"Just thinking about it already makes me feel like breaking both of your necks. If you haven't sealed us, how could we be poisoned?"
Rean was taken aback by the answer as he replied.
"Really? It's not like we were alive when you were sealed in this so-called underground world, you know? First of all, what's the point of being angry at me? We have nothing to do with what happened back then."
Rean then looked at Roan before saying.
"However, I allow you to vent your anger on him. Just make sure you don't kill or cripple this guy."
Roan's mouth twitched in response.
"You were the one who wanted to stay here, so why should I pay for it? Do you want to die?"
Rean wasn't the least bit afraid, as he said.
"Hahaha! I'm the only one who can heal their poison, so I'm totally safe. As for you, it's not so easy. Don't worry, you heard me saying that I asked them to not kill or cripple you. It will be just a little... a lot of pain."
Roan snorted in response.
"Do you want to see how I can make you feel a lot of pain as well? Let's see who can protect you."
Jana and Xila looked at the twins with weird expressions. Aren't they blood brothers? How come their relationship is this bad?
"Enough! I won't hurt neither of you for now."
Jana then pondered for a bit and began to explain.
"When your race sealed us in the underground world, they didn't care about what the place we were being sealed in was. The entire area was full of toxic gas from underground activity. By using our Spiritual Energy, we could keep the effects at bay. However, the poison gas still entered our bodies as time passed. The only good thing was that the Spiritual Energy present down there was plentiful."
"That helped us to continue living even though food was scarce. Basically, all the food was reserved for the low-level cultivators and the newborns who couldn't live with Spiritual Energy alone. We also had several teams that protected the young ones as much as they could so that the toxic gases wouldn't kill them."
"In any case, as time passed, more and more of those poisonous gases entered our bodies even though we tried to keep them out. Because of that, only the very young are still somewhat clean. Of course, that wouldn't last for long since they would have to interact with the poison gases sooner or later. That's the kind of poison you are seeing in our bodies."
Rean nodded in response.
"No wonder your hatred only increased as time passed. I'm well-versed in poisons, so even if I haven't seen this one before, I can tell how tormenting it is. Don't worry, I'll drive it all away from your body."
Xila and Jana narrowed their eyes in response. Jana then asked.
"I won't refuse the treatment, but I still want to ask. Why would you help our race? I might as well tell you this, our hatred against the people of the surface won't disappear just because you healed the poison. Nothing can wipe out the thousands of years we spent down there."
Rean nodded as he replied.
"I don't expect you to forgive us either. However, most of the people who participated in that war for the planet are all dead. Perhaps there are some monsters here and there who are still alive, but how many of them are really here? At the very least, I don't think we should have one out of two sides dying at any cost."
Roan didn't really care about Rean's ideals. However, Rean's words made Roan notice one thing that perplexed him.
"Now that I think about it, something's off. You guys said that we attacked your planet and took it away from you. However, was it really necessary to start that war? I mean, this is an entire world. Wasn't there enough space for everyone? Besides, your race has these special meridians over your skins. Wouldn't it instead increase the world's power? Why exactly did you go into war instead of talking things out?"
Rean was surprised by Roan's words. Indeed, was it really worth going to war?
"Could it be that this world was so packed with your Lakure Race members that there was just no space anymore?"
Jana and Xila looked at each other in response. The fact was, they weren't there when this war happened. Even they, as top experts of their Lakure Race, were only born thousands of years later. After all, both of them were Saint Realm experts. Saint Realm experts can't live more than 1600 years on average. The war happened multiple lifespans of that length earlier than that.
"This... I don't know. Only our Ancestor was alive during that time. However, it doesn't change the fact that we were sealed down there against our wishes."
Rean nodded.
"I understand. That means we don't know whether both sides have tried to negotiate or if one of them attacked straight away without giving any excuses. Very well, how about we go talk with your Ancestor, then? I'm sure he should have the answer, right?"
Xila snorted after hearing that.
"And why should we let a human see our Ancestor? You're lucky that you aren't dead yet."
Rean shrugged his shoulders as he answered.
"Because if you don't do that, you will never get the answer. After all of this, don't you think that this is a little strange? Could it be that you're not curious at all?"
Roan followed up where Rean left off, saying.
"Let me ask you. What if our side wanted to negotiate with your race, but you ignored everything and attacked us? In that case, we could only defend ourselves. If that's the case, can you still blame the human race for sealing you down there?"
*Bang!*
In an instant, Xila stomped his feet on the ground.
"This was our world! Whatever the reason might be, you had no right to take it from us!"
Rean narrowed his eyes, not feeling the least bit afraid of Xila's anger.
"Bullshit! This is nothing more than an excuse. I can see through your play. All of you never considered that perhaps it wasn't our human race's fault that things turned out this way. No! You probably considered it at some point, but you immediately stopped thinking about it since you were the one living underground."
Rean then continued.
"Sure, living there was hard. I can't even imagine how it was since I've never passed through a similar situation. However, have you ever thought about why you were sealed? Why didn't you get all killed instead? I heard from one of the low-level members of your race that you had the same strength as the 'invaders.' That you were sealed there because the humans couldn't defeat you in battle. However, this was what he was just told. Or perhaps that's what you all wanted to believe."
"I refuse to believe it was that simple! How could an entire race be sealed without even a single one remaining outside when both sides have similar strengths? It doesn't make sense at all! As much as your race might have fallen for a trap or whatever, it couldn't possibly have taken the entire race with it. Stop ignoring the facts and start thinking with your own heads, idiots!"
The entire place went silent after Rean was finished his passionate speech. Sure enough, Rean was right. It wasn't as if none of them had ever thought about that before. In fact, most of them had considered those questions at some point. Nevertheless, life in the underground world was just too terrible. Their hatred overshadowed all reason, so they simply decided to ignore it. It went so deep that no one ever tried to bring this kind of topic for discussion. After all, what was there to discuss?
No, it was worse than that. They were already living a life that some considered worse than death. If they also began to doubt the reason why they were sealed down there, would they truly endure it? In a way, their hatred for the human race on the surface was the propelling force that drove them forward.
Jana, who was still being healed by Rean, couldn't help but think about the Ancestor's last order.
'Ancestor Laro said that we shouldn't attack Core and Soul Fusion Realm cultivators if we were above that realm. It doesn't matter how much I look at his decision. It feels like he wants the human cultivators and the Lakure Race cultivators to resolve their issues more fairly. Could it be related to what Rean had just speculated?'
The more she pondered about it, the more she thought that Rean might be right.
'Ancestor Laro said that the reason he wanted to escape was so that he could use his strength to negotiate with the humans. He never said he wanted to kill them all. That's something we all thought, not him. He was the only survivor of that time as well.'
Xila, who didn't know how to answer a moment ago, finally came back to himself. He quickly looked around and saw how the other members of his race also began to waver. Obviously, they also began to consider whether Rean's words were right or wrong.
"Are all of you that dumb? Are you going to let a kid play with your mind just like that? Fuck it. So what if I have to live with my poison forever? I will never forgive the human race!"
Without hesitation, Xila attacked Rean! Spiritual Energy rushed out of his Dantian as he aimed his fist at Rean. With their difference in cultivation, Rean would be blasted into thousands of pieces if it hit him. However...
*Boom!*
Jana was even closer to Rean than Xila was. Naturally, she had more than enough time to protect him.
"Have you gone mad? Have you really decided to ignore the Ancestor's orders?"
