Good & Bad News

Ryujin already had so many qualms about the matter.

Though, Jada was as flat as a board, except for her long hairs which gave her away as a girl instead of a boy, he still didn't think he was ready to be having such successive levels of intimacy with any woman; his soul had yet to full awaken after all.

"We are family. And all of us have dreamt of being able to take a bath during winter without catching a cold or worse.

You have no idea how smelly we become by using wet towels alone; sometimes we stink so bad that we can't even sleep at night.

So do you mind giving us a hand?" Lin, totally oblivious of Ryujin's major worry, tried to play the guilt card, and it didn't take long before Ryujin gave in.

"Fine, just let me rest a bit and then I'll help you. But you still need to blindfold me, and I demand a witness!"

Hearing this, the trio began to laugh out loud.

"Why so many qualms? You are just a baby, not some thug." Jada chuckled.

'I would've loved to say that I am a gentleman, but I do not know the word for it.

I could also say I am a man, but that would make them laugh even harder.

Fuck this five-year-old body." Ryujin exasperatedly thought to himself.

"Damn, this is going to be a fricking long winter." He muttered with a sigh.

---

Just as Ryujin had predicted, his fifth winter turned out to be quite long, and weird; in an awkward way.

Treating Jada's condition required three session per week, with each one lasting for about four hours.

Two hours for the treatment itself and the remaining time for him to bathe and recover both his Focus and Vital Qi.

Manipulating Jada's Qi flow while simultaneously using and keeping his metavision in check took its toll every time.

The good news was that with so much practice, he was becoming accustomed to activating and maintaining several techniques at once. He had tried it once when he encountered the Winterhowler, but that not only took his entire attention, it also ravenously devoured his Focus Qi.

If that Winterhowler had came along with its pack, then Ryujin might have suffered a very contrasting fate instead; however, he could now maintain such a feat and still have a portion of his attention to spare, for a longer period of time; at least, half an hour.

Every treatment became easier than the previous one, and Jada's lungs were gradually healing, even as her symptoms improved at a swift pace.

Also, now that hot winter baths had become available, Dara also decided to join in, and before long, the entire family started to bathe often.

Raja made Ryujin a pair of snowshoes, gradually spending more and more time with him.

He also updated him on the progress of their plans and the situation of things in the entire Coral Island in general, and Ryujin couldn't help but tense up in both dread and anticipation.

It was an hour long update of both the worst and the best of news. 

Apparently, the Ji and Jiang Grand Families had begun to make their moves.

For one, Atlantea's upcoming Spring Festival also happened to fall within the same week as Coral Island's Coming of Age Ceremony; which in turn, was the day that every fated child across all five islands would undergo their Trials of Awakening.

The Coming of Age Ceremony, and by extension, Trial of Awakening, would come first. Then afterwards, it would be time for the Spring Festival.

It is generationally customary that both events always involve a tournament amongst the fated younger generation of that year.

All of these were good news to Ryujin's ears; however, the bad news was that, the other two Grand Families; the Ji and Wang Grand Families, have finally began to make their moves.

Apparently, whilst Ryujin had encountered the Ji Grand Family's heir, Raja had instead encountered that from the Wang Grand Family, and for some eerily fateful reasons, both encounters, though hundreds of kilometers apart, had ended with a similar result; the loss of an heir.

Even though Raja tried his best to not explicitly state the fact, it wasn't too difficult for Ryujin to deduce the truth out of his explanations, body language and tonal pitch.

'I have been far too shortsighted!' Ryujin mentally berated himself, even as he paid attention to Raja.

'If the Wang's sent their heir to Uncle's domain and the Ji's sent theirs to Father's domain, then it simply means that they've set their sights on not only the Chieftain's wealth, but also both our domains.

Though, I had expected this, but what I had not anticipated is the fact that they would come for us directly, rather than shamelessly skirting their way towards their intention.' Ryujin thought to himself.

"But won't the King sanction these two Grand Family's for attacking the remaining descendants of two other grand families?" Ryujin asked in a hushed tone.

"Well, normally that would be so; however, the political situation within Atlantea is extremely volatile at the moment.

Based on what we have gathered from our personal information networks, the King of Atlantea hails from an Imperial Clan of royalties called; Yun Empire.

The Atlantean King's father, the Yun Emperor, has four male heirs, all within a couples of years between one another's birth.

However, because the Emperor is impartial and always looking to ensure that his mantle is passed down unto a worthy successor, he granted his four children equal rights and opportunity at being the heir to his throne.

Then to test each of their abilities, he bestowed one of his four cardinal kingdoms to each of his sons, aiming to select the best performing king as his successor.

Each of these Kings all have different strengths, traits and character, and our King Atlas is know to be one that favors power over anything.

