Death... and me
chapter-1715

"Hahaha! See?! I'm the best!" Suddenly, Rean heard a young female's voice coming from the distance.

From afar, he could see that several kids around Ophilia's age were playing with the wooden weapons of the sect. Obviously, one of them was Ophilia, who had now turned eight years old during the year Rean and the others spent outside.

The boy she defeated just now seemed to be also at the age of eight or nine. However, he had an angry expression on his face, saying, "Not fair! You're using a sword! There's no way we can win!"

"Don't complain!" Ophilia said in response. "I was the one using a weapon I didn't know, and I lost as well."

"Tch... I wish we always used our bodies," another kid mentioned.

Although they were arguing, they also seemed to have fun together, which made Rean smile after seeing that. "You're doing a very good job, Hage."

Hage nodded, telling Rean, "There's no way in hell I'll let someone take my position as an elder, especially this one where I'm responsible for the kids. Not only does it help my cultivation, but it also puts my mind at ease."

Rean then looked at Hage after that. The last time Rean had been in the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, Hage was in the Middle Stage of the Core and Soul Fusion Realm. "I can see that from your cultivation. You've improved a lot since the last time I saw you."

Hage had already cultivated up to the Initial Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. That was definitely a great speed, considering that Hage's talent wasn't that high. Of course, compared to someone like Luan, he was definitely lacking, but how many can do that? Hage was already doing good enough.

Rean then called Ophilia from afar. "Hey, Ophilia. How you are doing?"

Ophilia and the other kids obviously heard Rean's words. "S-Sect Master Rean!"

They quickly assembled in an orderly manner, much to Rean's surprise. "Err... there wasn't really a need for you guys to do that. I just came to check how Ophilia is doing. You guys can continue playing."

"Thank you, Sect Master." Hearing that, the other kids relaxed and returned to playing, except Ophilia, of course. Rean came to see her, after all.

"Sect Master, I haven't seen you for a long time." She still remembers the sword intent from Rean, so she deeply admired him even though she was that young.

Rean nodded, telling her, "I had a lot of things to do. Anyways, I should stop by more often from now on. I can see you have been putting a lot of effort into your training. The last time I saw you, you were still in the Initial Stage of the Core Formation Realm. But look at you, a great Initial Stage Core and Soul Fusion Realm cultivator. I'm very proud of you."

Ophilia was happy to hear that. "Hehe! The demon beasts I fought to get the Divine Stones for my cultivation were very scary. However, the sword intent Master taught me helped a lot."

Rean shook his head, clarifying, "Sword intents can't be taught. One has to learn it on their own. The most I did was let you share the feeling of fighting me while I was using my intent. It was your credit that you came to understand it."

Ophilia then looked down as if she wanted to ask something. "S-Sect Master... Can we spar again? I wish to see your sword intent again. I-I feel like I'm close to understanding something."

Rean didn't mind. "Alright." After that, he used his Divine Energy to grab a wooden sword that was nearby on the ground. "Is this enough?"

Hage couldn't help but ask, "Don't you want to go to the arenas?"

Rean shook his head in response. "Don't worry. With me here, no one will get injured or anything like that."

Ophilia's eyes lit up in response, and she immediately raised her own wooden sword. Following that, her wooden sword began to flicker between its ethereal state and the normal state.

Though, with just one glance, Rean immediately recognized her improvement. Back when she awakened her sword intent, it flickered slowly, barely achieving any ethereality at all when it did. Now, on the other hand, her wooden sword flickered so fast that it was even hard to count. There's no doubt she was very close to the second stage of sword intent, Stable Ethereality. 'This is going to be fun.'

Rean then positioned himself in an open space before calling Ophilia out. "Come. I won't move from this place, so you can go all out."

Ophilia didn't need to hear that twice before her fighting spirit burst out. She was a completely different girl when she was with her sword in her hands.

For the next two hours, Rean entertained Ophilia nonstop. At some points, Ophilia's sword seemed to stabilize in the ethereal form for a few seconds before it started to flicker at high speeds again. The more she fought against Rean's sword intent, the more she understood her own.

However, Rean stopped sparring her once two hours were up. "Alright, that's enough for now."

*Thud!*

As soon as Rean said that, Ophilia fell to the ground. Even though the little girl didn't notice it, she had truly spent herself completely.

*Gasp, gasp, gasp...*

*Wow!*

The other kids obviously watched the action and were cheering Ophilia on.

"Hahaha!" Rean then got close to her after that.

'Life Style, Second Form, Instant Recovery!'

In a matter of a second, all the injuries on Ophilia's body disappeared. Only her ragged clothes served as proof of the battle she took against Rean. Well, she was still tired nonetheless.

Rean then patted the girl's head as he helped her get up. "Very good. You know that there's no need to fight me anymore, right?"

Ophilia seemed a little embarrassed as she nodded. "I finally felt it. I know how to get my sword intent to achieve the Stabel Etherelili-lyby-litgy..." The poor girl had some difficulty saying that word, though.

"Stable Ethereality. Indeed, you can definitely achieve that on your own now. I'm looking forward to the next time we spar." Rean was happy for her as he got up.

It was then that Rean looked around. Being able to see weapon intent in action was a very precious thing. Naturally, the few cultivators who were nearby came running to watch the battle.

It was then that another elder of the sect approached Rean before pointing at some cultivators that followed him. "Sect Master, these are the ones you asked for."