Death... and me

Rean scratched the back of his head as he looked at Xila and replied.

"But Elder Xila, I can leave whenever I want, you know? You should have understood that already."

Xila narrowed his eyes in response. Sure enough, he knew how the twins could simply disappear, leaving only their clones behind.

"Hmph! Still, part of the negotiation is to have you heal everyone, or did you forget about that?"

Rean shook his head as he answered.

"Of course not. However, how can I improve my cultivation by staying here forever? It's imperative that I should go out and explore the world. I have way too many things to do outside as well. If you really want me to heal everyone in my lifetime, I have to go out. Besides, it's not like I won't heal anyone anymore. Just write a list of those who will be healed and have them stay in Majorias City. I can go out every once in a while to heal those ones."

"Just so you know, after my last breakthrough, I'm finally able to heal four Lakure Race members at once as long as their cultivation isn't higher than mine."

Xila had conflicted thoughts after hearing that.

"And why should I believe that you won't run away?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he said.

"I can't even if I wanted. My sect is the Dalamu Sect. Also, you said it yourself. Their negotiation probably has me in the mix. I might be able to ignore the Lakures. Though, I can't ignore the Sasamil Imperial Family's order, especially since I'm married to one of their princesses."

Xila sighed and finally let Rean go.

"Fine! However, you better keep your promise if you don't want the tension between the two sides to intensify."

Rean nodded.

"Don't worry! I know what I'm doing."

After that, Rean left with Roan, Malaka, Calina, and Wulio.

Back at the negotiation site, Laro and Old Worm finished discussing the last details of their alliance.

"Very well. I will need your Lakure Race to send those who you want to go through this political marriage to the Sasamil Capital. Let me see... Usually, just a single marriage would be enough to show our position. However, your Lakure Race is an 'extreme.' In that case, I'll have three willing members of the Sasamil Imperial Family marry three of your race's members. How does that sound?"

Laro nodded, satisfied.

"I know they'll be some lower-ranked direct bloodline members. However, that's more than enough for the outside world since what carries weight in this situation is your Sasamil Family's name. That being said, I'll send you a few of our Lakure royal blood of the same level."

Old Worm didn't mind it, saying.

"Alright. Now, there's one thing I need to make clear to you, Laro. I'm only intervening in this situation because you're at the same cultivation level as me. After we are done, you'll have to abide by the same rules as others at our level—no more intervention in the secular world. Is that okay?"

Laro nodded.

"You told that to me many times. I'm fine with it as long as my Lakure Race isn't at risk of extinction or something like that."

Old Worm agreed with him.

"That goes without saying. I would also move out if I saw that the human race was at risk as well."

And with that, the two sides had reached a consensus. Well, as mentioned before, that wasn't something Laro thought about. He had to follow these rules in exchange for Old Worm not killing his race while he was locked. The play they were performing was something they had already talked about a long time ago... except the marriage thing.

In the place where the natural barrier's border was located, Qia was still waiting. Unlike Droman, she had never left this place ever since the natural formation closed. At some point, she was able to spot many human cultivators coming from the valley.

Immediately, she moved there and looked for Rean and Roan. Well, they were not within this batch, so she had to wait for a while longer. Fortunately, she saw the people she wanted to see the most after some time. Of course, she immediately noticed how much taller and older he became. Still, it was way too easy to identify his show-white hair.

"Rean!"

Rean also noticed Qia running in his direction and immediately sighed.

Finally, she jumped at him and hugged Rean. Obviously, she was worried sick. As for Rean...

"Have you been waiting here all this time? I thought you would have given up by now."

Qia shook her head.

"I'll never give up."

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he said.

"You should know my position in this relationship of ours. Now that I spent nearly eight years inside the natural formation, I've become even more certain of that. I'm telling you, you should really look for someone else."

Qia was taken aback as she looked at Rean's helpless face. He really seemed to be annoyed by her love, which obviously impacted her. Slowly, she pulled away from him as she asked.

"D-Did you find someone else while you were inside the formation?"

Rean couldn't understand how she came up with this idea.

"Of course not! Why should I entangle myself with someone else?"

Wulio and Malaka glanced at him. Wasn't Rean the one who kept forcing Calina to Roan? What you're saying right now is going against what you want for your brother, you know? How can you be this shameless?

Roan didn't have patience for that, though.

"If you're going to waste my time here, then I'm going ahead."

