sames shook his head.

"No idea. I left the place as fast as I could. I didn't dare to stay around. However, everyone in this maze is probably heading to the same place. After all, there seems to be nothing more than Demon Beasts in the maze itself."

Lian and the others nodded. They had been exploring the maze as well, but they didn't find anything of value either. They also asked other groups just to receive the same answer. Without any other choice, everyone could only move in the same direction as they slowly understood how the maze worked. Of course, there were still those tokens, but no one found out what use they have yet.

"Alright. Give Sames some time to recover, and then let's move out."

Back at Rean's group, they ended encountering more of those fake Demon Beasts. However, even though their numbers were enough to kill them, it was becoming something without much use. That's because those demon beasts already lost the tokens inside them.

"It seems that even though we might be ahead of others, the demon beasts in the maze are all accumulated where most of the cultivators are. Otherwise, the groups of demon beasts we found should have those tokens with them."

Everyone nodded.

"There is no helping it. The fake demon beasts are supposed to be a trial, right? It is normal that they were found already. Anyway, how far are we from that door you talked about, Latalia?"

Latalia smiled before replying.

"We're getting close. We just need to wait at the next juncture for the maze to change shape again. Once the room reconnects, we should be almost on the side of the City Entrance."

Just as Latalia mentioned, they unsurprisingly arrived at another point of the maze that changed from time to time. They waited in that position for around an hour until finally, mechanical sounds resounded once more. Just like before, Rean's group was then locked inside the corridor as the maze changed the connections between passages.

Eventually, the corridor they were in was opened once more, allowing them to come out.

"Alright, it should be just ten kilometers ahead where the City Entrance is located."

Latalia then looked at Ervan and Sian.

"Also, there is something there that might be of some help to you two."

Ervan and Sian looked at each other, not understanding what Latalia meant by that.

Latalia didn't explain as their group went ahead. After some time, they finally saw what seemed to be some open gate in the distance. However, Rean's group also noticed that a few cultivators seemed to already have arrived there.

Latalia wasn't surprised by that, though. She had found this place before and then left. It had been more than a day since she had been here. Some lucky group or lone cultivators would eventually reach this place after so long.

The other cultivators looked at Rean's group as their eyes stopped on Latalia and Rovan. However, different from before, no one noticed who Latalia was.

Rean knew that a few groups had been sent to the Jiran Forest to look for Latalia. Naturally, they had talked with Juan as well and received her picture. Imagine a situation where Latalia continued to move around with her real appearance. In that case, things might get annoying as others would be able to recognize her. Because of that, Rean did the same thing he did to Calina with her, changing her appearance with his Light Element.

Latalia was surprised after looking at her appearance after the transformation. If she could, she probably would keep this one rather than heading back to her previous appearance. Unfortunately, Rean told her that it was only temporary. He needed to keep the transformation with Light Element by repeating the process every few hours.

Nonetheless, that was enough for no one to recognize her. That alone was already a very good thing.

Everyone then focused their attention on Latalia and Rovan. Of course, not that they recognized the two, but because they were the only Core and Soul Fusion Realm in Rean's group.

"Another group arrived. It seems like that Light Pillar really went very far."

"It did. I was a few thousand kilometers away, but I still could see that. Fortunately, it only took a few hours to arrive with my cultivation."

"Hey, the newcomers over there, do you know anything about this door? Or perhaps that room on the side of this room entrance?"

Rean and the others then looked at the room the others mentioned. Sure enough, there was an extra room connected to this place. However, everything was dark inside, and only a few of those ancient words were visible above the entrance.

"Didn't any of you enter to check?"

Everyone smiled but didn't say anything. That, of course, made Rean's group apprehensive. However, it was then that Latalia sent them a Spiritual Sense message.

'That room has an automatic Teleport Formation. Once you enter that, you will be teleported outside, leaving the maze entirely.'

Latalia then looked at Sian and Ervan.

'I promised you two that I was going to bring you out, right? That's why I said that. I knew that I could send you out through this teleport formation.'

Ervan couldn't help but ask.

'How do you know that?'

Latalia smiled as she pointed at the words carved above that room entrance.

'It's written right there.'

Rean and Roan's interest was immediately piqued.

'Can you read this ancient language?'

Latalia then explained.

'Just a little. My ancestor's recording had several texts explaining Laan City's language, enough to recognize essential words like the teleport formation. However, more significant sentences with more complex meanings would be quite hard.'

Rovan then looked at Ervan and Sian before saying.

'You two should leave. Go back to the clan.'

Ervan was taken aback.

'But father!'

'Enough!'

Rovan then shook his head.

'I know that you want to help, but truth be told, you and Sian are too weak. You indeed helped in the last battle, but you almost died. If not for Rean's unique ability, you would be dead already. If something happens to me, it will be up to you to take care of the Lopin Clan until your daughter matures.'

Sian also agreed with Rovan.

'Your father is right, Ervan. The clan always come first.'

Ervan gritted his teeth before asking.

'Then why doesn't father come too? We will be safe once we go out.'

Rean nodded.

'Rovan, you helped a lot out already. Perhaps you should really go back with your clan members.'

Rovan shook his head in response.

'I will stay. Besides, I don't have much of a lifespan left anyway. Unlike these two, I won't be able to stay around for long. I might as well join you three inside.'

Rean nodded, not trying to stop him. After all, Rovan's presence would indeed be helpful.

Ervan was unwilling, though.

'Still...'

Rovan shook his head.

'This is the Clan Head's order. Return to the clan. If I don't come back, Ervan is to be the next Clan Head. That's all.'

Sian bowed to Rovan, accepting the order.

Ervan unwillingly did the same.

Rovan then smiled before saying.

'Don't worry, I'm not going in to have myself killed. Who knows, I might even find something that can increase my lifespan. Hahaha! Oh, right! Don't forget to bring the Umbral Sect items we got from the last battle too. They are worth a lot to us.'

After the last battle ended, neither the twins nor Latalia seemed to have much interest in the Umbral Sect members' things. Naturally, Rovan had Ervan and Sian gladly take it all for themselves.

After that, Rean's group pretended to be curious about the 'unknown' room and had Sian and Ervan 'conveniently' check it. Sure enough, they were teleported straight away, which made the expression of Rean's group turn 'dark.'

The others laughed but didn't care about the glares of Rean's group.