Death… And Me

3024  Zuash!

Foliana then used her Spiritual Sense to tell Little Fisha where to go. The demon beast turned to the depths of the Spiritual Pond and continued down. Not too long after, it noticed a few more Stage Five and Six Swordfish nearby. Immediately, it tried to use its Spiritual Sense to call upon their help.

Yet... those Swordfish Demon Beasts passed by her, doing nothing more than just glancing for a moment before continuing on their way. Little Fisha was taken aback, not understanding what happened. Not only could she not spread her Spiritual Sense, they didn't even notice Rean and Foliana on her back. How's that possible?

Rean faintly smiled, knowing what Little Fisha tried to do. He basically used his Divine Sense Bending Skill the other way around. Instead of bending the Spiritual Senses coming in his direction, he bent Little Fisha's Spiritual Sense as it tried to go out. As for not seeing them, that was obvious. Rean was also bending the light around them.

Rean then tightened his grab on the back of Little Fisha's. "Why are you slowing down? Do you need help speeding up? Perhaps a little bit of pain can help. What do you think?"

Little Fisha felt her blood run cold and immediately increased her speed again. Whatever Rean did didn't matter. What mattered was that she was completely under his mercy, so she had to do what he asked.

Foliana was even more impressed but didn't ask anything, afraid of offending Rean. She would be an idiot if she hadn't understood that Rean wasn't truly just a Core and Soul Fusion Realm expert. "Oh, by the way, Little Fisha," Rean remembered something. "If we pass by some of the Algae, let me collect a few before we continue."

"Y-yes..." Little Fisha nodded and continued moving deeper.

Foliana then took out an item from her Spatial Ring. It looked like a needle made of blood with several inscriptions on it. She punctured her finger with it, and her own blood entered the needle. A moment later, it moved on its own and pointed in a specific direction.

Rean checked that with his Spiritual Sense as well. 'Quite rudimentary inscriptions. Should be from the time the Werdlem Empire still hasn't arrived on this planet over twenty thousand years ago.'

Foliana had told Rean and Roan in the past how her family was once the ruling power of the Rusbav Country. But that was also before the Werdlem Empire appeared.

Foliana continued to show the direction for Little Fisha to go. However, after swimming for several hundreds of kilometers deep, Foliana herself began to feel too much pressure to the point her own cultivation couldn't protect her anymore.

Rean noticed that and used his own Spiritual Energy to alleviate the pressure from that point onwards. He could feel that pressure, but it was pretty meaningless with his Starlight Body.

Suddenly, Little Fisha stopped.

"What is it?" Rean asked. The needle still pointed forward.

'I can't go past this point,' Little Fisha explained.

Foliana and Rean looked at each other and back at her. "Why?"

'This is known as the point of no return to our race,' Little Fisha explained. 'We tried to explore it many times in the past, but no one returned alive. The only ones who adventure deeper are the ones who are close to the end of their lifespans.'

Rean could tell why. The formation around the Canyon prevented anyone from going above the Nascent Soul Realm. In the Demon Beasts' case, Stage Six was their limit, which was the equivalent of the Nascent Soul Realm. 'They probably risk going down, hoping to find a way to break into Stage Seven but never return.'

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Rean asked again. "Let's go! Our destination is still quite far, it seems."

'But...' Little Fisha tried to reason with Rean.

However, Rean gave her no chance. "Just go already! Why are you afraid of dying? You know that you will die anyway if you don't follow my orders. At least you might get a chance to escape from me, depending on what you find down there."

Little Fisha still didn't want to go. Too bad she knew Rean was talking the truth. Without another choice, she continued to swim past the point of no return.

Foliana couldn't help but ask. "Rean... is that okay? Perhaps it is too dangerous."

Rean shrugged. "I have my doubts about what Little Fisha said, to be honest. Did you forget about the formation around this Canyon? There is a good chance that these... err..."

Only then did Rean remember to ask. "Oh, right! What race are you from, Little Fisha?"

Little Fisha felt like crying. After all this time, he still didn't know? 'I'm from the Swordhorn sea race.'

Rean nodded. "Anyway, there is a good chance the Swordhorns who went in in the past managed to break through into Stage Seven. But because the formation in the Spiritual Canyon doesn't allow anyone beyond Stage Six to enter, the Swordhorn fish that came in in the past simply couldn't make their way back. So... obviously... no one returned."

The Swordhorn Sea race obviously knew about the formation. After all, the cultivators came to the pond every ten years, so they met each other many times in the past. 'We thought about that too,' Little Fisha answered. 'But even if we agreed to not have breakthroughs and simply go inside and come back, no one came back regardless.'

"Oh..." Rean's pondered about that. "It doesn't mean I'm wrong, but it is concerning indee-"

Suddenly, Rean's expression changed as his Spiritual Energy spread. In the next second, he pulled Foliana and Little Fisha to the side as fast as he could.

*Zuash!*

Out of nowhere, a piercing concentration of Spiritual Energy passed by the location they had just been a moment ago. It created a vacuum where it passed before the water covered the space once again.

If Rean's group hadn't moved out of the way in time, even Rean wasn't confident he could have resisted the power of that attack... or was that an attack in the first place? It was too fast, and it didn't have any material form. Little Fisha and Foliana looked at that and trembled all over. They didn't even know how Rean noticed that. Obviously, Rean's Spiritual Sense could go much, much further away, so he was able to see it much earlier; thus, they moved out of the way in time with Rean's help.

Rean then looked further down and smiled. "Now then, this trip got a lot more interesting."

And as always, any Golden Tickets and Stones are welcome. ;)