To be more precise, Rean and Roan wished to have traveled for much longer. There were other Demon Beasts' regions that could be used and were situated further away. Unfortunately, there wasn't much choice since their time was running out.
"Oh, I can see it. If the jade slip map isn't wrong, what lies ahead is the Koran Forest," Rean said as he looked at the jade slip with his Spiritual Sense. "Kentucky, let's head straight to the core region. There's no need to stop at the borders."
"Gotcha!" Kentucky quickly acknowledged the orders and pressed forward. Because he was close now, he didn't care about his reserves of Spiritual Energy and increased the speed. Besides, with Rean's Light and Spiritual Sense Bending Skills, no one would notice them passing by anyway.
Just like everywhere, the once frozen forest now had its ice gradually melting. Green could be seen everywhere as the demon beasts left their hideouts more often. Before, they would only leave it to look for food or other important tasks. But now, due to the heat, they could simply stay outside, basking in the sun.
As Rean's group made their way to the Core Region, the world was in chaos. Rean and Roan had always used different appearances ever since they entered the Soul Rulers' territory. After all, they had the makeup necessary for Roan to work with and Rean's Light Transformation Skill. That being said, the Soul Rulers could only post the appearances they showed while they were there.
The Soul Rulers also passed by the Asume Clan, but as one could imagine, the Asume Clan didn't know anything about them either. Until now, they thought Frandin was the real leader of the group, after all. Besides, they simply said that they were given those high Soul Purity Humans and that they could use it to call the Soul Rulers.
The worst part was that none of Rean's group had ever appeared in front of them with their real faces either. All the pictures spread in all Empires were completely different from what Rean's group truly looked like. In the end, all of Roan's carefulness paid off.
However, finding the twins was the least of the Soul Rulers' issues at the moment. All of the World Swallowing Cedar's saplings spread around the world had withered down after Celis's disappearance. With that, all the spots of high Spiritual Energy concentration had disappeared along with them. That being said, the normal flow of Spiritual Energy was restored for the entire world.
With the Spiritual Energy free for everyone to use, Rank One Spirit Stones had now become useless. That was a big problem since it was used as currency before. Then again, one could now get more Spiritual Energy from the space around them than the stones themselves.
At the moment, the Soul Rulers had the situation controlled. However, the fact still stands that the world's main powers now lost their main advantage, which was their better cultivation environment. None of the Emperors, Sect Leaders, Celestial Land Heads, or the Soul Rulers themselves believed that this control would last for long. Eventually, other organizations would take root, utilizing the better Spiritual Energy flow available.
The only question was how long it would take until the controlling powers couldn't hold the reins anymore. Without a doubt, many dynasty-level changes were about to occur in the world. Well, that made sense. After all, the Soul Gem System gave Rean and Roan 30000 Destiny Points as a reward. Not to mention the title and the 13 levels of increased authority. If the changes weren't at least this big, the reward wouldn't have made sense.
At the moment, the Soul Rulers put a bounty on all of Rean's group members. Kentucky, Rean, and Roan had the second-highest bounties. The total offered for any of them was one hundred thousand Rank Five Spirit Stones. Countries would go to war for way less than that. One must remember that until a month ago, the world lacked Spiritual Energy almost everywhere. Spirit Stones were still too important.
Nevertheless, for the Soul Rulers, that was a small price to get the World Swallowing Cedar back. That being said, any information that could lead to the World Swallowing Cedar had a reward of 300 thousand Rank Six Spirit Stones! Some even thought that to be a joke. There was no way someone would pay that amount. Little did they know that the Soul Rulers were willing to pay even more if they could really find Celis.
Back at the Soul Rulers' territory, the Soul Rulers' leader, the elders, and the Ancestors were in the middle of a meeting. Rows upon rows of chairs were placed all around a gigantic hall, each of them occupied. There were a few seats placed higher than the rest at the back near the center, with the highest being occupied by none other than Fikin, the Peak Transition Realm ancestor of the Soul Rulers. He could also be said to be the strongest man on the entire planet now that Celis fell from the peak of the Stage Nine level.
