Death... and me

Surprisingly, nothing happened during the next few days. Beelzebub stuck to his word and just hid, not gathering a single soul.

On Rean's side, Fagund kept following Rean's advice and improved his Soul Guiding Power. By the end of the fifth day, Fagund was able to guide a soul into his bracelet without much struggle. He wasn't as good as Fleus, whose cultivation was much higher, but he was definitely doing well for someone in his realm.

Nevertheless, the time for them to return to Fekis City had arrived, where they gathered with Titia, Doohan, and Salahi. Roan just so happened to be in the Light Devil Clan's mansion already.

Titia and the other two went to the meeting hall, having confident expressions on their faces. Anyone could tell they were very pleased with their results when they met Tapir. "Elder Tapir, we have returned."

Tapir nodded before looking at his subordinates. "Call Gean, Doan, Fleus, and Fagund here. Let's get this over with."

"Yes, Elder Tapir."

A moment later, everyone was gathered in the same room.

Tapir immediately started talking. "Alright, show me your results."

Yet, Titia, Doohan, and Salahi didn't want to go first. They wanted to see how Rean and Roan did before showing their results. That way, it would be even more humiliating.

Well, Roan simply showed the results of his bracelet without much concern. After all, he at least tried to do it once and got 39 souls. It was obviously the result it showed. As for Rean, his bracelet showed literally zero. He did gather a ton of souls, but he never sent them into his bracelet, so there were no results there.

Fagund and Fleus looked at each other after that. Why did the twins even bother showing their results? After all, it didn't matter anymore. However, they didn't say anything and just kept watching.

"Hahaha!" Salahi couldn't help but laugh out loud after seeing that. "Is that all you could do in five whole days?" He then looked at Fagund, who he knew was the devil that recruited the twins. "Young Master, that's why you shouldn't just call anyone you find on the streets. One of them wasn't able to get a single soul!"

Fagund bitterly smiled in response. Not for himself, but for Salahi instead. "Just continue..."

Salahi's bracelet then shone, allowing everyone in the room to see his results.

-560 Guided Souls-

The pride on his face was obvious for everyone to see. "You might be extremely talented, having the ability to bend space at your cultivation level. However, the three of us trained for this competition for over a hundred years. In a head-on fight, we probably would lose, but there's no way we'll lose to some devils who weren't even born in the Underworld."

Rean and Roan glanced at the guy for a moment. In fact, Rean even felt pity for him. 'Well, he's tooting his own horn for no reason, so we're definitely not intervening.' The twins thought for a moment.

"I'm next!" Doohan went after Salahi. After showing his bracelet, the results were there for everyone to see.

-731 Guided Souls-

"731 souls?!" Salahi was taken aback. "How did you get that many?!"

Doohan snorted in response. "Hmph! That's because I studied a lot about the areas in the Path of Reincarnation's periphery. Not to mention I tried every single day as well. Your results were good, but they couldn't possibly beat mine. Don't worry, though. You won't lose your slot since these guys didn't get a better result than yours."

Salahi didn't quite like that.

"Enough!" Unfortunately for them, Tapir wasn't in the mood to watch them bickering. "Titia, you're last. How many did you get?"

Titia sweetly smiled before revealing the results of her time in the Path of Reincarnation's periphery.

-927 Guided Souls-

Both Salahi and Doohan were shocked by the result. Doohan's result was already very good, but Titia's was just unbelievable. "How..."

Titia didn't seem that excited, saying, "I spent some time trying to understand my own Soul Guiding Power. That's all." Soon after, she looked at Tapir. "Elder, I believe I will do an even better job two years from now."

Nevertheless, Salahi and Doohan quickly recovered. That was right. They had two more years to sort things out and catch up to Titia's level. There was no way they would stay put and let her steal the limelight... or so they thought. "Just you wait..."

Even Tapir had to admit he was impressed with Titia's result. However, he looked at the twins at the very next moment, who didn't seem to care about Titia's result at all. Well, even he wouldn't have cared if he could do what the twins did. "Very well, the results are clear for everyone to see."

Titia, Doohan, and Salahi waited for their names to be announced. At this point, the announcement was nothing but mere formality.... or so they thought...

"The three devils taking part in the Underworld Soul Guiding Contest will be Doan, Gean, and Titia. Salahi and Doohan are out." Tapir didn't dwell over it as it was better to tell them straight.

"What?!" Even Titia was shocked by the results. She had been chosen, but Doan and Gean's names were spoken even before her own. "How's that possible?!"

Sure enough, Salahi and Doohan couldn't accept that. "Elder Tapir!"

"Shut up!" Tapir obviously knew what they wanted to say. "I'm doing it for the clan. Doan and Gean were chosen for a simple reason, they're better than the three of you. I don't like devils who use living souls for cultivation, but I definitely won't put my feelings above the clan's interests."

"Better?!" Nevertheless, Doohan didn't relent. "The best one between them was Doan, and he only got 39 souls after five days. His brother didn't even get a single one! I can't accept that!"

Fagund sighed before he used his Divine Sense to tell what happened on the first day of the Soul Guiding Test. It went without saying that Titia, Doohan, and Salahi found that hard to believe. "There is no way that's true."