The city was bustling.
One might not expect it, but the Heavenly Path did, indeed, have cities. Not only did it have cities, it had many of them.
With the sheer number of cultivators entering at once, it was impossible to expect that they would just spend their days in the wilderness, hunting after beasts day in and day out. Depending on the whims of the Heavenly Path, one opening could last anywhere from a few months all the way up several decades. Even for cultivators, if the timing was closer to the latter than the former, they couldn't possibly spend the entire time fighting.
As a result of this, the cities of the Heavenly Path acted as a sort of recharge station where the currency was, once again Heavenly Favor. Not only did you need to pay a certain amount of Heavenly Favor to enter these cities, but everything within cost even more Heavenly Favor.
Luckily, the price was quite small. Theoretically, so long as you made it through the Miasma, you would have enough to enter a city at least once, so long as it was a lower ranked city, that is.
However, these cities weren't so simple either, at least they weren't as simple as this explanation made it seem. According to Aika, the cities also represented another opportunity.
There were certain treasures that could be bought in the city that couldn't easily be found in the outside world, these ranged from Ruin detection items, special ores, Spiritual Herbs, pills, potions, and even weapons.
It was said that the Heavens kept a tab on every natural resource to ever have existed, and sometimes, they would allow long since extinct items to reappear within the Heavenly Path to be exchanged for by Heavenly Favor.
For the geniuses who often entered the Heavenly Path, geniuses who usually had everything at their fingertips, this was a greatly tempting proposition, especially since the price to pay would be much cheaper here than such a thing would ever be in the outside world.
Ryu appeared outside of one of these cities, covering large and sweeping pieces of ground with every step.
By now, it had already been just over a month since he had entered the Heavenly Path. The amount of Heavenly Favor he had accumulated was so heavy that golden rings shone deep within the depths of his eyes.
Before the final phase, gazing into one's irises was about the only way to tell just how much Heavenly Favor they had accumulated and was a simple way to distinguish the weak from the strong.
Ryu had no doubt that even if others had entered with more Heavenly Favor than himself, but now, he was most definitely in first place. There was simply no way for anyone else to keep up with him unless they too were Ruin Masters.
Of course, it wasn't as though this was an impossibility. From what Ryu had learned, it was very likely that the Ruin Master Guild that had targeted his home world was involved in this matter. However, even if this was the case, Ryu was confident in his abilities as a Ruin Master even in comparison to the geniuses of the True Martial World.
Ryu entered the range of the city, sweeping his Void Spiritual Sense past its tall bronze gates.
The cities of the Heavenly Path were separated quite obviously. There were 999 bronze cities, 99 silver cities, 9 gold cities, and just one diamond city. The diamond city would not appear until the final phase, but the other three groups of cities would be present from the very beginning.
Given the bronze gates on this city, it was most definitely a bronze city. As such, it had the lowest price of entry, but it also came with the worst selection of items to trade for.
That said, Ryu hadn't come here to trade for items, nor had he come here to rest. Even if there was an item of extreme rarity before him, one that could change his life forever, unless it could break the shackles of his Spiritual Foundation, he wouldn't even give it a second look.
No, his purpose here was very different.
"Halt!"
Ryu was quite a distance away, but the booming voices of the city's "guards" already sounded.
This was, of course, nonsense. The Heavenly Path regulated itself, there were no shopkeepers, no servants, and there were most definitely no city guards. All of the rules set by the city would simply be followed unless you wanted to be kicked out, it was just that simple.
There was only one rule at that: no killing. As for the toll fee to enter the city, it would be taken automatically. There was no need for guards at all.
Seeing that Ryu had no intention of stopping, the guards' expressions turned malevolent.
"This bronze city is under the control of the Mystic Sanskrit Sect!"
The guards were about to threaten Ryu more, but before they could, he came to a stop, standing just a meter before them both.
Just as the guards were about to sneer and give Ryu hell for not knowing better and provoking them, Ryu's fists lashed out at the same time. From a certain perspective, it almost looked as though he was casually flicking his wrist, but the power that came behind it was like a torrential storm.
BANG! BANG!
The heads of the two guards exploded into a rain of blood and gore.
Those that had been near the gates or were waiting for their opportunity to step into the city, froze. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
The Mystic Sanskrit Sect was a Three Star Sect, only a Sect of such caliber would dare to claim a city to begin with, let alone demanding extra fees for entry, and yet this young man had directly killed two of their disciples without batting an eye.
Ryu didn't say a single word from start to finish, entering the city. He didn't have patience for such garbage, every second of his day counted.
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