"Please unhand our Guardian."
Hearing Zhya’s voice, Ruvva glanced at Root and observed the latter hadn’t opened his eyes yet. ’He’s unresponsive for the time being, for some reason.’
She couldn’t understand him fully, but that didn’t matter at present, since she had taken the necessary measures to keep him tied up for now. Accurately piercing Root’s Spirit Container was a piece of her bone in the shape of a needle.
This bone needle prevented the Spirit Container from healing fully. Moreover, Ruvva had pierced it in such a way that the Spirit Container was extremely unstable. The slightest exertion from Root, and it’ll shatter.
The only way to recover is through passive patience. But stretching from the bone was a strand of her hair, which extended all the way out of the chest. It created a funnel for her Prana, allowing her to use psychokinesis to control the bone needle when necessary. The moment Root tries something, she’ll make the bone needle tremble.
That should be enough to shatter Root’s Spirit Container. The only reason she hadn’t shattered Root’s Spirit Container was to avoid making the other party desperate.
The Celestial Boar was able to spontaneously regenerate his Spirit Container. He was aware of the method to do so, thanks to Brangara’s research alongside Inala and Wittral at the Dralh Sea.
Wittral became Zhya while Inala ended up becoming the Royal Zinger. As the Guardian of the Quip Clan, there was a chance Root was aware of the method to create a Spirit Container too. If it were to get shattered, Root might figure out ways to combust his body and gather enough Prana to rebuild it.
Both the human and Pranic Beast forms were natural states to a Quip Clansman. So, Root could combust one of the bodies for power. If he were to combust his Quip Guardian form, he would have enough Prana to gather multiple Gold Grade Tangible Natures in his Zinger World.
That would bring the fight back to square one. And this time, he would be wiser. Ruvva was aware that Root could break out of this stalemate. Even with the information at her disposal, she was able to think of ways he would turn the situation against her.
That was why she limited his field of focus and tried to make it seem her upper hand was robust and couldn’t be subverted.
"I will, once you give me a proper explanation," Ruvva commented coldly, not giving any respect to Zhya. She wouldn’t have behaved as such usually, but this time, Root’s actions pissed off the Brimgan Empire. And hence, she had to display her stance on the matter. "For what reason has the Quip Clan invaded the Brimgan Empire?"
"If you cannot provide an answer, then we’ll consider this an invasion." Her presence calmly broiled around her. As she spoke, many golden flashes had arrived on the Lotus Range.
’Tch!’ Zhya clicked her tongue in anger, glaring at Root, ’In such a sensitive period, he literally had to piss off the worst group of people.’
’But still, I can’t believe he lost to Ruvva.’ The thought formed in her mind as Zhya calmly raised her hand as a formal show of respect, "We didn’t mean to intrude the Brimgan Empire."
’I cannot make it seem like we have no control over Root. That will prevent us from using him as a deterrent. Then, there’s only one option. I can take advantage of that group.’ She spontaneously conjured a scenario, "A dangerous criminal has infiltrated the Brimgan Empire. Root was chasing after him."
"A criminal?" Ruvva calmly raised her eyebrow but didn’t express any other emotion. ’Is that true? Do they truly know about something? Or are they simply making an excuse?’
"Yes," Zhya explained in concern, "This criminal’s goals are unknown. All we managed to investigate was the fact that he intends to infiltrate and steal information from all forces."
For a moment, Ruvva subconsciously thought of the Cosmic Being who sought to gain control over Orakha and the return of Brangara through Virala, ’Both were triggered by the Mystic Paths.’
Ruvva was strongly confident about Yamahara being the cause behind Root’s actions. However, it was better to know about anything else that she might not have been aware of. ’Root is Brangara’s 10th body. So, it makes sense the Brown Mystic Path trails to Yamahara.’
"And what’s his identity?" Ruvva asked curtly.
Zhya turned mum in response, maintaining silence for a minute. She nodded at her entourage of Gold Grade Quip Clansmen and told them to move away from earshot for a couple minutes.
After they had left, she pointed at Root’s ears. In response, Ruvva covered Root’s ears with a layer of bone, flesh, and skin layer.
Zhya extended her hand and caused the air to vibrate faintly to form a distorted radius around the trip, preventing the Brimgan Royals from figuring out the contents of her speech from both sight and sound.
Only after the preparations were done did she utter, "A Tangible Nature Major Treasure."
"What?" Ruvva blurted out in shock.
