Shock didn't just pervade the Mercenary Guild, it felt as though the whole of the Circle of Elites fell into an eerie silence. Though many didn't know exactly what happened, anyone bold enough to start a fight in the middle of Valor City wasn't to be trifled with. To make matters worse, their valiant City Lord, who would have normally acted immediately, showed no signs of moving.
City Lord Valor was a man who took no nonsense. Seeing the City Lord Manor remain as silent as the partially crowded streets, many more intelligent people slowly backed away, completely unwilling to get involved.
This wasn't a place where normal civilians gathered, it was the Circle of Elites for a reason. It was obvious why they didn't immediately react with stereotypical screaming and crying such destruction usually brought about.
The front wall of the Mercenary Guild was completely destroyed, it looked as though someone had completed the building but forgot to mount up the fourth wall.
At the same time, several buildings from the guild were in shambles, several directly collapsed, likely resulting in some severe injuries and maybe even some deaths. Though most of those within the Circle of Elites were cultivators, not all of them would be invulnerable to such destruction.
The gazes of the crowd shifted to the man who still had his hand in the air. A murky red, almost maroon aura coated his fists before it slowly faded away. He looked down on his hand as though he was dissatisfied with something.
The Steward's frown set in deeply. His words toward recruiting Ryu weren't hidden in the slightest. Wasn't it a slap to his face that these individuals killed him right in front of him?
To make matters worse, Ryu's only crime was walking away. It was worth attacking a Qi Refinement Expert with the strength of a Connecting Heaven Realm Expert for something so insignificant?
"Did I ask you to kill him?" The cloaked woman's voice was just as nonchalant and gentle as usual, but Erwin's large frame shook violently.
"C-c-comm…" He tried to get his words out, but it seemed he had forgotten how to speak.
The sound of gritting teeth sounded. In the next instant, something astonishing happened.
The large cloaked man coated his palm in the odd red aura once more, chopping down on his own arm.
A sick cracking sound reverberated through the silence, sending a shiver down the spine of those who watched. It felt as though the whole of Valor City didn't dare to breathe.
"Go and dig out his body before his soul completely dissipates." The cloaked woman said plainly. "We need to see if he was the one we were looking for through his Mental Realm. And don't think that this will be the end of this, you'll have to answer to the others for this mistake. If thousands of years worth of efforts go down the drain because of you, the consequences will be your own."
The woman was absolutely certain that Ryu was dead. As an Immortal Ring expert, she had already opened her Spiritual Pulse and Vessel before proceeding to the Soul Birth Realm. She didn't sense Ryu's lifeforce in the direction he should be in. Therefore, he could only be dead, a reality that made countless people sigh. A Throne, gone, just like this.
However, as the one armed Edwin dug through the piles of debris, his strength easily allowing him to sift through several tons worth of brick, wood and metal, it became increasingly peculiar the longer he spent. Several bodies were pulled out, some heavily injured, and some already dead, but none of them were Ryu!
After several minutes passed, the nonchalant cloaked female finally moved. Her aura blazed, sending a cycle of debris and bodies flying into the air. The destruction she caused in an instant was easily multiple times worse than anything Edwin had done. But, to her surprise, even as her eyes darted around through the raining corpses, not a single was Ryu!
In that moment, the female felt as though a spear of ice stabbed into her spine. The cold shiver was so severe that she froze, almost resulting in the root of a building crashing directly into her.
Her head snapped toward a particular direction, a building far in the distance, but to her surprise, there was nothing there.
However, the fear still lingered, an uncomfortable cold blanketed her soul. Never in her life had she ever this way.
'It will be okay Ryu.' Ailsa shook with rage worse than the victim himself. 'One day we'll kill her.'
Ryu didn't look away from the cloaked woman's gaze. Blood dripped from his back down his leg as his gaze filled with endless will for slaughter pierced through her. He wanted to rip her pieces, even if it meant doing it with his bare hands, but he was well aware that he didn't have the strength to do so.
If one saw the state of Ryu's back, they would be in complete shock that he was even breathing, let alone standing with the will to fight.
The moment he met those cloaked figures, he knew that leaving would be a problem. So, he purposely set up a situation where they would attack him. In that instant, he circulated his Northern Heavenly Wind to his peak abilities, rushing forward with his greatest speed just as Edwin's fist collided with him. The result was the great mitigation of Edwin's blow, but even still, Ryu almost died.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Ryu then wore his cloak and swallowed two Silver Vein Petals to enter the Breath of World Meditation State, which was a step above Breath of Heaven. Thanks to the Silver Vein Spirit Seeking Lilies, he could stay in Breath of World now for just as long as he could usually stay in Breath of Earth, which was already several hours. In this state, even an Immortal Ring expert couldn't sense him.
Ryu glared at the cloaked woman until she left, his rage still brewing. But in the end, he controlled himself. Using Breath of World, he sensed the changes in his body and attempted to tap into his Ice Jade Crystal Body's healing factor. However, even with Ailsa's help, it wasn't easy to deal with injuries caused by a Connecting Heaven Realm expert. Ryu only managed to barely keep himself together. He wouldn't be able to recover without several months of effort if things remained like this.
Still, under the stunned eyes of the citizens of Valor City, Ryu did something that shocked them all. He simply couldn't swallow his rage, no matter how hard he tried. This was the only method he could think of to slap that woman's face while he didn't have the strength to do so just yet.
In broad daylight, not even an hour after those events, Ryu walked back into the Mercenary Guild as though nothing had happened. "I'd like to take you up on your offer." He said to the Steward.