Death... and me

Rean then looked at Roan with an angry expression, shouting, "Hey! Why did you kill him?! Did you forget we were supposed to ask them questions?"

Roan then looked at his scythe. Obviously, Rean didn't work on just formations. He also took the chance that his cultivation increased to increase his blacksmithing to the Golden Peak-level, just like his formations. It went without saying that he immediately took Roan's scythe and his own sword back to upgrade them. "That's your fault. I haven't fought in a while. I didn't expect this thing to be this sharp. The idea was to only slice the guy's armor in half, not the guy inside."

Rean then pointed at his own opponent, who was now missing all four limbs. For a Void Tempering Realm cultivator, as long as they were willing to pay the price, they could get their limbs back. However, this definitely wasn't something the guy could do at the moment. "You could have aimed to take his limbs, just like what I did. Look, he's very much alive and afraid of trying anything else."

In response, the guy wanted to cry. His partner was dead, and he was in this shitty situation. Nevertheless, Rean was right. He was too afraid of trying to escape at all. Celis' prison was still up, so there was nowhere for him to go. Even if it wasn't, with his injuries, he didn't believe he could escape. Not to mention no one would try to help him either.

Rean then approached the guy with a smile, saying, "Hehe! Sorry, sorry. It wasn't part of the plan to kill your boyfriend there."

"Who the hell's my boyfriend?!" The guy felt even worse now.

Rean showed a puzzled expression in response. "What, you weren't in a relationship? But you were both using matching clothes... well, armor, but even so... I thought you had something more intimate between you two going on."

"Go to hell! If you want to kill me, just do that already! You already got mine and that guy's spatial ring. That was your objective, right? Just get over with it already." In the end, he had already given up any struggle.

Rean shook his head, though. "Kill you? That's not gonna happen. I can even heal your limbs back to normal free of charge and let you go on top of that. How does that sound?"

Naturally, Rean's words caught the guy's attention. "It's obvious to me you wanted to attract someone with power. What is it that you wanted to ask?"

As for Roan, he approached the guy. Well, Roan did indeed take the guy's spatial ring. It's just that he was disappointed with the contents. "Shit. The armor and spear I destroyed were the things of most value in his possession. He has around two hundred Rank Two Divine Stones and a few thousand Rank Ones. Other than that, he was basically a nobody."

"What?! He was a Void Tempering Realm cultivator! How can he be that poor?!" Rean asked, shocked.

The survivor of the two wanted to cry even more now, replying, "Do you think everyone is rich like you? If we were so healthy, why would we even accept this job to rob you?! Hehe! Just wait until you reach the Void Tempering Realm. You will understand just how much of a black hole this shit is when you start gobbling Divine Stones nonstop. It's fucking expensive!" The guy obviously didn't doubt the twins could reach that level. With their strength, one would need to be an idiot to think they couldn't.

Rean and Roan had to admit the guy's words made sense. "That's true." They heard it from Havek himself about how expensive it was. And that was considering that spirits had different ways of cultivating, so they didn't rely as much on Divine Stones as demon beasts and humanoid races.

Roan then threw those thoughts away as he asked, "Forget it. First, what's your name?"

The guy, seeing that he wasn't going to be killed straight away, immediately answered. "Lrist."

Roan nodded in response. "Alright, Lrist. We're looking for a way to enter the Jhiod Continent. Do you know anything about it?"

Lrist was taken aback to hear that. "Could it be that you're not from Lebgram?"

The twins didn't deny it. "That's correct."

Lrist finally understood. "No wonder I have never heard about you before. Considering that you have such strength at such a low level of cultivation, it would have been impossible for you to not be famous by now."

He continued, "Anyway, everyone from the surrounding continents want to enter Jhiod. However, the entrance is very strict. Only those who are authorized or those with higher cultivation levels can do so. Even I would have no chance to do that. Anyways, since you asked, the best way is to join one of the top five powers of Lebgram."

Hearing the top five powers being mentioned, Rean finally asked about that. "So, who are the top five powers fighting for control over this continent?"

"You're really new to the continent to not even know that. In any case, the first of the five is the Lebgram Royal Family. A very long time ago, this continent was controlled by them. Even now, they're considered the strongest of the top five. That's where the continent gets its name. Well, I believe it will change if they lose in the end."

"The other four obviously have feuds with each other as well. However, they have a fragile balance where they will join forces if the Lebgram Royal Family try something against one of them. The Lebgram Royal Family might be powerful, but definitely not as powerful as the four together."

"Anyways, the other four are the Levile Clan, Trust Guild, Acacia Sect, and Tibian Merchant Organization. You could say that while the Lebgram Royal Family holds 30 to 40% of the strength of the continent, these other four hold the remaining 60 to 70% between them."

Rean couldn't help but ask in response, "So why don't they join forces to get rid of the Lebgram Royal Family's experts?"

Roan looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot. "Hmph! And which one of those four groups wants to send their experts as a vanguard?"

Rean scratched the back of his head after that. "Sorry, sorry... that was an unnecessary question."