The eyes of the geniuses suddenly widened.
Ryu's words were like anvils falling on their hearts. Even if it was happening right in front of it, they didn't believe what they were seeing, they refused to believe what they were seeing. Who would give up the Inheritance of a Dao Lord?! If they had known that this was the Inheritance of a Dao Sovereign instead, who knew how shaken they would truly be.
And yet, Ryu had done it without the slightest hesitation. That smile on his face had nothing to do with finally having this Inheritance before him and everything to do with the happiness of finally fighting the battle he wanted to fight. He smiled for himself, not this Dao Sovereign who thought himself to be so great and imposing.
If there was anything Ryu absolutely abhorred, it was being tested. He might have been able to let the Dao Sovereign's arrogance slide if he faced the same test as everyone else, but to nearly force him to his knees and then to stop him at the final moment even when he had clearly passed the star path's test with much greater ease that Starlight had already crossed Ryu's bottom line.
Even so, back then, Ryu had hesitated. The inheritance was simply too perfect for him. A Dao Sovereign with a Spatial Soul Nature and even the Chaotic Silk Meridians... It was as though the Heavens had placed this Inheritance down for no one other than himself.
But in the midst of his battle with Starlight, Ryu, who had faced far more pressure than he ever had before, realized that there was simply nothing worth compromising his own heart for. Even if you became the most docile individual in existence, so long as you came across someone powerful on a bad day, your life would be in their hands.
Ryu refused to live such an existence. He would rather die.
He didn't want the Dao Sovereign's Karma. He didn't want his Inheritance to sully his Dao Heart. He didn't even want others to think for a moment that he was associated with such trash.
He was Ryu Tatsuya, and he would make certain that that name shone far and wide for as long as he breathed.
Suddenly, a blinding pillar of light descended from the skies and crashed into Ryu's body. The agitated miasma of Heavenly Favor reacted more violently than it ever had before, pouring down with greater and greater might.
Ryu coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body being in far too terrible a state to withstand such pressure.
He collapsed onto the star path, his body being suppressed beneath the pillar.
At the same time, his Origin Birthed Phenomena could only slowly fade from his existence as he lacked the stamina to keep going. By this point, his Focus Qi had hit rock bottom and he could hardly see straight, let alone sustain such a talent.
The Unbalance Mantra alone was a huge drain on Ryu's soul and Focus Qi, the fact that he needed to fuse and use multiples of his talents at once just to deal lethal damage to Starlight only made that drain even faster.
"Ryu!" Mae called out beside herself, but she couldn't move forward at all. The second phase was still going on, so the rules of the star path were still in place. There was no path forward for the rest of them to move.
Vie looked toward Mae and the dark expression in his eyes had already reached its peak.
They hadn't seen the silver masked man on the way here, so it had already been obvious that one of those two had been him. Beyond that, it only took a little guess work to realize that he was Ryu, especially after the clear use of lightning and those scales.
He hadn't thought that someone who started so far behind them would be so powerful. But to make matters worse, he had been forced to kneel along with everyone else when Ryu's Birthed Phenomena appeared. If it wasn't for this barrier stopping him, he would have already shot forward to deal a lethal blow.
Giving up a Dao Lord's Inheritance? He didn't believe that Ryu would do so!
That was nothing more than a ruse! He was certain.
That pillar of light that Ryu was pinned beneath right now should be the inheritance of the Dao Lord and right now Ryu should be trying his best to assimilate with it.
Vie flipped his palm and rolled a peculiar object in his palm. He had prepared this for Mae, it was a treasure that would allow him to maximize the benefits he received from her soul and fix his only weakness, allowing him to truly match up to those Sixth Heaven monsters.
However, it would be worth it if he changed his target.
If his target was Ryu instead, he should be able to take the entire inheritance for himself.
Vie had to admit that Ryu's ploy was clever in its intent, but the execution was far too sub standard. That said, what else could he have done given the circumstances? It wasn't exactly like there was the time or a chance to think of something better.
No matter how talented and powerful Ryu was, he was a man on his last legs.
Vie didn't believe he would last more than a few exchanges with him right now.
With a subtle flip of his palm, Vie's treasure vanished and his emerald irises blazed as he locked onto Ryu's position.
Vie sent a glance around him and sneered. Clearly, it wasn't just he who had these same thoughts, but he had come here prepared to fight these individuals for the Inheritance regardless. None of them would stop him!
Ryu, who was trapped beneath the pillar, didn't have time to worry about the thoughts of these people. Although the situation was painful and the pressure was only worsening his injuries and draining his stamina even further as he tried to resist it, his gaze remained incomparably sharp.
It had actually worked, he hadn't thought that it would. But now there was a faint light of hope.
The blazing intent in his gaze grew fiercer as the golden rings within his eyes began to shine as bright as stars.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