By that time, the first batch of disciples that left Area 27 had been sent back to their sects through the teleportation array. Soo-Hyun was part of the batch. She had thrown a few tantrums in hope to stay but it failed. The Elders were already dissatisfied with having to come all the way here and camp for weeks, they didn't want to babysit a crybaby. They sent her back forcefully. Of course, she wasn't hit. They simply bound her with their energies while they sent her atop the array.

Right after entering the sect, she ran towards the inner court. She was stopped by Elders until she told them of what happened to Jin. One of them brought her to Jin's house. And she went to knock on the neighbour's door. A smiling Han-Bi opened the door and was quite surprised to see the little Soo-Hyun here. She knew her since the little girl had followed and fooled around with Jin for quite some time now. She was also the reasons Jin left for the border defense task.

As she saw the little girl in front of her door, alone, she understood that something wasn't right. She asked: "Did something happen to Jin" and the kid in front of her nodded as tears began to drip from her eyes. Han-Bi hurriedly hugged the little girl while she sent a small stream of spiritual energy towards Sang-Min's house, knocking hard on its sidewall. It was enough to get Sang-Min to come out.

At first, he was angry. He would have to check the house later after all. But as he saw Han-Bi hugging the mess that was the little girl, his expression changed as well and he became serious.

After some time, they managed to calm the girl and she told them about the recent events. They had a hard time believing such things could happen. In general, border defenses took a few years and most people safely left the area after entering the spiritual realm. To think that someone could steal the crystal so early on and force them in such desperate situation...

They kept questionning the girl who tried to answer as best she could. Then, she gave them a letter. It was the one Jin entrusted to her. As Han-Bi and Sang-Min opened it, they discovered a single sentence: "Take care until I'm back" and they both had a sad smile on their faces. They knew very well what it meant to lose a border defense war and be trapped inside. They had seen their opponents face it.

None survived.

It was unlikely that Jin would come back. They glanced at the little girl fidgeting near them and truly did not know what to do. They were already getting ready to mourn Jin's death themselves. They had more experience with loss. It remained hard and painful regardless and comforting this girl... It didn't seem easy. Even more so considering that she still harbored the hope that Jin would come back.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

In the end, it was Sang-Min that broke the silence: "Let's report him missing for now...At least they will keep his house for a few months..."

Back in Area 27, a giant team of fifty elites reached a certain zone. They were the elite disciples of the Torrential River Sect pursuing the crystal. And right now, they had to stop their chase. They had to stop for they reach a restricted area, restricted due to the dangers it posed. It was the Eastern Nest of the Area 27.

Tong-Hyon was the leader of this group and the leader of the sect disciples during this mission. As he saw the first signs of mucus on trees, he stopped his team without hesitation. As he checked the crystal tracker, its location was obvious. The crystal was deep inside the nest. This was a very bad situation. They couldn't go in with a mere fifty people...

One of his men didn't think like him and asked: "Why did we stop Leader?" It annoyed Tong-Hyon a little but he still patiently replied: "Because this is the Eastern nest area. We would die if we go in there with just us" His fellow disciple wasn't convinced and replied: "Die? Aren't they just Settlements-Sphex? We can deal with those"

Tong-Hyon couldn't help but frown. Was his fellow disciple an idiot? Settlements-Sphex were very dangerous spiritual beasts of the body refinement realm. They belonged to the Hymenoptera classification which meant that they lived in community with a ruler for one thing. And this was already enough to make them dangerous.

A Sphex spiritual beast by itself isn't much. It is just a wasp around 1.5m in size. They're a pain because they fly but they can be dealt with quite easily regardless. A Settlement-Sphex however is much more tricky. Not only does it have the usual caracteristics of the Sphex, which are six legs and two pairs of wings, it has something else. That something else being its 'house'. In fact, there had been a lot of debate regarding whether those creatures weren't molluscs...

They are a kind of wasp that digs the ground and pick a rock as its 'home'. It will dig the inside of a giant rock to place its body leaving nothin but its head and back (with the wings) exposed outside. That way they gave themselves an additional protection to their weakness, their torax.

A rock in itself might not be much but the problem is the mucus they secrate. Due to it, the rock hardens and solidify further. So, one can only imagine how strong a bunch of those could be. What do you think happens when these spiritual beasts charge someone? To put it in easy to understand words, they make a pizza out of him.

Which is why the poor disciple was being roasted by an angry Tong-Hyon who cursed at his idiocy.