Sign-In System: Starting With Invincible Physique

Chapter 44: Alliance

There was no difference between day and night in the Hollow realm.

Rhain didn’t even realise that a whole day had already passed since they entered the Hollow realm.

"Sign-In." Rhain spoke, getting out of his bewilderment.

[Daily Sign-In Reward: Rare-Grade Artifact — Sunfire Orb x1.]

[Effect: A one-time-use explosive artifact forged by compressing extreme, volatile solar essence to its absolute breaking point. Upon detonation, it releases a destructive shockwave equivalent to the full-powered self-destruction of a peak Spirit Manifestation Realm expert!]

[Note: Handle with extreme care. Once ignited, run.]

A wave of heat rippled through the air, and a small, glass-like bead appeared directly into the palm of his hand.

It was perfectly round, roughly the size of a quail egg.

Sunfire Orb.

Information regarding the artifact flooded his consciousness instantly.

Peak Spirit Manifestation Realm.

In the entire Greymist Town, the absolute strongest existence was Dorian Krath, only standing at the seventh level of the Spirit Manifestation Realm.

If this tiny orb were detonated in Dorian’s face, even that tyrannical giant of a man would be blown halfway to hell.

Rhain casually flipped his wrist, storing the glowing orb into his spatial ring.

He slowly stood up, turning his gaze back down to the ravine.

During these few hours, his calculation had proven correct.

Two separate groups had tracked the signal and successfully converged on their position.

A total of seven people had arrived.

They consisted of four elders and three youths.

Among them, two elders and one inner disciple belonged to the Azure Cloud Sect.

The two Azure Cloud elders were relatively modest in strength, at the fourth and fifth levels of the Essence Condensation Realm respectively.

The remaining two elders and two youths wore the dark, richly embroidered robes of the Graves family.

The absolute strongest among all the new arrivals was the leading Graves family old man, Essence Condensation Realm, level 8.

When they had first descended into the ravine and seen the hundreds of massive, pulverized tentacles littering the ground, they had been completely dumbfounded

But when Maren thoroughly detailed the situation, the newcomers’ reactions were of total disbelief.

Rhain hopped down the ridge and landed smoothly among them.

"Are you all ready?" Rhain asked, his gaze sweeping over Maren and the others.

They nodded.

Maren, though still not fully recovered to her peak, had no problem following him.

She had already heard from Bria and Hale that Rhain was actively searching for Seris.

Only Maren truly understood the weight of that.

Back at the sect, Rhain had mercilessly crippled Gaelen just because he had hurt Seris.

If something were to actually happen to that girl in this damn place?

Rhain would likely turn the entire Hollow Realm into a slaughterhouse.

Rhain swept a glance over Bria and Hale.

They had perhaps consumed their Purple Striae Soul Fruits.

Bria’s aura had cleanly broken through to Level 9 Essence Awakening, and Hale’s strength had inflated significantly as well.

Both of them were looking at Rhain with the kind of awe usually reserved for a god.

But just as Rhain turned to leave, a bald, middle-aged man stepped forward from the Graves family group.

Level 5 Essence Condensation.

"Hold on," the bald elder said, his eyes darting greedily around the ruined ravine. "Instructor Maren informed us that you were the one who destroyed this plant. However, she refused to discuss the distribution of the loot. How exactly do you plan to distribute the Crimson Core Seeds to our Graves family?"

Rhain frowned.

Apparently, Maren had dodged this idiot’s questions earlier, simply telling him that Rhain would decide the loot distribution.

Rhain had no mood to pay attention to him.

"We can discuss that garbage later," Rhain said flatly. "I have more important things to do right now."

The bald elder stilled for a second. Then his face flushed red.

"Garbage? What could possibly be more important than splitting the Crimson Core Seeds? We are allies!"

Before Rhain could even tell him to get lost, another voice interrupted.

"Shut up!"

The leading Level 8 Graves elder snapped, glaring daggers at the bald man.

This Level 8 elder was one of the few who had personally watched Rhain make that absurd bet with Harmon and fight Fourth Elder Torin.

While the others were highly suspicious of Maren’s story about Rhain defeating the giant plant, he had absolutely zero doubts that Rhain had solo-killed the giant plant.

Rhain completely ignored the bald man.

"Listen closely," He crossed his arms and swept a cold glance over everyone present. "My first priority in this Hollow Realm is not to hunt for treasures. It is to find my friend, Seris.""

He paused for a second.

"If any of you are here just to scramble for treasures, don’t follow me. I have no interest in dealing with internal conflicts later. Understand?"

Rhain uncrossed his arms.

"Who is willing to follow me?"

Silence fell over the ravine.

Without a single second of hesitation, Maren, Hale, Bria, Victor, and the three original disciples strode straight up and stood behind Rhain.

They owed him their lives. They were wholeheartedly convinced.

To them, following Rhain was the only guaranteed way to survive this nightmare.

As for treasures, Bria and Hale believed that they have gained enough from the Hollow realm already.

The two newly arrived Azure Cloud elders and their disciple exchanged complicated looks.

