585: Only Two Paths

Only Two Paths

Questioned by his father, Ruishi Lei merely nodded.  2

"Yes, I believe that we shouldn't go to the North anymore. It's too dangerous, much too dangerous", he replied. 

"I see."

Ruishi Wang leaned back, mulling over the words of his son. Furrowing his brows, he looked at Ruishi Lei. 

"What exactly did you see? What did this phantom look like?" he asked. 

There was a moment of silence before the White Lion answered his father. 

"I don't know, it was quick and powerful. Before I even knew it, it had its grasp on me before I could even fight back. It warned me never to go up North or it will come to kill us all."

"Is that so? It was able to overpower you? So quick that you couldn't even catch a glimpse?"

"Yes, nothing more than a ghostly blur, that's why I called it a phantom."

"I see."

Ruishi Wang still had that look on his face, he didn't quite trust the words of his own son. However, he merely looked down at his desk, glancing at the various documents before sighing, 

"Alright then, I'll take it into account but it's good for you to have changed your mind. Don't forget that we're aiming for the other ruins. See if you can get that pig or boar or whatever from the Zodiacs to help us."

"You mean, Zhu Xie?" 

"Yeah, sure, Zhu Xie, we'll surely need his expertise when it comes to the relics and treasures." 

"Alright then, I will take my leave, Father." 

Ruishi Lei turned and left while his father didn't spare a second glance at his own son, paying more attention to the paperwork on his desk. When his son was gone and the doors were closed, it was just him alone. 

It was silent, save for scritching* of his pen. 

"Send a team to investigate the North. It doesn't have to be the ten strongest warriors, just pick some of the good ones to go, better if they are good trackers. Find out what exactly lurks up there and make sure no one else can find it. Also, have one or two follow my son at all times", he suddenly said. 

"Yes, elder."

A voice in the shadows answered back with just two words and no more. 

Ruishi Wang continued to read through and write up a few documents. He didn't even look up from his desk, fulfilling his responsibilities in silence. 

"Hm, I wonder what my own son is trying to hide from me", he muttered. 

Outside of those doors, Ruishi Lei descended from the top floor, coming down to the main hall and promptly leaving. The White Lion didn't turn back and continued walking, soon leaving the grounds of his tribe. 

Once outside, he loosened his guard just a bit.

"He's probably going to send people to search, he doesn't trust me at all. Still, if he were to know that the 'Phantom' was a human, he would stop at nothing to obtain her. By then, the other clans would surely take notice", he thought. 

Ruishi Lei then glanced back at the mansions of the tribe, letting out a sigh. 

"Hah, you bastard, if you're going to use someone at least know their name." 

Muttering under his breath, he looked away and left. 

In the days that passed, all of the beast-kin focused on the Earthbound Tortoise, breaking it down and using everything from its bones to its flesh, not even the shell was left alone. And the mountain on top of it was slowly being mined away for any rare minerals that it contained. 

And when the job was nearly done, they looked to the next target. 

"The Aureate Koi, that is the last of the Beast Gods. We must find it."

Within the main city, the council of the beast-kin was all seated within the halls, discussing what to do. 

"We just have to catch it right? We should have the Preservation Division keep watch of the lakes and rivers. Reclamation and Expedition will be in charge of capturing it. There you go, the solution!" said one of them. 

"Bah, are you serious? Do you know how vast the continent is? It took several months for all three divisions to explore half of it. It would take at least a year to go through the entire continent! How do you expect just Preservation to keep watch? Not to mention capturing it? The Aureate Koi is always moving. We've only seen it once or twice in the past ten years. We simply don't have the power to do it like this."

Another responded, ridiculing this idea. 

"Then what method do you have?" 

The was a pause before they answered. 

"We should try to lure it with the Earthbound Tortoise's meat. Bring it to a narrow stream and catch it then."

"What? What if it doesn't work? Just because we can consume it doesn't mean that the Aureate Koi is going to take the bite." 

"No harm in trying you know."

The was a brief pause before someone else spoke, a certain fox. 

"How about we just lay traps in the rivers? If we make them from the parts of the Earthbound Tortoise and the Devouring Goose, it won't be able to break through them. We don't have to watch the rivers and lakes constantly, just check the traps."

With her suggestion, there were murmurs among the other members of the council. All of them were in agreement and then one of them said something. 

"That's a good suggestion, Huxian Qie. I believe that we should move forward with it. What does everyone else think?"

People nodded in agreement and none seemed to protest it. 

"Alright then, let's move on to the next order of business, the Phantom of the North. What do we do about that?"

"It gave a warning to Ruishi Lei and apparently had a one-sided victory against him."

"Right, and don't forget it conjured up an attack strong enough to cripple the Earthbound Tortoise. Without that one move, the battle would've been lost. Our efforts would've been set back several months."

"It must've awakened from the commotion that the Beast God made, probably struck it down in anger." 

"And now it's warned us never to enter its territory. or else it will come for us all."

The atmosphere grew a bit more ominous as the silence that came was clear. After all, this was a very interesting situation that they had before them.

But then Ruishi Wang stood up and spoke first. He had a rather calm demeanor compared to his usual outbursts. Giving everyone a look, he began to talk. 

"After reading the reports and hearing what my son had to say, I believe that we should put off venturing into the North. This 'Phantom' may have the power to rival the other Beast Gods. At the very least, we should heed its warning", he reasoned. 

"What then? We can't just leave the North alone, can we?" the others asked.

"Obviously, once we deal with the Aureate Koi, we can move onto the Phantom of the North. Then there are two paths that we can take."

Ruishi Wang paused, looking at everyone and gauging their reactions before continuing. 

"Since it is able to speak, we can choose to befriend it. Its power would be incredibly helpful for us. However, if we cannot do so then the second option would be to kill it. With how powerful it is, we will need time to gather and consolidate enough power to take it down."

Ending those words with an icy tone, the lion-kin looked around, seeing that the other elders were all in deep thought. 

Both paths had their benefits and risks, they could either befriend it or kill it. It was a difficult choice, something that the council was split on. 

So, Ruishi Lei said one more thing. 

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