Death... and me

Rean then commented.

"So... You've found a way of escaping the seal and are now trying to reconquer the world? That seems pretty unrealistic to me."

Fiok shook his head as he replied.

"I'm just a low-level member of the Lakure Race. I'm not sure whether we're trying to reconquer the world or not. However, we are definitely trying to get back to the surface, that's for sure."

Rean nodded as he said.

"And for that, you massacred an entire city of people who probably didn't even know you existed. That seems like a great way of letting people know you've come back."

A faint trace of anger appeared on Fiok's face before he said.

"That's just a small punishment for all the thousands of years that we were kept sealed. This was our planet! We didn't offend anyone before you came out and forced us into that state. How many more of our people do you think died during your conquest?"

Roan didn't see anything wrong with that. He had watched many massacres breaking out for much, much less than the reason this guy described.

"Now, then. Let's forget the reason why you're coming out. How about you tell me what is this Lakure Race you're part of? What is different between you and us humans?"

Fiok then pointed at the red line patterns on his body.

"The main difference is these lines. They are also meridians which we can use to control Spiritual Energy. All the Lakure Race members are born with it. Simply put, not only do we have the normal number of meridians, but we also have these extra meridians. This gives us a huge advantage in battle."

Rean immediately sent his Spiritual Sense into Fiok's body once again. This time, he focused on the Spiritual Energy instead of the lines themselves.

"Oh! It's true. Even though you have no cultivation anymore, I can still tell that Spiritual Energy is circulating inside."

Rean and Roan then asked a bunch of other questions. Things like their distribution of forces, their headquarters, plans, etc. However, the Lakure Race seemed to be very privy with the information, so Fiok really didn't know much. He only moved with the hopes of living on the surface that he only heard about.

"Alright. What about the seal? How did you break out of there?"

Fiok shook his head as he said.

"I don't know the answer to that. However, on the day it broke, the underground world trembled like crazy. The Spiritual Energy inside went into chaos, and it was quite difficult to use it for cultivation. It most likely had something to do with the seal breaking."

Roan then asked something else.

"Do you keep any prisoners?"

Fiok shook his head.

"Unless it's someone really important, like someone at the Nascent Soul Realm or above, we don't. After all, they might have more valuable information. At most, we got some people like the cities' officers to make some inquiries, but they should be dead already."

Rean also asked about Calina and Malaka. They could tell where Kentucky was, but it wasn't guaranteed that the girls would be with him.

"I don't know the ones you're talking about. However, the valley was full of cultivators when we started the plan. Because of that, quite a few had escaped the ambush and are now hidden. I don't know if your friends were part of them or not, though."

Rean sighed in relief. If a lot escaped, then Calina and Malaka were most likely between them. Well, that was obvious since the Lakure Race wasn't keeping prisoners to start with.

Eventually, Rean and Roan ran out of questions.

"Very good. Now, you can go on your way."

Roan didn't wait for the guy to say anything before cutting his head. Rean didn't feel the least bit guilty about it since this guy helped with the cities' massacres. Soon after, they simply threw him outside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm and left the place.

"Let's follow the direction where Kentucky is. I have a good plan in mind, and this situation is just perfect for it."

Rean nodded as the two disappeared in the distance.

Meanwhile, the Royal Family and the sects' forces were moving in the direction of the valley. However, they soon found that things wouldn't be that simple. That's because Erbec Jialin's Spiritual Sense had sensed something.

"Everyone, there are a lot of cultivators coming in this direction. Don't attack without my order since they might be cultivators from Qerlen Country."

However, they soon noticed the difference in the skins of those cultivators.

"What are those red lines?"

"I've never seen that before."

"Are they the ones who activated the natural formation?"

Erbec narrowed his eyes as he stepped forward to talk.

"Halt! Who goes there?"

Unfortunately, his words were completely ignored. A Soul Forging Realm Lakure Race member immediately attacked him without saying a single word. The red meridians in his body seemed to light up as Spiritual Energy gathered like torrents. Following that, Water and Wind Elements followed.

"Whirl Storm!"

Erbec wasn't any slower, though. Everyone knew the risks of entering this place, so they always kept their guards up all throughout the journey. He immediately gathered his own Spiritual Energy as Earth and Water Element came forth.

"Mud Wall!"

The attack hit Erbec's protection head-on. However, Erbec's Mud Wall that enveloped his body began to crack almost immediately.

"What?!"

Erbec could see that he and the guy who attacked were both in the Middle Stage of the Soul Forging Realm. If that were the case, how did his skill break so easily? Without any time to think, he immediately used his movement technique and disappeared from there. Unfortunately, the enemy had no intention of letting him go.

The other elders of the sects weren't much better off either, including Tiria and Juvian. Those guys had similar Nascent Soul Realm cultivation themselves. Unfortunately for them, they were just a tad stronger when it came to the amount of Spiritual Energy.

Obviously, they soon noticed the red meridians on their enemies' bodies lighting up. Obviously, it had something to do with those things.

They quickly looked at the lower-level cultivators from Dalamu that came with them and ordered.

"Work in groups! Don't let them separate you."

Juvian and Tiria quickly got closer to each other and began to battle as well. Only then did they put up a fight with their teamwork.