Death... and me

Rean then lifted the token and... used his sleeve to wipe the glowing pedestal...

Everyone's mouth twitched after seeing that.

"Brat, what the hell are you thinking about? This is obviously a Spiritual Equipment of some sort, the dust has no eff-"

*Clack...*

Suddenly, Latalia's blood-drenched token fused with the pedestal, quickly disappearing. Well, What was really being absorbed was Latalia's blood. The token was only taken as a souvenir by the pedestal.

*Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack...*

The mechanical sounds continued as the door in front began to tremble. The dust in the room was stirred up as it felt like the entire room was on the move.

Rean then looked at the guy who had just talked.

"You were saying?"

If there was a hole at the moment, the guy would definitely have jumped inside it.

"Hmph! Who cares. If it opened, then that's what matters."

The others around laughed out loud but quickly regained their focus. Finally, the Laan City entrance began to open slowly. Light shone from the other side until finally, it opened enough to at least see what was on the other side.

Rean's group wasn't impressed by that. After all, Latalia already said that there should be a city behind it. However, the others were indeed surprised to see it. The door was located at what seemed to be an advantageous point. Because of what was stated before, they could see an entire city stretching for tens of kilometers.

However, there was one thing that surprised Rean's group. Unlike the others, they were sure that they were deep underground. The other cultivators only thought that it might be possible since they haven't seen the sky until now. But even so, there was no ceiling above the City. All they could see was a deep blue sky like any other part of the surface.

Immediately, Roan asked Latalia.

'What's happening here? Weren't we supposed to be underground?'

Latalia was also taken aback. However, she quickly noticed a difference.

"Wait. Look closely. That's not a real sky."

Latalia didn't use her Spiritual Sense. Instead, she talked in a casual manner. Naturally, everyone around heard her as well. They paid close attention to the blue sky and finally noticed what she was talking about.

A few lines of light ran through the blue skies at high speeds. However, they were very tiny and hard to detect. Still, the cultivators noticed that those lights followed some patterns, releasing their energy into the air, quickly fusing with the sky itself.

"It's a formation that creates an illusion of a sky, not a real sky per se."

"Well, those guys made this strange maze with false demon beasts. It's not hard to believe that they could make a fake sky with a formation."

"Wait. This is a city, but is it empty at the moment?"

As soon as that doubt appeared, everyone spread their Spiritual Senses into the City in front. However, they didn't take too long to get their answer.

All of a sudden, a strong Spiritual Pressure fell over all their bodies, forcing them all to the ground. Soon after, an old man followed by what seemed to be a feathered person descended from the fake sky in front of the cultivators. Everyone immediately dropped any thoughts of resistance. That Spiritual Pressure alone was enough for them to understand that they were nothing more than ants in front of the newcomers.

"Who are you? You were not supposed to be able to open the City Entrance without having the citizens' bloodline. And what are you doing inside our Laan City's training ground?"

Latalia bitterly smiled. Even after thousands of years, there were still cultivators present in Laan City. She thought that it would be completely empty since none of them appeared outside anymore.

Someone then lifted his head and tried to explain.

"Se-Senior, we found the token after battling strange demon beasts in the maze behind us. Some of them had some kind of tokens inside their bodies, which we used to open the door. As for the bloodline, we don't know what Senior is talking about."

Everyone also understood something else. The treasures that they were expecting to receive from this hidden ground was only a pipe dream right now. How could they possibly think about robbing a city protected by such strong cultivators?

The man narrowed his eyes as he scanned everyone in the small group. Due to their cultivation, he wasn't afraid of them trying anything. It was then that another cultivator had arrived there. Just like the bird-like man, this one had traits of Demon Beasts on his body. His arms were covered in scales similar to a snake or python.

"Elder Darkon, wait a moment."

The man beside the bird guy looked at the newcomer.

"Sira, what's the matter?"

Obviously, that was the scale-covered man's name.

