Death… And Me

Chapter 4550: Tany

As Lukay flew down toward the commercial building, Roan and the others remained focused on what Roan was transmitting to them. Through their soul connection, the twins could naturally share everything happening on Rean’s side, allowing them to follow the conversation with Azerion almost as if they were there themselves.

Of course, Roan deliberately left out the fact that Rean and Azerion were talking about the Goslau Great Void’s Echo. There was no reason to reveal that information to Thery and the others, especially since only the twins’ group knew the true nature of the energy they had been searching for.

—

Azerion went silent for a moment before finally answering through Godly Sense. ’What is happening here, huh?’

’Yes,’ Rean insisted. ’Why are you pretending to be dead, sleeping, or whatever, and above all, why did you want us to be gone so badly from Woster? You even sent us the coordinates for another teleport array, although we haven’t checked it yet.’

Azerion pondered whether he should tell Rean everything. However, he couldn’t allow Rean to come out and reveal the truth about him being conscious to the Rosvelt Sect either. If that happened, everything Azerion had been maintaining for so long could fall apart.

With that in mind, he decided to talk about what he could. ’First, the problem with outsiders like you. You aren’t really the first ones to appear. Instead, you are the second outsider I’ve ever talked to.’

Azerion continued. ’The first outsider I found was back when I decided to leave Woster. In fact, I didn’t intend to leave Woster, as I genuinely believed that anyone who tried it had no chance of succeeding. I always believed I was going to die if I tried that, even if it wasn’t guaranteed. That was until I met Tany, a Demon Beast who wandered into Woster without even knowing it.’

’I’ll have to tell you a story about the two of us first so you can understand the context.’

As Azerion spoke, Rean listened attentively. This was the first time he had heard about someone from outside Woster entering the place before his own group. More importantly, that outsider had apparently become important enough to influence Azerion’s decision to attempt escaping.

Going back to the past, Azerion had been outside, hunting Godly Horrors on his own. Back then, he was already a Peak Stage Law God, and since Godly Pressure didn’t affect cultivators from Woster, he didn’t need to be afraid of Godly Horrors the way outsiders did.

However, he ended up being ambushed.

Not by Godly Horrors, actually.

Instead, it was three Law Gods from a rival power from back in his day. The enemy had clearly prepared the attack beforehand, choosing the perfect moment to strike. Azerion soon found himself surrounded and facing a battle that had been arranged specifically to kill him.

The events that followed were pretty much obvious. Even as a Peak Stage Law God, being attacked by three prepared opponents left Azerion in an extremely dangerous position. Injuries accumulated, his strength continued to fall, and before long, he found himself staring directly at death. Not Roan, mind you.

But just when he was about to die, Tany appeared.

She was part of the Crystaline Fang Bear Race, a strange race that, despite looking big and cumbersome, was actually extremely fast and had the raw strength to back it.

Did she help Azerion out of the goodness of her heart?

Ha!

Of course not!

It was simply because Tany had been suffering from the huge concentration of Godly Pressure inside Woster ever since she arrived, and she needed help herself. She wasn’t actually a huge help in that fight, especially against three Law Gods who had already prepared everything beforehand. Still, she did just enough to create an opening for both herself and Azerion to escape.

That was her objective.

Azerion wasn’t exactly a gentle flower either. After they managed to run far enough away from the battlefield, his guard immediately turned toward Tany, and a plethora of questions appeared in his mind.

Why would another Law God help him in that situation? What was she doing there? Was she with his enemies initially? Even if she wasn’t, why help him?

Unfortunately, before he could ask any of those questions, Tany suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious.

Azerion stared at her for a moment, and after ascertaining she was genuinely unconscious, he felt conflicted. He couldn’t exactly leave her there after he was saved, after all. Well, he could, and it wouldn’t be anything new in Woster to turn one’s back on a helper, but something compelled him not to do so.

It wasn’t until three days later that Tany finally woke up again. She wasn’t in the Godly Creatures’ Territories anymore. Instead, she was at the Thousand-Script Race estate.

Surprisingly, Azerion hadn’t left her behind. He had brought her back to his home. Azerion stayed by Tany’s side the entire time.

Now, was it because he was worried about her?

That wasn’t wrong, but not for the reason one would imagine.

He did feel that he owed her something for saving his life, but above all, he didn’t want to take his eyes off that Demon Beast in case she suddenly started a killing spree inside his estate when he wasn’t looking.

