Death... and me

"That was the correct decision, kid. I can tell you why Valeu sent people to take it back from you. The Imperial Aquamarine is the symbol of the Imperial Family. Only those of high status like the princess can carry it around. Other than them, only powerful cultivators with close ties to the Imperial Family have the privilege of having one as well. If you had insisted on bringing it back, you would only become a target for everyone else. In your case, this Aquamarine is more like a curse than a gift."

Roan nodded.

"I see... No wonder he wanted it back to the point of sending people to kill us. Those guys really gave us a hard time."

The elder nodded.

"Indeed. Anyway, since we are already on this topic, did you see the Imperial Family Members?"

Roan looked at Rean and Malaka, who shook their heads.

"We didn't. We only found out that it was Valeu who sent the assassins because we forced the answer out of those guys."

The elder narrowed his eyes. At the moment, Roan's group was basically the only clue.

Suddenly, Weren lifted his hand.

"Pardon me, elder. I didn't know anything about this Aquamarine since their group and ours went on separate ways after entering the Profound Abyss. However, if you are looking for information about the Imperial Family Members, Tuve and I did see something on our way to the Decaying Caves."

The elder's attention immediately shifted.

"Hum? You guys are from the same sect but went separate ways?"

Weren nodded.

"Yes. Our cultivation difference is quite big, as you can see. We simply didn't want to waste our time protecting them. Well, a lot of the participants of the same sect also did it, so it shouldn't be anything uncommon, no?"

The elder had to admit that Weren was right. It was not just because they were from the same sect that they would go in together. Weren's words seemed a lot more convincing since the difference in cultivation between Rean and Weren's groups was evident for everyone to see.

Reliance looked at all of that with a frown. None of them had told him anything about all these problems, so he didn't know what was happening.

The elder interrogating their group nodded in the end.

"Whatever. Whether you went together or not matters little to me. Speak, what did you see?"

Weren and Tuve looked at each other, seemed to be a little afraid to speak about it.

"Don't worry. The rules of Profound Abyss are stringent. Even if you were the ones who killed them yourselves, our Imperial Family wouldn't do anything to you. That would only mean that Calina's group was too weak, that's all. All we want to know is what happened to them since we still need to report it back in the Empire's Capital."

Weren and Tuve nodded but still decided to use a Spiritual Sense message. Well, that was all part of the play.

'A few hours before we arrived at the Decaying Caves, we heard the sounds of battle. Well, as you can imagine, we only approached to see if we could fish in troubled waters. It was there that we saw the princess... I think? It wasn't that easy to see with all the Decaying Fog. Well, the blond hair was relatively easy to notice, though.'

Tuve continued.

'She had three other cultivators on her side, helping to protect her. However, she really had a lot of enemies at that time. The weird thing was that they were all wearing black clothes without any sect or organization's emblems. They were also using some technique that made it impossible to see their faces even with Spiritual Sense.'

'We immediately noticed that we barged into some shit and didn't even look behind before dashing away. After all, their number was enough to even include us in the big platter. I'm sure that they saw us since we felt their Spiritual Senses. However, perhaps because we were not their primary target, they didn't follow and left us alone. That was the only time we saw them or the princess team. After that, we didn't bump with them anymore. We also don't know what the results of that battle were, nor did we care at that moment.'

As soon as the elder heard the message, his face went dark. That's because he already had an idea about who those people were and why they were attacking the princess. After all, he was also part of the Imperial Family's force. He knew what was happening behind the scenes. Still, he had to confirm one more thing.

The elder then took a jade slip out of his pocket and passed it to Weren and Tuve.

'I want the two of you to point the location where you saw that happening.'

Weren and Tuve nodded and immediately marked the location. How could Roan not have thought about that possibility? When he explained his plan to Weren and Tuve, he also told them where they should point at if they were questioned. With Calina in his group, it was easy to know what route her group took.

That's what the elder wanted to confirm. He simply matched the time of Weren and Tuve's travel with the route that he knew Calina's group would use. If they really saw her here, they would point to the right location, which proved that they were probably telling the truth. The Profound Abyss underworld was enormous. The chances of them randomly pointing at the specific location was just way too small.

Seeing how fast they marked to location gave Weren and Tuve's words even more credibility.

