Death... and me

Old Worm shrugged his shoulders as he said.

"Well, at least he's strong. I'm going out now, so take your sweet time recovering."

Laro sighed in response and decided to ignore the demon bird. At least its actions had served greatly for their purpose of reconciliation.

A few days later, Laro finished recovering his energy. It would take a long time for him to truly be at his peak again, but at least he could protect himself if need be. Following that, he used his Spiritual Sense to send a message to everyone in the valley. Both the Lakure and the humans heard it in their minds.

"Come to the center of the valley."

Rean's group, obviously, heard the same thing. Since it was the ancestor's orders, Jana didn't try to stop the humans, so it was their first time here. Under them was the natural formation's core. Of course, Jana wasn't afraid of anyone playing any tricks since the ancestor was here as well.

After some time, a man appeared in the sky as he looked at all the Lakures and humans.

"My name is Laro. I'm the last survivor from the war between humans and Lakures back when we were sealed."

In an instant, all the Lakure Race members kneeled down as they looked at Laro in delight.

"Long live the ancestor!"

"The ancestor is free!"

"With the ancestor here, we will be free as well!"

Erbec, Suan, and the other humans also watched the guy. The moment their Spiritual Sense reached his location, they felt frightened. Laro wasn't trying to hide his cultivation, so even the Nascent Soul Realm cultivators could feel it. Obviously, as someone above the Elemental Transformation Realm, he was terrifying in front of the human's eyes. None of the cultivators they had seen in the past had even gotten close to that amount of power.

Laro then looked at the two Soul Forging Realm cultivators of the human race before saying.

"I've heard that you wish to negotiate with us. To be honest, that was my intention as well after thinking things through. Although I'm confident I can survive in this world, that same can't be said for my Lakure Race members."

Erbec and Suan sighed in relief. Sure enough, they were right about the negotiation.

"However, I doubt you can talk on the Sasamil Empire's behalf, so it's still early to tell what will happen."

Erbec immediately answered.

"As I mentioned in the past, we will do our best to make this negotiation happen. After all, this is an untimely moment for the Sasamil Empire to go into war, so they can only negotiate."

Laro nodded. Old Worm told him that their meetings and deal were to be kept secret, so he couldn't bring Old Worm's name out.

"I hope that's the case. I've been observing both sides' interactions until now. Although we have more Lakure Race members here, both have been able to reach some degree of mutual understanding. That's what I expected."

After that, he redirected his attention to the Lakure Race only.

"All of you. I'll be negotiating with the Sasamil Empire once the natural formation goes down. Meanwhile, you better get ready for anything. The formation will last for another year and a bit, so use this time to train. If everything goes well, we won't need to fight, but you know what will happen if it doesn't."

Everyone immediately nodded.

"Yes, Ancestor!"

"Good."

Laro then looked at Rean in the middle of the crowd. All of a sudden, Spiritual Energy came out of his body and enveloped Rean. Before Rean could do anything, he was brought up high in the skies. Not only him, but Roan, Kentucky, Calina, Malaka, and Wulio were brought up as well.

"Jana, is this the group you told me about?"

Jana immediately nodded.

"Yes, Ancestor."

Rean and Roan were ready to bring everyone into the Dimensional Realm if Laro decided to act. However, Laro just faintly smiled at them.

"How amusing, a bunch of brats made this scene down there happen."

Obviously, he was talking about how Rean's group came up with the plan to have the humans and Lakures live together in the valley. Jana constantly reported to him the changes that occurred, so he was up to date with everything. Obviously, Kentucky and Rean were the ones who caught most of the attention. Rean's healing abilities and Kentucky's fan club helped a lot with the relationship of both races.

However, Roan and the others also helped with what they could. Roan often held classes to help those at his level with cultivation and fighting. Even the Lakures who didn't like humans couldn't help but appear in his lessons. Let alone humans.

