BANG!
Ryu's feet landed, the beast below him being crushed into minced meat, his irises flickering with the Mountain Character.
Ryu waved a hand, a Beast Core shooting into his head. The flesh and blood covering it froze over and fell off piece by piece.
"Alright, Little Silk, get to it."
Little Silk fluttered with excitement. Ryu had just killed a Ninth Order Heaven Grade beast with a single stomp, how could she not be excited? At this pace, it really wouldn't be long until she regained her original strength.
Long strands of silk left her little body, wrapping around the corpse and absorbing it with gusto. It was hard to tell where it all went with that little body of hers that could fit on a single palm. But the fact that Little Silk could remain so small was actually a good thing from what Ryu could tell.
Beasts in the True Martial World tended to be much smaller. Even the most powerful ones Ryu had come across were just about a dozen meters long, and that was a snake beast to begin with. The others were mostly much smaller than that. Plus, just from a cursory glance around with his Spiritual Sense, the beasts of the Second Heaven tended to be a tick smaller as well.
What was shocking about this was that Little Silk had been so small since she was an overlord in Sacrum. If Ryu was correct, Little Silk likely had quite a bit more potential than just the Sovereign Grade. But whether he would be able to get that potential out of her without Ailsa's help would be another matter entirely.
For now, he could just do his best to help her recover to her peak.
Ryu took a step forward and vanished.
In the beginning, he only targeted Ninth Order beasts until Little Silk didn't get any large help from them any longer. Only then did he change targets to Tenth Order Beasts.
While Heaven Grade beasts were exceptionally rare on the First Heaven, they were more ubiquitous on the Second Heaven although not exaggeratedly so. What were rare were Sovereign Grade beasts as Ryu had yet to run into even a single one.
Little Silk quickly recovered to the Seventh Order and made great headway toward the Eighth.
Ryu only occasionally took some meat from their corpses ahead of time, but it wasn't too helpful to him. Before, he found Heaven Grade meat to be a delicacy, but right now his stomach felt like a vast pit he couldn't fill no matter how hard he tried.
Ryu's skin flickered with starry light as he punched outward, cracking the skull of a Tenth Order. After weakening it, he stood to the side and let Little Silk fight it. He felt that by allowing Little Silk to use more of her strength, the process of evolution would be much smoother.
Minutes later, Little Silk won the battle and absorbed the corpse, returning to the Eighth Order.
'Okay, it's time to travel deeper. The Sovereign Grade beasts should be hidden in there somewhere. The more powerful beasts will be in there too.'
Ryu's body flickered. Taking Little Silk with him, his speed exploded forth, entering the depths of the mountain range.
His Spiritual Sense spread out far and wide, covering a range of over 100 kilometers with ease. This was already a range that a World Sea Realm expert could hardly hope to match up to under the suppression of the Second Heaven, yet he had accomplished it at the Immortal Ring Realm.
Ryu's mind danced with images of the terrain, locating all the targets he wanted in the blink of an eye.
After another half day, Little Silk had recovered to the Ninth Order. Her progress had slowed tremendously, but it could only be expected considering the state of things.
What was interesting was that the little butterfly hadn't grown in size at all. By this point, Ryu couldn't help but wonder if his mother had done more to this little one than just allowing her to match up to the true Sovereign Grade rather than being stuck at the Sovereign Grade of the True Martial World.
Ryu had killed dozens of Eleventh Order Heaven Grade beasts by now.
In order to not tire himself out as these creatures were truly powerful, he relied on his archery and sneak attacks, targeting these beasts before they were even aware of his presence.
If others could see him slaughtering beasts even Heaven Class World Sea Realm experts would struggle with, there was no doubt that they would want to cut open his body to see what was hidden within.
During this period, Ryu got a good understanding of just how rare Dao Cores and Dao Bones were. He only targeted powerful Heaven Grade creatures and he had already killed thousands of them in the last few days, and yet he hadn't run into even a single one.
It was an entire three more days before Little Silk could recover to the Tenth Order, but this speed was already astounding. Little Silk couldn't help but flutter around happily, feeling that his strength had truly become monstrous.
Now, she felt that she could crush Cosmic Seed Realm Sovereign Class geniuses and she could be of great help to Ryu at this level as well. Now there was just a final push left before she could return to the World Sea Realm.
However, by this point, Ryu was truly baffled. Why was it that he hadn't run into even a single Sovereign Grade beast yet? Something seemed off.
He had ventured quite deep, deep enough that even God Beasts should have appeared by now, but they were nowhere to be seen as well.
Ryu had proceeded very cautiously as if he used his Void Spiritual Sense too liberally, the likes of a God Beast might be able to see through him and track him. But after days of this caution, he hadn't run into any such beasts either.
'Was I wrong about this place…? Why would the Carving Ice Sect settle into such a weak region? It doesn't make much sense…'
Ryu's gaze narrowed. Something wasn't adding up properly.
Ryu looked toward the true depths of the mountain range. He hadn't dared to go into that region or even stretch his Spiritual Sense into it since he was absolutely certain that there were God Beasts over there. But it seemed that he would need to be a bit bolder.