Death... and me

Elder Droman was happy to hear that.

"Great! I'll have to stay with you for the next few days anyway. It's an excellent opportunity to get you started in the path of Formations. But before that, let's go out and check when you have to do those healings of yours."

It was then that Droman thought about something.

"Oh, right. Since you will be studying Formations under me, I'll put your status as my disciple. That should give you some more protection in the future. Although I will only be responsible for teaching you formations, the others don't need to know it. Let them think I'm your full-fledged master for everything."

Rean pondered a bit and nodded. Cultivation was being dealt with by Sister Orb. However, Rean had no one to teach about Formations. Besides, it wasn't as bad as accepting being the Sect Master's Disciple. That one would instead bother him more than help. But if it was an elder of the sect, it would be easier to deal with the commotion.

"Indeed. Having a Soul Transformation Realm master can be quite convenient in the long term. Let's go ahead with your plan."

Droman's mouth twitched a little after rearing that. 

'Quite... convenient...'

If any other Foundation Establishment heard that they could become a Soul Transformation Realm's disciple, they would be crying out of happiness. Rean, on the other hand, found it... convenient... How could Droman's pride not be hurt?

'Forget it... Expecting normal reactions from these abnormal twins was a mistake to start with...'

Right after, the two left together.

Back on Roan's side, Old Worm came to the hut to watch him try the new combinations for Dark and Light Element Foundation Stabilizing Pills.

"Oh, it seems like you got all the items indeed."

Roan nodded.

"We posted a few missions for others to collect three of them. Only the Midday Ginseng was remaining. Fortunately, we got quite a harvest on the Sun Streak Mountain Range."

Old Worm nodded.

"Very well. You can start now, and I'll observe. Since it is a new elemental type of Foundation Stabilizing pill, I'm also curious to see the process. I'll tell you the points you need to correct if I see something wrong."

Roan didn't say anything else and immediately began his concoction. Those two weren't the type to talk much to start with, so they didn't bother with pleasantries.

As one can imagine, Roan failed quite a few times. Still, he didn't use even 10% of everything he had yet.

"This combination seems wrong too. You better try something else."

Roan then changed the combination of herbs once more. As mentioned before, both Roan and Old Worm don't know if it will really work. They can only try several methods and see which one works better. It was a good thing that Old Worm was present since he helped Roan avoid many mistakes.

"This one was somewhat better. The harmonization process went smoothly most of the time, only failing in the end when Mastoka Grass was added. I think if I change it to Edocel Root, I should get the same effect without losing the necessary properties."

Old Worm pondered a bit about Roan's words and nodded his head.

"Seems feasible. Do it."

Roan then restarted the concoction and repeated the same process to the end. This one ended using the Midday Ginseng in the process instead of the Two-Tailed Sun Phyton Blood. As for the other two items on Old Worm's list, they would be used for a Dark Element Type of Foundation Stabilizing Pills.

Finally, the harmonization process finished without the concoction failing. Of course, Roan was sweating all over since he had to adapt to all the new changes to it. Only after he makes more of them will he get used to it. Still, the last part was to form the pill. 

As mentioned in the past, Roan found Pill Formation to be the easiest part. That being said, it wasn't hard for him to finish this one too. 

Suddenly, the cover of the cauldron opened as three milk-white pills shot out. Roan was ready for that, so he quickly grabbed all as he put them inside a pill bottle.

Old Worm then nodded.

"Seems good enough."

That was all. Old Worm didn't say anything else, and neither did Roan want to hear it. Congratulation words and things like that simply wasn't their style. Somehow, the two of them communicated very well like that. Rean would only find it creepy, though.

"I'll recover my Spiritual Energy and try Dark Element ones."

Old Worm then took a book out of his chest and sat on a chair to read it.

In the end, Roan and Old Worm spent an entire day to finish the first batch of Light Element Foundation Stabilizing Pills.

Back on Rean's place, he was in the Doctors Building while a frightening queue could be seen outside his room's door. Droman, obviously, was there as well.

However, don't misunderstand these words. The queue wasn't frightening because it was big. Instead, only 23 people were waiting. What was frightening were the cultivation levels of these people. The weakest one was a Core and Soul Fusion Realm Initial Stage!

If one stops to think, that makes sense. Only people at these levels that practiced Umbral Energy would be able to leave long-lasting Umbral Energy injuries on the others. That's why the patients that came to see Rean all had high-level cultivation. There was even a Late Stage Nascent Soul Realm elder in their middle.

"Don't think too much over it. Now that I'm at the Soul Transformation Realm, no one will be able to touch you. You can go and do your healing thing without being afraid of someone turning against you."

Droman saw right through Rean's concerns. After all, his Middle Stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation was nothing more than an ant in front of those monsters outside. Obviously, he was nervous that someone might try something under the Umbral Sect orders.

In the end, he took a deep breath and nodded.

"Alright. Send the first person in."

As one can imagine, the higher the cultivation, the higher the priority. That being said, the Late Stage Nascent Soul Realm guy entered first.

"Oh! Long time no see, Ramon. Seems like the rumors were true. You really had a fallout against Latan from the Umbral Sect over that auction item."

That's the name of the old man in front of Rean.

Ramon saw Droman and was taken aback. That's because he couldn't feel Droman's cultivator as he did in the past.

"Dr-Droman! I see... so that presence I felt coming from Dalamu Sect was you. Congratulations on finding your own path. Now the Dalamu Sect is on par with the Royal Family and the Lagan Sect. I was already planning to come by later to congratulate the new pathfinder, but it seems like I can do it now."

