Ed had absorbed all the astral energy dry. But for some reason, he could still feel a faraway core astral well he could not reach. The well seemed to be filling the dry vein up. He stopped absorbing the energy. Even though he could not feel much of a change to his cultivation after that much energy, he understood why and knew it was best that he absorbed all the energies at rather the same pace. He was not in a hurry. He got up and walked out of his cave.

He had completely destroyed all his swords on the battlefield, but he had gained many more. He had taken time to search for treasures on the bodies of those he had killed on the battlefield. He gained himself many weapons and spatial rings filled with wealth.

He wanted to explore the spatial rings he had taken, but he understood that most of these cultivators were from large sects and clans. Their elders would have protected the spatial rings from entering unknown hands. After all, he had felt a sliver of the old pervert's will in his ring. If something happened to him, he was sure the old thing, would know. His ring would be protected. Anyone who wished to look inside would have to suffer a lot and may get killed by the will of a soul-realization grandmaster like the old pervert. This was the same for him. He was not arrogant enough to forget that no matter his special constitution, he was still a spirit-picking junior.

If he opened a spatial ring protected by the killing intent of a powerful grandmaster, he would be in mortal danger. He had heard of body inscriptions. These were activated unto one's body to protect him from a mind attack. He needed something like that. Or even a shield to help handle a bit of the unleashed will.

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He stepped out of his cave and was met with chaos. People were everywhere, many of them looking in the same direction. He was sure that the first section was occupied by the top ten, and the top ten were individual cultivators, not factions with a lot of members. There is no way the first section would be this crowded.

"Another energy vein dried?" someone asked.

"Of course, they tried to keep the first one silent but, it has happened again."

"Do you think we are under attack?"

"By who? Even great sects outside the demon lands cannot dry an energy vein that fast. And a major vein at that. This seems like a natural phenomenon."

"I agree."

"It seems like the great spill is running out of juice. Even so, it should not be this fast."

"A major vein, doesn't this mean that other veins are in danger?"

"This could be bad."

"If this continues we will be left with no energy to absorb."

"As if that is even the issue, " another snorted, "if the veins are drying, doesn't that mean something is happening there?"

"That will be bad."

"Losing an astral vein is one thing. If something happens there, we will all lose out!"

"The demon lands must already be considering this. If they lose that place, they become insignificant."

"They will be nothing more than a barren land."

"Who cares about the demon lands? That place is important for my cultivation!"

Ed picked up on this discussion and turned solemn. He was right. There must be more to the demon lands. The reason people come here. That cursed old pervert did not say anything about this.