Death... and me

Of course, a battle with cultivators at that level was totally out of the twins' range. They knew that the main force would encounter resistance, but they decided to ignore it since there was nothing they could do. That being said, they rushed in Kentucky's direction.

"I doubt we'd find anyone who knows more than that guy unless we capture someone with a really high cultivation level. However, that's just too risky, so let's ignore the idea for now."

Rean nodded.

"That's fine. Just stay inside my skill range to not get detected."

Meanwhile, Calina's group also dealt with their own things.

Even though Calina's healing abilities were far from being as strong as Rean's, several days were enough for her to finish putting Wano back together. Not to mention that Wano himself used his Spiritual Energy to help with his recovery. Once he got back to his top condition, he began to go out to look around.

Around a day ago, he had left once again and had now just come back.

Calina, Malaka, and the others immediately asked him.

"How was it?"

Wano nodded as he said.

"The problem is to avoid other's spiritual senses. However, this region is too big for the enemies to cover everything. Even if we're spotted, we still have enough time to leave the place before they gather around us. Anyway, we should move out as soon as possible."

Everyone agreed with Wano as they immediately stepped out of their hideout. Wano had done his best to find the safest route for them to take, so everything went pretty much as he said for the first day or so. After that, they were able to leave what was still considered the valley's inner region.

"From this point onwards, there isn't much security. From what I could see, they aren't very worried about the cultivators who escaped the valley since they were only at the Core and Soul Fusion Realm at most. They don't think we can cause an uproar, which is good for us."

"Have you found out anything else about them?"

Wano shook his head as he responded.

"Not really. I didn't want to raise any alarms around the place we were hiding, so I didn't try to capture any of them. However, I was able to see a few of them battling the demon beasts in the area. All of them have the same style. The red lines on their bodies fill up with Spiritual Energy when they fight. I'm not sure if they're really humans or not."

Suddenly, Wano raised his hand.

"Wait!"

Calina's group immediately stopped as they used their Spiritual Senses to look around.

"Up ahead. There's something."

Wano, Calina, and Malaka then quietly moved while Kentucky waited with the other cultivators on the back. Finally, they arrived at what seemed to be a huge clearing in the middle of the forest. As far as they could see, it was definitely over 25 to 30 kilometers long. However, this wasn't natural. This place had been transformed into this.

The three of them saw what seemed to be a large red crystal with a few cultivators guarding it at the very center. That crystal was slightly inclined to the valley's direction as it shot some kind of red light. It was then that Malaka found something off.

"Look at the tree and the plants on the ground."

Wano and Calina's eyes paid attention to those things, as Malaka suggested. Only then did they notice the peculiarity.

"There are a lot of other components mixed with the surface of the ground. But they have all turned to dust."

Malaka nodded.

"Can you see the base of the red crystal? It looks like some kind of root. I'm pretty sure that the crystal is absorbing the earth's energy, which killed all the plants, trees, etc."

Calina couldn't help but comment.

"If Rean was here, he could probably identify what's happening. Look around the crystal. The majority of the cultivators there are guarding it. However, there are a few with different clothes which are forming a circle around the crystal. There's a high chance that it's a formation."

Suddenly, that same red crystal seemed to activate some kind of ability that spread its power through the ground. Before Calina's group knew it, the plants and trees around them began to decay at fast speeds. The three didn't waste time and immediately retreated further away.

In just a few seconds, all the plants and trees in an area spanning several meters decayed all around the crystal area, increasing the size of the clearing.

"It's really absorbing the earth's energy."

"I wonder what they're using it for."

Wano could not help but agree with the two girls.

"Indeed. However, that isn't our problem at the moment. Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be any Nascent Soul Realm cultivator around. Now that we are in a clearing, you can see that there are more of these red rays spreading in the same direction. That being said, there are also more of these crystals that we can't see from this position. It also means that they don't have enough high-level cultivators to take care of all of them."

Wano was right. However, it wasn't for the reason that he thought it was. The truth was that many of the Nascent Soul Cultivators were sent to intercept the Royal Family and the sects' forces. Simply put, they were lucky that none of those who remained were close now.

"In any case, let's leave this place. That thing is probably important, so it wouldn't be weird if more people were patrolling the surroundings."

Calina and Malaka nodded. They could think about it for another time. For now, they had to guarantee their safety.

However, it was then that Malaka noticed another ray of light passing above their heads. Calina and Wano, obviously, noticed the same thing. It's just that the ray of light was moving in the red crystal's direction instead.

Seeing that, Wano, Calina, and Malaka's mouth twitched. That light just so happened to have a white and dark light. It was also a more or less spherical and familiar shape. It also looked familiarly fluffy.

"Ahem... It must be an illusion."

"Yep. Definitely an illusion."

"100% sure it's an illusion."

However, they soon heard a very familiar sound.

"Chiiiiiick!*

Calina's group almost vomited blood. Trying to deny reality didn't really work well for them. Of course, that was none other than Kentucky!