Death... and me

Roan nodded, his expression surprisingly that of satisfaction. "That's good. You have excellent prospects by staying with the Freedom Sect. The same goes for your child. Entering the Realm of Gods when you don't even know if the passage is safe would be a terrible idea when you have such a small child."

Rean agreed with Roan, saying in response, "Indeed. Sister Orb told us that babies are already born in the Foundation Establishment Realm there. Perhaps your kid wouldn't even be able to resist the environment of the Realm of Gods itself. I commend you for choosing to stay."

Kentucky immediately raised his wings, telling everyone, "I want to stay!" Well, it wasn't hard to guess that the pervert bird just wanted to stay close to all the girls in the sect.

Rean then looked at him before shrugging his shoulders. "Is that so? Oh well, this is a decision we gave to all of you. If you want to stay, then so be it."

Roan nodded, saying, "Indeed. You're already big enough to make your own decisions. We won't force anyone to stay or leave."

Surprisingly, Rean and Roan were not against it, much to Kentucky's dismay. "That's unexpected. I thought you would immediately say that I had no choice."

However, the twins shook their heads. "If it was some other situation, we might have forced you to do so. But there's no such thing as 'wrong choice' in your case. You're just a Stage Five Demon Beast. It's like Malaka and Agis's cases. You have very good prospects in the Freedom Sect. Since Frin and the others were able to reach Stage Nine, that means you can do the same. Why should you take such risk by entering the Realm of Gods?"

Kentucky was happy to hear that. "Great, then it's decided!"

Celis glanced at Kentucky before saying, "Since you're staying, then so am I. After all, we're connected."

Rean then looked at Qia and asked, "What about you?"

"I'm leaving," Qia replied without even thinking twice. "Although it's dangerous and unnecessary, I don't know if I would be able to enter the Realm of Gods by myself in the future. I would rather take this chance right now. Besides, I'm just way too curious to see how different that place is."

Calina followed up on Qia's words after that, saying, "Same goes for me. I'm already in the Initial Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm anyway, so I can enter without using Rean's influence."

Rean and Roan were the last ones. "Well, I think it's pretty obvious. But Roan and I will enter the Realm of Gods as well. Although the prospects on this planet are very good, we prefer to have more challenges."

That's how the decisions were made in the end. Roan, Rean, Calina, and Qia would leave, while the rest would stay.

However, there was one extra guy who asked to go as well. "Master! I want to go with you!"

Roan looked at Zuo as he narrowed his eyes. "You have just barely reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. Also, your family is still in Freedom City. Don't forget I can't bring them with me. Why would you ask to follow us when you know the risks you'll have? I'll be honest, you have a very bright future ahead of you as long as you stay in the Freedom Sect."

Even though Zuo was young, he was adamant about his decision. "I want to go! I want to follow Master!"

Calina, who was there with the two, then requested. "That will depend on whether your family agrees to it or not. I don't think your parents will be happy to hear that, though."

Zuo dropped his head, looking sad. "Th-Then, I'll go ask my parents in Freedom City." Without wasting time, Zuo left the room and ran back to Freedom City.

As for Roan, he glanced at Calina, asking, "Why would you say that?"

Calina shrugged her shoulders in response. "Because I know very well that you want to see how that kid will turn out. I can at least tell that much, you know?"

Roan sighed, not denying Calina's words. "Oh well, the minimum level for the Realm of Gods seems to be the Foundation Establishment Realm anyway. Besides, I helped Zuo achieve a perfect nine pillar foundation, so he won't be too behind the kids up there."

"That's considering his parents agree with it, of course," Calina mentioned. "If they say no, then we'll leave him here."

Later that same day, Zuo came back to the sect with his parents. In the end, his parents agreed to let him go since Zuo only got to his position because of Roan's support. Once Roan left, there were no guarantees about Zuo's future. Calina tried to explain that Zuo's future would most likely be better if he stayed. However, Zuo's parents still preferred Zuo to go with Roan.

"Very well, then I'll bring him together," Roan replied. "But be aware that you might never see him again. Perhaps we'll all die there. As for you, his family, I'll tell the sect to take care of you from now on."

Zuo's parents nodded in response and then bade their farewells. They brought Zuo together to spend one last day with their kid, which Roan didn't mind.

Rean called Malo over and went to the Formation Hall. There, he passed everything he knew about the Circuitry Formations and told their group that the development and use of the communication system would depend on them from now on. Of course, he wasn't an idiot. Rean made sure to save all the information about the system so far. If he needed to start it again in the future, it would be much easier since he already had all the results up to this point tested. Besides, he also stuffed a lot of the equipment necessary to make the more complicated things in the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm as well. "It's up to you now. If I come back one day, I want to see how far you guys brought my communication system."

"Yes!" Everyone nodded, accepting Rean's words.

With that, just a few days remained before the portal closed, so Rean and Roan decided to depart.