Death... and me

Considering that Rean's group traveled over 20 thousand kilometers away from the Soul Ruler's territory, it was understandable that Kentucky bumped along another deposit on the way. After all, a little half of the course was traveled through teleportation. The rest was done on Kentucky's back.

Nevertheless, Rean thought it was strange. "Big tribes...didn't we avoid passing near their homes? How do you know there's one close to that deposit?"

Kentucky nodded as he explained, "We did avoid them. It's just that my perception is strong enough to feel it even though we went around those tribes."

Roan didn't seem to care as he said, "Let's head there, then. It seems like this Blue Luan will stay here for a while, so we don't need to be afraid of him coming to our valley anytime soon. Besides, with Kentucky's speed, we won't take more than a day to arrive there." Sure enough, Roan didn't like the feeling of lacking in the weapons department

Kentucky and Rean looked at each other before nodding. "Alright."

Without wasting any more time, Kentucky flapped his wings before darting into the distance. Of course, they stopped by the valley to tell Celis what happened. After that, they left straight away.

Back by the Blue Luan's side, his mind was still recalling his encounter with Kentucky. 'Another Divine Demon Beast...Isn't there way too many already? Something must be happening on this planet for this to happen.' Gulan then remembered something as he thought, 'The old geezer must know something about this. I'll ask him about it later without revealing this Minokawa's existence.'

A day quickly passed as Kentucky made his way to the other Heaven-level mineral deposit. Sure enough, Rean confirmed that this one was close to one of the big tribes of the Tribes' Zone, the Folit Tribe. However, when they arrived there, they were taken by surprise.

"Close to the Folit Tribe? This is the Folit Tribe!" Roan said with a dark expression as he looked at the lights in the distance. The tribe was located at the base of an enormous mountain. The tribe was so big that it completely circled the mountain itself. The twins could tell that at least a few hundred thousand people lived there from the size alone. The weird thing was that from halfway up, the mountain was deserted, with no buildings whatsoever.

Nevertheless, Rean and Roan knew that it wasn't empty. That's because they could feel the Spiritual Sense of the tribe's experts coming from the mountain top.

"Soul Transformation Realm for sure. Three of them at that," Rean commented as he kept his distance. Because he was too far away, those experts' Spiritual Sense didn't have enough strength to pierce through his Spiritual Sense bending skill. That being said, they didn't perceive the presence of Rean's group.

"Kentucky, are you sure it's there?" Roan asked one more time to make sure.

"Yes. There's quite a lot of Heaven-level ores there. Not only that, but it seems like the mineral is at the Heaven Middle-level," Kentucky answered as he also looked at the tribe.

Rean pondered for a bit before saying, "What about we head underground? The deposit should be quite a few kilometers underground anyway, so those experts' Spiritual Senses shouldn't be able to detect us."

Kentucky immediately shook his head as he clarified, "Wrong! The mineral isn't underground, but at the very top of that tribe's mountain instead. It seems like this tribe has already found it and mined it completely. I can't feel anything underground."

"That makes things complicated..." Roan's expression was still dark as he formulated a solution. "Three Soul Transformation experts. Rean's Spiritual Sense bending skill won't be able to drive them away once we get too close. Besides, the mountain top probably has some kind of formation to protect it."

Rean then had an idea as he suggested, "Can we lure the tiger away from the mountain?"

Roan nodded, replying, "I thought about that as well. However, what to do about the protection there? Besides, I refuse to believe that all three Soul Transformation Zasfins there would leave the tribe at once."

"Can we fight them?" Kentucky asked as he was very eager to try it out.

Unfortunately, that wasn't a good idea as Roan responded, "Even if we decide to fight, we'll probably fall into a standstill. However, for a tribe with three Soul Transformation Realm cultivators, they're bound to have even more Nascent Soul ones. Once beings at that level join the fray, we'll be forced to retreat. Not to mention that we can't use our Soul Marks since it'll reveal our identities, bringing the Soul Rulers here sooner or later."

Rean couldn't help but say, "I guess the only thing remaining is... negotiation? Or perhaps just give up on this one and look for another deposit?"

However, it was then that Kentucky got an idea, suggesting, "Hey, what about some help?"

