Death… And Me

They were soon brought back to the Trial Grounds, where Firmel showed them the destroyed altar.

"What do you plan to do about it? Do you have any idea how expensive it is?"

Rean scratched the back of his head as he replied.

"Nothing much can be done. I'll need to ask my elders to forge a new one, that's all. However... that'll take a very long time."

Firmel narrowed his eyes as he looked at Rean and Agis.

"Is that so? Why don't you get in contact with him now? Surely you have a way, right?"

Rean and Agis looked at each other and then back at Firmel. It was obvious that Firmel wanted to confirm their identities.

"Well, if you insist."

The two of them touched their forehead before their Rank Five Bloodline Soul Mark appeared. Not long after, a voice echoed into their minds and Firmel as well. Of course, that was none other than Roan, using Sister Orb to do that.

"What is it? Didn't I tell you to not contact me before completing your test?"

Firmel was taken aback. He could totally tell that the voice was coming from someone else, not from Rean, Agis, or Frandin. However, his subordinates had the place in full lockdown, so he was sure no one was nearby. It should have been almost impossible to contact anyone in this place because of the formations.

That, in exchange, made Rean's 'identity' more believable. Firmel wanted to confirm with the Unity Celestial Land directly. Unfortunately, they were way too far away. Not to mention that even the Imperial Family itself barely had any contact with them, let alone Firmel himself.

"Sorry, master. We ran across some... problems. We got caught by an Imperial Guardian of the Palif Empire."

"Palif Empire? How did you get caught by such a puny Empire's Guardian? Are you fucking kidding me?"

Firmel's mouth twitched in response. Puny Empire? Sure, they weren't the biggest out there, but they weren't that small either. 

"Sir, you better control your mouth. Whether you're someone from a Celestial Land or not, that doesn't matter. The fact still stands that they broke into one of our Bloodline Trial Grounds and broke the Trial Altar. You should know very well who the ones controlling the Trial Grounds of the world are."

It was both a warning and a test. If the voice couldn't even tell who he was talking about, then the identity of Rean's group would obviously be fake.

The voice went silent for a moment before answering.

"Hmph! Do you think that just because the Soul Rulers control the trials, we're submissive to them? However, we don't want problems with them either. Tell me, what kind of materials were used in your altar? I'll send you a new one. It's just some Heaven Level parts, nothing worth worrying about."

Firmel's mouth twitched once more. Who would say 'just some Heaven Level parts?' Sure enough, Celestial Lands were filthy rich. However...

"Hmph! Do you think that's all? They barged into our Trial Grounds without anyone noticing. If you don't tell me how they did that, don't blame me for forcing it out of their mouths."

Firmel would definitely try to take as many advantages out of it as possible. After all, it was not every day he had the chance to talk with a Celestial Land elder. However...

Dark Energy suddenly began to appear everywhere in the surroundings. When Firmel touched it, he felt like his life was being drained away. Of course, with his level, he could block that power. That wasn't the problem, though. The problem was that the elder talking with him was doing that all the way back in Unity Celestial Land! Just how ridiculous was that? Once again, he was absolutely sure that it wasn't Rean's group who was doing it since his Spiritual Sense and Soul Power had been on them all the time.

Nonetheless, Firmel tried to keep his calm as he asked.

"Are you trying to scare me?"

Roan smirked, though.

"Scare you? That's true. Why should I get angry at an ant? Forget it."

The Dark Energy suddenly disappeared as fast as it came, much to Firmel's relief. After that, Roan began to talk about something else.

"Foran, show him how you got there. No one other than you can do it anyway."

Foran was the name that Roan came up for Rean on the spot. It was just to make it look more real.

"But master!"

"Shut up! You were the one to get involved in this bullshit. First of all, why the hell did you enter their Bloodline Trial? You already have your own Bloodline Soul Mark."

Agis was the one to answer that.

"Master, we found a good servant during our journey. However, he wasn't that useful with his Rank Two Bloodline Mark. We had to improve it. Master, you know that it's hard for us humans to find a foothold outside. This was supposed to make our test easier to complete."

Roan seemed to not care either.

"You shut up as well. I should fail you two straight away for all the problems you're giving me."

Rean and Agis's expression suddenly changed into one of fear. They immediately kneeled down as they pleaded.

"Please, don't! We'll be more careful! Please don't fail us!"

Firmel was taken aback by that. Just what kind of test was that? What could make these two humans, who weren't scared about his higher cultivation, feel so afraid in that test?

Frandin, on the other hand, seemed to be at a loss. Well, that was supposed to be like this since he had just been 'added' to the group later.

"Then don't waste my time anymore."

Roan then focused on Firmel again before asking.

"Tell me. What else do you want? It couldn't possibly be just the altar and the method to enter this trial of yours."

Firmel took a deep breath as he nodded. Sure enough, he still planned to get more things.

"I want... I want you to allow my son to enter your Celestial Land!"

This time, even Roan was taken aback. That definitely wasn't something they were expecting. Nevertheless, Firmel had finally brought out his real intentions from the very start. Well, at the very least, Firmel seemed to believe them now.