Death... and me

In the end, there was no need to move to the cave entrance Roan had selected before. That's because they found out about Valeu's fake Jade Slips and the real one in his body. Sure enough, it had an almost complete map of the cave maze of the Profound Abyss.

Seeing that, Rean couldn't help but comment.

"As expected, you guys were sent straight inside the Decaying Devourers' nest. I'm surprised that you were even able to escape more or less alive before encountering Valeu."

Calina had a slightly sad expression on her face as she recalled the time Valeu killed Silo and Erna back them.

"It was a mistake on our part. If we had just checked the Jade Slip with the elders beforehand..."

"There is no point in thinking about it. Instead, focus on the task ahead. We might have a good map now, but that doesn't mean we know where the Demon Beasts are. Don't forget that with the Surge, things became quite chaotic. I doubt we will reach a Vermilion Pool without finding a single one of them."

Calina nodded.

As they moved forward, Sister Orb talked with Rean and Roan.

[It's almost time for the Universal Restraint. Although the Soul Gem System knows the day of its arrival, it doesn't know the exact time. We have been inside the Profound Abyss for almost two entire days. The Universal Restraint is supposed to arrive at the third. So you better find a safe place to wait for it to pass.]

Rean and Roan nodded. In the end, they selected one of the caves that had the most Decaying Energy coming out on their map. The reason was simple, because of the Surge, none of the other groups would select it. Calina, of course, was taken aback when they selected that one. After all, Decaying Energy was no joke. Only then did Rean tell her about his Light Element and its capacity to get rid of Decaying Energy in one's body.

With that kind of advantage, it would be idiotic to not select the most dangerous path, which was, in fact, the safest one with Rean there. Of course, the Jade Slip Map also depicted the Decaying Caves that were territories of stronger or numerous Decaying Demon Beasts, so they avoided those. Roan wanted to practice combat, but he didn't have a 'Roan' wish. Nonetheless, there were still Decaying Demon Beasts available for them.

'Water Frame!'

'Water Prison!'

All of a sudden, a Decaying Demon Beast hit a Water Wall in front of Calina. Soon after, a sphere of Water formed around it, suppressing its movements.

"Now, Malaka!"

Malaka pounced forward, holding her Staff. Spiritual Energy entered it as the Staff attracted the surrounding Water Element on its own. With both Malaka and her Staff attracting the Water Element, the power of her attack increased even more as it became more fluid.

'Death Water Style, Second Form, Spinning Dragon Tail!'

*Bang, bang, bang!*

*Crack, Shatter!*

The Decaying Demon Beast's Core then shattered after Malaka took the chance it couldn't defend itself. With the two girls together, they could fight weaker Initial Stage Three Demon beasts and even defeat them quite easily. The demon beast they finished off just now was more powerful than that, though. It had the power of a Middle Stage Three one. Nonetheless, the two girls were able to work together to finish it after some time.

*Creeeee!*

*Crash!*

Malaka and Calina heard the sound and looked to the side just in time to see Kentucky's attack hitting another Decaying Demon Beast's body. Right after, his head pulled back as the Decaying Demon Beast's body crumbled. They were also able to see a Demon Core between his beak.

*Gulp!*

*Burp!*

Once again, Kentucky defeated a Stage Three demon beast without much difficulty. He especially became more excited when he fought them since he could eat their Demon Cores.

Calina then looked at Malaka and asked something that had been in her mind for a long time.

"What kind of Demon Bird is this? It is still a Stage Two but can trash weaker Stage Three ones easily. It even held a full-power strike from Valeu, a Peak Core Formation Realm cultivator."

Malaka shook her head in response, saying.

"Rean and Roan never told me what race it came from. However, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that Kentucky can protect itself and even help us."

Still, Calina couldn't help but feel curious. Unfortunately, neither Rean nor Roan answered her question either, which was why she asked Malaka.

With both sides finished, they cast their gazes at Rean and Roan. The two were obviously fighting as well. It's just that they decided to not use each other's power. Thus, it took longer for them to end the Late Stage Three Decaying Demon Beasts on their side.