"Oh... are those the outsiders? It has been a long time since some have appeared."

Darkon then narrowed his eyes.

"Sira, what are you thinking? You should know that we are not supposed to interact with outsiders."

Sira didn't seem to mind Darkon, though.

"Darkon, you're as annoying as always. The old geezers who made those rules already departed or died a long time ago. Don't you want to go see the outside world? Since these guys came inside, maybe there's a way out now."

The man with feathers on his body then criticized Sira.

"Sira. Did you forget what will happen to those who leave the City? They will be forever banished! The ancestors won't come to take them away either!"

Sira snorted in response.

"Gali, the last time anyone came to take us was over 10 thousand years ago. Wake up, idiots. No one's coming anymore."

Rean's group and the others didn't know what was happening. But from hearing the conversation between them, it wasn't hard to imagine that the citizens in this City were trapped here. That also answered Latalia's ancestor's question. Why haven't they seen any of the Laan Citizens again?

Darkon and Gali's expressions darkened, but Sira ignored them and asked the group.

"Hey, tell me. Where did you come from? Was there an exit somewhere?"

They all looked at each other. At that moment, Latalia decided to talk.

"Senior. I'm not sure if that is an exit, but there is a teleport formation in a room connected to the same room as this City's entrance. Two of our companions disappeared as soon as they entered that chamber."

"What?!"

Sira immediately ignored Latalia and stepped out of the entrance. He then looked at the room Latalia talked about, and his eyes lit up.

"Darkon, Gila, look! The teleport formation is active again!"

Darkon and Gila didn't remove their attention towards the group, but they still stepped outside to see what Sira mentioned.

"It's true... ever since the City was moved to this place, the teleport formation inside the training grounds had been deactivated."

Sira then looked at Darkon and Gila before saying.

"We need to report it to the elders. This is a golden opportunity!"

Darkon and Gila were still unhappy with that idea, but they agreed that this situation should be reported.

"What should we do with these guys?"

"Let's kill them to prevent any problems from arising."

Everyone felt a chill on their backs. However, Sira quickly intervened.

"You know, you don't have to fucking kill every outsider we meet? They're our passes to the outside world, so keep them alive."

While everyone was thinking about what to do to escape safely, Rean and Roan were more concerned about how these guys were involved in the so-called Vruve Remnants. In their eyes, these guys' strength was a big problem, but not as big as finding an empty city. That would instead make things a lot harder to comprehend.

'Roan, they seem to understand the words on these walls. However, they also speak our language, albeit with some heavy accents. This is perfect. Maybe they can directly answer what Sister Orb and the Soul Gem System talked about, the Vruve Remnants.'

In response, Roan narrowed his eyes.

'That also carries its own risks. Maybe they don't want anyone to know about the Vruve thing, as if it was a taboo, for example. If we talk about this topic, they might kill all of us instead.'

Rean was taken aback for a second.

While Sira was arguing with Darkon and Gila, everyone suddenly heard a voice coming from the distance.

"Bring the outsiders in."

Sira, Darkon, and Gila looked at the direction the voice came from. Soon after, Sira laughed before saying.

"See? Even the elders agree with me. Let's go. Maybe our confinement is about to be over."

However, just as they were about to bring everyone away, another big group of cultivators appeared at the city's entrance.

When Rean's group was waiting for more tokens to come, several hours had gone by. They also spent some time waiting for others to test the glowing pedestal before Latalia finally had the chance to try.

In the end, all that time was more than enough for the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators to arrive in this place. First of all, none of the demon beasts inside posed any threat to them. Also, they were moving together in the maze, so it was even easier. What Rean's group took two or so days to pass through, the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators only took a few hours. That was basically the difference in cultivation speaking by itself.

Tiria and Juvian immediately noticed Rean, Roan, and Kentucky in the middle of the group. However, they didn't act harshly. That's because the three guys in front of them were nothing but weak.

'Soul Transformation Realm!'