In that moment, the wild surge of qi and wind suddenly vanished, sucked into Ryu's strike as though the blade qi itself had formed an airtight vacuum.
Brune's eyes widened. It was only now that he realized that this was the true strength of [Rising Crimson]. The initial strike wasn't even Ryu's all out attempt.
Brune roared, a radiant white light shooting out from him in all directions as a towering tree of light manifested around him. On the branches of this tree, delicately dancing wisps of white light formed, but of seemingly nine possible locations to fill, Brune had only filled up seven of them.
Even so, the defenses of the tree were extraordinarily powerful.
Light qi was considered to be a powerful and rare affinity, even Ryu didn't have any affinity for it whatsoever, nor did he have an affinity for its counterpart, darkness. Higher level qis like this, especially ones not strapped down by the usual elements, had a great amount of versatility.
The Wallowing Wisp Sect, however, seemed to hone in on area control and defense, and this allowed them to shine quite well.
When Ryu's attack landed, there was a resounded boom and Brune's defenses quaked. But it still held strong, not showing any signs of collapsing.
Ryu's gaze flashed, the runes in his eyes lighting up with an eerie ancient green color as he began to pour out more and more of his strength. It seemed that this battle would be a good one.
He rushed forward.
…
Brune and Ryu continuously clashed in the air. Brune had no ability to lock Ryu down due to the latter's exceptional movement prowess, while Ryu seemed completely unable to truly harm Brune.
There was once in their battle when Ryu caught Brune off guard using the full brunt of Dividing Heaven to find the weakness in his defenses and split them in two, but aside from a mild injury that could be considered to be in between a flesh wound and a lethal blow, Brune was just fine.
At the same time, Ryu couldn't afford to make such mistakes himself. He didn't have the strength or defenses of a World Sea Realm expert without relying on his Dao, but his Dao didn't have any natural defensive properties as its foundation was offensive.
Still, Ryu danced between the line of life and death, his intent blazing and his heart remaining unmoved. He read and reacted as the situation dictated, and while never clashing with Brune head on, he still gave the latter fits.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Raging cyclones of fire and arcs of lightning surrounded Ryu, the Fire and Thunder characters in his eyes pulsing with a blinding light that matched even Brune's manifestations in brightness.
Sweat beaded down his body and coated his exposed torso, but he seemed to only be intent on battling more.
Time ticked by and minutes became hours. By this point, the individuals who had come to spectate had grown numb. None of them could imagine how it was that an Immortal Ring Realm expert could possibly battle with a World Sea Realm expert to this extent.
However, it was bound to come to an end.
At that moment, the youths who had been mining the rest of the ores rushed out, their eyes wide when they realized that the battle was still ongoing.
Originally, their first intention had been to intercept Brune on his way back to his Sect. Everyone knew that Xan of the Dew Drop Sect had by far the fastest movement treasure among them so it was impossible for Brune to hope to escape.
But what they hadn't expected was for Brune to actually still be here, and to be battling to a stalemate with an Immortal Ring Realm boy.
On one side, Ryu was drenched in sweat and some faint lines of blood from wounds that had long since healed. Brune, however, was clearly much less tired, but his wounds hadn't healed and were actually more severe.
When both things were taken into account, they actually seemed to be fairly even, something none of them could properly fathom.
Ryu was a bit unhappy when he saw that the others had come out. He knew this meant that he wouldn't be able to continue this battle and it left him feeling not a small bit disappointed. It was especially hard for him to find a single opponent he could go all out against. Although, he still hadn't used any Soul Techniques.
Ryu stopped attacking, his arms lowering and his fingers barely holding on to the heft of his great swordstaffs.
He took a deep breath and exhaled. It seemed that he would just have to go and digest his accumulations. Then he would finish re-cultivating the Divine Vessel, Connecting Heaven, and Immortal Ring Realms. By then, even if all of these people came at him together, he wouldn't have anything to fear.
Ryu didn't look in the direction of these people and simply let one of his great swordstaffs slip to his feet while the other hovered to his back.
The expressions of the others changed.
"Stop him!"
Surprisingly, though, Brune didn't make any attempt to. He was the one that had been fighting Ryu for so many hours, and that was enough to leave him with a deep impression. Rushing to deal with a person like him would only lead to your death.
SHUUU!
Ryu shot into the air, his straight line speed reaching a ridiculous level. In the blink of an eye, he had already reached the entrance of the Radiant Star Sect and he still hadn't bothered to look back.
Xan's body was suddenly wrapped in a light and he shot forward, his speed even faster than Ryu's. In fact, he was so much faster that as Ryu was about to cross the barrier of the Sect, he had appeared to his back.
However, at that moment, a graceful figure appeared to Ryu's side and stretched out a dainty palm.
BANG!
Xan flew back out even faster than he had come, clearing the horizon in the blink of an eye.
[Important Author's Note below]