The elder immediately narrowed his eyes after looking at it. Sure enough, both the average travel time and the location matched what Calina's group should have followed. The elder's face sunk. Blond hair, location, time, black clothes, facial hiding technique... He knew very well what that meant.

'Those damned Shadow Reapers! Have those Anti-Chrole princes and princesses already gone this far to get rid of any Chrole Bloodlines?'

The elder sighed before looking at Weren and Tuve. By now, he already threw Rean, Roan, and Malaka to the back of his mind.

"Weren and Tuve, right? Thanks for the information. I will ask you two to stay here for a moment while I call Elder Calan over. Oh, by the way, my name is Dale."

"Who's Elder Calan?"

Dale then explained.

"He is the elder who brought Calina to this place and is in charge of protecting her during the travel."

Weren and Tuve nodded while still showing a somewhat nervous expression.

Dale immediately left right after, which finally gave Reliance the chance to speak.

"What the hell is happening here? Since when did you get an Imperial Aquamarine?"

Malaka, who seemed sad for losing her Pendant, then said.

"That was a gift Calina gave to me. She's my friend."

"How did you become friends with a princess of the Empire to start with?"

Rean then gave Elder Reliance an account of what happened during the Gathering.

"Such a thing happened?!"

He then looked at Malaka without knowing what to say.

"I don't know if I should call you lucky or cursed. You just so happen to become friends with a princess of the Empire, which is definitely a lucky thing. But then something happens to the princess just after she gave you that Pendant, which is ominous as hell. Not to mention that her guardian sent people to try and kill you."

Reliance then looked at Weren and Tuve.

"Then we have the two of you, who just so happen to have bumped on their group during such a shit time. You were even more cursed than Malaka herself. I'll hear your explanations later. I just hope they won't pin anything on us."

Roan shook his head in response.

"Their rules say that no one has to take any responsibility for what happens in the Abyss, right? We should be fine."

Reliance shook his head.

"That's what they say on the surface. If no one had seen anything, then that's okay. However, both of your groups were just lucky enough to get some interaction with them. It's to the point that it is even hard to accept. Still, for some reason, that Elder Dale seemed to have believed you straight away. Just what is happening here?"

A few moments later, Dale came back with that so-called Elder Calan. Together with him, there were also a few subordinates.

"Was it the two of you who saw what happened?"

Weren and Tuve nodded, still keeping the play. Soon, they repeated everything once more.

"I see..."

Calan and Dale looked at each other. It seemed that they reached the same conclusion.

"Alright, take this."

Calan then threw a bag at Weren and Tuve. Inside, there were no more, no less than a thousand Rank Three Spirit Stones! Weren and Tuve were finally really taken aback for real.

"This..."

Calan raised his hand.

"Keep it. All I want from you is to not open your mouths. This event has a much deeper meaning than you think, so stay shut from now on, understood?"

Weren and Tuve nodded, excited. They would get 500 Rank Three Spirit Stones each! How could they not stay silent?

"We will definitely do it, Elder Calan."

Calan nodded as he looked at Reliance.

"A foreigner, uh? Maril Region, right?"

Reliance nodded, not bothering to try to hide at all.

"People like you are quite rare around here. Anyway, that's all for now. Thank you for your cooperation."

Reliance nodded.

"No problem. We will now take our leave, then."

Calan and Dale nodded, not trying to stop them. After they left, Dale turned to Calan.

"Well, you were the one responsible for Calina, so you will do the report. I'll take my leave since I still have other things to take care of before we depart."

Calan sighed as he nodded.

"Yes. I'll be sure to report everything correctly."

With that, Dale also left, leaving Calan and his subordinates behind. It was then that one of those subordinates sent him a Spiritual Sense message.

'Master, is it really okay to let that group go?'

Calan nodded.

'Yes. Our plan was to have Valeu kill Calina and the other two. However, it seems like we were not the only ones after Calina's life. It shows that many people in the Imperial Family also don't want the Chrole Bloodline to stay there. Having those guys as witnesses will, in fact, help our side. We can totally pin all the blame on the Shadow Reapers, and it won't even need to be a lie. That's just perfect. Valeu's death was a little price to pay for it.'

The subordinate nodded and didn't say anything else.