The next day, Alex and Aria came out of the house as soon as Melvie came by. It might be due to the influence of the Sword God, but Aria had started carrying the sword on her waist instead of a space ring. It seemed that the Sword God''s Purgatory Sword made her get used to such a habit.


    Alex paid no intention to it since it was her choice. He simply went outside and met Melvie.


    "Have both of you prepared?"


    "Yes." Aria nodded while putting on her mask.


    "You two are such weird people, eh? I can understand Nyx''s circumstances, but I am wondering why would you wear a mask, Aria?" She asked.


    "Nothing in particr. Probably because I don''t want someone''s sympathy." She smiled.


    "Such a shame. Your face is beautiful, but I guess you have your own thinking." Melvie sighed and asked, "Let''s go then."


    "Yes." Aria and Alex then followed Melvie.


    Alex went through everything she told him about this Blood Ind. It was a ce where many Gods and fighters from the three sects died when there was a great war between the three. It was aplete mess ording to history.


    Many normal people were turned into a soldier by the sects and got exploited to fight them. It was said that a river of blood was formed there, and it flowed to the sea. There was even a red sand beach on the ind due to how much blood was shed in that war.


    Alex was pretty curious about this ind and wondered whether this ind had something hidden within it or not. After all, there were many God Rank Experts killed on the ind, so there might be a buried treasure somewhere.


    The possibility was low, but it should be fine to hope.


    ''By the way, I have a question.'' Alex suddenly sent a thought transmission to Aria.


    ''What is it?''


    ''Why can we go easily to the ind? Is it because the Unsurpassed de Sect won the war?''


    ''Nope. This ce was the ce where the Sword God name resounded across the world for the first time. He obliterated an elite team from each sect in the past and decided to end this war.


    ''He truly ended the war but didn''t choose to win the war even though he had the power to do so. When he reached the peak of God Stage, he dered that this war would be neutral territory. Every ten years, each sect can take care of this ind in rotation. It''s rumored that the grave of the Sword God himself is here, but no one has found it yet.'' Aria exined.


    Alex looked at her in amazement.


    ''So, they are trying to find that grave?''


    ''Yeah. There is a mission to find the grave, but I am sure that the Sword God knew it as well that people would truly try to find his grave, so he hid it.''


    ''I wonder what kind of thing I can get from this?'' Alex smiled.


    ''Are you going to search for it?''


    ''Yeah. Of course, I was joking earlier. I would like to pay my respect to him. At the very least, he is a kind of a senior to me, so I think I can do that.'' Alex shook his head. Since the grave couldn''t be found, there was a high chance that it was underground.


    ''Oh. I will help you then.'' She nodded in agreement. If it was paying respect to him, she wanted to do it also. After all, the Sword God had given his Sword Eye and Purgatory Sword to her, so this was something she must do.


    Knowing her real intention, he nodded. ''Sure.''


    "By the way, Senior Sister, how do we finish this mission? And I would like to know what kind of role you are ying for this mission." Aria asked.


    "I am not doing anything." She took out two tokens and handed them to them. "This is my token. I will probably sit down on the coast and wait for you guys. Well, I will probably check you both after a period of time, but it''s just to track your progress. Of course, I will follow you on the first day to make sure you can handle the monsters on this ind."


    "I understand. Is there any information about the ind itself? Like the monsters'' power level and such?"


    "Because we have cleared them periodically, the monsters in that ind are only ranging between Martial Monarchs to peak Martial Saints. As you might know that the ind is divided into three, right?"


    "Yes. Outer Ind, Inner Ind, and Core Area."


    "Yes. I think you both will probably do fine in the Inner Area. The most powerful monsters there are only 4-Star Martial Saints. Even if you can''t fight them, escaping from them should not be a problem. Or you can buy enough time for me to arrive. Well, considering the ind''s size and my speed, I will probably take a minute before arriving on the other side of the ind." She shrugged.


    "By the way, is this a mission only for Aria or both of us?" Alex suddenly asked.


    "Hmm?" Melvie thought for a moment to answer. "It''s for both. You are a group to be honest. Other than the five percent more Spirit Crystals, you will get one point for every single monster you kill, no matter whether it''s Martial Monarch monsters or Saint monsters."


    "I see." Alex nodded. "We have no obligation to help other people, right?"


    "None. The world is cruel. Think about your own safety first." She shook her head with a serious expression.


    Alex narrowed his eyes when he saw her expression. It seemed Melvie wasn''t like someone he predicted her to be. She was more down to earth and selfish people behind her smile. Instead of teaching people to help each other, she wanted them to prioritize themselves first. She looked like someone with a backstory.


    Alex put her on his "be careful list" and focused on his mission.


