Death... and me

Eventually, Cynthia turned around and gave an order. "Alright, everyone. Let's prepare for departure. We're over a week behind our travel because of the Divine Stream Lake. We can't extend our stay here any longer. We'll increase our pace along the way to make up for some of the lost time."

"Yes, Lady Cynthia!" All the guards, merchants, workers, and other people in the caravan accepted the order and began to pack everything up. In less than an hour, they already had everything ready to go.

"Let's go!" Cynthia's carriage took the front as the caravan departed the now dried-up lake.

At the back, Rean asked a favor to Kentucky, saying, "Since we're acting as guards now, we need to do a good job. Kentucky, take flight and watch over the caravan from the skies. You're definitely the best suited for preventing ambushes or anything like that."

Kentucky nodded, responding, "Sure, leave it to me."

Although Celis was in his treant form, he was still quite big, so he didn't fit in the carriages. In the end, he had to follow the group on foot. While doing so, he could not help but mutter, "This kind of environment is quite hard for my race, you know?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders, offering, "I can carry you with my Divine Energy if you want. It will look quite embarrassing, though."

Celis shook his head, quickly saying, "Forget it."

"Hehe!" Rean chuckled in response before he entered one of the carriages. There, he saw Roan sitting in a corner with his eyes closed. "How is it?"

Roan opened his eyes for a moment and looked at Rean before closing them again, telling him, "Our Soul Power and Spiritual Energy were connected before. I thought there would be some problem now that we have Divine Energy instead of Spiritual Energy. However, Divine Energy took the place of Spiritual Energy and is fusing with Soul Power without any issues. In fact, I think it has gotten quite a lot stronger."

Sister Orb immediately explained. [Of course, it can fuse. The fusion was something made by the Soul Gem System. Naturally, it would count for the eventual change of Spiritual Energy to Divine Energy. However, although you've become a bit stronger with this change, you won't gain any advantage over the other cultivators of the Realm of Gods.]

Rean nodded, already understanding where Sister Orb was coming from. "That's because although the fusion of Divine Energy and Soul Power is better, the people and beasts of the Realm of Gods already use Divine Energy to start with. They're stronger than cultivators and demon beasts of the same level who use Spiritual Energy. This increase in our strength by using Divine Energy instead of Spiritual Energy simply filled that gap."

Sister Orb was happy to hear that. [Exactly!] Of course, Sister Orb warned the twins once again. [However, you must not forget the Realm of Gods' restrictions. The power that a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator can display in the Realm of Gods is only around a tenth of what a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator can do in the Realm of Mortals. When I say that a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator from the Realm of Gods is stronger, I mean in comparison to a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator using Spiritual Energy up here.]

[In exchange, if a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator goes down to the Realm of Mortals and uses the stored Divine Energy in his Dantian, they would probably be able to trash any being at the Saint Realm they came across. That's because the guy wouldn't be restricted by anything. Since Divine Energy is superior, they would obviously be superior as well.]

Sister Orb then finished her explanation with a piece of useful information. [Of course, there's still an advantage now that you have Divine Energy fused with Soul Power instead of Spiritual Energy.]

"Divine Sense, right?" Roan's Divine Sense could now extend up to 30 meters at once, which was far beyond what the fused Spiritual Energy and Soul Power allowed him to. Even with the breakthrough, it shouldn't have increased that much.

Rean agreed with Roan, saying, "That's true. I also can spread my Divine Sense to around 30 meters. Even though Senior Cynthia is at the peak of the Soul Transformation Realm, I believe our Divine Sense doesn't lose to hers at all."

It was then that Roan remembered something. "By the way, Rean. How about your Spiritual Sense bending skill? Does it work with Divine Sense as well?"

Rean nodded, explaining, "It isn't exactly the same. However, they have their similarities. I just have to make a few changes to the skill, and I should be able to bend Divine Sense. Of course, the same restrictions still apply to it. If the Divine Sense is too strong, it'll pass through my bending skill. I'm using Senior Cynthia's Divine Sense to test the changes at this very moment. She's keeping her Divine Sense active all the time, so it's quite convenient for me."

As Rean could imagine, Cynthia was quite confused. 'How come he keeps disappearing and reappearing inside my sense all the time? Is he a ghost or something?' Then again, her priority was the caravan's safety. Besides, she had already decided to not pry into what the twins' group was doing. After all, they probably wouldn't see each other anymore after reaching the city.

As Cynthia mentioned, their caravan increased their pace to reach the city faster. Their group did encounter a few demon beasts on the way that didn't know better, but other than that, nothing had happened so far. Cynthia and the twins' group didn't even have to come out and help.

However, as much as the caravan was lucky to find the Divine Stream Lake, that extra time also made things ahead more difficult.

*Bzzzzz...*

Cynthia felt something reacting in her bag before opening it. 'A message?' It was a Thoughts Transmission Talisman. Cynthia put it on her forehead and checked the contents before the talisman burnt out. 'I knew the window time was small. That's why I left early that week. However, I didn't expect to find a Divine Stream Lake. I couldn't possibly leave the lake behind, right? Sadly, that made me lose that safe window created by the last clean-up.'

Cynthia now had to make a decision.