Death... and me

"That's where the next part of the rules come in," Opacli said. "For you to enter the Divine Plane of the Lost Star Realm, you have to gather all the third stage mark owners at the altar in the center of the third level. Only then will their marks gather together to open the passage to the Divine Plane. Of course, only those with the third stage marks will be able to enter it. The rest will only be able to observe."

Rean couldn't help but ask after that. "What will happen to those who don't have the third level marks? After all, a lot of cultivators entered the barrier and are now spread throughout the three levels."

Opacli snorted in response, saying, "Hmph! Who cares about them? They entered it because they wanted to. Their fates were sealed the moment they took that decision. You should know by now that even if someone manages to resist the last eight waves, the top ten powers of the Lanqueas Continent won't make sure they won't be alive for long. Well, at least they served to catch the attention of the other ancient beasts who remained inside the barrier after the waves. That's already a good way of spending their lives for our cause."

Rean narrowed his eyes after that. Sure enough, these guys from the Croste Clan were just like that. No, it would be wrong to put them all inside the same basket. In any case, that's how the majority thought. That made Rean feel even less guilty to steal the vials of Freezing Star Liquid from them. Without a doubt, it would be quite a blow to them. "I understand." Of course, he didn't say or show it on his face.

Roan then told Rean, 'The small white dragon in the second level already said that, so why did you ask?'

Rean glanced at Roan in response, telling him, 'Just trying to see if they had some other alternative for the other cultivators. Seems like it was useless to ask in the first place.'

Roan then decided to change the topic with Opacli. "What about the Divine Plane itself? Is Divine Origin Energy the only thing you can get from there?"

Opacli looked back at Roan with a puzzled expression and asked in response, "Was there supposed to be anything else there?"

Roan narrowed his eyes after hearing that. He was good at detecting lies, and Opacli's answer truly looked to be genuine. 'Then, what did that little girl called Aelrie mean by that? She said that Divine Origin Energy wasn't the only thing in that place.' Of course, it could be that Opacli was simply way too good at lying, just like the other guy Roan met in the outskirts of the Lost Star Realm.

Opacli wanted to close the deal at all costs, so he even helped the twins by telling them where the dragon pools would most likely be found. Now that the twins had signed the contract, he needed to meet them again at the altar so that he could receive the methods to form agreements with the ancient beasts. The good thing was that he truly wrote down that the twins couldn't be lying when they said that only the two of them knew how to do it. That meant Hurio and Lilia, who were following them, didn't know anything. Last but not least, the clause that demanded Rean and Roan not to tell any of the other top ten powers was also written down.

Eventually, Opacli decided to leave. "Alright. I need to go now and meet the disciples of my group. If some of the elders from the other powers decide to attack them, they won't be able to do much to defend against Void Tempering Realm cultivators. I'll meet you again in a week or so at the altar at the center of the third level."

With that said, Opacli immediately left the twins' group, using his spatial power to travel faster.

Rean then looked at the others and said, "Do you think there would be a group of high-level cultivators at that altar a week later to catch us?"

Hurio immediately shook his head, saying, "There won't. If they bring people capable of battling against Sally, that'll destroy most of the third level. Besides, you do remember that boy we met earlier, right? I don't think he'd allow the top ten powers to do as they please in the Lost Star Realm."

Roan agreed with Hurio, telling Rean, "To be honest, I think they know of that boy's existence. As to what that means, that's not our problem."

Lilia was curious about something else, though. "Rean, Roan... there's no such thing as an ancient beast taming method or agreement. How come you're still alive after signing the contract? Shouldn't you have died because of your lie?"

Rean already expected that question, and he did have an answer for that. "Lie? What lie are you talking about? I didn't lie at all. I will indeed tell them the method I used to reach an agreement with Sally and the small white dragon."

Lilia was taken aback by his confidence. "This... but that wasn't exactly a method... instead, it's a lucky event. Besides, we know that you have Light Element Affinity helped with it as well. For some reason, the guardians think very highly of you because of your affinity, saying that no humanoid race should have it in the Realm of Gods or whatever. That's definitely not something the Croste Clan can copy."

Hurio narrowed his eyes after hearing Rean's response. "That's a lie. Soul Binding Contracts aren't so easily bent like that. At the very least, I don't think it's worth testing out how much you can bend the contract as you could really die from it. There's some other secret behind the fact that you two didn't die after signing the contract, isn't there?"

Roan kept silent while Rean shrugged his shoulders as he replied to Hurio's question. "Who knows?"

Hurio didn't like that answer. After all, wouldn't that mean that the Soul Binding Contract he had signed with the twins could also be useless? But then again, Rean and Roan had truly followed the clauses of their contract. "Whatever. Let's keep looking for more Fallen Light Star Fragments."

Rean nodded in agreement. "We will move in the direction of the dragon pools that Opacli mentioned while we do that."

And with more doubts in his mind than before, Hurio started to look for the fragments once again with Rean and the others.