Death… And Me

Chapter 4488: A Little Bit Further

”They are leaving.” Kentucky watched as the last groups of experts gradually disappeared into the distance. Even after they were no longer visible, he continued observing the area for a few more minutes before finally adding, ”Do you think they gave up?”

”Hmph!” Roan snorted. ”As if! Since they spent this long searching around this area, it is obvious they place a lot of importance on finding whoever killed those three. If I were leading them, I would simply expand the search radius, which is exactly why it looks like they are leaving. I’m willing to bet they’ll still send patrols back here from time to time to make sure they didn’t overlook anything.”

”So, in other words, we’re trapped in here for the time being?” Celis asked.

”Pretty much,” Roan nodded. ”At least until we can confirm they truly moved their attention elsewhere. Still...” He shifted his gaze toward Coyui. ”That should be enough for you, right? As long as you aren’t discovered, that’s all that matters.”

Coyui narrowed his eyes, clearly dissatisfied with that answer. ”I would still rather leave this place with you instead. Hiding here forever isn’t exactly what I call living.”

”Not gonna happen,” Thery interrupted before anyone else could answer. ”At the very least, not now. We know next to nothing about this place, and even less about you. We’re not about to rush into activating the Teleport Array just because you’re in a hurry.”

”In any case,” Rean took over with a calm smile, ”we should use this opportunity to familiarize ourselves with where we are. That said, we have quite a few questions for you, Coyui. Don’t worry. You helped us earlier. You could have abandoned us outside and escaped on your own, yet you chose to drag every one of us back into the vault instead. We won’t forget that, and we’ll repay that favor.”

Coyui looked around at everyone gathered inside the vault before letting out a helpless sigh. ”Will you let me leave if I answer your questions?”

The group exchanged glances for a brief moment before Thery gave a small nod.

”Very well.”

—

Thery didn’t waste any time before asking the question that had been on his mind ever since they arrived.

”My first doubt is about this place. My race believes this location is called the City Prison of Woster. Would you be able to confirm it for me?”

Coyui lowered his head in thought, repeating the unfamiliar name to himself. ”City Prison of Woster...”

He frowned as he searched his memories. ”To be honest, I’m not sure what name people use for this entire place. If you travel to different regions, those living there will probably call it something else. Still... Woster... Woster...” He rubbed his chin several times, trying to remember where he had heard it before. ”Where have I heard that name?”

After a few more seconds, his eyes suddenly lit up.

”Ah! I remember now!” He snapped his fingers. ”There is a legend that says if you go too far, you will be killed by the Ghost of Woster. Could it be related to that?”

”Ghost of Woster?” Thery repeated, exchanging puzzled looks with Haniala, Sison, and the others. None of them had ever heard such a legend before. Even among the Thousand-Script Race’s records, there was no mention of any ghost. ”Perhaps it is related. Could you tell us more about it? Especially this part about going ’too far.’”

”Sure.” Coyui nodded without much hesitation. ”You called this place a Prison, didn’t you? Well, I can definitely understand why someone would give it that name.” He leaned against one of the walls of the vault before continuing. ”Still, to explain that, I should first tell you a little more about this place.”

Everyone listened attentively.

”Right now, we’re inside the Ashen Hills,” Coyui explained. ”The name is pretty fitting. Not very far from here lies an active volcano that has never stopped erupting, at least not as far as anyone can remember. Day and night, it continuously throws lava and volcanic ash into the sky. The ash spreads everywhere, covering the ground until the entire landscape looks almost identical.”

He pointed vaguely toward the distance outside the vault.

”The area stretches for several hundred kilometers around the volcano. Everywhere you look, you’ll find the same gray hills, ash-covered rocks, and scorched earth. If you don’t know the landmarks, it’s actually very easy to lose your way.” He paused briefly before adding, ”As for the volcano itself, everyone calls it Hell’s Door.”

Several members of the group silently memorized the name.

”From our current location, if you travel roughly two hundred kilometers to the east, you’ll eventually arrive at a city.” Coyui continued, ”As far as I know, it’s the only true city in this entire place. There are a few scattered settlements elsewhere, but they’re tiny in comparison. Most people live in the city.”

”What is it called?” Thery asked.

”Dlaval.” Coyui shrugged. ”Why it has that name, nobody knows. At least, I’ve never heard anyone explain it. As far as the people living there are concerned, it has simply always been called Dlaval.”

He continued explaining without interruption. ”The city itself is divided rather simply. There are five districts altogether. Four surround the city, each corresponding to one of the cardinal directions, while the fifth occupies the center.”

Flugel quietly nodded. ”Nothing unusual so far.”

”Not really,” Coyui agreed. ”The unusual part isn’t the city’s layout. It’s who controls it.”

