Heavenly Dao Child

Kangjon Su-Min stepped out of the flying vessel as a large plethora of musical instruments began to play to welcome her return with hundreds of people stood in attention as a few excited ones even began to clap with great enthusiasm.

She spared a small glance towards them with a small smile while inwardly she was scowling, 'Vultures, all of them, even if they hid their true face with a smile, I was not born yesterday to be duped by them.'

She swiftly made her way to the throne room where her parents sat at the highest of seats, Su-Min then kneeled in front of them as she spoke without any emotion in her voice, "Royal Father, I have returned from the expedition."

"A rather disgraceful return, hmph, from the looks of it you did not make it very far."

Su-Min gritted her teeth before she spoke, "How audacious of you, Lord Uncle, my Royal Father, the Emperor has yet to speak, yet here you are interrupting him, and who said that I did not make it far? Were there with me spying on me?", with a mock gasp Su-Min continued, "But, that cannot be possible after all you are a weakling of Mid-Golden Immortal Level dear Uncle."

As Su-Min's uncle's face turned an unhealthy shade of purple, her father decided to intervene, "Enough both of you, act like your station demands of you."

As his voice thundered a hush silence descended in the court while Su-Min balled her fist in anger, 'I should not have left, and from the looks of it the situation has gone critical since my absence, most of the Nobles at my father's court are siding with my uncle and they are not bothering to hide, this is bad, very bad.'

Kangjon Il-Seong looked towards Su-Min with his eyes filled with a mixture of pride and concern as he spoke, "News has reached my ears, about the disaster on the second floor."

Su-Min simply gave a small nod as she spoke, "The accident in the second floor was something out of our control, we meet a very strong pair of guardians at the gate, the guardians were so strong that their breath was enough to kill us, the breath was so poisonous that within a blink of an eye it would turn a cultivator into ash."

A stunned silence descended as Su-Min's mother, Empress Kangjon Hee-Ra, could not help but speak out loud, "Then, how did you survive?"

A small smile graced Su-Min's lips as she briefly reminisced the time she spent with her friends in Eden, before she replied, "One of my teammates turned out to be an incredible array master, he deployed a shield that was able to withstand the poison long enough for us to move into the next floor."

As she spoke the sound of chattering rose all around the court which quickly stopped, as his uncle spoke again, "So did you manage to recruit him to serve our glorious dynasty."

Su-Min bit her lips as she spoke, "No, I do not…."

"Really now you cannot even accomplish that, what a worthless child are you."

Su-Min balled her fist in anger as she spoke, "Is that so uncle, and then please enlighten me on how would you be able to entice Dao Fathers to serve our Empire."

Su-Min's uncle harrumphed as he replied to her, "Hmp, I am talking about some Mystic Immortal, not some Dao-Father."

"His family came to escort him and do you know what I saw.", she paused for a moment before she continued, "I saw Dao-Fathers lowering their head in greeting but his older sister did not even bat an eyelid as she left with her brother, she was like an Empress in midst of them, so tell me what do you think about his lineage, his upbringing, when his own sister did not pay attention to Dao-Fathers, then tell me why would he serve out Empire."

Her eyes roamed over the audience before she spoke, "Tell me why would he joined when he is so far ahead of others because of his knowledge that it is not even funny.", her eyes then travelled towards her mother as she spoke, "Royal Mother, do you remember my friend Zywia?"

Hee-Ra frowned for a brief moment before she spoke, "I recall a friend of yours who plays the zither and last time I met her she was being escorted by peak Celestial level beings who acted as her maid."

Su-Min nodded as she spoke, "Yes, Royal Mother, the person's name is Ryuu and even though he is a family friend of Zywia's from the way they interacted I believe Ryuu had higher social status than Zywia."

Her words made nearly everyone suck their breath, and to many of them a Celestia was insurmountable power, it was because of that reason they had yet to revolt against the current emperor, and Dao-Father, it was so far ahead in the totem pole that many were not even aware of their existence and to a few they were like a fairy tale.

"A likely story.", was the retort of Su-Min's uncle who spoke with a scoff, only to freeze as Il-Seong flared his powers.

"Enough, this kind of bickering is beneath you all, if there is nothing else then I declare today's court is over.

