Heavenly Dao Child

Ryuu opened his eyes as he felt one of his fellow cultivators approach him, he looked towards the person who greeted him with a slight bow which he returned with a nod of his head.

"Is there anything that I can be of help brother?"

"Yes, we the Deva realm cultivators would like to seek an audience with you."

Ryuu frowned at his words as he replied back to him, "Brother please we are cultivators of similar realm and status there is no need to be extra polite, of course, any one of you can always approach me, there is no need to ask for permissions."

With his piece said Ryuu stood up from his seat as he followed after the cultivator, a few days ago they had finally managed a decisive blow and rescue the cultivators from the Deva realm, but their struggle was not over yet, they had to be treated and kept under strict watch so that they could slowly overcome and rise above their ordeal and it would take some time and Ryuu hoped over the years they would heal somewhat.

Ryuu looked outside to see the rain hammering down the ground hard, they would have moved on to the next level but most of the area was covered by red hot lava as such with popular vote it was decided that the group would rest inside the fort for the time being.

As Ryuu reached his destination one of the cultivators approached him as she spoke with a smile," Brother Ryuu, welcome and thank you for keeping your promise to me."

Ryuu faintly recall the cultivator who had broken down and cried on his shoulder asking for his help, and he had promised her that he would help her, and he had fulfilled his promise may be in a crude way, but the end result is the same.

Ryuu simply smiled before he spoke with a pained look on his face, "That may be Sister but I wish we could have dealt with them much faster."

The cultivator simply smiled as she spoke, "What you have done is more than anyone would have, you have broken them, their vast armies are gone, and then you not only avenged us but also saved us we have no way to repay you."

Ryuu simply waved her off as he spoke, "There is no need to repay me, and this is something any cultivator would do."

"So, what will you do now, Daoist Ryuu?"

"I entered this place with a goal, the goal to conquer the fifteenth level, and I would like to pursue it."

"The fifteenth Level, you mean the still unconquered level!!"

Ryuu nodded as he spoke, "Yes that is my goal, we are already at the twelfth a bit more push and maybe I can conquer the fifteenth."

One of the cultivators approached him as he spoke with a frown on his face, "The fifteenth floor, I have heard about it, a few have managed to reach the fourteenth and even fewer have managed to capture it but the fifteenth none has managed to take it down, it would be quite the challenge."

Ryuu nodded as the person continued to speak in a regretful tone, "Upon saying that, I am ashamed to say that our cultivators are not in their pristine conditions as such I am afraid we might not be able to lend you any help to..."

Ryuu quickly raised his hand to stop him from speaking as he hurriedly spoke in a scandalized tone, "Please brother, there is nothing to apologize, after such horrendous ordeal I cannot in good conscious ask you all to help me, now is the time to heal and recuperate for you all, it would be criminally immoral to force you to do anything otherwise."

The person simply cupped his hand and bowed as he spoke, "Thank you for understanding brother, though by the time you make your attempt for the fifteenth level if some of us have managed to be in good health we will join you."

Ryuu simply gave a small pat on his shoulder as he spoke, "Thank you in advance and please remember brother not to push yourself too much, if you feel unease then there is no need to force yourself."

A few more minutes later Ryuu had left the group of Deva realm cultivators as he made his way towards his own group.

Frost Fames opened her eyes with a smile on her face, "Ryuu, why did they want to speak with you?"

Ryuu let out a tired sigh as he sat beside Frost Flames before he began to speak, "Simple they wanted to thank me as well as convey me that how very sorry they feel for not being able to help us at all."

Frost Flames frowned as she began to speak with a nod, "I understand that many of them had suffered such horrendous ordeal for them not to help us presently is understandable but there were a few who have been with us from the beginning they should have at least lend us their strength."

Ryuu bit his lips as he replied back, "In a way, it is both good and bad."

Frost Flames looked curiously at him as she could not help but ask out loud, "How so?"

"Bad, in a sense that we will lack a bit of the manpower, but at the same time it is good that we do not have them with us, just think about an eight thousand something army suddenly against you, we would be over run."

"You are strong enough to take thousands down easily."

Ryuu nodded as he replied to Frost Flames with a sigh as he ran his hand through his hair, "I am but unlike last time they would be surrounding us, and if I used that technique of mine, I will end up slaughtering even our allies."

Frost Flames leaned over his shoulder while she hugging his hand, they were silent for a moment basking in each other presence before Frost Flames spoke again, "Are you not being paranoid now? Do you really think that they would turn against us?"

Ryuu looked down towards his hands as he began to speak, "When I met with them, there were many who are grateful but I caught a few glaring distrustful eyes, they might feel greedy and attack us and at the end of the day their brethren would side with them, not to mention they might be suffering from 'Stockholm Syndrome'."

Frost Flames frowned as she spoke, "What is this 'stock home' thing you are talking about?"

Ryuu was taken aback at his question as he spoke with a smile, "' Stockholm' not 'stock home', is a name of a place and as for the syndrome, well it is a psychological one, a group of hostages after some time began to sympathize with criminals who held them as hostages and began working against the local law enforcers."

Frost Flames gawked at him before she spoke with disbelief, "You are joking right?"

Ryuu shook his head as he spoke, "No I am not, that is a real incident that happened and is named after the city where the incident took place."

"To think something like that exists, so do you think that it might be possible for them to suffer in such a way."

"Yes I think so, there is a chance that they might suddenly sympathize with their captors and lash out to us, and when the other members of their realm see us attacking their members even if it is in self defence they might think otherwise and attack us."

Frost Flames rubbed her forehead in exasperation as she spoke, "You are giving me a headache now Ryuu.", with that she glared at Ryuu, only for Ryuu to laugh before kissing her on her cheeks before her glare melted away as a playful smile graced her lips as she spoke with a huff, "You lucky that you too cute and I love you."

As Ryuu was busy flirting with Frost Flames in another part of Eden, a certain figure looked at the ground where she had drawn a figure on the dirt, a figure that stood that was wielding a spear and a sword, she left out a soft sigh as a deep blush formed on her face as she gently caressed the dirt.

'Ryuu, my beloved Ryuu, when will I meet you again and when will I have you in my arms.'

"Ithrura."

As she heard her name being called a surge of anger passed through her but she managed to control it with a twitch of her finger the figure vanished from the ground, before she spoke in a bored tone, "What do you want Jethrar."

"You know planning and preparing for revenge."

"Ho, and how are we going to do so, I warned you and look at you now cripple…ugh!"

Ithrura let out a grunt of pain as something hit her hard, she spat out blood as she snarled in anger, "What has gotten into you…."

Her eyes widen as he saw her figure, more like a grotesque being that was created by lumping various creatures together from waist down.

"What is this grotesque being that you have…arrghh."

Ithrura screamed in pain as she was lifted by what seemed to be a giant pincer as Jethrar spoke with a growl, "Ithrura, Ithrura you have gone weaker, a puny 7th rank Mystic Immortal should not raise their voice against a tenth-ranked one, use that tone and I will kill you, I am now the strongest out there and I will not suffer your impudent tantrum, make a squeak and I will make you regret your birth.", with his piece being said he flung her further away from him.

Ithrura hacked and coughed out blood as she glared at him, 'It is too much eternal shame that I lost my cultivation while trying to escape, and now you are bullying me when I am not even fully heal, but your time will come soon Jethrar if not me, my beloved the most handsome and strongest cultivator in all realm, 'Rain Sword Ryuu' will deal with you.'