Death... and me

Luan dropped his sword as an angry expression appeared on his face. "Fuck! Why do things never go as planned?"

Roan took his White Star back and shook his head, telling him, "You did catch me off guard there. I didn't expect you to be able to use your Space Powers to open a space in the aftermath of our own attacks. Normally, the remnant energy would only cause injuries and wouldn't let you pass through. That was a very good idea, actually."

Roan continued, "In any case, the difference that made you lose is that I'm a lot more experienced than you. Doesn't matter when or how. I'm always alert for any possibilities, as unlikely as they might be. With that said, what you need to work on is your follow-ups. In a battle at the same level, you have to think about your moves ten, twenty, and thirty moves in the future, as well as countermeasures for everything. If you don't do that, you won't beat me."

Lian then got up once again and looked at Roan before laughing. "Hahaha! In any case, today, I was able to make father move. I guess that's already a victory."

Roan looked at his position and was taken aback for a moment. "Oh! Indeed... I wasn't planning to leave my position at all, but your move had forced me to do that. I guess I should consider that a great achievement already."

Roan then looked at Luan's sword. "Stable Ethereality... To think that you would awake your own sword intent and even push it to the next level. From what I could feel, your sword intent interacts with the space itself. It really has huge potential."

Lian scratched the back of his head, embarrassed as he replied, "After Father and Uncle Rean left to take the twelve tests, I stopped by to spar with Ophilia quite a few times. To be honest, I already felt like I was on the verge of grasping something when Uncle Rean first sparred with the sect disciples, so I had to just work on that feeling. I awakened my own Sword Intent three weeks later. This thing is really impressive. It's a kind of energy that doesn't appear in any of my three views. It's not an element, nor is it Divine Energy."

"When I first noticed that I succeeded with my sword intent, I felt like the Space Power I could control matched that very well. Surprisingly, they did work together without any problems," Luan explained.

Roan could understand now why Luan's sword intent increased so fast in just a year to the point he reached the second level. Since his control over space interacted with his sword intent, he could use his pupils to see what was happening. If anything new didn't work as expected, it would definitely show through the Space Power being used together with the intent. "So you spent most of the previous year on your sword intent and your new skill."

Luan nodded in response. "Yes. I felt like my cultivation improved too quickly in the past few years. I simply couldn't tell exactly where my strength would reach a limit or if I could reach the limit at all. With that being said, I decided to spend the last year getting used to my cultivation and abilities while following father's training schedule and cultivation technique. I barely cultivated at all, so I obviously only had a single breakthrough."

Luan looked back at Roan and asked, "Does father think I was wrong?"

Roan shook his head in response. "No. Rean and I had done similar things many times during our cultivation. It's just that we usually didn't need so much time since we could share our experiences through our Soul Connection. I was planning to ask you to do the same once you reached the Elemental Transformation Realm, but that doesn't seem necessary anymore."

Luan was happy to hear that. "Then that's great! Father, can we spar again? I want to test myself against you a few more times. The rest of the members of the sect aren't at my level, so I only have you and Uncle Rean."

Roan didn't mind. "Very well, go back to your position, and let's start again. Besides, a lot of people are very interested in seeing more," replied Roan. It was obvious how many disciples were watching the action at the moment, so it was a good thing.

With that, Roan and Luan fought for another three hours, sparring over a hundred times. In the end, Luan wasn't able to beat Roan even once. However, Roan couldn't just stay put in the arena like he did in the past. He had to move, or he might have really lost once or twice.

Following that, Roan and Luan went somewhere else where they worked on Luan's cultivation technique and abilities. Luan and Roan learned a lot more about Luan's power, so there were a few things they could improve.

It wasn't before an entire day had gone by and Rean called Roan that the two finally stopped talking about training.

'Hey, come out and entertain these people here. It's my time to rest,' Rean complained.

Roan then took Luan and left the Dimensional Realm. Soon after, he arranged to have a message sent to Philip. Simply put, Roan wanted to have Luan as part of the Yume Clan and the Jhiod Sect for the time being. That way, Luan would be able to improve much more.

Because Luan was already in the Jhiod Continent, the rules of tests in the other continents' recruitment buildings didn't apply here. Philip had also heard from Libraia about Luan's ability, so he was more than happy to accept Luan.

Rean, on the other hand, was dragged into the Formation Hall by Havek straight away.

And just like that, an entire month went by. It was finally time for Kentucky to leave the Jhiod Sect to check the country where the Minokawa came from. "Well, I'm going now. I'll be back as soon as possible."

Rean and Celis nodded after hearing that. They were there to see Kentucky off. As for Roan, he had never cared about such things to start with. "Just make sure to not die."