Chapter 362: Oblige
About a month later, Ryu had made his way to a city known as Fell. He was actually quite familiar with this place. Or, rather, he was very familiar with any place he had been to before thanks to the Origin Flame making his memories infallible. He had visited this city twice before with his mother.
In truth, there wasn't anything special about this city. Though compared to those of the Mortal and Pedestal Planes, it was quite grandiose. It was still mid-sized to the others of the Moon World. However, despite her status, Ryu's mother loved coming here because it was where her favorite flower originated from.
The city was named Fell after this flower. The Fallen Petal Rose was a Spiritual Herb of the Heaven Grade that was nothing but stem and root for 99% of its life. However, just moments before its death, it would bloom in the most gorgeous of ways, giving way to a sight Himari, Ryu's mother, couldn't get enough of.
Both times the mother-son pair visited this season was for this blooming. Ryu still remembered those awe-inspiring sights. There was even a point where he promised Elena to have their wedding in this place.
However, this moment was not the Fallen Petal Rose's blooming season. That said, the imprint the flower left behind was clear and obvious.
All across the cityscape, along cobbled roads and around store windows, the vines of the flowerless Spiritual Herb spread. It gave the city the feeling of a hidden garden, buried beneath an endless greenery. However, it carried a heavy yin and dark aura with it.
The Fallen Petal Rose was known for swallowing yang in its un-bloomed form. This dropped the temperature of the city, while skyrocketing the concentration of yin qi. As a result, the city that could produce the most beautiful sight the Mistress of the Tatsuya Clan had ever laid eyes upon, was ironically quite ugly the rest of the time.
That said, it would depend on who you asked. To Guiot, coming here was like a nightmare. But to Ryu, he quite enjoyed the aesthetic of the vine covered buildings and roads. And, his Ice Phoenix bloodline adored the high quality yin.
Ryu had come to this city in order to breakthrough to his second Body Vessel. After gathering up hundreds of Seventh Order Yin Lightning Spiritual Roots, he believed he had enough to satiate his Lightning Qilin Bloodline.
At first, he was worried about what absorbing Yin Lightning for a Yang Lightning Bloodline would do to him, but he had almost forgotten that he had a Cultus Faerie by his side. If it was detrimental to him, Ailsa would have never allowed him to do it.
'This city is perfect.' Ailsa said, swinging her long legs as she sat on Ryu's shoulders. It seemed that she too was ignoring the sick face Guiot was making. 'If they still have those cultivation rooms you spoke of, it would be even more perfect. But, even if they don't, with this kind of environment, it won't be an issue to make our own.'
'You still haven't told me exactly what you want to do.'
'I already told you.' Ailsa said with a sweet smile. 'Absolute Extremes give birth to Absolute Opposites.'
Little Gem stirred in Ryu's arms, yawning adorably before shifting a bit and going back to sleep.
She unfortunately couldn't stay away for more than an hour or two a day, her body was too frail and wasn't very good at retaining the energy she consumed. Even her bones felt thin and hollow like that of a bird's.
Ryu had no qualms about carrying her around like this because no one would recognize a Griffin anyway. Plus, even if they did, they would never know that the legendary Griffin could ever be so small. On top of that, Little Gem didn't exude the aura of an Ancient Beast because of the curse, and the little bit she did exude could easily be blocked by Ailsa.
The real reason Ryu was carrying her around, though, was because the poor baby Griffin panicked whenever he left her in the Incubator.
'You did already say this, but you never explained exactly what it meant.'
'The Formation of Eight Extremes. Sleep and Wakefulness. Yin and Yang. Life and Death. Order and Chaos. The Heavens love Order, but to maintain it, there needs to be balance. Wherever an Extreme appears, there's an equally high chance of its opposite being birthed as well.
'You tell me, the Fallen Petal Rose, is it a yin Spiritual Herb, or a yang one?'
Hearing this question, Ryu's gaze flashed with a certain understanding. At the same time, several theories about how he might improve Esme came to mind.
