To Ryu, anything he couldn’t control was a problem to his current purpose in life. Why would he risk allowing this Goaman to live if he could be just as if not more useful as a corpse puppet?

The others here couldn’t afford to so casually use their corpse puppets. Controlling puppets required a large amount of Spiritual Qi and replenishing it obviously required an even larger amount of normal qi. In this Nether qi dense environment, it was impossible to expect to replenish that qi with any sort of ease.

Ironically, this meant that the strength of these youths, who were clearly all Necromancers, was as much as halved without being able to display their true capabilities. It was obvious that this entire world was pushing them all toward becoming Summoning Necromancers, but only a very selected few would ever succeed.

However, for Ryu, who could convert Nether Qi has he pleased, he didn’t have this limitation. Not only had he already found and grasped the Summoning Necromancer Legacy of this town for himself, he could also use normal corpse puppets without worry.

Still, there was something useful that Zanlis had said. Thanks to his words, Ryu now had a new target. Soon, a second city would fall beneath his blade.

With a thought, Nemesis turned away and shot back toward the Keep. Since things had reached this stage, he would first focus on forging Goaman into a corpse puppet.

Though his Summons were very powerful, Ryu hadn’t forgotten that they were exceptionally costly. Not only did they cost a lot to summon, but they also needed a certain amount of qi to maintain their existence. In a real battle, this cost would only become worse.

Every time a Skeleton Warrior suffered an injury that needed to be healed, the qi would have to come from Ryu. Luckily they could pull qi from the atmosphere as well, and they had an advantage in doing this while still in the Nether Realm. But, Ryu had no idea how things would change from now on. He had to be prepared.

The good news was that Ryu’s death qi seemed to be so potent and pure that the cost for everything was significantly lessened. However, the bad news was that Ryu’s cultivation was still too poor.

These ‘discounts’ he was receiving was still more than enough to bleed him completely dry.

The crowd fell completely silent as they watched Ryu vanish into the Keep once more. Even Sarriel looked toward his back with a somewhat bitter smile. Shouldn’t he have invited her in or something like that? Why didn’t he even say a word?

…

Goaman’s screams filled the Keep. Unfortunately, there was no one here or anywhere to hear him.

Considering Goaman’s background and the cruelty he had to commit to gain that ink black body those of his Clan covet so much, Ryu didn’t bat an eye at his pain. The souls he had tortured alone were likely far greater than Ryu cared to acknowledge.

Instead, Ryu was calmly flipping through the Body of an Herbologist Tome. He had already long since gone through it all, even memorizing it thoroughly. But, this book seemed to have a spirit of its own. There was sometimes Ryu would go through it, only to find something completely new that he had missed, something that should have been completely impossible… yet was true.

One could think that the book was constantly updating itself, tweaking recipes here and there to make it better. Or, who knows, maybe there was more than one book like this in the world and they were connected by a tether. Maybe a change to one of these books led to a change in them all…?

Of course, at this point, Ryu was just speculating. He hadn’t found any evidence proving this point which meant that it was either not true, or done in a manner even he, as an Origin Grade Ruin Master, had no knowledge of.

In Ryu’s estimation, the latter possibility was near zero. But, he still entertained it.

The world of cultivation was far too large for him to claim to know any and everything.

’His body is quite sturdy and strong, making him quite good at wielding the spear. But, he doesn’t have the nimbleness or speed I would have liked for him to use the twin daggers…’

If the screaming Goaman could hear Ryu’s thoughts, he just might implode with rage. Ryu was already turning him into a corpse puppet, was there a need to pick out his deficiencies as though he was a product on a shelf?

But in Ryu’s eyes… was he much different from this at that point?

’If I try to make him good at everything, it will backfire. In that case, we’ll focus on his heft and his physical defense.

’He also has high compatibility with wraiths already, so in the future, I can nurture what remains of his soul with them to raise his intelligence. It may even be possible to turn him into a lich in the future and take a large amount of the burden off of myself.

’In that case, we’ll lean into this formula, and make his skin even thicker while forming an evolutionary path for him to absorb metals… widen his meridians and simplify their pathways, he needs a stronger emphasis on strength and not finesse…’

With every thought, Ryu adjusted his formula just a small bit. Then, one after another, he pulled out the herbs he needed from his Incubator.

Goeman couldn’t even stop screaming as he looked on in horror. Ryu’s actions were far too meticulous, carrying with them a systematic nature to them that made him realize it was all over. There was no amount of pleading, no amount of harsh words, no amount of convincing that he could do to get Ryu to stop.

He had already made his choice. Today, he, Goaman Orobona, would die. And, ironically, he would be in even more pain than any one of his wraiths had ever been.

**

Ryu’s frown set in as he poured death qi into Goaman.

Just now, he had tried to use Primordial Chaos Death Qi in a normal fashion, but the result was him nearly imploding his body from the inside out, a result that left him completely speechless.

The pain was even worse than when Ryu had used Primordial Chaos Lightning Qi within Osiris, something that had completely torn his body apart. However, he couldn’t understand why.

Compared to his body, his Spiritual Sea was the far more sensitive location. Although he would receive protection from Divine Chaotic Annihilation and Immortal Sakura, both of which were Visualizations currently protecting his mind, if it was a qi he allowed into his mind consciously, his own Visualizations wouldn’t react to it like a threat.

This was all to say that if this Primordial Chaos Death Qi was going to lash out, it should have done so long ago. Yet, it didn’t react when he completed his Skeleton Warrior Summon Formation. And, it also didn’t react when he summoned his first two Lower Skeleton Warriors.

But… It wanted to act like this now…?

Ryu took a deep breath and calmed himself. Everything had a logical reason behind it. The energies of the world, especially, always followed an obvious pattern. They were among the most predictable things in the world. What made them complex wasn’t the energies themselves, but rather their complicated interactions with everything else.

However, at this moment, Ryu had completely isolated the qi. There shouldn’t be any other variables… At least not ones from the outside world.

Any of these variables could only come from himself… from within his own body.

’The white flame?’

Ryu’s gaze narrowed.

Following through on his thoughts, he once again controlled his Chaotic Silk Meridians to create Primordial Chaos Death Qi. Then, upon storing it into one of his 12 miniature dantians, he allowed it to enter his Spiritual Sea.

Though the Mental Realm was noted as such, one’s ‘Spiritual Sea’ wasn’t an exact location within someone’s body though there were easier places to access it compared to others… The brain, for example.

One should consider their Spiritual Sea and their Body almost like two separate planes. Transferring energy from one to another was like Ryu entering the Ethereal Plane by using the crystalline jade.

As expected, the energy became exceptionally docile the moment it entered Ryu’s Spiritual Sea. But, rather than stopping there, Ryu began to push the energy toward the white flame that called the bottom of his Spiritual Sea home.

The closer he got, the more the Primordial Chaos Death Qi seemed to tremble. Ryu didn’t want to believe what he was seeing, but the evidence was right before him…

It was fear.

His Primordial Chaos Death Qi feared this nameless white flame…

Just who was the Phoenix Sky God, exactly? And what was this mysterious flame he left to Ryu…?

Just 1 long chapter today