Ryuu's Choice

What does one mean by mastering a Dao, what does one mean by gaining an insight on a Dao how does one evaluate how much one has comprehended a Dao, to understand it one has to know that when one gains insight on a Dao he/she like fertile soil which a farmer sows the seeds of a plant, a seed is planted inside them which is known as Dao Seed, and how well the seed is nurture dictates the future accomplishment on the way of that particular Dao, once the seed germinates it sprouts and grows in whatever way the person dictates whether it be healthy or sickly it all depends on the comprehension of the person.

Ryuu was exposed to Alchemy as early as 5 years of age, since then a seed which was planted had started growing into a fine tree under the careful guidance of his mistress.

The level of comprehension one gets after the seed germinates can be divided into 8 categories from lowest to highest,

1) Novice

2) Apprentice

3) Adept

4) Expert

5) Master

6) Grandmaster

7) Legendary

8) God

Which can again be subdivided into 5 levels, Ryuu for all intent and purpose had managed to reach level 1 Expert level, his insight on the 'Grand Dao of Alchemy' can be attributed to the fact that him being a Dao Child, a beloved and cursed child of the Heavenly Dao, and his First Mistress who is so high upon the comprehension ladder that unknown to Ryuu usually imparts her understanding of Dao regularly, but comprehending is Ryuu's job alone.

A Dao is very powerful more so if it is a Grand Dao which is a level above normal Dao, but people have a habit of degrading Grand Dao of Alchemy into simple Dao of Alchemy by splitting the poison making part and the normal Pill making part, thus also degrading the levels as such those who have already ventured into the Dao of Alchemy can never move past the Master level as it is the end of the road for them such a the fellow known as Dugu Cheng, who for all intent and purpose is a person who is still stuck at the seedling stage, as he had gotten complacent and vain over the years neglecting his practice, as such when Ryuu announced his topic he almost suffered a heart attack.

"Dao Ascension pill", a simple name but it caused the entire room to fall silent, from the judge to announcer to the audience everyone was stunned to silence, only except the citizens of Ayindril specially Ryuu's older sisters who had a proud smile on their face.

Dugu Chen gathered his courage as he stammered out, "w-wh-what are y-you saying? Do you even know what kind of pill you trying to make?", he gathered his courage as he spoke with his tone laced with anger.

Ryuu stated nonchalantly, "Of course I know, isn't this the purpose of the duel trying to defeat the other with just the help of your knowledge as well as the Dao of alchemy."

Lang Yuzhu then spoke out, "Duelist Ryuu, the pill you speak of has many ingredients and I do not think we would be able to provide them."

Ryuu: "I know so I will prepare a list of all the 99 ingredients required for the pill to be formed, I could provide all of them but I do not want to be accused of cheating as such I would provide as many as you would allow, but I have only enough for only two sets, as such my fellow competitor and I will only have one set each of course I will allow him to take a pick first, also if you do not know the exact formulae I will write it down step by step the entire process for you, but the paper on which I will be write would be destroyed after you complete making it.", as Ryuu spoke he mentally thanked Antariskh as he was repeating word by word of the mental transmission send by her.

Lang Yuzhu and Dugu Chen both nodded in confirmation and then with the confirmation of the judge two sets of 19 ingredients were brought, Ryuu sighed muttering 'cheapskate', he turned towards Biskha as he spoke, "Biskha be a dear and place the remaining ingredients along with those which had been graciously donated please."

Biskha went and placed all the ingredients specifically the 'Enlightenment Fruit', at the sight of the fruit the hall had descended into chaos a '5 striped Enlightenment Fruit', a legendary fruit that made even Lang An drool.

Lang Yuzhu could not help but voice out, "Lord Ryuu, this is a very precious ingredient are you sure you want to continue, most of the ingredients are rare and very difficult to procure like this '5 striped Enlightenment Fruit' as such I would advise against using them.", although her voice held professionalism her eyes betrayed her as it clearly portrayed the greed in her heart.

Ryuu replied in a bored tone, "So what it is only an ingredient."

Lang Yuzhu repeated slowly, "Only an ingredient.", at first she wanted to lash out at the arrogant child before the reality hit her, 'the child has a backing of a very powerful force we should try not draw their ire.'

Before they began Ryuu spoke, "Concocting this pill will take a long time, and lots of KI, as such I would like to suggest having someone as a helper who would feed 'KI replenishing Pills' regular interval to avoid some accidents, please remember we will have only one chance to concoct the pill."

A lanky person went and stood behind Dugu Cheng while Shamiran went and stood behind Ryuu upon being permitted by the judge.

Lang Yuzhu once again started the countdown, "Three, Two , One Start."

With that both of them started on their respective concoction, while Dugu Cheng was busy working on the ingredients, Ryuu's hand glowed as he touched various part of his cauldron as there was a loud clanking noise the cauldron morphed into much bigger and sturdier version of the one he was using, it so big that Ryuu had to rely on a tool to work with it now, but it did not hinder Ryuu as his hands blurred as he used various ingredients each in proper way at correct intervals.