His expression became noticeably more serious. ”There are many factions inside Dlaval. Most of them constantly fight each other for influence and territory inside the four outer districts. Alliances are made and broken all the time, while conflicts never truly stop.”

He paused briefly before emphasizing his next words. ”However, none of those factions dare touch the central district.”

”And why is that?” Arcis asked.

”Because that’s where the Rosvelt Sect resides.” The atmosphere inside the vault immediately became quieter. ”As far as I know, they’re the true rulers of Dlaval. I don’t know much about their internal structure, nor have I ever met anyone important from the sect. Still, everyone knows one thing.”

Coyui looked around before continuing. ”Almost all the strongest experts in the city belong to the Rosvelt Sect.”

”No matter how fiercely the factions compete with one another, none of them dare challenge the Rosvelt Sect’s authority. The central district belongs entirely to them, and everyone simply accepts that fact.”

Thery and the others quietly absorbed the information.

It wasn’t exactly what they had hoped to learn, but understanding the balance of power inside Dlaval could become very important if they intended to stay in Woster for any length of time.

Then came the part that interested Thery the most: the Prison mention.

”As far as I know,” Coyui began, ”no one has ever managed to leave this place. By the way, since you keep calling it Woster, I might as well use that name too. It’ll make things easier for me to explain further.”

He paused for a moment, organizing his thoughts before continuing.

”According to the stories passed down around Dlaval City, if you travel too far away from the city, the Ghost of Woster will appear and take your life. No one knows what it is, whether it is truly a ghost or something else entirely. All anyone knows is that those who venture too far never return.”

Thery and the others listened attentively. This was the first explanation they had heard that resembled the legends passed down by the Thousand-Script Race. It was truly a Prison.

”Naturally,” Coyui continued, ”many cultivators nearing the end of their lifespan have attempted it anyway. Since they had no hope of breaking through any further, they decided they might as well gamble everything on escaping Woster. Unfortunately, none of them were ever seen again.”

Flugel frowned. ”That raises another question. If nobody ever came back, how does everyone know they were killed by this so-called Ghost of Woster?”

Coyui spread his hands. ”I have no idea. As I said before, it’s only a legend. Where it originated, whether it is true, or what the Ghost of Woster actually is... no one seems to know. Perhaps someone does, but if that’s the case, they certainly aren’t sharing that knowledge with the rest of us.”

He shook his head. ”The only thing everyone agrees on is the result. Anyone who tries to leave Woster never returns; they die.”

”As for how we know they died...” Coyui continued, ”that part is simple.”

”The Soul Flames,” Thery immediately guessed.

”Exactly.” Coyui nodded. ”Usually, high-level cultivators have their Soul Flame registered back in Dlaval City. Every single expert who attempted to leave eventually had their Soul Flame extinguished. None of them ever reappeared afterward.”

Silence filled the vault for a few moments.

The Soul Flames left little room for doubt. Regardless of what truly happened beyond the borders of Woster, those cultivators had indeed lost their lives.

”Even so,” Coyui continued, ”people still try. Whenever someone reaches a dead end in cultivation and realizes they can no longer advance, many eventually choose to gamble everything.”

”And where is that dead end?” Roan asked.

”The Law God Realm,” Coyui answered without hesitation.

”At least, that’s the highest realm anyone has ever reached. I don’t know the reason, and I doubt anyone else does either, but no matter how talented you are or how many resources you gather, reaching the Peak Stage of the Law God Realm is the absolute limit. No one has ever broken through into the next realm. We don’t even know what it is called.”

That piece of information immediately caught everyone’s attention.

Thery’s group exchanged serious looks. They hadn’t come here merely because of the name Woster. Their true objective was to understand why every member of the Thousand-Script Race who ascended eventually ended up trapped in this area of the Celestial Plane.

The twins’ group had an entirely different goal, yet Coyui’s words sounded just as significant to them.

Inside their shared Soul Connection, Sister Orb voiced her thoughts.

[A complete blockage of cultivation... Could the Echo Energy be responsible for it? Perhaps it’s somehow being used to prevent anyone from advancing beyond the Law God Realm.]

Rean, Roan, Celis, and Kentucky immediately understood where Sister Orb was going with that idea. It was certainly a plausible theory. If the Echo Energy from another Great Void truly existed somewhere inside Woster, perhaps it wasn’t simply lying dormant. Perhaps it was affecting the entire place.

Unfortunately, a theory remained nothing more than a theory until they found evidence to support it.

For that reason, none of them interrupted Coyui. They silently stored the information away while waiting to hear whether he knew anything else.

”And... that’s basically everything I know,” Coyui concluded after a helpless shrug. ”Now, can you finally let me leave?”

”Not so fast,” Roan interrupted before anyone else could respond. ”We still have a few more questions.”

Coyui let out a long sigh. ”I had a feeling you’d say that.”