    "Do you have any tips for us?" Aria asked like a newbie. No, it was to make the fact that they were just newbies even more believable.


    "I have two actually. First, you shouldn''t trust someone easily. Second, it''s fine to rely on someone else, but at the end of the day, your body is the perfect one to rely on. That''s two." Melvie smiled before she asked a question. "Do you think my advice doesn''t suit my appearance?"


    Alex didn''t answer this while Aria took a few seconds before nodding her head. "I don''t mean to be rude but to put it bluntly, yes. From what we saw a few months ago, Senior Sister looks approachable. So, I think of two possibilities. It''s either something happened in the past few months or Senior Sister hid it this whole time."


    "That''s true. Now I know why Peak Master ces importance on you. However, I simply act like this because I believe there is no need for me to act that way. After all, you can have everything when you are strong, but when you lose everything, the pain will be more hurtful."


    Aria fell silent while Alex seemed to understand what she had experienced in the past. It was probably a betrayal.


    "Because you are a future expert, I just want you to know about this and don''t believe people easily. I don''t mind if you include me in that list if it means you can get stronger." Melvie made a meaningful smile.


    Alex closed his eyes and sighed inwardly. ''She must have been betrayed and lost everything in the past and rose back up with her own strength. It might also be rted to her current position since she only showed this to us. Since she didn''t mind, I will put her on that list too. After all, there might be a chance where she chooses to not help us and let us die. It''s not like she can win against me though.''


    "Thank you for your advice, Senior Sister. I saw another family control my family, so I could somehow understand what Senior Sister said." Aria nodded with a smile.


    "Haha… You don''t need to think much about it. As long as you are careful, you will probably be fine."


    Aria epted her words and continued flying without any more talking.


    They arrived a dayter, where an ind came to their vision. To their surprise, the ind looked eerie. There was a kind of miasma spreading on the ind, creating a reflection in the sky. It even made the sky orange even though it looked so bright not long ago without this ind''s influence.


    When they lowered their vision, they found a red sand beach. Even though it didn''t have a smell after getting washed away a few thousand years, the sight of it still made one want to puke.


    ording to Aria, the monsters in this world were born from Spiritual Energy. Of course, it couldn''t be anywhere. They needed a pure Spiritual Energy without any impurities within it, so when people built a house or even a city, the monsters couldn''t be born there.


    But to Alex''s surprise, the ind was indeed contaminated by the blood, so he couldn''t understand why this ce had the ability to produce monsters.


    That was why he immediately activated his Spirit Eyes to check what was going on. Red-colored energy suddenly filled his eyes, and it covered the entire ind, from the coast to the center of the ind. Of course, with his eyes, he couldn''t see through this quiterge ind entirely, but he managed to grasp the gist of what this ind was all about.


    ''This ind is bad news.'' Alex informed Aria.


    ''What do you mean?''


    ''I don''t know if the people know about this yet, but the energy surrounding the ind is ominous. It is controlled by killing intent. It''s probably because this is the ce where many people lost their lives, so we need to be careful inside this ind. One slight mistake, we will be consumed by that evil intent.''


    ''Is the sect going to sacrifice us or something?'' Aria asked while furrowing her eyebrows. If that were the case, was this staged by the people because they didn''t want her and Alex in the sect?


    ''I am not entirely sure about this, so I won''t say anything. Make sure you create a mental barrier to lessen the killing intent. If you are heavily injured, call me so I can protect you from this type of energy.''


    ''I understand. For the time being, I shall trust no one other than you. I don''t know if the sect wants to kill us or not, but let''s explore the ind first. I feel this ind will lead us to the answer.''


    ''I agree. Try not to be separated.''


    ''I understand. Is there anything you want to add or how do you even find something like this?''


    ''I am a God Rank Expert.'' Alex only answered her question like this. ''Besides, I can''t really see or feel anything beyond this point. If we want to know more about the ind, it''s better to go toward the core. I believe that ce holds the answer, considering the energy flow that seems to go toward the center of the ind.''


    ''In that case, I will require your protection in case we are going there.''


    ''Yeah. Don''t worry about that. You are safe beside me.''


    ''If only you say it in a more romantic way, I am sure there will be many girls falling for you.'' She teased him to lighten the mood.


    Alex onlyughed as he couldn''t even say something like that to his wives. It wasn''t because he was embarrassed or something. Instead, it was due to him having a constant threat that the wives might be in danger every time. And with the fact that his strength was still low, he couldn''t say that line.


    ''Anyway, follow me as soon as we enter. We will hold out in the outer forest for a week before going to the inner forest for another week. I will exin the nter.'' Alex said as theynded on the red sand beach.