"Activate the formation!"
"The formation?! It's just one Immortal Ring Realm expert! Slaughter him!"
The roars of fury and indignance layered atop of one another, however as they did, the pristine white snow quickly gained a flood of crimson, the fluttering white the descended from the sky beginning to feel far less beautiful and far more like a harbinger of death.
Ryu had appeared without warning and began an all out slaughter without the slightest hesitation. In the beginning, many had been willing to believe he was a disciple they had never seen before, after all, it was impossible to know every single member of their Sect personally. And yet, he didn't seem keen on taking advantage of this at all.
At that moment, a familiar figure ran out of the formation, his gaze blazing with fury.
Jenneless' junior brother, Koris, couldn't believe what was happening. This formation had been set up to deal with the potential reaction of the beasts in the mountain range due to their actions. Never did they think that before the beasts could even retaliate, it would be a foolish human who attacked first.
"With me! Get into formation! This might just be a probe from another power, more could be coming! Don't rush around like loose sand and deal with this problem swiftly!"
Under Koris' leadership, the loose formation of cultivators began to shape up somewhat and the swift killing spree Ryu had been on slowed somewhat.
"Who are you?! How dare you attack my Carving Ice Sect?!" Koris' voice boomed, his gaze flashing with battle intent.
These days, he had a lot of pent up frustration. Considering that he had been chosen to go to the First Heaven along with Jenneless, his own standing in the Sect was quite high, after all, the secret of the Frost Clan's Ruin couldn't be shared with just anyone.
However, now, he had been reduced to a lackey, rushing around like a dog with its tail between its legs just to gather up more resources for Jenneless to use. Although he had always had a healthy respect and even fear of Jenneless, that didn't mean that he was willing to be beneath her all his life, it was just that he was unfortunate to be born several years later than her.
But now it was already over. The Ruin was his last chance to surpass her, and since that had fallen through, the Sect had made the decision to back her entirely. Such a large scale refinement could only take place once, and now that things had gone so far, his chances were nil. He would forever be cosigned to mediocrity.
This all left him in a furious state and Ryu just so happened to appear in time to allow him to vent this frustration. In fact, he hoped that there was more where Ryu came from. If the refinement process could be disrupted entirely, that would be for the best. Since he couldn't have it, why should anyone else?
In his fury, though, Koris had no idea that the masked man before him was the very same Ryu he had almost killed several months ago, nor did he know that it was this same Ryu who held such high level alchemy secrets, and neither would he come to know these things because he was immediately infuriated by the fact Ryu directly ignored him.
Ryu stretched out his great swordstaff, a rippling qi surging around it.
[Rising Tempest].
The aura of a powerful spear technique swirled in the air, a tornado of qi wrapping around Ryu's outstretched great swordstaff to the point it became almost like a heavenly lance.
"Dao Charm technique!"
Unfortunately, it was already too late. In the time that it had taken the disciples of the Carving Ice Sect to organize, he had already accumulated the momentum for this technique. Even without revealing his true cards, the power behind this blow was beyond the imagining of those here.
Ryu tapped a foot and vanished, his speed tearing across space and appearing before the mass of accumulated disciples.
Carnage.
Everywhere the revolving cyclone of qi passed, another expert was ripped to shreds. Blood flew and flesh collapsed, bits and pieces of bone rotating outward like the shrapnel of a grenade.
Koris' eyes widened, a heart lurching fear taking grip of his chest and throat as he rapidly retreated. He too had thought that it would be ridiculous to use the formation against an Immortal Ring Realm expert, but this… how could he have predicted this?
Koris retreated quickly, unwilling to get swept up in the carnage. But even as he did so, Ryu seemed to be swiftly catching up.
Releasing a roar, a towering ice qi surged around Koris, his palms slapping outward as he continued to rapidly retreat. However, at that moment, everything seemed to freeze, even time itself coming to a crawl.
Ryu retracted his great swordstaff, his steps light and fast as he vanished in a bolt of lightning, appearing again before Koris in the blink of an eye.
Koris' expression widened even further than before. "… Lightning Spiri—!"
Ryu's great swordstaffs crossed about his throat, sending his head flying into the air just as Ryu himself stepped through a gap in the formation with incomparable ease. After observing the formation for so long previously, how could he not understand its strengths and weaknesses?
Ryu didn't bother with anything else as he stepped forward. Although he had come here, it wasn't for the sake of revenge, though one could say that he derived a small bit of satisfaction from that and a bit of this could be considered payback for Amanrah pressuring him to this extent.
The truth was that Ryu had more self-control than this. There were plenty of opportunities to make the Carving Ice Sect pay on the Heavenly Path, he didn't need to put his life at risk here and now when he had so much more of his potential to unearth in the coming months to years.
As such, Ryu had no intention of courting death, and he also had no intention of interrupting Jenneless' refinement process. If he interrupted the procedure, then the cloaked figure would no longer have a reason to sit in place and that would just put his life in danger.
No, the real reason that he had come here was because he had no other choice. The only path to survival here was by co opting the formation they had painstakingly laid out and using it to protect himself as he vanished from this place. Essentially, he would be using their hard work toward his own ends.
After Amanrah caught up with him, Ryu knew that he would be able to catch up again. And even if he didn't, there was still the other False Sky God to contend with, Carah. In that case, it was impossible to set up his large-scale teleportation in the wilderness, he needed a safe place…
After some thought, the safest place was glaringly obvious… and it also happened to be the most dangerous place by far as well.
Ryu's figure flickered, appearing by one of the billowing smoke towers and tapping it before vanishing again.
He rushed all around the campsite, slaughtering those who stood in his path and rushing by those he couldn't be bothered to handle. His speed, especially since he had chosen to reveal his Lightning Spirit Body under this identity, was impossible to match. He made even World Sea Realm experts look like toddlers.
In just a few moments, Ryu had already gone to over half of the smoke towers, his speed no lessening and the focus in his eyes growing. He knew that there was only a small time frame for him to take advantage of. Sky Gods were simply too fast for him to hope to outrun them as well.
Faster. Faster. Faster.
At that moment, just as Ryu had expected, the Fragmented Sky Gods of the Carving Ice Sect were rushing back with all their might. They had been a far distance away, but the moment they heard the warning sounds, they forgot everything and charged back.
70%... 80%... 90%...
Ryu's jaw steeled. He still wasn't fast enough.
The first Fragmented Sky God charged in. Ryu recognized her all too easily. She was the very same Sky God who had descended to the First Heaven those months ago. It seemed that this place had become a reunion location between enemies.
"Die!"
Ryu's gaze flickered as an overwhelming pressure descended from above, his chest relaxing.
It seemed that he really had no choice.
As the palm descended, a monstrous pressure threatening to force Ryu to his knees, he looked into the skies and closed his eyes.
He exhaled slowly, his heart calming. From all signs, it looked like he was a person who had accepted death. Until, that is, his eyes snapped open.
A blazing trail of lightning sparked within his irises, forming a twin pair of tails that danced out of the edges of his eyes.
In the skies, the snow seemed to come to a halt before a deafening crack of thunder resounded.
Ryu's lips parted as he spoke out a single word.
"Storm."