Death... and me

In fact, it wasn't an actual dragon but another form that the white powder creatures took. The difference was that this dragon was several times bigger than even Kentucky. On top of that, it didn't launch itself against the twins. Instead, it seemed to be doing something else.

'Not good!' The twins didn't take too long to understand what it was doing. The dragon was inhaling all the white powder on the ground with its mouth at very high speeds. Before the twins could even think about dodging, the dragon attacked with a dragon breath!

*Shua!*

A dragon breath filled with white powder covered the entire cave in the twins' direction, giving them absolutely no path for escape. Even the white powder creatures that were attacking the twins got hit by it. They all broke apart almost instantly, showing the power of that dragon breath. Without a doubt, it was even stronger than an attack used by an expert or demon beast at the Space Bending Realm.

Without much choice, Rean and Roan got closer to one another and used their Reversive Arcs together while they began to retreat. After all, if they moved in the direction that the dragon breath was heading, the impact wouldn't be as great compared to if they were moving against it.

The dragon didn't stop, though. Its dragon breath continued to sweep everything in its path, dangerously getting close to breaking through the twins' defense. However, it didn't matter how good the twins' Reversive Arcs were. The fact still stood that they were being forced back.

"Fuck!"

The twins cursed out loud as their power from their Nascent Souls dissipated even more. Eventually, the twins' Nascent Souls disappeared completely, which immediately caused the twins' cultivation to plummet. As one could expect, the twins fell to the Core and Soul Fusion Realm before the white powder-filled dragon breath broke through their Reversive Arcs.

However, that wasn't all. The twins' salt transformation also accelerated now that there was almost no power to block it. Rean and Roan could see how their bodies turned white before it finally covered even their heads and eyes. In the end, the twins were also transformed into salt statues.

At the very moment that happened, everything in the cave went still. The white powder creatures, including that dragon, stopped their attacks. They couldn't detect any other form of life anymore, so they all crumbled as fast as they had taken shape previously.

The white river continued to flow as the white powder floated to the ceiling and disappeared. All the light from before was gone as well. The only difference in this cave from before was that it now had four salt statues. They stayed there, unmoving.

With that, time began to pass. Seconds, minutes, hours, days...

There was one thing that slowly changed as time passed, the concentration of white powder. As mentioned before, the Salt Sweep only lasted around two years before it stopped. That meant the white powder generated by the white river would eventually stop as well.

The twins came out of Salt Canyon City, predicting that the Salt Sweep would last another three months or so. The guards Rean talked to also confirmed that since they had seen this happen before. Indeed, the white powder from the river really stopped three months and ten days later.

That also meant the white powder by the riversides began to disappear little by little. The guard back in Salt Canyon City had mentioned it before. The white powder didn't continue to exist after the Salt Sweep was over. It would enter the ground and simply disappear. 

Another two months passed after that. It was also after this time that only the white river remained. Any traces of white powder were now completely gone. That also included Rean, Roan, Kentucky, and Luan. Because they turned into salt statues, they were absorbed into the ground itself, disappearing into it. Even if someone came here right now, they wouldn't be able to find any clues of Rean's group.

Time continued to pass nonstop. Who knew how long it had been since then.

*Cla, cla, cla, cla...*

Suddenly, Rean began to hear the sound of footsteps. In fact, he couldn't even think straight and tell that those were sounds at all. After his body was transformed into a salt statue, Rean lost all his senses. The system protected the twins' souls, but not their brains. Without a brain to help generate thoughts, it would be pretty much useless to have only the soul.

Little by little, Rean's conscience came back to himself. That was a process that didn't take just a few hours or days. No, it was a process that took years. Not that it was a bad thing since Rean couldn't even tell that time was passing at all. Every now and then, he would hear the sound of steps again and some chatter into the distance, but that was about it.

Though, at some point, Rean's conscience finally awakened enough for Rean to at least question what was happening. It's quite unfortunate that his thoughts couldn't go much further than that. It wasn't before another few months had passed that Rean's consciousness had finally seemed to have recuperated enough. 'Wh-where am I?'

Rean tried to open his eyes, but he noticed his body couldn't move at all. He then tried to use his Divine Sense, but it was no good either. He couldn't use his Divine Sense, nor could he use his Soul Power Scan. It was as if his whole being was confined into something that didn't allow him to do anything else.

Rean didn't panic, though. There were still two beings that he could contact. 'Roan, are you there?' Rean immediately used his connection with Roan's soul to try to talk with him. Unfortunately, it didn't matter how many times Rean called for Roan. He didn't get any answer at all. Rean also couldn't get any memories from Roan either. If not because his Soul Connection with Roan was still there, he would think they had been separated somehow. 'At the very least, I can tell that Roan is just a few meters away from me because of our connection. Though, it seems like he hasn't come back to himself yet.'

In the end, there was one last option for him to try.. 'Let's try Sister Orb.'