Calina and Malaka were the leaders of Kentucky's fan club. The two girls succeeded in making the females of both races join it. Well, it was all thanks to Kentucky's charm as well. Last but not least, and the most unexpected one, was Wulio. He wasn't exactly part of Rean's group, but he put in a lot of effort as well. He understood that the men's hate for Kentucky would be a great way to pull the males together. Sure enough, he succeeded as well. Perhaps that was his way of showing Calina his presence.

Laro then looked at Rean before asking.

"We have many, many more Lakure Race members sealed in the underground world. I know you can heal their poisons, but it would take over a hundred years if you go over them one by one."

Rean bitterly smiled as he said.

"There is a limit as to what I can do. You can't ask me to stop cultivating and training just to do that from now on. Otherwise, I would reach the end of my lifespan before I can even finish every single one."

Laro nodded. He wasn't an idiot.

"I know. I just wanted to ask if there's any way you can heal several of them at once. If the problem is Spiritual Stones, I can arrange it for you as long as they aren't Rank Four or higher. However, I can give you the remaining Life-Absorbing Crystals. It seems like you and your brother are very interested in it because of this demon bird."

Rean shook his head in response. First of all, Rank Three and below level Spirit Stones wasn't something he lacked to start with. The red crystals were indeed a great thing, but it doesn't change the fact that Rean can't do any better than that.

"Unfortunately, I don't know any way of doing that. In my opinion, the best way to work around it is to have the alchemists' assistance and see if they can come up with a pill with similar effects. That way, it could be mass-produced. Of course, this is just an idea."

Laro narrowed his eyes as he asked. 

"Why don't you just use your Spiritual Energy on several people at once?"

Rean shook his head as his hair changed into a mix of black and white. Following that, a ball of Dark and White Spiritual Light appeared on his hand as the amount of each light's color changed constantly.

"To eliminate their poisons, I need to balance the amount of Light and Dark Element coursing through them. Each person has their own body structure, so it varies from case to case. Suppose I do the same amount for everyone. In that case, chances are that nothing will be achieved other than multiple deaths or excruciating pain."

"The problem here is that I can't control my Spiritual Energy and Elements well enough to work on more than two or maybe three people at once. Three people would already be stretching it a lot. You must understand that the poisons have already fused with your own blood. Controlling the Dark Element to target one of the poisoned parts while using the Light Element to protect the body is hundreds of times more difficult than you think."

Rean wasn't lying. He also didn't like to see when the poison flared up around him. Unfortunately, there was only so much he could do alone. It was completely different from just healing one's injuries with his Life Style's Instant Recovery. After all, doing that only needed Light Element, and the amount didn't matter as long as Rean didn't try to harm someone on purpose. It's just that it got a few moans from everyone now and then...

Roan can somewhat use the 'Life Style's Purification' skill as well. However, he wasn't as good as Rean in terms of Light Element Control, so he would only be able to work on a single person. Not to mention that Roan would take much longer to finish each one. That said, he didn't even try meddling into this issue.

Laro sighed as he looked in a particular direction. No one could see anything in that place, but he knew Old Worm, or Jakiro, was watching him from there.

Following that, Laro pondered for a bit before asking.

"That being said, the higher your cultivation, the higher your control. If you get stronger, you will be able to heal more people at once, right?"

Rean smiled in response.

"Indeed. That's also one of the reasons why I only spend half a day healing them. I can then use the other half to cultivate and increase my cultivation. At some point, I'll be able to heal more people at once, and faster as well."

Laro nodded before saying.

"Very well. I can only wait as it seems. I'll arrange for the human alchemists to try and figure something out. But until then, I'll be relying on you."

Rean didn't mind.

Laro also looked at Roan and the others.

"As for the rest of you, just keep doing whatever you did so far."

After that, he released Rean's group and began to speak.

"Well, then. You all have one more year and a few months in this accelerated time. Be sure to make the most of it. I'll let everyone know once the time has come."