Death... and me

Country of Qerlen, East of Jialin.

At the moment, a seventeen-year-old Malaka and a nineteen-year-old Calina were on top of a flying demon beast, making their way to the Falo Valley. The demon beast, obviously, was Kentucky.

Calina and Malaka had taken a few missions together and others alone. It all depended on what Mia or Roan prepared for the two. However, it wasn't for naught. The several dangerous encounters they had gone through had honed their skills. Calina was even close to entering the Late Stage of the Core Formation Realm after these three years of cultivation.

Rean and Roan were still below her, though. As always, their larger Spiritual Energy pools were delaying their progress. Well, they were much stronger because of that, so they aren't complaining.

Malaka, on the other hand, had just made her breakthrough with Mia's help around a year ago, so she was still further than any of the three.

Three years might look a lot. However, their cultivation progress was frightening to most people. Even if they took ten years to break through one stage to another, everyone would still think they were too quick. Let alone three or four as it seemed at the moment.

"Calina, look! It's there!"

Calina paid attention to where Malaka was pointing and nodded.

"So this is the valley Roan was talking about."

Calina touched Kentucky's feathers before indicating that they wanted to go down.

*Chick!*

Soon after, Kentucky dived into the valley. Calina and Malaka could see the entire valley from above. Not only that, but it was also possible to see many other cultivators camping at the entrance.

As for why they were here, we need to go back two weeks in the past. Two weeks ago, Roan had called the two girls so that they would go out and obtain another thing for him.

"Recently, a Masput Vein has been found in Qerlen Country. Masput is a great alchemic material for Cross-Realm Pills aimed at breaking through to the Core and Soul Fusion Realm. It's a red liquid that can be found inside a red rock of the same name. The reports say that a cultivator had formed a cave to seclude himself. To his surprise, he ended up finding the Masput Rock. As for why he let the news spread, I don't know, nor do I care. I want you two to go there and fetch some for me. Make sure you fill at least two medicinal bottles to the brim with it."

"How do you want us to do it?"

Roan shrugged his shoulders as he said.

"Do whatever you want. As long as you bring it back, then anything's fine."

And here they were, ready to look for those Masput Rocks.

"If the map is right, this valley is massive. How does Roan expect us to find it?"

Calina shrugged her shoulders as she replied.

"That's probably another one of his tests. However, it's a good thing that this vein is located in such a big place. Look around. The fact that the valley entrance has so many cultivators is solid proof that there are still Masput Rocks available. The valley's size makes it much harder to find, so we can try to get our own."

"From what I found out, Masput Rocks are only good for those pills Roan mentioned. Because of that, there aren't many Core and Soul Fusion Realm cultivators or higher here. The majority are in the same realm as us, trying to get the Masput Liquid to make their own pills for their own breakthroughs."

"Naturally, Roan is thinking about concocting the same pills for us when the time comes. The only problem is that any new place with Masput Rocks will definitely attract all the surrounding cultivators. No doubt hundreds or even thousands of battles have already happened because of them, so we better be careful."

Malaka nodded.

"Well, Roan probably thought of the same thing. That's why he allowed Kentucky to come with us this time around."

Malak then hugged Kentucky... or so she tried. The bird was already quite big, so it was hard to do so. At least, it didn't look that fat anymore.

"We're counting on you, Kentucky!"

*Chick! Chick!*

Kentucky opened his wings as if he was agreeing with Malaka.

Calina and Malaka then began to make their way to the valley's entrance. On the way, they were invited to join a few searching groups. Well, it was expected that people would try to join hands to guarantee their own Masput Rocks would be safe.

It was then that a group with three female cultivators approached the two girls and Kentucky.

"Hello. I'm Kuana from the Fractario Sect. The two girls on my side are Laffey and Cassia. Would you like to join us to look for Masput Rocks?"

Calina and Malaka noticed that the three girls used different clothes or robes.

"Did you perhaps form this group just recently?"

Kuana nodded.

"Yes. We are all from different sects and clans. We are trying to make a group with women only to look for the rocks. Of course, if you think we're too weak, you can just refuse."

Calina and Malaka could tell that Kuala was in the Late Stage of the Core Formation Realm while Cassia and Laffey were in the Middle Stage, just like them.

Following that, Calina sent Malaka a Spiritual Sense Message.

'Well, Roan said that we could use any means we wanted to find the Masput Rocks. There's no doubt that there are many groups inside, so we might as well join one.'

Malaka couldn't help but ask.

'Wouldn't that make it harder to fill two medicinal bottles if we have to share with them?'

Calina smiled before saying.

'Don't worry. Roan also didn't give us any time limit. After so many hellish tasks given by him and your master, it shouldn't be bad to do things safely for once.'

Malaka's eyes lit up, and she immediately accepted. Indeed. They could take their time to look for these rocks. Wasn't that just perfect? As for whether they could trust Kuana and the other two girls or not, it didn't matter. Calina and Malaka were very confident in their own strength, especially with Kentucky around.

"Miss Kuana, we accept."

Kuana smiled and was just about to say something when suddenly, they heard a commotion around themselves. However, even if they didn't hear it, they would have noticed it.

"Hey, look at the Valley!"

Calina, Malaka, and Kuana and the other girls also looked in that direction. From the very center of the Valley, a ray of red light shot to the skies! However, that red light began to expand right after. In just a second, it already covered more than half of the Valley.

"Not good! It's coming in our direct."

Unfortunately, reacting at this point was useless. Calina even tried to call Kentucky so that they could fly out of here with Malaka, but she didn't have time for that either. Just like that, everyone at the entrance of the Valley was taken by it.

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Note: We are going back to the one chapter/day with mas releases on Sundays. People seemed to not like this system of two chapters without mass releases. Check the rules below.