"Phew... It's finally over. With this, we finished cleaning up the entire territory."

Roan nodded.

"Considering the amount of Decaying Energy in this Cave Path, no other group should select it. Now that the demon beasts are dead, we should be safe for some time."

Roan then turned around and began to walk in the girl's direction. However, his expression didn't seem that joyful. Seeing that, the girls understood what was coming, more lectures... It looked like it didn't matter how much better they did; Roan always had something to complain about.

After filling the girl's ears with complaints and the things they did wrong, Roan finally entered the main topic.

"We will stay here for the third day."

Malaka and Calina got confused.

"Why? We can still go further."

Rean arrived soon after with a bunch of Demon Cores, which he threw to Kentucky before explaining. Kentucky's eyes lit up as he swallowed them one by one and ignored whatever Rean and Roan had to say.

"It's nothing to do with you two. It's just that Roan and I have understood a few things during our previous battles, so we need some time to ponder about it. Of course, you should take this chance to rest as well. Think about all the things Roan said so far and improve on it."

Calina noticed that they seemed to be dead set on staying, so she could only comply. She definitely wouldn't try to move ahead by herself.

Malaka didn't seem to mind and immediately pulled on Calina's hand.

"Then, let's play with Kentucky!"

"Ah! Wait, Malaka. This is not the place to do such things."

Unfortunately, Malaka completely ignored her.

Rean then warned the two.

"Don't go more than twenty meters away from me."

Roan narrowed his eyes in response. Roan had just said that she should ponder about his teachings, but the happy-go-lucky girl forgot it in a matter of seconds. Rean, of course, noticed that.

"Are you fine with it?"

In the end, Roan shook his head.

"Forget them. Lectures will be a lot more efficient once we are back at the sect. I don't have the time to force them to take the training seriously in this place. Sit down, let's wait for the Universal Restraint."

Rean nodded and sat down, as well. Of course, they didn't know when it would come, so they didn't stay still either. The several battles they had, especially those against Valeu, helped stabilize their foundation quite a lot. They also really had things to ponder about their own performances.

As they did that, Rean took the opportunity to ask something else to Sister Orb.

'Sister Orb, how is it? Is the Yin Energy in this Decaying Fog of any help to you?'

Back then, Sister Orb wanted the Yin Ice Ore because of its Yin Energy. The Profound Abyss was full of Yin Energy, but it was mixed in the Decaying Fog, making it incredibly impure. Still, Sister Orb had commented that the Soul Gem System didn't have problems with the impurities found in Yin Energy, so Rean was curious.

[Hum... It's not entirely useless, but nothing worth commenting on either. The Decaying Fog indeed has Yin Energy in it, but it's primarily made of other things. It's just not enough to help improve the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm or the System itself.]

'What are you using it for, then?'

[For the Yin Yang bathhouse. The good thing is that I can convert the excess Yin Energy into Yang Energy, so the bath should be full of Yin Yang Energies for you two quite soon. We will stay here for two weeks, which should be enough to fill it up.]

Rean and Roan nodded. Although the changes given by the Yin Yang bath weren't that big, they were cumulative. So the more they got, the better.

And just like that, the time began to pass. At first, Calina had some restraint because of the location. But she eventually grew calm and enjoyed her time with Malaka and Kentucky. There wasn't really anything to worry about with Rean there to help drive out the Decaying Energy.

Rean used his time to read a little about Formations with the books he brought in the Dimensional Realm. As for Roan, Dark and Light Elements moved around his hands every now and then. He seemed to be practicing something, but Rean couldn't tell what it was.

Soon, more than six hours went by. The girls finally got bored and began to practice, as Roan mentioned. Kentucky also joined the two in their efforts. Rean and Roan did their own things too.

Suddenly, Rean's eyes moved away from his book as he looked in a specific direction.

"Calina, Malaka, Kentucky, come back."

Roan's attention was picked as he looked at Rean.

"What is it?"

Rean narrowed his eyes as he said.

"Someone is coming."