Death... and me

"He can still be used," someone suddenly said. "If the Golden Feather holder gets poisoned, for example. Before they die, we can transfer it to another holder of similar cultivation and age. That could give us many years."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "That's true."

Rean bitterly smiled in response. "So what? The Jakarta Sect needs me, and you don't even know if you'll need me. They already know you have me as well. Are you going to fight them to keep me here? I believe all of you know how important a Star Body cultivator is to them."

Fran narrowed his eyes in response. "The way you put it, it seems like you want to return to the human race. Weren't you the one who ran away from them to start with?"

Rean nodded, clarifying himself. "I did. However, if I need to get locked somewhere, I would obviously prefer the humanoid race. Their resources are a lot more focused on humans like me than you are. First of all, this difference between cultivation methods might lead me to die much earlier than when you finally need my services as my cultivation won't progress."

"By the way," Rean continued. "I still can't see my Iridescent Tears."

"Are you still talking about that?" Fran didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The other elders heard from Fran the deal he made with Rean. It was true that now Jakar didn't want to leave the race anymore at any costs. Even if he did, that simply didn't matter. He wasn't the Golden Feather holder.

"I still think we should keep him, even if it means getting on bad terms with the Jakarta Sect," Gacral, another elder, suggested.

"Does that mean your Winged Provis race will go back on your word?" Rean asked with a smile. "Then how about this? Instead of giving me my Iridescent Tears, give me my freedom. In exchange, if you need me to transfer the Golden Feather in the future, I can do it for you."

"Or we could simply keep you here and wait until we need you if and when we need you," Fran answered.

Yet, Rean had a trump card. "Oh, yeah? It's obviously something I don't want to do. So, tell me, seniors. What guarantees do you have that I'll try to properly move the Golden Feather into someone else? What if I simply let the Golden Feather die?"

Luio narrowed his eyes, saying, "If you let it die, we'll kill you as well."

"Compared to being locked here for who knows how many years, I don't think dying is too bad of an option." Rean didn't care at all. "The ones who'll be on the losing end on this are you guys, not me."

Those words caused many of the elders to look at Rean with hostility.

Surprisingly, even after hearing that, Fran and a few others kept their calm. "You say that. However, how would we even find you in the future? Also, letting you go also means getting on the bad side of the Jakarta Sect and the humanoid races as a whole."

"Finding me is easy. You won't be able to tell where I am, but you can definitely contact me." Rean then took out a Thoughts Transmission Talisman from the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. That was one of the few top-level talismans his father gave him. "You should be able to tell how good they are. As long as I'm in the Realm of Gods, you can contact me. From there, I can talk to you and arrange a way to come back to your race if need be. For experts like Senior Fran, traveling around the Realm of Gods isn't anything difficult."

"And how can we trust you?" Luio asked the obvious question.

Rean shrugged his shoulders in response. "Do you have a better option? If I'm sent back to my Jakarta Sect, then I definitely won't help you again in the future. If you keep me here, then I'll make sure to not help you with the Golden Feather either. I might be wrong, but I do believe you would want to be on my good side when you need me for this."

Fran nodded after hearing that. "Alright, but what about the Jakarta Sect? If we let you go, then our relationship would be affected as two top powers of both humanoid and spirit races."

"Oh, that's easy! Just tell them that I simply disappeared with my Pocket Dimensional Realm," Rean answered.

"Simply disappeared?" Luio found it strange. "What do you mean?"

"Can we go out of the scrambled space of your mountain range?" Rean asked in response.

"Why?"

"That's all I need to leave this place." It wasn't really a secret, as the humanoid races saw it happen during the Free Continent competition. Of course, Rean could understand why they hadn't told the other races how it happened, wanting to keep it a secret. That's why Fran and the others had no idea about how he escaped the humanoid races' territory.

Rean added. "All you need to do is tell them that I disappeared after entering my Dimensional Realm. It's that simple. However, to be honest, I would love it if Elder Fran brought me back to the place where he first captured me. Don't worry. The humanoid races will understand it very well and won't be able to blame you for anything."

Fran, Luio, Hosti, and the others then discussed it through Divine Sense. There were many ups and downs with Rean's words. However, the ultimate issue was the Golden Feather. Nothing else was more important for the Winged Provis race than that. Whatever reward they could get from the humanoid races for giving Rean back to them would never be close to its importance. It was something they were willing to completely break the alliance with humanoid and demon beasts if necessary. Even the Glimpse Race wouldn't have a say on the matter.

A few minutes later, Fran took away the Thoughts Transmission Talismans Rean still held in his hand. Soon after, he opened a fissure and space before saying, "Let's go. You were going to the Azure Lilibels Race, right? I'll leave you there. But you better not forget our deal."

"Will we simply trust him like that?" Gacral asked, concerned.

"Would you rather he killed our Golden Feather on purpose?" Fran asked back.

Gacral and the others immediately went silent after that. "You better be right, Fran."

In the next second, Fran and Rean were gone from the mountain range.