Death... and me

Well, Kihin wasn’t wrong if one thought about Roan’s real mental age. Of course, Roan wouldn’t tell him that. “Anyways, I’ll take my leave. I need to prepare to go to the Demising Catacombs, so find someone to watch over you when you decide to enter the sea of stars again.”

Kihin sighed when he heard that but nodded in the end. “Alright, good luck out there. Oh, right! I told you I was going to let you look into one of my family’s body cultivation techniques when your job was over.”

Roan shook his head in response, telling him, “There’s no need. The Starlight Body Cultivation Technique is already a payment much higher than anything else I could have asked for.” However, it was then that Roan thought about an idea. “In fact, there’s something else you can do for me. Just pretend that I’m still within your residence, helping you with your technique. I’ll change my appearance and then leave.”

Kihin didn’t mind that at all. He understood that Roan didn’t want others to know that he was going to the Demising Catacombs. “Sure thing. This is a low price for your help in finding the compatible stars and the barrier.” Kihin then got up before moving to a corner of the room. There, he drew a few seals in the air before they entered the wall.

*Vup*

Suddenly, part of the wall completely vanished, opening up a passage behind it. “Use this path to go out. No one else knows about it, so you don’t need to be afraid of people knowing that you left.”

Roan could tell that Kihin wasn’t lying. “Thanks.” Soon after, he passed through it before Kihin closed it behind. He walked for a few minutes in there, and sure enough, he arrived at an exit not too far away from the Inner Sect. ‘Quite convenient.’

Meanwhile, the Sacred Land was preparing for the opening of the Demising Catacombs. Well, at least the disciples that used Dark Element or Yin Energy techniques were. There were a few who didn’t have either of them but were still entering the place to gain experience or look for treasures. The Demising Catacombs wasn’t the only place in the continent that the disciples liked to go in, though. With that being said, the majority obviously opted to stay out of it.

Roan, using a different appearance, arrived in Etherian’s house a day later to talk exactly about that. However, the one who appeared was one of Etherian’s subordinates instead, as Cassia held up Etherian in office work. “Ahem…Master Etherian told me that he has already made the preparations for you to go to the opening of the Demising Catacombs. No one knows that you’re going, though. How you will keep your identities concealed or not will be up to you. Just come by the teleport formation building on the day of departure and join the group heading there.”

Roan was obviously satisfied with the straightforwardness. “Alright. Do I need to do anything when the teleportations start?”

“No,” the subordinate answered. “As long as you step on the formation, that is enough. The elders don’t care as to who wants to go or who wants to stay as it’s free for everyone in the Sacred Land to go. Of course, if someone asks you anything, it’ll be up to you on what you will answer.”

“Alright.” Roan then asked one more thing. “I still have some things to talk about with Etherian. Let him know that I’ll come and ask him once more after I’m back.”

The subordinate nodded and then guided Roan out of the residence. Only then did Roan go back to his home.

One day before the departure, Rean returned to the Sacred Land. This time, he brought a big black and white Demon Bird with him. ‘How is it, Kentucky? Can you feel the presence of any other Divine Demon Beast here?’

As mentioned before, Divine Demon Beasts could feel the bloodline power of other ones. That’s how he knew that Celis was one of them as well as the other demon beast leaders from the Zasfins’ planet.

However, Kentucky narrowed his eyes, telling them, “How can I say this… I can feel a presence, but it seems to be in a strange state. For example, the other side didn’t notice my presence at all because of it.”

Rean found it strange. “Weird…I wanted to see if we could ask a few questions about your race to the Sacred Land’s Guardian Beast. If someone knew anything, it would be that being. Can you at least tell where it is?” Rean had always wanted to understand how Kentucky’s egg appeared in Sunkan. For that, it was best to ask other Minokawas. However, his research into this topic didn’t result in any findings.

Kentucky nodded as he pointed at the center of the Sacred Land, far in the distance. “It’s definitely in the center of this giant floating island.”

“In the center?” Rean shook his head. “There’s no way we can go there. I’ll have to ask Senior Etherian if he can allow us to visit the Sacred Land’s Guardian Beast after we return from the Demising Catacombs.”

Kentucky couldn’t help but feel excited when he heard that. “So we ‘e finally going out for some adventure again, huh? I was bored to death, having to cultivate every single day.”

Rean snorted in response, telling him, “Weren’t you the one who said you didn’t want to do anything dangerous and preferred to stay with your beloved girls?”

Kentucky looked away after that. “Was there such a thing? How come I can’t remember?”

“Hahaha!” Rean couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright. Now, come down and try not to talk. Use Divine Sense instead. Although some people should already know about you, I would rather not go around displaying that you can talk at your stage.”

“Alright.”

The Sacred Land obviously had a Beast Taming Hall, so Rean brought Kentucky there. There wasn’t anything special in taming a demon beast at the same level as the cultivator in the Sacred Land, so no one paid much attention to Rean there before he left Kentucky to find Roan. The Demising Catacombs would open the next day.