Rean and Roan's interest were piqued as both of them thought of the same thing. "Could it be..."

Kentucky nodded in response, saying, "The Blue Luan seems to want Heaven-level materials a lot. If we join forces with him, can't we take this tribe down? Besides, he['s the leader of the Koran Forest, so he can probably order a few of the Stage Five Demon Beasts to come out and help."

Rean found a problem with that idea, though. "I don't think it'll work. After all, you're only at the Stage Five level. I don't think the Blue Luan will agree to form an alliance with you when it can bring its own forces to obtain the material instead. In the end, the Blue Luan will have everything for itself."

Roan agreed with Rean, saying, "I think the same. Besides, this tribe shouldn't be as defenseless to the point where a demon beast attack would take it down. After all, the top experts of both demon beasts and Zasfins of the Tribes' Zone rarely fight each other. There must be something else in play here. Maybe some agreement, or perhaps this tribe can obtain help from different tribes quickly and vice versa. It's just like the Soul Rulers probably know about the Blue Luan's presence but didn't even try to tame it since it would put the Demon Beast Alliance against them."

Kentucky dropped his head in disappointment. He thought that was a good opportunity to try out his strength in a real dangerous battle.

"So...negotiation?" Rean asked at the end.

Roan pondered over it for a bit as he looked inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. Inside it was his herb garden, which seemed to have a few good herbs for use. Perhaps he could use it to concoct a Heaven-level pill. Back in the Soul Rulers' Headquarters, Roan didn't simply stay put in the formations. He also took some time to enter the Dimensional Realm to practice his alchemy skills while his clone stayed outside. Also, with Rean's status in the Hafel Clan, he was able to provide Roan with a few good herbs to work with. It's just that Roan had never tried any Heaven-level pill until now, so he was stuck in the Earth Peak-level.

"A Heaven-level pill... I haven't tried it yet, but I'm a little confident in succeeding. I just don't know if it's worth using the herbs I gathered for this occasion," Roan was still somewhat unwilling as he said.

Rean shook his head as he responded, "It's definitely worth it. Would you really be okay if our Earth Peak-level swords broke during a battle in the future? Don't forget we can't enter the Dimensional Realm if we're in danger."

Roan agreed with Rean, eventually saying, "Alright. Let's head back to the valley since I need time to prepare."

Kentucky couldn't help but feel somewhat sad, asking, "What about me?! If you only get enough metal for forging, then I won't have anything to eat."

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "At the moment, our safety is the main priority here. Besides, it's not like you can't go around trying to see if you can find another deposit of Heaven-level ores."

Kentucky sighed but didn't complain in the end. "Fine...once the Blue Luan stops by and goes away, I'll leave for a while to look for it."

Rean and Roan nodded after hearing that. If Kentucky found one, that would be for the best since they could save on pills.

"By the way..." Rean looked at Roan and asked, "What kind of pill would you make that it would be worth trading for Heaven-level materials?"

"What else could it be? In the end, the most important thing for cultivators is to advance into the next realms and increase their lifespan," Roan answered. "Naturally, I would concoct a few Cross-Realm Pills for Nascent Soul Realm cultivators."

"You mean, pills for them to breakthrough into the Soul Transformation Realm?" Rean immediately asked in response.

"Of course not! The Soul Transformation Realm is different when compared to other breakthroughs. It needs the cultivator to find their own path. Instead, my pills will help out with the breakthroughs of the Middle, Late, and Peak Stages," Rean explained.

However, that also brought up another question in Kentucky's mind as he asked soon after, "Does that mean there aren't pills for breaking through to the Soul Transformation Realm?"

Roan pondered a bit before nodding, explaining, "There is a pill called Near Emptiness. It will free your mind from all unnecessary thoughts for several days in a row. From what was written in the alchemy book I read, it would help you understand what this path of yours is. However, it's quite dangerous since you wouldn't react to anything else during this time. That means that even if someone attacks you, you would completely ignore it and continue to focus on the task you put your focus on. Besides, it's not guaranteed to work at all."

Rean then shook his head after hearing that, saying, "It doesn't matter. Let's head back to the valley first."