Though Ryu's outward expression was calm, his eyes couldn't help but narrow by a margin. The carefree laughter was most definitely from someone deep within the Connecting Heaven Realm. If things went poorly, Ryu could only run.
The valiant figure streaked through the skies, landing right before the carnage caused by Ryu and clicking his tongue.
Without hesitation, Ryu ordered his corpse puppets to retreat. The inconvenience of spatial rings was that an object couldn't enter its space without physical touch and could only take items out the very same way they were put in. This was why the inner space of Ryu's pupils added so much flexibility.
Unfortunately, Ryu's cultivation was still too low to bring so many human-sized objects into his inner space at once. And, even if he could, he wouldn't dare to expose the fact he had Heavenly Pupils here. After all, he was no longer the Scion of the Tatsuya Clan.
His actions obviously signaled that his corpse puppets stood no chance against this valiant man. Since this was the case, there was no point in sacrificing them. Still, Ryu was surprised that the mysterious man did nothing as his corpse puppets touched his hand one after another, forming an organized line.
"Smart." The man chuckled. "Though… Inexperienced. Smart in that you know not to waste my time, but inexperienced in that if you were so confident in your skills, why bring out thirty when you only needed five. If I was a worse man, I wouldn't mind ruining your day by destroying every single one of these corpse puppets.
"Odd…" The man spoke to himself. "… To be so skilled yet also so foolish… It's almost like you've never witnessed your full strength before. But if that's the case, how could you be so strong…"
Ryu's eyes narrowed further. His analysis was spot on. Ryu didn't have an accurate gauge of how strong his necromancy skills were as he spent most of his time refining his control over one corpse puppet. To be on the safe side, he brought out all thirty in his arsenal, not knowing he would only need five. Though he was confident in his abilities, he never overestimated himself.
"… And to tame a Bloodied Steed with so little effort. Ha! Those Basteel meat heads must be spitting up blood."
Ryu's eyebrows couldn't help but arch in confusion. Spitting up blood? Why? Weren't they using this beast to pull a carriage? They clearly didn't care much about it.
Seeing Ryu's reaction, even through his mask, the man shook his head. "Definitely inexperienced. Do you think you're the only one who knows the value of this steed? The Basteel Clan was slowly tempering down its arrogance by having it pull their young master's carriage.
"It's a slow method, but if given enough time, it's effective, making unbridled beasts much easier to control moving forward. What an odd young man… You clearly displayed top tier Beast Master capabilities, yet you don't know anything about such a method."
The sharp eyes of the valiant man were slowly making Ryu more and more uncomfortable. In his last life, it was rare for anyone to see through Ryu, despite his weakness. The reason was that he was always well informed in his endeavors. However, it seemed he was making more and more mistakes lately.
Whoever this man was, he was very close to touching upon his secrets.
Wearing golden robes, the man was like a bright sun attempting to weed out any shadows where Ryu's secrets might hide. Ryu hadn't said a word from start to finish, yet he had already seen through too much.
"Ah, this is no good." The man strode forward, instantly covering several dozen meters to pick up Tharon's limp body. Who knows whether the young master lost consciousness due to Ryu's beating, or his own embarrassment?
Dusting Tharon off, the golden robed man threw him over his shoulder, casually carrying him. He didn't seem to care about Ryu's opinion, in fact most thought that there was no need for him to. He was a Connecting Heaven Realm expert, why did he need to ask a Qi Refinement pup his opinion?
Unfortunately, that was when Ryu spoke his first words.
"Leave his spatial ring."
The man paused as the atmosphere seemed to freeze over. Those watching were stunned. He actually dared to say something in this situation?
"What did you say?" The man's soft, carefree eyes sharpened.
"I said… Leave his spatial ring." The Bloodied Steed neighed, its hooves stamping into the ground.
Normal beasts would be instantly suppressed by a stronger aura. Though beasts were innately born with stronger constitutions than humans, many of them were cowardly. This was a large part of why many of the strongest Realms were ruled by humans, especially after the Ancestral Beast Era came to an end.
But the Bloodied Steed was different. To it, it didn't matter how strong the opponent was. Even if it had to die, it would die fighting valiantly. Having such a personality, it quite liked this new master of his. In this way, it was exactly like the Ancestral Beasts of the past.
Ryu was instantly suppressed by the golden robed man's aura, but his back sat as straight as ever.
"You didn't bother to ask what led to this altercation." Ryu said coldly. "He crossed a line. Leaving him with his life is already my limit, and I happen to be in some need of funds. Being a Necromancer is quite an expensive endeavor."
Captain Zu, who had been shivering with his head lowered since the golden robed man appeared, raised his head once more, a faint light of hope in his eyes. If this brat spoke anymore brazenly, the man would definitely kill him. Maybe then he'd be able to get off with a lighter punishment.
"Do you want to die?" The man's aura rose.
"Don't joke with me." Ryu said plainly. "Since you like deducing something from nothing so much, how about I try my hand at it?
"You're a Connecting Heaven Realm expert directly interfering in the matters of the younger generation, yet you aren't enraged at the sight of this fool's unconscious body. In addition, this place is widely known as Zu Clan territory, yet your hair isn't white, nor are your eyes. Yet, despite the fact your surname is clearly not Zu, no one has interfered with your presence here. Obviously, you are City Lord Looming.
"For a City Lord to personally handle such miscellaneous matters, it's either you have too much time on your hands, or you have need of me… So, do you dare to kill me before you get what you need?"