Heavenly Dao Child

Ryuu let out a yawn as he watched Frozen Ocean approach him making him look up towards her.

"I heard you were spying on the other camp."

Ryuu nodded as he spoke, "Yes I am when I killed and captured those cultivators I made sure to tag their allies with arrays that helped me to eavesdrop on them."

"So did you learn anything new?"

Ryuu nodded as he began to speak, "Yup learned plenty.", as Frozen Ocean paid undivided attention towards him Ryuu continued, "Well it seems that their leader Jethrar and Ithrura were absent when we decided to mess with them, they had left their command in another person's hands, her name is Unanresh."

"She was the one who was duped by my plan and led them to this frozen wasteland, and now she paid the price for it."

Frozen Ocean tilted her head as she spoke in a confused tone, "So she was killed?"

Ryuu frowned as he spoke, "Well in a way yes she was killed but, no in the manner you are thinking, Jethrar had turned her into a corpse puppet, and heard that he did it while she was not dead, it was so painful that she lost her voice completely from screaming because of the pain."

Frozen Ocean let out a soft gasp as her face morphed into a mixture of horror and fear as she spoke barely above a whisper, "That is so cruel, how could they do that?"

Ryuu ran his fingers through his hairs as he spoke, "When I was younger I was once told about the various crimes and atrocities committed by them, as such I asked the same questions to my teacher, 'How could they do that?', Do you know what my teacher said to me."

As Frozen Ocean shook her head Ryuu continued, "Do you know anything about raising poisonous insects?"

Frozen Ocean shook her head as Ryuu gained a smirk on his face, "There are many ways to do so, but the mortals have devised a simple yet one of the most potent methods to do so, first they gather and store various kinds of poisonous insects in a pot, then close the lid tightly so that none shall escape and then forget about it for a few days, then when they will open the pot, only one of them would still be alive, but by then the insect would have become the cruellest, and venomous of the lot."

He took a small breath as he let his words sink into Frozen Ocean's mind, "The Preta realm is similar, it is killed or be killed out there and those that survive long enough are like that lone insect ruthless, and dangerous beyond measures."

Frozen Ocean frowned at that as she spoke with a sigh, "You have given me things to think about.", with that she left leaving behind a rather bored Ryuu.

As she left Ryuu's boredom vanished as a look of uncertainty appeared in his face, 'Why were they told not to bother with us? Unanresh got killed because of violating that order, but why give such orders? I doubt they are looking down at us and after fighting Zikris, I thought more would come to collect the bounty on my head, but why are they forbidding their minions from attacking us with the pain of death, why this doesn't make any sense unless they have something kind of nefarious plan on foot.'

"Ryuu are you alright?"

Ryuu was jolted off of his musings as he looked at the concerned face of Zywia as a brief look of alarm passed over his face, 'How did she come so close to me? Did my array malfunction?'

Having schooled his features he let a small smile grace his face as he spoke, "Please take a seat sister Zywia."

Zywia sat near him as silence descended amongst them, Ryuu took out a pair of saucer before pouring wine in it and then offering one to her.

Faint rosy pink steam could be seen rising from it, the smell itself was intoxicating but that failed to covey its taste and as Zywia sipped into it a myriad of taste hit her senses overloading them and sending it into euphoric bliss.

"Five Element Plum Wine, I love it!", Zyiwa took another sip as she began to speak again, "From what I have seen you seem to prefer spicy wine."

Ryuu nodded at that as he spoke, "A few decades ago I would have wrinkled my nose and looked at wine with disgust, but now I am sitting here and drinking and cherishing some rather fine wine."

Zywia gained a small smirk on her face as she spoke, "Well I distinctly remember about someone who got intoxicated and peed on their teacher's garden."

Ryuu did a spit take at as he looked at Zywia with a look mixed with horror and anger as he spoke, "I was barely eight and stop remembering about things like that."

Zywia simply let out a small giggle before her face gained a sombre look as she spoke with a sigh, "Ryuu I am sorry a few days ago I blurted out your family secret I do not know what came of me, so please forgive me and please do not tell your family about my transgressions."

Ryuu's jaws hardened as he twirled the liquid in his saucer as he began to speak with a sigh, "I acknowledge your apology, though there is something you should now."

Seeing Zywia trying to protest Ryuu raised his hand stopping her from speaking as he continued, "Please hear me out first."

Zywia's shoulder sagged as she gave a small nod as Ryuu continued, "The Zywia I know is serious and reliable.", even though he did not say it out loud inwardly he added a few more like 'annoying', 'reckless', 'pampered and spoiled', to the list before he continued again, "I know that you would not blurt out something like that, not to mention the look of alarm on your face when I pointed out to you, to me it looked as if you had realized what you were doing, as such the only thing that I can concur is there was some outside that influence."

Zywia gained a shocked look on her face before the look of disbelief and fear covered it as she spoke, "What should I do Ryuu? If I am once again made to act as such, what if I am made to blurt out secrets then what?"

Ryuu narrowed his eyes but before he could speak he saw the arrival of True-Spear, Frost Flames and others as such he hastily schooled his features as he spoke, "Zywia we will continue our talks later on, but for now make sure others do not know of this."

True-Spear sniffed the air as he spoke, "Damn that is something delicious you are having."

Ryuu smiled at him as he spoke, "Why don't you take a seat and I will pour you some."

True-Spear smiled at him as he spoke, "If it is not much trouble for you, I would love some."

Frost Flames took a sip as she instantly fell in love with it, as she spoke, "What wine is this? This is so wonderful to taste."

Zywia gained a smile on her face as she spoke, "This particular wine is known as 'Five Element Plum Wine', a wine that takes over ten thousand years to prepare."

At her words, the others gained a slightly impressed look on their face which Ryuu was certain back in his old world it would have caused jaw-dropping disbelief.

"So what should we do now?"

Ryuu looked at True-Spear who asked the question, which he was fairly certain was asked to him, making him frown with thought as he began to speak, "Well you, for now, nothing, we will wait and see for now."

Frost Flames frowned at that as she spoke, "The Deva realm will have problem with that."

Ryuu snorted at that as he spoke, "A blind man can see, they are getting restless, and that is understandable as you can see they are simply worried for their captured brethren."

Amnon and Daniella who had also tagged along the duo frowned at what they had just heard as Amnon spoke, "This place is extremely cold and I fear that they might let their prisoners die."

Ryuu sighed as he ran his hand through his hair as he spoke, "I understand and feel their sorrows but we should not forget our plight, if we had that thirty thousand strong strength I would have tried something but current us it would be suicide, we cannot go toe to toe with them and hope to win."

Amnon gained a pained look on his face as he turned to look at the Deva realm cultivator as he spoke, "So there is nothing we can do for them."

Ryuu nodded at that as he spoke, "Yes for the time being there is nothing we can do without harming ourselves but that does not mean we should stop looking for an opportunity to help them."

"At the very beginning, I said that we would adopt guerilla style of warfare and one of the main aspects of that style is being unsuspecting and being patient, but most importantly what do you gain from helping them risking your lives and being selfless."

"The answer is nothing, there is a chance that next one might not go as well as the last time some might die, and after rescuing them what guarantee is that they would not turn against us, there are many factors in my play here brother Amnon as such no matter how much your heartaches please refrain yourself from charging into what might be a slaughter."