Heavenly Dao Child

Ryuu stood in front of a small waterfall with an intense look in his eyes, 'Water finally water my parched throat will finally receive the sweet relief of water.

He raised his hand only to stop as he looked at the liquid with his eyes narrowed, he took a few sniffs before he spoke with a groan, "This is acid, so not cool, I will have to warn others about it."

Ryuu held his breath before passing through the curtain of acid with his eyes closed, he felt a slight tingle on his skin but he did not pay any heed to it and upon reaching the other side he came face to face with a lever.

'I hope this lever will clear the path.', with the thought in mind Ryuu tried to pull it but just like any previous levers that they had encountered this one was hard to move maybe even harder because he had to single-handedly operate it while withstanding the pangs of hunger and thirst.

With a groan, the lever finally budged when all of a sudden a door opened while the path that he had taken morphed to a staircase devoid of all traps.

He sat by the lever as he waited for sometime before he could finally hear the footsteps of others and soon he caught sight of others.

As Frost Flames and Frozen Ocean came near him he spoke with an apologetic look on his face, "I am so sorry I was too tired to move."

Frozen Ocean spoke with a huff, "There is nothing to apologize, brother Ryuu, after all, you did all the hard work while we just had to walk a few distances."

His eyes then fell on Zywia who looked a bit groggy but he could see the tiredness and hopelessness in her eyes, he winced seeing her shrunken cheek due to lack of proper food and water.

The group arrived first though many were way back and were slowly moving towards Ryuu's position, True-Spear was carrying Su-Min on his back, not to mention the fact that Su-Min looked incredibly pitiful and as he reached them his stomach let out a growl.

None of them paid any mind to the ever depressing sound and as they were not only accustomed by now but were every so often hauntingly reminded of it now and then.

Ryuu stood up holding on to the wall as he spoke, "Let us move."

"We could take some rest."

Ryuu shook his head as he spoke, "No love I believe doing so would be dangerous for people of our condition once we take rest I doubt we would be even able to stand up again, so please try to move a bit."

Frost Flames nodded weakly before they began to move again but this time the both of them had Ryuu's support while Su-Min was once again on Ryuu's back while Zywia on True-Spears.

As they stepped through the door suddenly a familiar refreshing feeling rose from amongst them, a feeling that they were depressingly missing and like a thirst dehydrated person Frozen Ocean collapsed on her knees at the sight of the Oasis or as in their case the familiar feeling of KI swirling through them.

"KI we can use KI.", as a teary-eyed Frost Flames spoke those magic words both True-Spear and Zywia had tears of joy in their eyes.

With a large smile on their face, Ryuu spoke, "Finally finally we are out of their predicament.", his face gained a serious look as he spoke, "First let us recuperate and then we will rescue our brethren who are hibernating no need to keep them in such a condition anymore."

The members of the group nodded as Zywia climbed down True-Spear's back before she collapsed on the floor before she began to meditate.

Ryuu noticed his companions looks slowly becoming better with the time which made a sense of relief to pass through him, 'I now fully understand what some cripple feels like, how did my mother withstand such a horrid feeling without being able to use her KI she persevered for my sake for so long, I wonder what she would say if she saw me like this.', his eyes then fell on Frost Flames as he mused, 'Will she approve of my choice.'

"This feeling I miss it so much."

At the sound of Su-Min's voice, everyone looked at her as Ryuu spoke with a teasing smirk, "So did you have a nice beauty sleep?"

Su-Min growled as she spoke, "If I were in a much better shape I would have punched you hard enough to break your teeth."

Ryuu simply chuckled at that but before he could retort a familiar voice chimed in with loud applause, "Bravo, bravo to all of you who have made it this far, now only the final test is left, a test where you will have to fight a special creature, so Good luck and have fun."

Blood drained from everyone's face at the proclamation as True-Spirit spoke with disbelief in his voice, "Is that insane sadistic cultivator kidding? At our current condition attempting another fight would be suicide."

As soon as the person finished speaking the wall to the right suddenly began to move as a peculiar creature stepped out from behind the newly opened door.

Ryuu frowned as he looked at the creature that did not have any distinct shape except it was elongated and looked as if made up our pure mercury.

Ryuu shook again making others look at him curiously as once again with a large smile on his face he spoke, "Heaven's seems to love me finally I will have a spirit beast companion, muahahaha."

True-Spear once again took a step back as he spoke in a whisper, "Oi, it seems brother Ryuu has snapped again."

With his joke being said True-Spear waited for others to laugh as his eyes fell on Zywia only to be taken aback at the look of horror on her face frightening him as such he could not help but ask out loud, "Zywia are you okay? Do you know what kind of creature that is?"

"Everyone we have to retreat.", her words drew the rest of her group's attention as she continued to speak, "That is a void eater, it is a dangerous beast at our current condition it would kill us all."

At her words, both Frost Flames and Frozen Ocean paled as Su-Min spoke with a frown on her face, "That name I remember from somewhere can anyone remind me what kind of creature is that?"

Her words drew a scathing glare from Zywia who spoke with a huff, "That creature is also known as Cultivator's bane, they absorb KI as a sponge does to water, thus KI based attacks are useless, if you touch it you will lose your KI, not to mention it does not have any shape so it will morph into any form."

True-Spear gulped as he spoke, "So we move back slowly towards the entrance."

Frost Flames nodded as she spoke, "Yes we move back slowly towards the entrance and make no sudden movement."

Frozen Ocean bit her lips as she spoke, "Don't it would be more dangerous, what if the moment we step out through the door our KI gets resealed not to mention there is a chance that some might not happen with it and then we are screwed."

True-Spear bit his lips as he spoke, "So we should kill it."

Ryuu growled as he spoke, "No one is going to kill my spirit beast."

The others deadpanned at him as Frost Flames spoke, "Ryuu it will be yours only when you have managed to reach an agreement with it, or otherwise managed to tame it."

Ryuu nodded with great enthusiasm as he spoke, "I know but do not worry I plan to reach an agreement with it."

Zywia narrowed her eyes as she spoke, "And how would you accomplish that?"

Ryuu's smile seemed to tear off his face as he spoke, "Why according to my sisters the easiest way to do so is to either befriend the spirit beast from a young age since its birth which is not possible so the next best option will beat it until it agrees."

Both Zywia and Frost Flames let out a pained groan, while Su-Min and Frozen Ocean looked at them with pity, on the other hand, True-Spear nodded as he spoke, "That is some very wise words."

A guttural roar came from the creature as Ryuu flared his KI and his killing intent as he spoke, "Zywia missed one vitally important thing when she said about the Void Eater."

Frozen Ocean took her stance as she spoke, "Oh and what is it?"

"Well more the KI it has consumed from a person the more chances are of it mimicking the said person's style and skills and if it manages to feast on it the creature can completely fight like its food, so be careful."

Both Zywia and Su-Min gulped as Ryuu spoke with a bloodthirsty smirk on his face, "Well seems like it is not patient."

With his piece being said Ryan brought out his weapons while he was suddenly surrounded by thousands of Talisman as True-Spear spoke with a whistle, "And, here he was always complaining about lack of Talismans."

Ryuu did not say anything as he bellowed out loud, "Be my spirit beast.", with that he began his battle of dominance against the Void Eater.