Ryu's gaze narrowed as he stared at Sarriel deeply. He took a breath, his calm returning to him and his expression settling back down.
"Since you've held up your end of the bargain, then we can begin to negotiate. I'm sure you've put a lot of effort into making sure that you lay your hands on the Moon World and I'm also sure that you had a very good reason for teleporting me there of all places despite knowing that it might put you at a disadvantage in the end.
"There's no getting around the fact that you need my cooperation just the same way I need yours. So, as a sign of good faith, why don't you tell me why it is that you're so eager to enter the Chaos Plane?"
Sarriel's expression darkened. "Was explaining my cultivation technique to you not a great enough sign of good faith?"
"Maybe. About as good a sign as handing over a few coins to a homeless man would be. You hardly explained anything, you kept most of the more important details to yourself, and you know well that I have no method of replicating your technique. What did you expect from me, exactly? For me to hand over to you everything my Ice Phoenix Clan has been working on for billions of years just because you gave me a few sentences of explanation?"
Ryu's tone no longer carried its joking tone. In fact, his gaze was as cold as Sarriel remembered. This was the man who had looked down at her pitiful expression without the slightest fluctuation. Her beauty meant next to nothing to him and would have no impact on swaying him one way or another.
Sarriel knew that Ryu's words made sense but her internal rage toward the situation didn't allow her to set down her pride easily. It made Ryu realize that even during her so-called 'Peaks', Sarriel's cultivation technique was still having a great effect on her.
Who knew how long she had spent suppressed as the previous Sarriel Ryu had known. Now, she was finally herself once again and it likely meant that what had been repressed was suddenly unleashed in full force. If things were looked at in this way, Sarriel's soul was actually under a constant tribulation, not just one some of the time.
When Ryu thought back to it, Sarriel's arrogance was a large part of the reason she had lost to him the first time. She had disdained to use her full strength. But, no matter how you looked at it, that wasn't a smart choice, and definitely not the choice someone who was so good at plotting and scheming would make either.
It was very likely that it was Sarriel's cultivation technique that had made her react like that. Whenever she reverted back to her original, haughty self, it would be amplified several times over. As a result, she would find herself acting out even more so than she originally would.
Due to this, she risked over a thousand years of planning just so that she could fuel her own arrogance and in the end, she lost because of it.
However, this didn't make Ryu pity Sarriel, nor did he feel like the cultivation technique was flawed. Rather, Ryu could only think that the day Sarriel managed to rein in her demeanor and achieved true serenity in who and what she was….
She would become a monster. A monster Ryu very much wanted to battle.
And if that was just her, then what about all the others who would presumably have cultivation techniques on that level? Ryu wanted to meet them all, he wanted to fight against them all… He wanted to defeat them all and use their corpses as the stepping stones to his greatest heights. Allowing them to be the foundation to his ascension would be their greatest honor!
Sarriel took several deep breaths to calm herself down. Just as Ryu had concluded, her cultivation method was, indeed, causing her to act like this. But, she had long since learned to control it. It was just that today was special compared to most others. Today was supposed to be the day a millennia of hard work finally paid off, but she was instead slapped in the face. The fact that she was only this enraged was a testament to how well she usually controlled herself.
"… Deep into the Sky God Realm, Chaos Qi becomes even more important than Essence. Disorder must be taken to an extreme before you can once again find Order. The Chaos Plane of this world is unexplored and untouched, allowing it to have some of the purest stores of Chaos Qi in all of existence. Gathering some of it now and using it during my breakthrough into the Sky God Realm will be of great benefit to my future cultivation."
Ryu was shocked once again. It felt like every time this woman spoke, another shocking revelation would fall onto his lap.
He had never heard of Chaos Qi needing to be used like this, at least not from the Sky God Realms he was aware of. That meant that there was more he had no idea about.
"The Sky God Realm, how many divisions are there?" Ryu's gaze couldn't help but become sharp.
"… The Fragmented Sky God, the False Sky God, the True Sky God, the Perfect Sky God, the Transcended Sky God, the Omniscient Sky God, the Sky God of Order, the Sky God of Chaos, and finally the Sky God of Origin."
Each name was like another clap of thunder to Ryu's mind, each one thrumming his heart to its rhythm. For a long time, he couldn't steady his breathing, his thoughts racing out of control.
"That's enough now, right? Or don't tell me you want to squeeze more out of me."
Ryu took deep breaths and locked gazes with Sarriel.
"… I am a man of my word, I will allow you in. But, I'm also not a fool, you've only told me a part of the reason, I can see through you. Right then, you tried to use your deception on me. So, how about you tell me the truth? What is the real reason you want to enter the Chaos Plane?"
Sarriel's pupils trembled and she bit her cherry lips hard, her long ears drooping somewhat adorably.
"… The Chaos Plane is likely the only place with a Gate to the rest of Existence. It's a path away from here."
An explosion resounded in Ryu's mind.
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