After all, what if this was actually a plan to bring a monster into one’s house before it revealed its true appearance? Such plots were nothing new in Woster either.

So, rather than caring for Tany out of affection, Azerion was essentially keeping a very close eye on a potentially dangerous stranger who happened to be unconscious in his home.

It took time, years to be more exact, but Tany eventually told Azerion that she wasn’t from this place.

She had simply followed a group of Godly Creatures that seemed attracted by something. She didn’t know what that something was, but whatever it was had been strong enough to draw their attention. She was a cultivator, and she was close enough to them, so why were they ignoring her presence?

At some point, Tany’s vision suddenly blurred, making her fall into some kind of illusion. She eventually understood that what she had experienced was Woster’s own barrier, the very thing that prevented the residents from escaping.

Naturally, she tried to leave again.

But she failed.

Rean found that part of the story a little weird, though. What prevented the cultivators of Woster from leaving was the so-called Ghost of Woster. From what he was hearing, Azerion wasn’t the Ghost back then yet.

Could it be that the prisoners could actually leave Woster before Azerion became the Ghost?

Rean’s thoughts were immediately noticed by Azerion, who didn’t miss the opportunity to clarify that point. Even before Azerion was born, leaving Woster had been impossible. It was simply different from how things worked now.

Back then, trying to leave didn’t necessarily mean certain death.

The same illusions occurred whenever someone went too far, but instead of being immediately killed by the Ghost of Woster, the cultivator would eventually find themselves back in the Godly Creatures’ Territories. More specifically, they would be returned to areas where Godly Horrors and Predators roamed.

Many people still died because they didn’t wake up from the illusion in time. By the time they realized what had happened, they were already surrounded by Godly Creatures. Some died before even waking up at all.

In that sense, Woster had always been a prison. The method of keeping people inside had simply changed... No, it hadn’t. Beyond the point where ’The Ghost’ acted, the illusions still happened.

After earning each other’s trust, Tany eventually told Azerion everything, including information about the outside world.

Yes, they basically began to get close to each other.

Azerion was still single back then, even as a Law God. He had never had much interest in relationships up to that point. He was far more focused on cultivation than on anything resembling romance.

Well, the fact that Tany’s female humanoid form was very beautiful definitely helped a little.

Azerion did not tell Rean that part.

Tany, instead of Azerion, was the one who couldn’t accept being locked in Woster. She eventually adapted to the enormous concentration of Godly Pressure, allowing her to survive comfortably enough, but the feeling of being enclosed within Woster never sat well with her.

That was one of the things that made her different from the people born there. To them, Woster was simply the world they knew. They knew they couldn’t leave, but it didn’t bother them that much.

To Tany, it was a cage.

That said, the two of them began to investigate Woster thoroughly.

Azerion was definitely interested in the outside world, but above all, he didn’t like it whenever Tany tried to leave. She eventually almost ended up dying because of her failed attempts.

Part of his concern was simply because he didn’t want her to get herself killed. Another part was that keeping an eye on her was far safer than letting her run around alone and potentially get herself into another deadly situation.

Eventually, their investigations led them to the Goodbye World Pillars.

The Ghost of Woster still didn’t exist at that time, but the pillars had already been there since time immemorial. No one knew when they had appeared, who had created them, or what their original purpose had been.

They had never been removed, either.

More importantly, the pillars already worked in the same way they did now. They extracted the souls of anyone who tried to touch them.

Their investigations didn’t mean that Azerion and Tany suddenly understood the ancient runes engraved on the pillars all over the city. Far from it. Even with their cultivation and knowledge, the inscriptions were still incredibly difficult to decipher.

Still, they learned enough to understand that the pillars were somehow connected to the forces that prevented anyone from leaving Woster.

With that theory in mind, they reached out to the Rosvelt Sect. The gigantic pillar at the center of the Sect was no secret to anyone. How could you even hide something that big, anyway?

Since both Azerion and Tany were Peak Stage Law Gods, and they were willing to offer the results of their own investigations into the method of escaping Woster, the Rosvelt Sect accepted the two.

Not as elders or disciples, though. They were considered guests who were allowed access to the ancient underground facilities and the pillar. Unlike now, the Woster Guarding Grounds wasn’t a restricted area back then either.

Well...

It would soon become one.

And that was because of both Tany and Azerion’s intervention.