Death... and me

Aien sighed before saying, "In fact, there are two. First, other cultivators. There aren't many passing through this place, but it does happen every now and then. You and your brother were a very good example of it. As you can imagine, not everyone is forthright like you. If they find out that we have some Rank One Divine Stones, that's one thing. At most, we would be robbed, but that's about it. As long as we don't resist, we would usually be fine. However, if Rank Two Divine Stones are found in a place like this, I don't even want to imagine what could happen. Don't forget that due to our race's limitations, we all have low cultivations. I'm the strongest, only being at the Soul Transformation Realm."

Rean couldn't help but sigh after that. The Realm of Gods was the realm of the strong. Being greedy was just normal. Looking at the faces of the others, it seemed like they didn't have fond memories of other cultivators in general. Of course, not everyone was like that, but chances weren't on their side.

Aien continued, "The second one is demon beasts. As you know, this place isn't far from the demon beast territories. Demon beasts live within nature, so they're more sensitive to Divine Energy. Keeping those Rank Two Divine Stones here will definitely attract their senses sooner or later. Demon beasts who can feel Divine Energy from this far away are definitely not something we can deal with."

Aien then smiled at Rean as he concluded, "Nonetheless, we all thank you for the kind intentions."

Everyone else agreed with Aien.

"Man, if only others were like you."

"Hey, don't push your luck."

"We are happy with Rank One Divine Stones. With time, we will be able to strengthen our best members to help defend the village."

"Well, some of the other cultivators who stop by didn't cause trouble either, although most of them love to act arrogant."

"That's good enough already, so let's not complain about it."

"Yeah. Do you remember the last time a Stage Six Demon Beast came by? That was huge trouble. How many died there?"

After all of that, Rean simply couldn't stay put anymore, saying, "Well, it seems like I'll have to stay in the village a few more days than I initially planned."

Aien looked at Rean, puzzled. "For what? Help us protect it? Don't worry, such problems don't happen every day. We'll keep the Earth's Remnants for you since no one else wants them. Just go back to your... your... I guess I don't even know where you came from. Hahaha!"

Rean smiled but didn't comment on it. Due to how isolated and weak this village was, they wouldn't understand what the Huring Sacred Land was anyway. "That's not it. Just keep looking, and you will understand."

Immediately, Rean used his spatial rings and brought out many materials. Rean kept many things in his spatial rings for moments like these, where he couldn't access the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. After all, he was too far away from Roan at the moment. All the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm features were blocked due to the distance from one another. The only thing he could do was talk with Sister Orb. Not to mention that even this feature was very recent, an extra perk from the last Soul Connection Range upgrade.

Following that, he took the demon beast he rented from the Beast Taming Guild and flew around the village. "Hmm...definitely a small village. However, I better make something that will last." Rean pondered over it for a bit and nodded, muttering, "Alright, a triple-layer will do."

Rean's Demon Bird landed sometime later before Rean immediately started to work. "Senior Aien, I will need to take that residence of yours in the center of the village. Sorry about that."

"What?!" Aien and the others were taken aback. Did Rean suddenly decide to rule over them? No, that definitely didn't seem the case. "Why would you need my residence?" Well, Aien didn't have much attachment to it, though. It was in the center as it was the best place for him to watch over the village. It was always like this for him and the previous village leaders.

Rean smiled while he used his Divine Sense to tell his plan to Aien and the others around.

"The core of a Golden Initial-level Triple-Layer Formation?!" Aien did know what formations were, obviously. Aien even knew a little bit and used very simple ones in the village itself. However, let alone triple-layer formations at that level, he couldn't even construct a Bronze-level double-layered formation. That's how limited his knowledge on it was. He was just a Bronze Middle-level who learned of it on his own, after all.

Rean laughed after seeing Aien's expression and asked, "What? You don't want it? Oh well, I'll take my leave then."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Aien immediately stopped Rean right there. "We want it! You don't even need to pay the Divine Stones. If you build such a thing for us, we will give you all our Earth's Remnants for the next hundred years for free!"

Rean shook his head, saying, "I'm building the formation because I want to. It has nothing to do with our deal. No, I guess it does. I'm not only helping you but myself as well. Keeping your village and its members safe will obviously result in even more Earth's Remnants in the future."

Aien couldn't find a reason to deny that. "Well...that's true, I guess. Still, this is too much. How expensive would such a thing be?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders in response, saying, "Believe it or not, those ten Rank Two Divine Stones I offered you should be enough to pay a Formation Master to do it. However, it would be a bad idea to let anyone else at such a level know that you have those stones. Anyways, go ahead and empty your residence. I'll work on the other things during then."

Before Aien could say anything else, Rean and the materials he was carrying disappeared like smoke. Of course, Aien didn't waste time before looking at the rest of the people. "Quick, quick, help me bring everything out. Farlis, I'll be dining at your home this night. Hahaha!"

Farlis was the name of the vice leader of the tribe, a Cosgles at the Late Stage of the Nascent Realm. "Hahaha! Come, come! I'll tell my wife to make extra food. We can think where to build a new residence for you once our benefactor finishes his job."