Death... and me

Roan then worked out with Zuo to see if he was already able to feel the magnetic field of a human body and the iron contained in one's blood. Unfortunately, it was still too small. Zuo's perception of magnetic fields and his control over them wasn't even strong enough to do so. "Let's end it here. I devised your cultivation technique with the increase of your Elemental Affinity power as the base. Sooner or later, your perception and power will be sufficient enough to reach that point."

"Yes, Master!" Zuo answered with a tired expression. He was already used to having Roan work him to his bones, though.

"Alright, the Demon Beast Forest on the west side of Freedom Sect has been combed out to keep only Stage One and Two Demon Beasts. Your objective for the next few weeks is to survive there on your own. You can only return to the sect when you need to get food, but that's all."

This kind of training wasn't anything rare within the sect. Roan, Fizer, and Julia made sure that the sect's disciples would get plenty of battle experience. The only exceptions were the cultivators who were already above the Core and Soul Fusion Realm. In their cases, the demon beast regions around the sect weren't much of a challenge anymore. Instead, they got missions from the Mission Hall to head to more difficult places within the Wringan Mainland.

Well, that was another good thing about the communication system. Any mission request to the Freedom Sect arrived straight away before being listed on its boards. The only problem was that the sect had received more missions than it could possibly take care of. For that reason, the missions were combed out, with the majority being sent back after being rejected.

Well, it was not like lower-level disciples couldn't take missions in the mainland, of course. It's just that the sect put a minimum cultivation requirement to protect its disciples. One was only allowed to leave Freedom Island to take missions if one was at least in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Also, those below ten years old could only leave if they were part of a group with at least one member being above that age.

The few weeks that Rean talked about passed in a flash, and eventually, the time to enter the Bestial Sacred Ground had arrived. Phex had kept a close eye on it all this time, checking if it really stabilized or not. Fortunately, he hadn't seen any changes during that time. Only with that in mind did Phex finally send the message out to the demon beasts and Zasfins.

Duran, Phex, Vance, Pankun, Suria, Kumo, Darian, Gulan, Kentucky, Frin, Xaon, Celis, Red, Linton, etc...if it was a Stage Nine Demon Beast, a Transition Realm Zasfin, or a Divine Demon Beast, one could definitely find them in front of the Bestial Sacred Ground. All of them had something to do with the opening of the Beastial Sacred Ground's portal to the Realm of Gods.

Red looked at the entrance and couldn't help but remember the time he was inside, muttering, "This place was where everything started."

Well, there were two guys who didn't have much to do with it but were there as well, which were Rean and Roan. Roan was there to help Rean if necessary, and Rean was there because of his knowledge about formations from Sunkan Planet, which Phex's group knew to be much better than the formations of this world.

"You can't say this place is where everything started." Rean pointed out. "After all, you don't have memories from before you arrived there, right? Your start was definitely somewhere else. Perhaps it was even in the Realm of Gods itself."

Red shook his head, though. "That I do not know. I hope I can find the answer when we get in there."

Hearing that, Roan could not help but add, "We'll be relying on you when we get there since you're the only one who knows the place other than Phex's group."

Kentucky couldn't help but ask, "Can't we simply stay close to Phex's group? They will definitely try to protect us while we're there, won't they?"

Rean nodded, saying in response, "They probably will since it's also advantageous for them. The Zasfins are probably the only ones who want us to be dead. However, we never know what might happen. If it comes to a point where we need to flee, it's better to have Red on our side."

"Oh! So that's the plan." Kentucky liked the idea very much.

Celis was there as well. "This is definitely risky. However, I would prefer to have all the monster-level guys disappear off into the Realm of Gods. Otherwise, we will always be in a certain amount of danger if someone like Duran tries to kill us. We need to help them go away."

One might think that the Freedom Sect lost its source of Spiritual Energy absorption with Celis's presence. However, Celis's saplings could also do the job, just to a smaller extent. He also left his roots behind so that he wouldn't need to spread them again once he went back. That was an advantage that demon plants had.

Another thing was that Celis wasn't in his World Swallowing Cedar form. Instead, he was surprisingly in the shape of a treant. It still wasn't a fully-fledged man, though. He was still much bigger than Rean and Roan. Nevertheless, he could change his shape to adapt to the situation.

Roan, of course, agreed with Celis. That's why he wasn't against the plan to help open the portal for everyone. Besides, they might be able to use it in the future. "Celis is right. Also, don't forget we have a mission to complete."

-Side Quest: The World Beast Formation-

-Objective: Fully activate the World Beast Formation.-

That's right! They still had the Soul Gem System's mission to conclude. Celis, as someone directly connected to Kentucky, knew about it as well. "We will find out whether the World Beast Formation has anything to do with the Realm of Gods or not. In any case, we better take care of it."