A month has passed since they entered the Star Luo Forest, and it has treated their team its disaster of a hospitality.
Under Ryū's leadership, VI can take on and even avoid detection of thousand year old beasts.
Today marks the end of their month-long training against spirit beasts with fighting styles focused on suppressing any being, and while they still hunted for their spirit rings, Ryū offered them body doubles to prevent decline of beasts.
As for V, they joined them in their daily training in the wild and focused on gaining experience as to follow their primary goal even without the supervision of an old man.
They developed instinct and muscle memory in positioning, close quarter combat, and combat tactics against human (teammates) and beast alike.
That is the compensation in his mind after he caused the death of the old man.
Also, this training will cause the elders of the Spirit Hall to turn a blind eye to their loss of a Spirit Douluo, as in the saying of the new will eventually replace the old.
"Survival training ends here, we would have to report back to headquarters within this week so we'll journey back today," his eyes scanned VI and was satisfied with how it turned out.
He turned around to face the direction where he took note of that leads to Spirit Hall HQ and vanished from his position, though it was not only him but the whole team V and VI.
The sight of fourteen children zooming past the forest through the treetops would shock others as even beasts jumped from surprise.
As they leave the Star Lou Forest, Ryū thought of the advancements he had within a month.
Ryū turning himself into a Soul Master, turning himself into an essence and having a 000110 configuration, creating Ryū I (spirit/soul) and II (body), raising his proficiency in Police CQC - Modified, and training in Thousand Beast Art while incorporating Pill Flame to his moveset.
Yan Xiāo gained the most from this training as she does not have an innate attack power for her spirit essence, that is why she continued to push herself further and touched upon the Military CQC which he chose not to teach her.
Everyone has their own unique understanding, it would simply be detrimental if he taught her his understanding of Military CQC and simply sparred with her when she's stuck.
If Police CQC is meant to subdue then Military CQC is meant to kill, that is why he didn't want to teach it to others.
He could only ask of her not to use Military CQC to harm the innocent, which she accepts following her defeat in his hands.
In the blink of an eye, they appeared before the Spirit Hall HQ and the team leaders flash their insignia to the guards who gave them a salute before letting them pass through.
While they returned to their respective halls, Ryū had to report to the elder overseeing Human Resource among the teams but what he did not expect was the presence of an esteemed person!
He didn't make his presence known as he simply stood under the shadows of the thick curtains while waiting for their conversation to come to an end.
"If I did not intentionally spread my energy to investigate the whole headquarters, I wouldn't have been notified of your presence."
The esteemed person, the Supreme Pontiff, turns around as her eyes searched around momentarily before locking into his person.
"I would assume that your team supervisor died protecting everyone seeing as he did not come and greet me," her eyes attempt to see through him but to no avail, "The month long training seem to have given you and the team benefits, though it is indeed a pity one of our Spirit Douluo died."
What appeared on her face is a hint of a smile as she made her decision, "You will be my disciple. Pack your things and come to the topmost floor, we'll begin training and spare nothing to make you the perfect candidate for the Supreme Pontiff's seat."
Ryū didn't react at all and simply nodded, this is him accepting his fate than going against it. It would be easier to move along destiny if he follows his fate rather than chase a faint fate.
She directly vanished from the area as soon as she did something to the elder by tapping his forehead before the elder's eyes blanked out and returning back to its usual emotion.
He sighed in his mind, 'I should probably start treating Titled Douluos as soul masters, they can start affecting another's soul at that rank.'