Before anyone said anything, he continued on his way out.

"Wait for us!"

Rean and the others also sped up to catch with Roan. Qia couldn't help but sigh as she did the same. She made several moves on Rean while the two were in the sect working on the new Electrical Formations. However, Rean had dodged every single one of them. The more she tried, the more adamant he became. Right now, though, after spending several years inside the natural formation, she felt that he had become even colder towards her.

She wasn't wrong. Rean was dead set in making this fake marriage not turn into something tangible. Once again, he was thinking about the day when he would need to depart the planet. As for Roan and Calina, he simply helped Calina because he found it funny to bother death. In the end, he also thought that Roan and Calina's relationship won't turn into anything for the same reason.

Qia then looked at Wulio, who was coming out with Rean's group.

"Errrr... And you are?"

Wulio looked at Qia before smiling. Sure enough, he had also changed his appearance even before coming to Qerlen Country. Naturally, Qia couldn't recognize him, just like Calina.

"Oh! You can call me Wano. I became friends with Rean's group during my time in the natural formation. You can count on me if you need something."

Qia looked at Rean, to which the latter said.

"He is indeed a friend of ours. Don't worry, you can trust him."

Qia nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Senior Wano. I'm Qia Sasamil, a princess of the Sasamil Empire."

"Good for you, I guess."

Surprisingly for Qia, Wano didn't seem impressed by her identity at all. He also didn't act more polite just because of that either. Naturally, she didn't like that too much. Still, since he was a friend of Rean and Roan, she didn't mention it.

With Tiria's help, Rean's group was able to make their way back to the Dalamu Sect within two days. Droman, of course, immediately came out to see them. Then...

*Pah!*

*Ouch!*

Rean rubbed the back of his head in pain.

"Brat! How dare you enter the natural formation without permission? You just wait until Sect Master Mia is back. Don't think you'll escape punishment that easily."

Droman then looked at Roan.

"As for you, I'll leave that for Old Worm to deal with."

Roan couldn't care less as he shrugged his shoulders.

Droman then grabbed Rean's arm and pulled him along.

"Let's go back to the Formations Hall. There are a lot of things you need to check. Same goes for you, Qia."

Qia nodded and immediately followed those two.

However...

"Wait, Elder Droman. I need to go to my room first. I've been wearing these clothes all this while, after all."

It was then that Qia noticed that she had the same problem.

"Ah! Me too! Come on, Rean. Let's go change."

Droman narrowed his eyes but nodded in the end.

"As long as you don't suddenly decide to do each other and make me wait longer, then that's fine. I'll be waiting for you two in the Formations Hall. Come quickly."

Qia's face suddenly went red, but Rean just shook his head after hearing that. They had never done it after all.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop teasing you two."

Droman then turned around and left. Rean and Qia did the same thing and headed back to their room, leaving Roan, Calina, Malaka, and Wulio behind.

Calina and Malaka then looked at Roan, waiting for his words.

"What? Just do whatever you want. As long as you stick to the training schedule I gave you, there should be no problems."

Calina and Malaka nodded and immediately left after Roan's words. Only Roan and Wulio remained after that.

"What are you planning to do for now?"

Wulio pondered for a bit before saying.

"I guess I'll head back to the Sasamil Capital to check a few things. Your words about one's support not meaning anything have really caught my attention. I want to see if I can find the reason for that."

Roan was surprised that Wulio was that straightforward, not trying to hide his intention at all.

"That's fine by me. By the way, I intend to keep Calina hidden for a few more years. If everything goes well, she should be able to breakthrough in seven to eight years' time. That should also coincide with the time that the fight for the throne really escalates."

Wulio nodded.

"From what that guy called Erbec said, it seems like many of the small countries are already aware of the difficulties in the Imperial Family."

Roan agreed with him.

"The princes and princesses' moves would catch the countries' attention sooner or later anyway. Anyway, let them do as they wish. The end result is far from being set in stone."

Wulio looked at Roan, who seemed to understand everything that was going on.

"Sigh... Whatever. I'm going out. I'll check every now and then to see how Calina is doing."

Wulio then turned around and moved to the Teleport Formation Hall. On the other hand, Roan narrowed his eyes as he headed to Old Worm's hut once again.

Suddenly...

*Pin!*

[Warning! Soul Gem System's Existence discovered.]

[Attack imminent!]

[Initializing Counter Measure Protocol.]