"Have none of you found anything yet!?!" Fikin bellowed with a dark expression. It had almost been a month since the event. But even up to now, they couldn't find as much as a single clue. Even Frandin's group had completely disappeared. Well, Rean's group stayed in the Soul Rulers' territory for over two years, so it made sense that Frandin's group had disappeared.
"Ancestor. We have all of our forces spread everywhere looking for them. However, they really evaporated into thin air. Even the World Swallowing Cedar had simply blinked out of existence. We swept everything around our territory up to 5000 kilometers as soon as Celis was gone. Even so, we couldn't find anything," one of the elders said, being responsible for the search.
"It's true, Ancestor Fikin." Another elder intervened, saying, "We were considering the idea that perhaps a high-level Spatial Equipment was used, not a teleport as we initially assumed. If it was a teleport, we would have gotten some readings or felt the changes with our Spiritual Sense, after all."
Fikin narrowed his eyes, saying, "Such Spatial Equipment isn't something that can be made on our planet. Are you telling me that we got visitors?" From the looks of the situation, it wasn't the first time the Soul Rulers received someone from outside.
"We can't be sure since we didn't get any communication. However, if we did, it makes sense that no one contacted us since they wanted to steal our World Swallowing Cedar. The main problem is..." The elder stopped there, not daring to continue.
However, Fikin didn't care and said it himself, "The main problem is that anyone with such high-level Spatial Equipment isn't someone we can deal with." Sure enough, those words affected everyone in the hall. "However, I still think this to be a low possibility. If someone so strong came to us, why would they destroy our headquarters and steal the World Swallowing Cedar? They could have come straight at us and simply take Celis away. There would be nothing we can do if it was really someone like that."
With that, the expression on the other elders' faces relaxed. Indeed, Fikin's words made a lot of sense.
"Does that mean someone has found a high-level Spatial Equipment and used it to rob us? If so, then it might as well be considered a big opportunity," the Soul Rulers' head, who was close to Fikin, commented.
Fikin pondered over it for a bit before saying, "Continue the search. They also took all the High Soul Purity kids away. If they want to take care of them, they'll need to release those children somewhere. Focus your search on the hidden areas of our planet and make sure to check every corner."
One of the elders couldn't help but say, "But Ancestor Fikin, to check all of them would take a very long time."
"So what?" Fikin said in response. "Do you prefer to stay here doing nothing?"
"No, ancestor." The elder immediately dropped his head. "I'll arrange for the search."
"Good. Make sure that once you finish searching an area, it doesn't stay unattended if our targets decide to appear after we leave," Fikin warned
Not too surprisingly, it was as Rean and Roan imagined. The Soul Rulers considered the remote places the best ones to hide the kids. That being said, avoiding those areas was the right decision, which gave Rean and Roan more time to think about what to do with so many kids.
Odbruva Empire, Erstral Country's Capital...
Two Zasfins made their way in the streets as their slaves followed them from behind. So far, there wasn't anything strange with this sight as many other Zasfins were also accompanied by their slaves. However, if Rean and Roan were here, they would definitely identify this group. Obviously, they were Frandin and the others.
Like everyone else, they also were taken aback by the sudden change in Spiritual Energy in the environment. At some point, the Erstral Royal Family came out to make an announcement, saying that this was a temporary phenomenon and that people shouldn't get ahead of themselves.
However, at the same time, Frandin's group saw all the bounties being put up for Rean, Roan, Kentucky, and Celis. Naturally, they could guess that both were connected.
"To think they went as far as having the entire Soul Rulers after them..."
"Well, it's not like we don't know what those three are capable of."
"Hahaha! We can't lose to them, right?"
"True! We need to put more effort into our training."
"Alright, everyone. It seems we'll need to push forward our plans to enter the Valaria Swamp."
The news about the twins didn't scare Frandin's group. Instead, it only put more oil into the fire.
