Mae's brows jumped when she saw what Ryu was doing. Those were both top class Mystical Grade pills. They were worth far more than what one could find on the lower Heavens not only because of their grade, after all, the lower Heavens did have alchemists capable of creating such concoctions. The most important reason was because the ingredients used and the pill formulas used were astonishingly rare. Even Mae only had three more left.
However, she soon calmed down. Ryu had no reason to destroy pills she gave him, plus she had seen him accept an alchemy inheritance previously. The main issue, though, was whether the current Ryu could do such a thing to pills of this level. After all, one needed to have strength equivalent to the Divine Vessel and Cosmic Seed Realm to concoct pills of the Mystical Grade.
Unfortunately, Mae wouldn't be able to get her answers immediately as a sharp light suddenly came from her side.
Mae's expression turned cold as het tail lashed out like a whip, cracking as if thunder through the air as it shattered the oncoming attack.
Her head turned toward Akura whose mouth was still open in an attack position. Even so, his lips had a little bit of a sneering arc on them. It was clear that he hadn't attacked very seriously, but at the same time, he had no intention of just allowing the couple to talk and rest as they pleased without any sort of pushback. If Ryu really recovered, wouldn't they be screwed?
"I suggest you piss off before i get angry," Mae said coldly.
"Oh my," Akura shivered, his scaled cheeks and brows trembling under his command as though to really sell the fact that he was scared, "don't glare at me like that beauty, I scare easily. Tell you what, become my woman and I'll let you off. I just want a taste, just a few nights, after all I can't take a tainted woman as my-"
A piercing coldness seemed to invade Akura's soul. He could hardly tremble once before Ryu suddenly reached out a palm, causing his abandoned great swordstaffs to stream toward him like arching meteors.
He caught the polearm of one and sent in flying toward Akura with even faster speed. Through the air, numerous cracks began to appear on the blade as it trembled and quaked. Akura's eyes widened as he hurried to defend himself. Ultimately, it was just a Heaven Grade weapon from the lower Heavens, he couldn't believe that it could do much to him if he was cautious. Then, he would be able to sneer and deride as he pleased. But then something astonishing happend.
BOOM!
The great swordstaff exploded out with such force that many of the geniuses in the surroundings were forced to retreat even as a tragic scream echoed from Akura who was enveloped by the blast.
Vie and the other geniuses watched on with wide eyes.
The self-destruction of weapons wasn't unheard of to them, it was just rarely done and only in the direst of situations. But what was even more shocking than that was that a Heaven Grade weapon from the lower Heaven could actually produce such devastating results.
Just the same way as a Path Extinction expert of the First Heaven stood no chance against a Path Extinction expert of the Fourth Heaven, so too was it the same for their Heaven Grade weapons, pills, formations and the like.
But this didn't seem to be the case with Ryu's. In fact, it even surpassed their understanding of Heaven Grade treasures by a great margin. It was difficult for them to accept what was right before them.
Haggard coughs echoed and everyone's brows seemed to shoot up when they saw Akura's state afterward. He had the strongest defenses of them all, and yet he was entirely riddled through with holes, his body flooded with a torrent of blood that was very clearly his own. He looked as though he was a step from the grave as he lay on what remained of the fluttering star path.
Ryu looked down coldy. No matter what kind of state he was in, no one could freely run their mouths in front of him unless they wanted to be taught a very painful lesson. If it wasn't for his state, Akura would have been more than just heavily injured, he would be dead.
Mae looked toward Ryu with a googly-eyed look only teenage girls would understand. But before she could say anything, she found herself swept up and onto Ryu's great swordstaff before he shot directly into the air.
Ryu couldn't maintain his Sword God aura for long with the current state of his Focus Qi, but he hoped to maintain it for just long enough to leave this place.
He shot forward, blazing out of the trail Akura's state had now left wide open. The others were so shocked that they couldn't react immediately, and when they did, their gazes turned malevolent, but also somewhat cautious. Ryu clearly had one more great swordstaff to use, and none of their defenses were as great as Akura's. If they weren't cautious enough, they could die.
Immediately, they all brought out their flying treasures to pursue Ryu, but to their shock, they refused to work.
"What the hell?"
"What's going on?"
Ryu and Mae got further and further away, getting even higher in the skies.
"Shoot them down!"
Not having time to understand what had gone wrong, they immediately changed tactics, preparing long ranged attacks. Unfortunately none of them were archers so their effectiveness in the long range wasn't nearly as great as Ryu's. To make matters worse, their hesitation in the beginning had allowed Ryu to shoot outside of the effective range of their strikes.
Jenneless hesitated. She had already analyzed that of all those here, her long ranged attacks were definitely the most potent. But if she acted now, her relatively lowkey existence would be gone, and she only felt that she had a 10% chance of taking Ryu down. In terms of nimbleness and speed, a sowrdsman's sword was on a completely different level, it was no different from an extension of their bodies.
"After them!"
It was unknown who spoke first, but the group began to jump down from the star path one after another, unwilling to wait patiently for it to vanish any longer. They landed heavily on the ground below and began to race after the pair, circulating their movement techniques.
However, while Ryu and Mae were flying unobstructed through the skies, they had to deal with the terrain disadvantage on the ground, weaving into and out of trees, climbing mountain and hills, and to make it worse, they were even obstructed by the many beasts of the Heavenly Path as well.
Mae looked back as they got further and further away, a hint of surprise on her face.
"Why can't they fly?" She mumbled to herself.
"They're fools," Ryu replied coldly. "For one, they were on the star path. If flying had been allowed on the star path, wouldn't you just be able to skip all the trials and go right to the Dao Lord's inheritance?"
Mae was suddenly enlightened. Could it be that they just didn't realize that they could use their flying treasures now that they were on the ground? If that was the case, they really were idiots. But... that didn't explain why Ryu could fly.
"And second, they haven't realized that the third phase has already started. If I'm correct, you're meant to use your own abilities to reach the diamond city which is hovering in the air. If that's the case, they wouldn't allow the use of flying treasures. As for my flight, it exists outside of the bounds of their restrictions because it's my own personal ability."
Ryu zipped forward, his Focus Qi quickly draining it's last remaining dregs.
Black spots and flashing lights began to appear in his vision, but he grit his teeth, soaring forward at the fastest speed he could musted until the shadow of the large ancient cube and diamond city were cast over them.
As expected, several chains dangled from beneath the city. If Ryu was correct, you were supposed to use your own abilities to climb up with these chains and weather whatever trials came with them. Ryu, however...
Ryu angled his great swordstaff upward and tore a path almost straight up, holding onto Mae's waist tightly as his vision threatened to give out.
He began to feel light headed and a strong feeling of vertigo overwhelmed him. He simultaneously felt the need to close his eyes and throw his guts up. However, he contined to push, going further and further until he soared beyond the city limits.
A wave of relief hit Ryu, but that relief came at the worst time. His body seemed to shut down and his vision went entirely dark. His sword lost its aura entirely and he began to fall through the skies, his grip on Mae loosening.
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