Fruu tried many times but couldn't extract the essence of the Sunlit Blossom.
"Slowly trap that drop of essence with your Ki and then draw it out." Seeing his great-grandson struggle, Grandmaster Ruu personally guided him.
"This… it worked?" Under Grandmaster Ruu's careful guidance, Fruu finally managed to extract a drop of the Sunlit Blossom's essence.
Looking at the pure essence of the Sunlit Blossom, Grandmaster Ruu felt a deep sense of admiration. It seemed the reputation of the Path Master was not just for show.
As one of the powerhouses of the Verse, Grandmaster Ruu knew well how impossible it was to extract the essence of a herb without polluting it—using Ki.
Seeing Fruu extract the rest of the Sunlit Blossom's essence, Grandmaster Ruu materialized a few more herbs and gently guided him to extract their essence.
After half a day of testing herbs of various grades, Grandmaster Ruu finally confirmed the information his disciple had sent him.
"You should rest now." Seeing the exhaustion on his great-grandson's face, Grandmaster Ruu cast a few recovery spells and a dream spell, letting him fall into a deep slumber.
"I have something important to do. You all should go down." Guiding his sleeping great-grandson into the palace, Grandmaster Ruu turned to the others and spoke.
The group of confused and excited Transcendents reluctantly withdrew.
"Where is Truu?" As the group of Transcendents retreated, Grandmaster Ruu wondered where his son had been. Since coming out of his slumber, he hadn't seen him.
To find the location of his son, Grandmaster Ruu let go of the restrictions on his Soul.
With a thud, the chains binding one of the most powerful Souls in the Verse were broken, and the whole World of Frokuin trembled.
The ground was instantly compressed by several hundred feet, and even the fabric of space around him began to crack.
"So, that's where he is." As he released the restrictions on his Soul, Grandmaster Ruu instantly sensed his son's location.
Seeing his son on the front lines battling Chaos, Grandmaster Ruu felt pleased, and a smile appeared on his face.
Amongst all his descendants, only Pruu, Truu, and Bruu held any hope of breaking their bloodline limits and reaching the pinnacle of the Soul Path.
Unfortunately, Pruu was in serious condition, and it would take countless Ages for her to recover. Meanwhile, for reasons unknown, Bruu had been sleeping for the past two Ages. Only his firstborn, Truu, had undergone his second Soul Transformation and was slowly approaching the third Transformation.
Which is why Grandmaster Ruu was worried about Truu; he didn't want his son to suffer an accident like his other descendants.
However, knowing that he was on the Chaos battlefield put him at ease.
With nothing left to worry about, Grandmaster Ruu drew his mighty Dragon Soul out of his human body.
Soon, a Western Dragon a few thousand feet tall manifested. With a single leap, Grandmaster Ruu, along with his human body, soared into the sky.
In the blink of an eye, he left the troposphere and ascended toward the exosphere.
—————
"Don't know why, but that lizard left. Should we act now?" an old voice asked somewhere in the Frokuin World.
"Is your aging body affecting your mind? What if he's only gone for a short while?" another gloomy voice echoed in the darkness.
"Does this place have to be so dark and gloomy?" As the voice sounded, the room lit up, revealing three Soul projections seated around a round table.
"You guys are already here." Accompanied by a cheerful voice, another Soul projection appeared in the room.
"I have to say, Yuu, your body can't keep up anymore. It's even affecting your soul. If you'd like, I can arrange a good human body for you." Seeing the weakened aura of his friend, Luu spoke with concern.
"I will never abandon my ancestral body, much less dwell in a disgusting human one." Yuu shuddered at the thought of living inside a human body.
"Are we criticizing Yuu for his old body? I like this game. How about this: your body is so old, I can smell primal Ki from it." As the last to appear, Nuu had no idea what they were talking about, so she simply went with the flow.
"Enough, take things seriously." As usual, Auu couldn't handle Nuu's cheerful persona.
"No need to get so worked up, Auu. Let's officially begin the meeting." The moment Luu spoke, the room's atmosphere turned serious, and even Nuu's cheerful expression disappeared.
"Are we going with our previous plan?" Auu asked, still hesitant about targeting Ruu and his son, Truu.
"Of course!! Or do you want his side branch to continue ruling the world?" Yuu, as the son of the previous Soul Dragon Clan Chief, was furious at Ruu for taking over the position that rightfully belonged to him.
"You know that wasn't what he meant!" Luu tried to calm the situation, fully aware of the grudge between Ruu and Yuu.
The Soul Dragon Clan has four main branches: The Y, The L, The A, and The N. For generations, The Y had always been the leader. However, a few Eons ago, an unknown side branch gave birth to a mutated Soul Dragon, and thus the Legend of Ruu began.
He led his branch from barely surviving to completely dominating the entire Clan. During his conquest to become Clan Leader, Ruu defeated the previous Chief, Yu, who could not bear the defeat and willingly entered the Gate of Reincarnation.
Because of this incident, Yuu holds Ruu accountable for his father's departure.
"Guys, aren't we missing the most important point? We still haven't undergone our Third Transformation, while Ruu has already become a Saint.
Saint, as in S-A-I-N-T, the one who reached the peak and started another path. From my intelligence, he likely underwent his first Transformation in Magic as well."
As Auu and Yuu were about to get into a lengthy argument, Nuu poured cold water over their heads.
"Don't worry, I've got a foolproof plan. I'm going to trick Grandpa into believing that Ruu betrayed us and that he's planning to join the Were-beast race.
While Grandpa and Ruu are talking, we'll attack Truu and force him to enter the Gate of Reincarnation. With Truu gone, Ruu would suffer massive bloodline backlash, which could take Eons to recover."
Yuu laid out his carefully crafted plan.