He doesn't care about what form one's power took; be it by virtue of Wealth, or Mass Influence or even Physical Prowess, and neither does he care where it was sourced from.

I and Shin believe that, it was because of this very reason that he had chosen to turn a blind eye to the tragedy that befell our family years ago, and since he had already done this once, we have every reason to believe that he would do it again."

Raja's expression turned grimmer the more he explained, and in fact, Ryujin's expression was way worse.

'It looking like a huge chaotic storm has set its course for Coral Island.' Ryujin thought to himself as he broke out in cold sweat.

The cogs of his brain turned relentlessly as they tried to churn out a plausible way to ride out and survive the brewing storm.

"Even if the King intervened, they could use the fact that both their heirs had visited our domains and none of them returned as an excuse for their assault.

Then if we add the allure of both our domains and the Chieftain's wealth, then I think it's safe to say that their intentions is to leave no survivors.

In fact, this might have as well been their plan. Who knows if they had intentionally sent their heirs over to our domains in hopes that something happened to them?"

"I thought as much. After all, why would a Grand Family send their heirs to another's domain and only accompany them with a single guard each; weak guards for that matter."

Ryujin didn't know when, but Shin had arrived by his side and he hadn't even sensed the air shift.

'It seems father has had a breakthrough in the Shadow aspect of the Chaotic Shadow Steps.' Ryujin thought to himself as he marveled at the prowess of the movement technique.

If his father had been an assassin sent to kill him, then he would have most likely only noticed his presence when his dagger touched his throat.

Ryujin was already touching upon an insight with which he could use to improve his own mastery of the technique further, but the current situation of his family seemed to deny him the liberty of sparing a part of his brain for anything other than a solution to the impending chaos.

"However, if that's the case, then I fear things might be even more dire that we thought." Shin added as formed a seating triangle with his brother and son.

"Uh? Why's that?"

Ryujin asked; his father's words seemed to be hinting that he still didn't have the full picture yet.

"I know the patriarch of Ji and Wang Grand Families' very well, and one thing I'm most certain of is that this idea, isn't theirs; they are neither as shrewd or ruthless."

"Then that can only mean-"

"Yeah. There's a mastermind behind all these."

"Could it be?" Raja asked with a hidden meaning.

"No way. I made sure he boarded the same ship as our parents." Shin replied as a repulsive expression flashed across his face for a moment.

Ryujin obviously knew who they were talking about, and he couldn't help but mentally face-palm himself at their attempt to encode their words.

Then again, he gave them a little benefit of the doubt that perhaps, they weren't hiding it from him but from his cousins who might possibly walk past and catch a word or two about what they were discussing.

"So, this means that, asides from preparing for an invasion from both sides, we still have to create a contingency plan for this mysterious mastermind?" Raja sought confirmation.

"Exactly. Furthermore, the fact that this mysterious mastermind is hidden in the shadows means that he might know everything about us, whilst we know nothing about him/her, asides the fact that they exist." Shin confirmed.

"Perhaps, if we know what exactly this mastermind is after, then we might be able to predict his plans based on the actions of the Ji and Wang Families." Ryujin voice his thoughts.

"You're right. But there's a huge problem with that.... How do we know exactly what he's after?"

"Furthermore, both our domains make up almost a hundred thousand kilometers; to find anything worthy of such expert's attention would be more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack."

"What's a haystack?" Raja asked as Ryujin realized that he had thought out loud once again, and perhaps said something he shouldn't have.

"It is a word I just came up with, it means..." Ryujin proceeded to give the duo an extremely brief explanation of what a haystack meant and how the needle related to it.

"Moreover, it would require an extremely large amount of manpower, and such a movement would be sure to catch the attention of both families and the mastermind." Shin inferred.

"Yeah; and not only that. He might get notice we are onto him, and even worse, that we know what he's after, and by then, things might get dire.

If he decided to alter his plans, then we would be left with out assess in our hands, and if he decide to personally take action, then even I dread the outcome of such scenario" Ryujin added.

Raja and Shin had almost asked what having "one's ass handed to one" meant, but reading the atmosphere and the context of their conversation, they were able to come to their own personal definitions of the expression.

"Which begs the question... How do we defend ourselves against both these visible and invisible threats?"

Raja asked with a bitter expression. From the looks of things, it was begining, no; to be more precise, it had begun to look like he was the least intelligent amongst the three of them, and he didn't like it one bit.

Ryujin and Shin were too busy to pay attention to his expression; otherwise, one of the two of them would have told him how important his input was to their decision-making; or at least that of Shin's.

Raja was very straightforward and didn't like anything that involved stressing one's brain.

He believed in solving his problems with his muscles and fists; once there's a clear goal in mind, he bulldozes his way to the finish line.

This was the reason why his questions had been been all about confirmation.

He simply wanted a definitive direction so he could get to work.