Death... and me

As soon as Rimari died, the dark tree bark lost its connection to her and stopped just before catching Rean and Roan. Its dark vines then wilted before the tree bark itself crumbled. Obviously, it was just like Rean’s token. It was a one-time use item.

Rean couldn’t help but sigh after looking at the aftermath of the battle. ‘Our two treasures for emergencies are now gone, just like that.’

Roan didn’t seem to mind. ‘They served their purpose, which was to save our lives. Besides, we’re very lucky. Thanks to Rimari, we found out that there was a tracker in my scythe. Besides, we still have the system’s Nascent Soul Revival. That means we can burn our Nascent Soul for more power if necessary. Good thing we didn’t have to use it, though.’

‘That’s true,’ Rean agreed with him. ‘Let’s make sure there isn’t anything else after this battle is over.

The twins then changed direction and immediately provided support for Tiffany and Liana. Roan’s Death World then covered Jax, turning the stalemate between himself and Tiffany into something that was not.

As for Rean and Liana, Liana did suffer a little when she was paired against Trifas alone. Nevertheless, she held to the end until Rean came back. With Trifas’s own injuries and Rean’s healing abilities, they quickly recovered the upper hand before he decided to give up and flee. It was quite unfortunate that Rean wouldn’t let that happen. When it came to speed alone, Rean was definitely faster. Liana also gave support from the sides until they finally got rid of Trifas.

The battle between Tiffany and Jax wasn’t much different, surprisingly. With Tiffany being at the same level as Jax while using two elements focused on speed, she was faster than him. Roan’s Death World made it harder for him to guess which side he should flee to. Let alone when Rean and Liana appeared to surround him and end his life as well.

The Blood Path Sect trio relied mainly on Rimari’s power. With her dead, the others didn’t have much of a chance.

Roan then turned around without even caring about the Blood Path Sect’s belongings. “Alright, let’s get out of here as the people in the danger zone are slowly waking up. I would rather not be seen beside the corpses of the Blood Path Sect’s disciples.”

Tiffany and Liana were still somewhat confused regarding the current situation but still followed Rean and Roan. Kentucky was still unconscious in the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, so he couldn’t help them with the travel.

Their group continued forward for an hour before they finally stopped in a concealed area. Only then did Tiffany and Liana ask what happened back in the catacombs.

Rean finally explained, “You were all knocked out by that skeleton, remember? At some point, the skeleton simply got up and… left. We couldn’t move a single finger until then, so we don’t know where it went.

“It left?” Tiffany and Liana found it hard to believe.

Rean shrugged his shoulders in response. “Why are you looking at me like that? Does it look like we could do anything to stop that skeleton? Fuck you! I’m already extremely happy that it didn’t kill us.”

Tiffany then took out a Soul Binding Contract from her spatial ring. She didn’t believe that the skeleton simply left and didn’t do anything with the twins, who were awake. “Can you swear on your words with a Soul Binding Contract?”

Rean and Roan nodded in response. Tiffany simply wrote down that they couldn’t lie about the events in the mausoleum, or they would die. She thought that they would definitely not sign it as she believed something happened there. She even put the punishment for breaking the contract to be instant death! However, to her surprise, they signed it.

The contract then burned and disappeared, which meant that it took effect. After that, Rean and Roan repeated exactly the same words, and nothing happened at all.

“So, it was true…” Tiffany didn’t want to believe it, but she knew that no one could go against a Soul Binding Contract’s terms. If they had lied, they would be dead now. Of course, she didn’t know about the Soul Gem System making the twins immune to Soul Binding Contracts.

Liana patted Tiffany’s shoulder after that, saying, “Perhaps, it was for the best that nothing happened. Everything is still too much of a mystery.”

Tiffany nodded in agreement. “Maybe you’re right.”

She then asked Rean. “Why didn’t you help us wake up earlier?”

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he told them, “Do you think I didn’t try? Whatever the skeleton did, it affected your souls. I can heal your body, but the soul has to recover on its own. My Light Element makes my soul a lot more resistant, and the same goes for my brother as he shares elements with me. I believe it’s because of that we didn’t go unconscious.”

Rean continued, “To be honest, I got a scare when we found Rimari and her group. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make you two wake up to help out with the battle. Fortunately, the two hours we kept carrying you two seemed to have been enough time for your souls to recover somewhat. I just had to act on your bodies to awaken you at that point.”

Tiffany then tried to confirm something else. “You didn’t touch our bodies in an improper way while we were unconscious, right?”

Roan snorted in response. “Hmph! Don’t be full of yourself.”

Tiffany’s mouth twitched after hearing that. “Are you saying I’m not worthy?”

Rean smiled and asked a question in response to Tiffany’s own. “Does that mean you wanted us to touch you?”

Tiffany’s expression went slightly red when she noticed that it truly looked like she was asking it. “Don’t be ridiculous!”

Liana was a victim of Rean’s teasing before, so she just patted Tiffany’s shoulder once more. “Let it go. The more you insist, the worse it will become. Don’t worry, I don’t think they’re that kind of people.”

Rean was happy to hear that. “It’s good that you know. We do have our own girls, so we have no interest in you two. It has nothing to do with whether it’s worth it or not. It’s a question of principles.”

Tiffany finally let it go. “Fine, I’ll believe you for now. I can’t feel anything wrong with my body anyway. So, what happened after you left the skeleton mausoleum?”

“Everyone we passed by was unconscious, including the ghosts, believe it or not. We even took the opportunity to grab five Yin Ghost Cores as the ghosts themselves didn’t try to retaliate,” Rean replied.

“Five cores?!” The cores were worth a lot of Merit Points, so Liana and Tiffany were obviously shocked to hear that.

Rean nodded before he entered the main topic. “By the way, Tiffany, Liana, do you think you can keep those people from Tenke Country quiet? I don’t think it’s a good idea if others find out that it was us who went into that mausoleum first. We would probably become targets.”

“This…” Tiffany and Liana were taken aback. “Indeed… that would be bad for Liana and me as well. However, what about the cultivators Roan left alive outside the mausoleum? They saw that we went in first. Won’t they open their mouths?”

Rean shook his head, saying, “They also passed out because of the skeleton. What do you think happened to them when they didn’t try to protect themselves against the Dark Element of the mausoleum anymore?”

“I see…” Liana and Tiffany weren’t idiots. If it was them, they would be dead as well in that circumstance. They were only alive because Rean was with them.