The Fallen Petal Rose swallowed nothing but yang energy for hundreds of years, but when it bloomed… It gushed out with an abundance of yin.
'It seemed you understand now. I'll set up the Formation of Eight Extremes for you. It will concentrate the Yin Lightning you've accumulated and birth its perfect opposition. Hopefully, this will help you awaken the first Talent of your Lightning Qilin Bloodline. It has been lagging behind for too long.'
When it came to Talent awakenings, it was always a crapshoot. Ryu hadn't been guaranteed to awaken the three flames he had to now, they only had thanks to his Origin Flame. However, the Lightning Qilin Bloodline obviously had no flames of its own.
A single bloodline had dozens of Talents, some weaker and some stronger. It was uncertain which would awaken, but maybe with a Cultus Faerie guiding him, it would be less of a guessing game. At the very least, it seemed Ailsa already had one she was shooting for in mind. And, so did Ryu if he was being honest with himself.
Finally, the Life Partner pair plus Guiot made it to the destination. It was a tall Martial Tower that seemed from the outside as though its individual floors were built separately before being stack atop one another in a spiraling pattern.
"This is a good place to test yourself, Guiot. I won't be supporting you from now on, but if I had to give you some advice, I'd say make it as far as you can in this Martial Tower first. If you perform well, it can give you some funds in return to support yourself."
Guiot stiffly nodded, still trying to shake the goosebumps this city gave him off. He didn't know how anyone could find a snow and black vine covered city anything but creepy.
"… Yes, the procession will be here soon."
"Stop talking about it. All those events are nothing but wastes of time for those elitists to show off their disciples. Who cares if they come here? I'd rather take my chances going up the Tower."
"Idiot. This Tower is owned by those elitists you're talking your nose up at too. Stop pretending."
'Procession? Parading disciples?' Ryu raised an eyebrow as a piece of a conversation drifted to his ears.
The lobby of the Martial Tower was practically filled to the brim with young cultivators. But this wasn't a surprise. This Tower was meant for serious business from the outside, but the inside was more like a social gathering. There were bars, scantily clad dancers, musicians, and even some alchemists you were sneakily slipping their latest concoction into the palms of their customers.
When Ryu had come here last, it had obviously not looked like this. It wasn't because this place had degenerated from its norm, but rather because who would dare put up such a bad image for the Mistress and Scion of the Tatsuya Clan?
In this life, though, he got to see its true face.
'Did you remember something?' Ailsa asked curiously.
'If they were talking about what I think they were talking about, it should be the Elimination Event. Disciples chosen by those top establishments must go on tour and challenge the mid-level cities of the Moon World as a sort of trial by blood. Only then can they affirm their spots as students or disciples.
'If you happen to defeat one of these disciples, you can receive a probationary spot as a Working Disciple for the institution in question.'
'Just a Working Disciple?'
Ryu shook his head. 'It's the reason why they're complaining about it now. It's already impossible enough to defeat their handpicked disciples, yet you don't even get properly awarded for it. Back when the Awoken Moon Sect was under our jurisdiction, we had too many other things to worry about than to focus on making the rules of this world fairer.'
Ailsa nodded. This was the dark truth of the world. Even the kindest of Rulers couldn't possibly cover the sky with a hand. If they oppressed their subordinates too much, their Empire would only become more fragile. But, when compared to the other horrible occurrences of the martial world, for example, what those so-called Martial Gods allowed the 'White Devils' to do to the Mortal Plane, Ryu's Tatsuya Clan was a group of Angels.
"My friend would like to take the Tower Trial, and I'll take a Tier 8 Cultivation Room." Ryu spoke emotionlessly after finally weaving his way to the central command desk of the lobby.
The receptionist – a middle-aged man – frowned. "A Tier 8 Cultivation Room is meant for Path Extinction Realm experts. Even if you have the money to waste young man, you shouldn't look down on your parents' hard work so easily."
"I understand." Was all Ryu said.. After several seconds of not hearing anything else, the receptionist could only oblige.