Death... and me

3072  Happy to Help

Yuan braced himself to be torn apart by the Spatial Rift destructive power. However, to his surprise, he didn't feel any pain at all. Instead, Yuan was feeling quite comfortable. When he opened his eyes, he noticed a thin yellow membrane enveloping his body, and so it did around Rean. *Zuuuu!*

Yuan wanted to ask Rean what he did, but he didn't have time. That traversal through the Spatial Tunnel only lasted a few seconds, and then they appeared on the other side. His vision blurred for a moment, and he saw himself above a gigantic pool of yellow water. "Oh! Now I understand what is this Heavenly Tunnels about," Rean spoke with a knowing smile.

Yuan, trying to make sense of what was around him, had to ask. "W-Where are we? Is this still inside the Heavenly Marine Tunnel?"

Rean nodded at him. "Oh! We are definitely still there. It's just that we arrived at its stomach."

"S...tomach?" Yuan thought he heard it wrong. "You mean, at its center, right?"

"No, I really meant stomach," Rean answered and pointed at Yuan's feet. There, a small smoke began to rise, an effect of being too close to the gastric acids down below. "Ah!" Yuan quickly released his Spiritual Energy, creating a protection barrier around himself. "The Heavenly Marine Tunnel is a living being?! Just how big is this thing?!"

Rean pondered about it. "Do you remember when the blue rocks began to appear? It wasn't a sporadic change. At some point, the dark rocks ended, and the blue rocks started. It was a very clear division."

Yuan nodded. "I do remember. So?"

"The blue rocks were not really rocks, but some soft things that absorbed all Spiritual Energy. Simply put, that's where we left the outside world and entered this big guy's body," Rean explained. "The blue rocks on the walls are just this guy's tentacles, or veins, or something like that. Those sudden currents of dense liquid that were full of dirty Spiritual Energy. They were most likely this guy's blood."

Yuan now wanted to leave this place even more. "Good! You found out the big mystery! Can we leave now?"

"Of course not!" Rean's Spiritual Sense piqued something. "First of all, I don't think those guys over there will let us go that easily."

"What?!" Yuan was receiving one shock after another. He immediately turned in the direction Rean pointed, and he saw hundreds of beings made of blue tentacles and a giant mouth rushing at them. "Let's run! There are too many of them."

Rean didn't move, though. "Calm down. There is no need to flee."

"Why?!" Yuan got more nervous.

"Because it is useless," Rean looked around, and more and more of those being appeared from all sides. Regardless of the direction they chose, they will end up bumping into those beings.

"We are so dead..." Yuan felt like crying already.

However, those beings arrived by Rean and Yuan's side and didn't attack. Instead, they observed... Well, observe wasn't really the right word. They didn't have eyes. Nonetheless, Rean could feel all their Spiritual Senses covering him.

Rean waved at them with a smile. "Hello there, friends. This has been a nice day, don't you think?"

Yuan wondered if Rean had gone crazy.

Yet, much to his surprise, one of the tentacle beings came forward, speaking through his enormous mouth. "How did you get here?"

They speak?! Yuan could clearly see that none of them had cultivations. They had huge concentrations of Spiritual Energy in their bodies but were totally different from Demon Beasts. It was like they didn't have any cores. Of course, he knew he might be wrong and he simply couldn't feel their cultivations for some other reason.

Rean answered politely. "The same way you usually get your food now and then. We entered one of the Spatial Rift, but we were not torn to shreds like the previous guys."

Some discussions began to happen between the thousands of tentacle beings. Their leader, the one who spoke to Rean, seemed not too sure about what to do. "Are you here to take revenge for the ones dead?"

Yuan felt a chill on his back.

Rean, on the other hand, just shook his head. "Revenge? Why would I? Everyone who comes into the Heavenly Marine Tunnel knows of the risks of the Spatial Rifts. If they died because of it, they can only blame themselves. As for me, I entered the Spatial Rift of my own volition. I knew they weren't normal Spatial Rifts. Instead, some kind of transfer method that this enormous living being seems to use. From the looks of it, you know about that too."

The discussions continued between the beings.

"Could it be them?"

"What? No!"

"I am surprised you even believe that shit."

"But the elders said one day they would come."

"Yeah, and why do you think these two are them?"

"Do you have proof they aren't?"

"Do you have proof they are?"

"Shut you, you two. There is simply no way to prove either way. We need to bring them to the elders."

"Ridiculous! We never had anyone there before. What if they cause trouble?"

"So what? Do you want to kill them here?"

"I'm not doing this! It is different from the meat we get since it is always dead."

"Indeed. And this is the first contact we ever made with the outside for who knows how long."

Rean and Yuan looked at each other. With their Spiritual Senses spread, it was easy to hear all those voices. For a moment, even Rean didn't know what those beings would try.

Finally, they seemed to get to a consensus, even though quite a few of them didn't seem happy about it. The same being who talked to Rean earlier spoke. "I'm Uruashu. I would like to bring you two to our dwelling. We need to check if you are the sacred envoys we have been waiting for."

"Sacred... envoy?" Yuan had no idea what they were talking about. "I think there is a mi-"

Yet, Rean quickly covered his mouth. "Definitely! I'm not sure what we could do for you, but we are happy to help."

And as always, any Golden Tickets and Stones are welcome. ;)