But in the end, sect loyalty won out. They quietly walked over and joined Rhain’s side.

Now, only the four Graves family members remained isolated.

The bald elder, Garon, gritted his teeth, his face turning completely ugly.

"Are you all mad?" Garon spat. "We came to the Hollow Realm risking our very lives to find treasures and resources! You want to waste precious time searching for a single missing girl?"

He turned his gaze fiercely toward Hale, who was standing firmly behind Rhain.

"Hale! Get over here," he ordered sharply. "You are the leader of our Graves family youths! You are coming with us!"

Hale didn’t even look back at him.

He treated the bald elder’s words like a fart in the wind.

The bald man choked, his face swelling with anger.

But before he could shout again, the leading Level 8 Graves elder let out a heavy sigh and stepped forward.

"We will follow Rhain as well," the old man announced decisively, instantly silencing the bald man.

Rhain looked at them and merely nodded calmly.

"Good. Then let’s move."

Rhain took out the tailsiman from his robes.

The translucent projection instantly hovered in the air.

He lowered his head and looked at the glowing green dots on the map.

The distribution had completely changed since the last time he checked.

Out of the thirty Sect members that had entered the Hollow Realm, ten of them were already here.

As for the others?

There were two other distinct clusters remaining.

One group of four in the eastern side.

Another group of six, sitting right in the absolute core of the Hollow Realm, where the purple node for his Location Sign-In also pulsed.

That accounted for twenty people.

He shifted his gaze to account for the remaining ten Azure Cloud members. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Rhain’s expression darkened.

Eight dots were completely stationary.

Just like Tobias.

That left only two dots moving alone.

"We are heading to the east," Rhain stated, tucking the talisman away.

He turned and looked at Maren, Bria, Hale, and the others.

"There is a group of four about thirty miles out. We’ll regroup with them first."

No one objected.

Even Garon, the bald Graves elder, merely kept his mouth shut.

They moved out.

__________________

Meanwhile, deep within the absolute core of the Ancient Black Hollow Realm.

The gravity was overwhelmingly oppressive, easily five times heavier than the outside world.

Every single step required a conscious circulation of essence just to keep one’s internal organs from rupturing.

Swoosh!

A sturdy figure tore through the air, landing firmly on a blackened, rocky ridge.

Fourth Elder Torin.

His robes were stained with a few patches of blood, but his Essence Condensation peak aura surged powerfully, completely unaffected by the environment.

Torin reached into his robes and pulled out the Location-Tracking Talisman.

Right in the absolute center of the map, just a few miles away from his current position, was a tight cluster of six bright green dots.

"Six of them," Torin murmured, a heavy sigh of relief escaping his lips.

As the Elder Leader, the heavy burden of keeping the Azure Cloud Sect’s members alive weighed entirely on his shoulders.

Knowing that six of their people had managed to regroup and survive the initial chaos of the core was a massive reassurance.

Torin put the talisman away and shot forward.

He needed to secure that group immediately.

After moving swiftly for a few minutes, Torin’s sharp eyes caught a familiar silhouette.

Elder Jorlan.

He saw Jorlan’s mouth opening.

"Torin! R—!"

But the words never left his throat.

A blinding, blood-red arc flashed directly behind Jorlan.

"Jorlan, watch out!" Torin roared, instantly erupting his aura and lunging forward to save him.

It was completely useless.

Squelch.

A chilling sound of tearing flesh echoed in the dead silence of the core.

Jorlan’s body violently stiffened.

His desperate, terrified eyes remained locked onto Torin for a fraction of a second before the light within them was completely extinguished.

Before Torin could even reach him, Jorlan collapsed forward, his lifeless body crashing heavily against the rocky soil.

"Jorlan!!!" Torin roared, his eyes instantly turning blood-red.

The tyrannical, suffocating pressure of a peak Level 9 Condensation exploded from his body like a golden hurricane.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

One by one, dark figures blurred out from the boulders, completely surrounding Torin from every conceivable angle.

More than a dozen men.

Torin’s heart plummeted into his stomach as his sharp gaze swept over them.

Every single one of them exuded the dense, oppressive aura of a top-tier expert.

Not a single one of them was below the seventh level of the Essence Condensation Realm!

The horrific reality of the situation instantly dawned on Torin.

The cluster of six green dots on his tracking talisman had been used as a bait.

Suddenly, the crowd of elites parted, and four figures stepped to the very front.

The Head Elder of the Barlowe family.

Two peak Level 9 elders wearing the grey robes of the Ironpeak Sect.

And standing dead center, draped in dark grey robes, was the final figure.

His face was obscured by a mask, leaving only a pair of dead, emotionless eyes exposed.

Essence Condensation Realm—Level 9!

Four of them!

The masked man walked forward until he reached Elder Jorlan’s lifeless corpse.

Crack!

Without a shred of respect, he lifted his heavy, iron-toed boot and stepped squarely onto the back of Elder Jorlan’s lifeless corpse.

"Torin," Vargas sneered, his growly voice charged with sadistic joy. "We meet again."