Droman smiled after hearing that.

"You are still young, barely 200 years old. You have a lot of time to find your path after you reach the Peak Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm too."

Ramon couldn't help but sigh.

"If it was that easy, there wouldn't be so many Nascent Soul Realm cultivators dying over the years without entering the next Realm. Anyway, I didn't come here to sulk over it. That damned psychotic idiot really didn't hold back when I left with the auction's Litoen Pearl."

Droman nodded. It was evident to him that Ramon got injured quite badly. If Ramon continued like this, he would probably take several more years before driving the entire Umbral Energy out of his body.

"Of course, I didn't let him leave that easily either. He is probably suffering as much as I am at the moment. Hahaha- ouch."

He almost lost control over the Spiritual Energy used to suppress the Umbral Energy because of that laugh.

"Are you okay?"

Ramon quickly stabilized his chaotic energy and nodded.

"Yea, I'm fine."

Droman couldn't help but comment.

"Latan was quite bold, indeed. After all, you are the representative of the Empire in our country. Aren't they afraid of offending the higher-ups?"

Ramon shook his head.

"Although he didn't hold back, he wasn't trying to kill me either. At most, the Umbral Sect would get a warning. After all, we are just too far away from the Empire's capital for the higher-ups to really care about. I might as well not go through the bother."

Rean was surprised to hear about Ramon's background. Still, he didn't try to get in the middle of their conversation.

Droman and Ramon exchanged a few more words until finally, Ramon took his time to look at the white-haired kid in the room.

"So, you are the miracle boy that can heal Umbral Energy, yea?"

Rean bowed as he introduced himself.

"Yes, senior. My name is Rean Larks. Nice to meet you."

Ramon nodded as he asked Droman.

"Were you tasked to protect him? Well, that makes sense since someone capable of healing Umbral Energy is an important asset to the sect."

Droman nodded.

"Indeed. Also, Rean is my disciple, so I have even more of a need to do it."

Obviously, Droman said that for Ramon to hear. With that, the word would quickly spread. 

"I see... congratulations on finding someone this good to inherit your techniques. Anyway, shall we start it?"

Ramon then looked at Rean and said.

"Kid, if you are really able to heal this thing, I, Ramon Doichu, will owe you a favor."

Rean nodded.

"Thank you. Please sit on this chair, senior."

Ramon then sat down as Rean asked.

"Alright. I will need senior to block all your senses and cultivation as much as possible. It will help finish the job since our difference in cultivation is too high. If you keep driving your Spiritual Energy, it will take forever."

"Wouldn't it let the Umbral Energy run rampant in my body?"

Rean shook his head.

"Don't worry, senior. I can protect your organs with my Light Element. You already came here, so you might as well trust me to the end. Just be aware that there will be a lot of pain while I eliminate Umbral Energy. Please bear with it."

Ramon then sighed and nodded. In any case, Droman was there. If he wanted to kill him, there would be no need to go through all these troubles.

Soon, he locked all his senses and stopped driving his Spiritual Energy as much as he could.

Rean then put his hands on Ramon's shoulders and sent his Spiritual Energy and Sense inside to check his condition. Rean had to be a lot more careful since the difference in cultivation between them was too high. Otherwise, he would have used the Purification straight away.

'Hum? He is also inflicted with poison. Seems like he sealed it on a corner of his heart. Oh well, since I'm already at it, I might as well take care of it.'

'Life Style, Third Form, Purification!'

Due to the difference in cultivation, Rean's Purification still took over ten minutes to finish. After all, the natural protection of Spiritual Energy in his body hindered Rean's progress by a tremendous amount, and that was while Ramon tried to block it. Still, compared to the several hours he took to heal Elder Tiria in the past, this was basically nothing. 

Of course, that was the time necessary to eliminate the Umbral Energy. As for the poison in the Heart, Rean was finding it a lot more troublesome to deal with it.

'That's quite a strong poison. No wonder Ramon didn't say anything. He probably thinks I can't deal with it or that my ability to remove Umbral Energy is different from removing poisons.'

'Hmph! Let's see how much this poison can hold.'

In the end, Rean took another two hours just to eliminate that poison alone. Obviously, it far surpassed what Umbral Energy could do. Nonetheless, Rean got rid of it without leaving a single trace behind. it's just that he felt quite tired after it.

The surprising thing was that Ramon's expression didn't even change during the process.

'As expected of a Late Stage Nascent Soul Realm, bearing with pain isn't anything difficult for them.'

Rean then sent a Stream of Spiritual Energy into Ramon's head to tell him that the process was over.

"Already? It has been only a bit over two hours."

Rean smiled as he said.

"Senior Ramon can check your body if you don't believe me."

Ramon quickly drove his Spiritual Energy and Sense in his body to check the places where the Umbral Energy was present in the past. Sure enough, there wasn't even a trace of it anymore.

"Hahaha! Great! Boy, you didn't disappoint this ol-"

Suddenly, Ramon's voice froze on the spot.

"This..."

He then looked at Rean as if he was seeing a monster. The poison that was sealed in his heart... was gone! Even the elimination of the Umbral Energy didn't shock him as much as the disappearance of the poison.

"Boy... did you do something else other than the Umbral Energy elimination?"

Rean nodded as his Dark and White hair returned to being just white again.

"I found that your heart was afflicted with another poison. I was already treating the Umbral Energy, so I decided to destroy it too."

Rean didn't think he did anything wrong. However, not only Ramon, even Droman's expression changed drastically after hearing that.

"Could it be... that it was important?"