With that, he stood up with his wife and left while rest of them simply stood with their head bowed low, and as soon as the Royal couple was out of sight Su-Min left soon after.

A few more minutes later Su-Min found herself in the inner the chambers of the Royal Palace, with her mother hugging her so tight that she was afraid that her ribs might break.

"Mother, I am here and I would not disappear."

Il-Seong simply patted her head as he spoke, "Child let your mother embrace you to her heart's content when we heard about the incident our hearts had stopped thinking something unsavoury had happened with you."

Su-Min sighed before she spoke, "Father, this entire thing was something that I do not know how to describe, it seems so unreal, the last decade I had to spend there was filled with so much happiness, anger, frustration and sadness that I do not know what to think of it."

Hee-Ra looked at her daughter as she spoke with a sad frown on her face, "The last few years had been too much for you."

"Words cannot describe my experience in that place."

Il-Seong frowned as he spoke, "You were extremely unlucky to have to suffer so much.", his frown then morphed into a smile as he continued, "But, I think I owe your friend my gratitude for saving your life in the second floor."

A small smile graced on Su-Min's face as she spoke, "I owe Ryuu a lot more than saving me in the second floor, if it were not for him I doubt we would have managed to accomplish anything."

The Royal couple shared a knowing look seeing the soft smile on Su-Min's face as Hee-Ra spoke with a grin, "So, Su-Min what can you say about him? Did you manage to go beyond friends, are we going to arrange for the wedding soon."

Su-Min blushed as a scandalized look appeared on her face as she spoke out loud, "Mother!!!"

**********

Back in Ayindril, a lone figure sat on a chair with his legs gathered, and a cup of hot tea in his hand that was cooling down, but his mind lay elsewhere.

A few days ago, back in the Flying vessel, Ryuu stood in front of the Empress who was answering his questions as much as possible, as well as any questions that others and during those discussions the direction of their discussion took an interesting turn.

Empress looked directly into his eyes as she spoke, "Did you think that this Divine body only appeared in Pangu and your case?"

"No of course not, in between his death and your birth I know of seven such instances when it was reborn to the world, but alas the wielders of the body did not see past their toddler stage, because of they were not born with a dantian."

She waited for a few breaths before she continued again, "They were not lucky enough to have a loving aunt or understanding parents as such they were murdered by their own family before they could even learn to walk, and by seven I mean the only one I know, there may be many times that this body would have been reborn."

Ryuu bit his lips as he spoke, "So those memories of me growing up in the wilds."

"Were not false, you did grow up in the wild, in fact, the reason you were not outright killed was simple, and your father, during that life, did not spare you because of some love or sentimental value but because he loved to collect strange, and exotic pets, but unfortunately he was unable to keep you locked in a cage along with his other collections because everyone thought you to be a very bad omen and they did not wish to be anywhere near you, as such the closest thing he could do was toss you into the jungle."

The present Ryuu could not help but run his hand through his hair as he whispered to himself with his voice choking in sadness, "Am I cursed to never have loving parents, I do not know if all that I saw was true or a hoax by that woman, but in all three of my life that I know, I never had a loving parent that cherished me but one that never wanted me, neglected me and even wanted to kill, what kind of rubbish is this."

But, that was not the source of the headache he was feeling as the Empress had dropped another bomb and a rather devastating one at that.

"My beloved Ryuu, I know you would defy me and seek out and fall in love with another wench, but before that let me share a tidbit of information."

The smile on Empress's face widened as she spoke, "During the incident at the fifteenth floor, you not only develop strong immunity but you assimilated it to the point that not only your blood but every fluid in your body is a dangerous and potent venom with a very few like me is immune to."

Upon hearing that Ryuu's face gained a look of horror as the Empress pressed on, "If you kiss someone you will kill her if you have coitus with someone you will kill her, even your sweat is now deadly", the Empress then blushed as she spoke the next words, "But do not worry I am here for you, I can tolerate that puny dose of poison easily so you have nothing to worry about, as I will always be there for you."

Ryuu did not know how to react to what the Empress had divulged to them, as such all he could do was to brood when he was suddenly brought out of his thoughts as a hand rested on his shoulder making him jump from his seat.

As he turned to look at the person that sneaked up on him, only to be greeted by second and third eldest sister as Shamiran spoke with a frown on her face, "Ryuu we need to talk."