"You heard me." Zhya groaned, "Not many know about this even among the Quip Clan. Only the Echoes are aware."
"Are they the Celestial Boar’s?" Ruvva asked, her face paling to see Zhya nod with a morbid expression, "Goodness! They weren’t destroyed?"
"Based on what Inala communicated with me moments after entering Sumatra Continent from outside," Zhya shook her head, "Brangara didn’t have most of his Tangible Natures of Major and Minor Treasures when both of them engaged in a full-fledged battle using their State of Unity."
"We started our investigation, but unfortunately haven’t been able to find anything more than faint clues." She shook her head, sighed and pointed at Root, "I dispatched him after finding some traces. Our original plan was to meet up at a nearby location and then give chase."
’Right, it makes sense if Zhya was already on her way here. That’s how she could come here so quickly. Otherwise, even at her fastest, it is impossible for her to be here so soon.’ Ruvva thought, ’However, even if this is true, it’s not the reason here.’
Of the fragments she gained from Root, which was extracted from his recent memory, the most important were the flashes of the Brown Mystic Path and his battle against a Brully.
The data about the Brully was basically nothing more than a couple seconds’ worth. However, that was what puzzled Ruvva, for she couldn’t understand why the Quip Clan had to set loose the Quip Guardian against a Brully.
’Sure, a Brully is extremely rare. If they capture a male and female adult and succeed in mating them, the Quip Clan can sell their kids for a fortune to the Mystic Humans. We’ll happily pay whatever price they ask for without hesitation.’ Ruvva thought, ’However, an army should have been enough, which they had already dispatched, based on scout reports.’
"Are you claiming these Tangible Nature Minor and Major Treasures are in the Brimgan Empire?" Ruvva asked, seemingly offended by the fact, "Do you think we are unable to detect Treasures? We? The Brimgan Empire?"
"Didn’t the Celestial Boar infiltrate the Empire pretty easily?" Zhya snorted, "How can you be sure you can detect them?"
"Then give me proof." Ruvva extended her hand towards Zhya, "I’ll believe you once you give me relevant proof."
’If she’s lying, she’s crazy good to the extent I feel she’s telling the truth.’ That was why Ruvva took advantage of the situation to demand proof, ’If it’s the truth, we will be able to find these Treasures first and claim them for ourselves.’
"I’m afraid I cannot do that." Zhya shook her head, "We don’t have any information whatsoever other than a list of them. And I believe you must have this list too, since Boul Brimgan was made aware of it during the Third Major Disaster."
"You have made your point." Ruvva peeled off the layer of her body covering Root’s ears and pried open his eyelids, "Do you feel like talking now?"
"Look who came to fetch you." She faced his body towards Zhya, "Your leader explained the situation fully. As long as you explain your reasoning, and if it lines up with what your leader said, I’ll release you."
"You dare doubt me?" Zhya glared at Ruvva’s choice of words.
"I will apologise when I’m wrong." Ruvva shrugged and stared at Root, "Well?"
"I have nothing to say to you." Root just closed his eyes and commented casually, "Kill me if you want to. I couldn’t care less."
’My mind’s an absolute mess.’ Root analysed himself, ’I’m having conflicting thoughts for every action I intend to take. This is dangerous, and this brown stream is the cause.’
’My Deity, what is happening to me?’ Root didn’t even flinch when the pressure on his neck intensified.
"Then, I’ll do just that," Ruvva said coldly and crushed Root’s throat. ’He’ll go after the chessboard otherwise. This is better. By the time he revives and returns, we’ll have an army to handle him.’
"STOP!" Zhya leapt towards Ruvva in anger upon seeing the latter’s actions. Without any hesitation, she condensed the water from the Brimgan Sea into a disk and threw it at Ruvva.
Ruvva created a shield using tusk bone powder to defend against the attack, throwing Root’s body to the side after cutting off the neck.
"Relax, it’s not like he can die." Ruvva shouted as she defended against Zhya’s attacks.
"I know, but I don’t like your attitude," Zhya grunted and unleashed a roar, which blasted Ruvva dozens of metres away.
"What the heck? You guys are the ones with the shitty attitude!" Ruvva shrieked.
As the two ladies attacked each other, Root’s severed body began to sink. However, tendrils of flesh grew on his neck and inched towards the head, intending to rejoin.
The eyes shot open as Root stared at it, thought for a moment, and decided otherwise. His tongue shot out and paddled the head away from the body. After a while, the regeneration stopped as the two pieces sank deeper into the water.