In truth, Ryu didn't care much for interacting with the Zu Clan Ancestors. He didn't truly need them. Even without Flora's guidance, it only took him a couple weeks to comprehend [Divine Chaotic Annihilation]. And, when the time flow increase was taken into account, this boiled down to just a few days.
Though this disadvantage might pile up higher during the later stages, Ryu believed in his own talent. If it wasn't for Ailsa wanting to speak a piece of her mind, and the fact the Core Texts were all located at the center of this massive library while the outer reaches were made up of normal literature, he wouldn't even care to appear here.
Plus, Ryu and the Zu Clan would never see eye to eye. Even if he agreed to be on speaking terms with these four Ancestors, his debt of blood had already been signed with their descendants on the outside. This matter was already as good as over.
Originally, Ryu wouldn't have minded completing a cycle of karma with the Zu Clan. Since their crystalline jade inheritance would most definitely be a large part of the reason for his rise, it was only right that he properly repay them. However, after taking into account the atrocious actions their descendants committed on the Mortal Plane, and even how they knew well that completing the crystalline jade would lead to him being hunted down… Whatever kindness Ryu had left in his heart was flown away.
It was then that the fourth silent to now Ancestor spoke. The usually fiery tempered Balaur seemed to take this new situation in stride, chuckling deeply.
"It seems our Zu Clan has lost this time. Look at that, you two found a genius to take up your mantles, he even looks no different from a Zu, yet you schemed against him and lost the opportunity."
With Balaur's upright personality, it was no surprise that he was the only one against tricking Ryu. It had even been him who warned Ryu to stay away from Flora back then. Though, Ryu didn't actually need that reminder, which was why he never took his kindness to heart.
"Originally, Little Ryu, I wanted to kill them to avoid future problems. But, these four may be of great help to you in the future. Even if it's not for their knowledge, you can imagine how powerful you would be as a Soul Necromancer if you had four Sky Gods under your control…"
"You dare!?" Flora's temper raged once more, her translucent image fluctuating wildly as she lost more and more of herself.
Soul Necromancers were one of the three main branches of Necromancy. Unfortunately, the threshold for stepping into this branch was incredibly high because the weakest soul puppet that could be refined had to be of the Soul Birth Realm. Simply put, any Soul Necromancer was an Immortal Ring expert at the absolute weakest.
"… Their power has fallen a bit, though." Ailsa continued without a care. "They're even a level weaker than myself currently, so they're only as good as Peak Soul Refinement wraiths. However, when you refine them into Vengeful Souls, their falling into madness won't matter anymore. In fact, it might help. Once that happens, them reclaiming their former strength will be relatively easy."
Hearing Ailsa's idea, Ryu actually grew contemplative. He really hadn't thought of this. Usually, capturing a soul had to be done directly after death, but this was clearly a special case where the soul was preserved through extraordinary means. It would be a shame to miss this opportunity.
Ryu was obviously still too weak to refine such high-level soul puppets. But, once he reached the Soul Refinement Realm, he would definitely be qualified.
Though Flora was continuously raving, the remaining three Ancestors could only listen on with grim expressions.
What could they say? What promises could they possibly make to live? There really was nothing…
Actually, there was. But they were completely unwilling to go that far. It would be better for them to die than for such a thing to fall into their enemy's hand. Let the rise of the Zu Clan be left up to Fate from now on… They had meddled too much and look where they ended up because of it.
After nodding in agreement with Ailsa, Ryu no longer bothered with the four Ancestors. With Ailsa watching his back, he no longer had anything to worry about. However, Ailsa herself stayed back to say one more thing that truly threw the four Ancestors into a cold, piercing hell.
"I am not one to underestimate Sky Gods. You four may look distraught now, but I'm sure you haven't been lying idle here for years without thinking of any contingency plans, as I am also certain that it would be impossible for a Clan of your caliber to not think of any backups no matter how confident you were in your original plot.
"But what I will say is that none of it matters at all." Ailsa smiled, but it looked decidedly could to the four of them. "You four should know that the crystalline jade is currently sitting silently within Little Ryu's inner space and has no reason to ever come out. I'm sure you're all smart people, you don't need me to explain any further, right?"
The expression of the four Ancestor's changed. Only then did Ailsa smile in satisfaction before practically gliding over to Ryu's side.
That was right… As long as the crystalline jade was within Ryu's inner space, there was nothing they could do! If they killed him, his inner space would shatter, taking everything within it with it. The only reason Ryu managed to keep the treasures he stored in his inner space from his last life was because of the Phoenix Sky God's interference, there would be no third chance. And, even if there were, it would have nothing to do with the Zu Clan.
As the four Ancestors fell into a pit of despair, Ryu had begun shifting through all sorts of Mental Realm techniques. There was actually a sizable number of Qi and Body Realm techniques as well, but Ryu wasn't very interested in them for now. He wanted to broaden his horizons. Even though he was a cripple in his last life, he still had understandings toward the latter two Realms. However, since Mental Realm cultivation was banned in his time, he had run across it very few times.
Ryu suddenly fell into a fascinating world. He didn't cultivate any of the techniques he came across, but he found just reading through them filled him with awe.
'His Mental Realm shouldn't be this powerful… He actually successfully cultivated [Tribulation Nine Clouds] for the hardest of the three Realms. We really did make a mistake.' Eska's expression continued to fluctuate wildly.
Days later, Ryu finally took a deep breath. He had finally gone through every Spiritual Awakening and Spiritual Endowment technique the Zu Clan had. It was now time to choose.