Days passed on end and everything went back to normal, academy days progressed and the students were improving swiftly. Finral and his gang were now mostly sure that the appearance of the demon miss Liv had mentioned likely had something to do with Ryu's disappearance but how he was connected, they weren't sure.
Miss Liv herself sometimes wondered maybe she had made a mistake in calling Ryu out on that evening, the next day she went to the dungeon and didn't find him she remembered what master young had told her after Ryu was captured.
"Don't get too involved and leave yourself a way out because he isn't captured because of weakness, he is captured because of lack of knowledge and this battle benefitted him instead of hurting him, I've seen it before, he learns from battles and believe me you wouldn't like the end result"
She had asked him how he knew all this and master young only replied with a sentence.
"It's not that difficult to recognise a predator when you see one, you either destroy it before it grows or you don't get on its bad side….he obviously don't know what he is, do you think that will remain for long??"
She had stepped into the body tempering realm for a long time now and needed just a little push for her to enter into the late stages of mortal cultivation, but with this weighing on her heart she didn't know how to proceed.
She had looked up information on Ryu and all she knew was he came from the slums of the city and lived with his mother who disappeared for years and he somehow became powerful to join the academy.
With that alone she knew that the real Ryu that the people knew was likely dead and something else was walking in his skin. An infant demon maybe. She couldn't figure it out and her only option was to look for Ryu himself. First reason was so she could deal with the heart demon hindering her cultivation and second reason could be more ridiculous to hear but she felt that maybe with him she might be able to cross the bounds of the mortal plane.
Of course this was just a baseless thought on her part but what else could be more ridiculous and at the same time on point as the intuition of a woman.
Weeks had gone by now and she continued her job as usual, but in the backgrounds she had collected help from master young to pull different connection from the neighbouring cities so that she could be informed immediately Ryu stepped foot in any.
She was still skeptical because he had left the academy premises right from the dungeon without anyone noticing, no formations triggered, it was almost as if he wasn't even kept there in the first place. That could also mean he might have already gotten into many cities and leaving without anyone noticing .
And she was correct, Ryu sat atop the hill behind the city lords manor in a city called modok, this city was one closest to the capital city of there western country and he was headed right for the capital after flying across about 10 cities, he was now about a year's travel away from the city of Zietung.
He had gotten here after a month and 2 weeks not because he was faster but because he had no obstacles whatsoever, he drifted into each city, stole some food and some money then flew away.
Within the past month he had gotten more aware of abilities that hid within his body, he noticed a trait of his eyes, it could be hypnotic, he could use it to compel people into doing what he wanted, his senses were super sensitive even without his spiritual sense, he could go any where with his eyes blindfolded.
He could manipulate the negative energy around him, either by amplifying it or by reducing it, redirecting or even being the source itself. He realized that he was more of a genuine demon than those half animals he saw in the libraries of this cities and that was why he was headed for the capital, he wanted to know more about his new self.
His cultivation was now peak of the soul birth realm and he didn't know how to cross over to the next realm else he would have done that, this was the reason he sat in meditation atop the hill away from all the rowdiness of the city, he knew that the capital city was one week away from his position if he just flew over but whenever he looked towards the direction of the capital he got this dread wash over him that he didn't dare take the next step further so he just waited here to get a little bit stronger and go over.
"What am I missing? Qi refining connects you and the spiritual energy in the environment, Spiritual foundation sets the layout and foundation for your cultivation journey, core formation gives you a catalyst and beacon for receiving and sending Qi, nascent soul connects your Qi to your soul, soul birth is when the soul sets its own foundation then what is spirit enlightenment?
What is spirit in a whole?"
He didn't quite understand the meaning of the word spirit, he had pondered upon it and all he could guess from his little knowledge that spirit and soul were the same thing, he had thought that with the excess energy that laid dormant in his body he could just barge his way through the cultivation realms up to the spirit enlightenment peak stage before he could worry about the latter realms which should be more easier with a few absorbtion from the people around but now he realized how naive he was, the energy in him could really take him even beyond the enlightenment realm, but what does that have to do with breaking through?
Cultivation was an excruciatingly painful and long journey and only in the latter stages could one really understand this saying. Ryu felt that since he wasn't bound by human cultivation he could as well skip all their mumbo jumbo but now he needed nothing more than finding some human knowledge as reference to progress.
He didn't know what a spirit meant, he didn't know how a spirit is connected to his soul or cultivation, he didn't know any ounce of knowledge partaining enlightenment, all he knew was that enlightenment was gained from constant meditation and pondering on the same thing and that was why he sat there cooking himself under the sun.
He sighed in frustration and turned his head eastward again, looking towards the capital, that heavy feeling of danger once again descended on him and his face twisted into a scowl before pushing himself up and walking down into the city Lord's courtyard.
He moved past the guards and all of them greeted him like he was the young master of this mansion, he made his way straight to the city Lord's study and there a man who seemed to be in his early 40's was seated. He looked towards Ryu with dull eyes. He didn't know who Ryu was, all he knew was this blindfolded little kid had the power to kill him even with his weaker cultivation realm.
Of course that wasn't enough to make the city Lord bow, Ryu had offered him something he couldn't resist, a way to breakthrough into the soul tempering realm. If he knew it was bluff he would have shattered Ryu with a palm strike in anger.
But the more Ryu understood who and what he was, the more he knew how to use his abilities, he could read people just by having a feel of their emotions.
Just by absorbing their emotions alone wasn't enough to read people's minds and problems but that was a whole different cow for a creature that was birthed of this very same emotions. If Ryu said he was the only one who understands human emotions the most then that was definitely the solid truth. He himself was a walking pile of emotions.
Just a few convincing words that struck right at the crux of the problem and a few tweaks to the person's emotions, he got a city Lord straight in his palms .
"I want to go to the capital" his gentle voice that made him very likable sounded in the city Lord's ears, the elderly man raised his head to stare at Ryu trying to see if he was just kidding or he was for real.
"You know what that means right?" He asked
"Of course I do and that's why I'm asking you". Ryu replied and before the city Lord will say a word he continued " I know I haven't kept my end of the bargain but I have to grow past this realm of cultivation before I can help you and that's why I need to get to the capital as soon as possible"
The city Lord who got his words stolen from his mouth could only sigh in relief not even aware that his emotions were tweaked the exact moment he felt a slight flicker doubt towards Ryu.
"I'll contact a few people and I'll get back to you by evening but you should prepare yourself so that there won't be delays when I call on you"
Ryu nodded and left quietly, he knew he could inquire about his cultivation from this city Lord but that would expose his identity and he wasn't sure he was strong enough to kill the man.
Two days later Ryu was on a wagon filled with different people who were headed towards the same destination.
This was a convoy of goods headed to the capital to be sold and the merchants were quite generous to allow him on the wagon for free, he would have been among the many who were trolling behind on foot.
Although it wasn't that stressful of a thing to do because the convoy was moving slow that didn't mean it felt bad to be in a seat for a journey that he was sure would last a month or two.