After the red ring returned to Tang Hao's side, he scanned Ryū once more and left.
Ryū paid it no mind and focused more on the main group seeing as they are all found to be unconscious, possibly from the start when he (Tang Hao) exerted his pressure as the Clear Sky Douluo than the pressure released by the red ring of Ah Yin.
He sighed before using his crystal to create two military tents with bunk beds that he and his doubles settle the group into, one for the ladies and one for the gents.
Aside from consuming more energy in the initial creation, he uses minimal energy to maintain HIS form since he is now his own essence and can cultivate his own (minor) rings.
Hours passed as he finally detected someone get out of his tent and saw Yan Xiāo staring at him with a curious gaze which prompted him to say, "What are you looking at me for? Why don't you sit down and have a cup of tea?"
"What is all this?" she asked as soon as she sat down but did not touch her teacup.
"A camp," he calmly sips from his teacup while raising an eyebrow as Yan Xiāo still does not touch hers, "Would you prefer wine over tea?"
She stares hard into Ryū even to the point of activating her Clear Eyes and closed her eyes the next moment.
"I'm not someone you can see with your eyes," he saw Yan Xiāo deactivate her essence that made him nod in approval before she started sipping her tea.
"I saw a glimpse of an entirely different world. Care to explain, Ryū?" she stares at him with eyes filled in interest, "I feel as if I would gain a lot of benefits from stealing your method but... That's impossible now, right?"
She felt his eyes see deeper than what she can see herself but she shook her head and the feeling was gone.
"You're too defenseless, Yan Xiāo," he said to Yan Xiāo much to her confusion but forget about it when she saw Xiāo Chuō emerged from the boys' tent.
"You got stronger? The presence of a hostile Titled Douluo truly pushes one to go further," he remarked after seeing the camp but said nothing further upon seeing teacups and a pitcher of herbal tea, "You even serve these? Did it come from your spirit or what?"
Ryū pointed towards the forest, "We have the forest to ourselves, there are herbs we could use to make tea. I heard tea houses are some profitable business, I'll ask the higher ups to transfer me to the business department."
Xiāo Chuō hummed before glancing at Yan Xiāo who stared intently at Ryū and he knew something happened earlier, she knew since she overheard them talking that's why she did not need to ask what or where they are.
Unlike Yan Xiāo, he's not obsessed on getting stronger or finding an alternative but he's interested whether Ryū can spar with him now since he rely on skills than raw power (which is provided to him by his Earth Staff).
"Spar with me after all this is over," he grinned and slammed his Earth Staff on Ryū.
The latter snapped his finger and beneath the attacker's feet is a pole that stuck up quickly without leaving the attacker time to react, and it launched him up a few meters in the air before dropping straight to the lake nearby.
He emerged from the lake and protested, "You little bastard! Don't make me shiver in cold!"
"Then don't attack someone out of a sudden!" Ryū retorted stopping Xiāo Chuō from saying anything further.
Ryū glanced at Yan Xiāo and sighed, "All we know about each other is limited to a day and from what I see, I don't think I can still be your partner to the coming competition."
He saw Xiāo Chuō reachex the shore and handed him a fresh set of clothes, asking him, "When are we moving? By the way, we're still going to get the others' spirit ring."
"We move tomorrow morning. Moving at night while the others are still Spirit Scholars would prove to be more dangerous without the old man's presence. He died, that's it. We need to be more careful unless we want to add salt to our wounds."
He faced Yan Xiāo, "I'm assigning Ryū as the team leader of team VI, you are an unstable factor to the safety of the team. Agreed?"
She sighed, "Agreed. Sorry for the trouble."
As for Ryū, he didn't even bring out a rejection since he agrees as well that Yan Xiāo would only bring the safety of the team at risk while she's still hung up on finding his secrets.
"Don't worry, my position is only temporary."