Death... and me

Rean and Min narrowed their eyes once they heard that. Should they try to stop Blansin now? It's because Erla's Clendes Sea Heart had been sealed that her talent didn't develop. If they allowed Blansin to do that first, she would recover that so-called enormous talent and power, right? She might not be anywhere close to Clendes Sea, but the heart alone probably would help her a lot.

However, there was also the possibility of her dying. The black pearls were used to keep the heart from going out of control and potentially killing Erla. Blansin mentioned that it was supposed to be the case until the day Erla got strong enough to control the heart on her own. The question was whether Erla was already that strong enough or not.

However, Min gave up in the end. 'Forget it! I don't care how strong she might become in the future. If there's a chance of her dying because of the heart's problem, then let it be sealed for all eternity. We need to stop him!'

Rean looked at Min as his opinion of him increased a lot. 'Well said! I would be truly disappointed if you didn't make this decision.'

However, just as Rean was about to attack, Erla opened her mouth. "The awakening of my heart? Would it be bad if I lost control over it? Are you sure you want to awaken it? If I'm not wrong, it would be better if I simply followed you back to your elders."

Blansin shook his head in response. "Don't worry. According to the records, the Void Tempering Realm is the requirement to control the Clendes Heart. That just so happens to be the realm you're in at the moment. Can you guess why?"

Erla was taken aback, and so were Rean and Min. However, all three of them had an idea. 'The power to control an entire Sea... That would be impossible without the power of space! The Void Tempering Realm is the realm where cultivators and demon beasts touch the power of space for the first time. Thus, the Void Tempering Realm requirement.'

Blansin could tell that Erla understood. "That's correct. To be more specific, the heart is capable of fusing both Water Element and Space Power together. Of course, that's just a small part of its power. Let's say that's just the minimum realm necessary to start taking control of its entire strength. The higher your cultivation gets from here, the more the heart will help you improve. Naturally, the higher your control over the Clendes Sea."

Min and Rean immediately gave up on the idea of stopping Blansin. Since she had the cultivation necessary to control the heart, that's obviously a huge opportunity for her. They could stop Blansin after the heart was awakened.

Blansin then moved the red pearl near Erla's heart, which immediately began to shine with a red color. At the same time, Erla felt like her own heart was going to pounce out of her chest as it beat faster and faster. Whatever the red pearl was, it was deeply related to her own heart.

At some point, Erla and the others noticed that her heart was also giving out light. It's just that the light coming from Erla's heart inside her body was blue, not red.

Blansin smiled as he let the red pearl go. It slowly floated in the direction of Erla's heart when suddenly, it became kind of ethereal. Following that, the heart passed through Erla's skin as if it wasn't even there, ultimately entering her heart.

*Arrrgh!*

Erla felt immense pain coming from her chest. That also affected her entire body, which seemed to be about to explode. However, that didn't happen. Instead, everyone saw as many strands of black energy started to come out of her body instead. One didn't need to be a genius to know what it was.

'The black pearls' energy...' they all thought.

That was correct. The red pearl, together with the Clendes Sea Heart, were expelling the black pearl's power that sealed the heart.

Suddenly, Erla changed back into her White Scaled Carp race's form. As a Void Tempering Realm demon beast, she was obviously quite big. It's just that she now looked like a fish out of water. Blansin was already expecting that, though. He selected this area to rest exactly because it would help conceal Erla's body after the transformation.

Erla's body then began to change from that point onward. The color of her white scales slowly turned blue. The same happened to her eyes, which were white before as well. The color of her body wasn't the only thing that changed, though. Something that looked like a crown made of fins appeared above her head. It was quite big and shone with a gentle blue color that emanated energy.

Her other fins, scales, and even her body's overall form changed to something a lot more imposing. If one asked, Erla still kind of looked like a White Scaled Carp but was obviously from a different race.

The process took over an hour before the pain for Erla finally subsided. It's just that Erla was now as weak as an ant. She couldn't move a single muscle of her body. Changing back to her human form? That was impossible for her at the moment. Not to mention that the item that kept Erla restrained was still active.

"Seems like it's finally over," Blansin murmured as he took the tools necessary to harvest Erla's Heart. He did so with a painful expression, obviously not liking to do that. However, there was too much in play for him to care about his own feelings. "Sorry, Erla. I'll make sure your White Scaled Carp race will be safe."

However, it was then that a Divine Sense message echoed in Blansin's mind. 'Is that so? Shouldn't you keep Erla safe as well, then? Oh well, whatever. We will keep her safe since you can't.'

Blansin's eyes widened in response as his Divine Sense finally broke through Rean's Divine Sense bending skill. Of course, since that happened, that was because Rean was now too close for the bending to not work.