Death... and me

As Rean continued moving forward, he kept his Light and Spiritual Sense bending skill activated all the time. In the end, most of the demon beasts had cultivations below or similar to his, with only a few being stronger...or so Rean thought since he didn't stop to check their cultivations. Nevertheless, his journey didn't come across any mishaps.

*Boom, boom, boom...*

Suddenly, Rean heard the sound of battle coming from the distance. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary since he found many demon beasts fighting each other. However, this time, the scale of the fight seemed to be several times greater than the previous ones. 'Could it be...'

Rean pondered over it a bit as to whether or not he should get close to where the battle was happening. After all, he could tell that the ones battling there were much stronger than him. Then again, it might be someone he knows. It was then that Rean remembered something. 'Oh, right! Spiritual Sense is blocked in this place. Since that's the case, I don't need to be afraid of a Zasfin Ancestor's Spiritual Sense breaking through my bending skill.'

Rean immediately changed his destination as he took one last look in Kentucky's direction. He could tell that Kentucky was getting closer to him as he spoke, so it wouldn't change much if he took a quick peek at the situation on the other side.

The sound of battle kept increasing nonstop, and soon, Rean could even feel the ground trembling with each exchange. 'Definitely someone at the Divine Demon Beasts or the Zasfin Ancestors' level.' Rean was right. When he finally got close enough to see who was fighting, he immediately recognized who it was.

'It's Duran!' Obviously, Rean knew the guy since he was the reason the agreement between the demon beasts and Zasfins worked out. 'As for the one he's fighting against...'

Sadly, Rean didn't recognize the demon beast Duran was fighting against. At the very least, that demon beast wasn't present when they were at the entrance to the Bestial Sacred Ground. 'It's probably another one of those energy demon beasts. From the looks of it, this place also has Stage Nine Demon Beasts.'

The battle looked intense. However, even Rean could tell that Duran was at an absolute advantage. The demon beast couldn't even defend itself against Duran's assault properly.

"Hmph! I know you!" Duran said as he fought the demon beast. "When I was younger, I saw an ancestor of our organization talking to you during a meeting. Weren't you dead, Kila? What are you doing here? Is this a trap of the demon beasts? You're quite bold to attack me alone with that kind of power."

Rean was surprised to hear that. However, it only confirmed his theory. Since Roan arrived at the conclusion that these demon beasts were once alive, Rean obviously had the same idea. 'So all these demon beasts were previously alive on the surface, huh?'

*Roar!*

However, Kila didn't answer Duran's words. It couldn't think about anything else other than attacking Duran. Of course, Duran wasn't an idiot either. He only tried to talk and see if there was any shred of sanity left in that beast. He noticed long ago that the demon beasts here were acting strange and that they would disappear if they were killed. "Seems like even a Stage Nine Demon Beast is no different..." Duran murmured for a moment before he decided to end the battle.

In the end, Duran unleashed more power and finished off that demon beast called Kila. First of all, Kila didn't have any sentience in that state. It was moving purely on its instincts. Let alone Duran, the one considered the strongest Zasfin, even the weakest Zasfin Ancestor in this place wouldn't have much of a problem winning this battle.

After Kila was defeated, it also began to transform into specks of Red Light. However, there was a difference this time. Usually, the entire demon beast would cease to exist. But in Kila's case, a red core remained behind. Neither Rean nor Duran had seen it before drop from the other demon beasts, so they paid close attention to it.

Duran then approached the core, intending to grab it when suddenly, the ground below trembled as a giant hole opened. From inside, something that looked like a giant blood claw came out and grabbed Kila's red core. Duran couldn't help but let out cold sweat after that. Let alone Rean, even Duran felt that the claw was extremely dangerous, and Duran was even a Peak Transition Realm Zasfin!

The hand didn't care about Duran or Rean, though. It simply retreated back underground before it disappeared completely with Kila's core. 'What a terrifying thing. I couldn't tell how strong it was since I couldn't spread Spiritual Sense nor Soul Power. Still, all my existence screamed to stay as far as possible from it. Just what kind of existence owns that thing?'

However, after that, Duran thought about the red core left behind by Kila. 'I wonder if all Stage Nine Demon Beasts of this place would leave something like that behind. Also, what was that hand using the red core for? Could it be that it was its owner to start with?'

Rean, too, had similar questions in his mind. Unfortunately, there was no way for him to find out the answer to it. At the very least, he wouldn't try and follow that thing when even Duran didn't dare to. 'Anyways, I'll have to talk to Roan about it later. Let's get out of here before Duran notices my presence.'

Rean's Light bending skill was perfect as long as Spiritual Sense wasn't available. However, that only applied to himself, not to the environment of his surroundings. The places where he stepped on would still change due to his weight. Of course, Rean knew that, so he was very careful to leave the least amount of changes possible. It would be perfect if he could fly, but that wasn't the case at the moment.

Sadly, it was these very small changes that caught Duran's attention, though. "Hmm?"

Rean felt a cold chill on his back and looked behind, just to see Duran looking straight at him. 'Shit!'