Not just Tharon, but even the heirs around him were stunned. Obviously, this wasn't because they 'recognized' Ryu, but rather because rather because they were all intelligent people who instantly understood some things based on the half-mask before them. Not long later, they all, aside from Tharon and the silent Croft Clan heir began laughing uproariously, unable to keep it in.
"Hey Tharon, this… Country bumpkin, that's what you called him right? He can't be that necromancer that beat you into the ground with his fists, right?" The Xie family heir wiped tears from his eyes, hardly able to contain himself.
"Haha! I can't take it! If he's a country bumpkin, what are you exactly?" The Vinn family heir could only pile on, clutching his stomach.
Tharon's fists clenched as pulsing veins crawled across his forehead.
No matter how he tried to explain, it was useless. Losing to a necromancer might not have been that big of a deal. However, losing to not Ryu's corpse puppet, but his fist, was an absolute loss of face. Everyone knew the weakness of a necromancer, it was an open secret. Yet he was directly beaten down by what should have been Ryu's weakest aspect.
In reality, this wasn't entirely untrue. Because he had entered the second Mental Realm, the Spiritual Endowment Realm, and had expanded his Mental Realm to twenty kilometers, even after his vast bodily improvements, Ryu's Mental Realm was arguably his strongest strength.
At twenty kilometers, that was already more than enough for most normal Mental Realm Masters to begin to prep for entry into the Soul Birth Realm. Though it was well short of what geniuses would push their limits to before then, Ryu could be said to be above the average.
To make matters worse, Tharon didn't just lose, he was left without the ability to fight back. What made this so terrible was that his Basteel Clan's special earth affinity should have given him an incredibly sturdy body, yet he could do nothing to Ryu.
Even now, Tharon couldn't wrap his head around how he had lost so badly. Back then, he had felt that something locked onto his soul, a presence so fierce that he didn't dare to fight back. He was unable to shake it off even after he fell unconscious.
By the time City Lord Loom appeared, he had already regained consciousness, but after losing all face, he didn't dare to stand again. He only felt that his hatred was partially vented after the City Lord proceeded to humiliate Ryu in turn.
But why was it then that the City Lord's granddaughter was here with the man who humiliated him? Wasn't he afraid to offend his Basteel Clan?
A moment later, his intent deflated once more. He understood why this City Lord dared to release Ryu now… Since he wasn't the First Heir of the current generation any longer, the City Lord tying himself to this mysterious young man was obviously not a problem.
Seeing that the usually fiery Tharon become so deflated, the Xie and Vinn Clan heirs looked disappointed. They had hoped that Tharon would embarrass himself once more by fighting Ryu, but it seemed he no longer dared to do so. Still, they didn't seem satisfied letting things end like this, or else how would they vent their frustrations?
The true reason they piled onto Tharon so fiercely was because the latter was truly their better in terms of strength. They could only get the leg up on him by using their brains to outsmart this straightforward, mindless individual.
But, it seemed they had underestimated the impact Ryu's strength had had on Tharon's mental state.
Though they believed he was afraid, this wasn't actually how Tharon was feeling. Physiologically speaking, his body involuntarily trembled before Ryu. But, his mind was actually quite firm. The truth was that he was really trying to figure out why his body was responding this way.
As for Ryu, other than the indifferent expression on his face, he was inwardly feeling a bit disappointed. If these were the best youths the Inner Ring had to offer, whatever it was this City Lord needed help with wouldn't help temper his strength at all.
'If it's like this, there's no point in me remaining here. Though further revenge would be nice, settling for stealing their pay for nothing in return will have to be enough.'
Ryu felt like the plans he had begun to carefully place down had become useless. He too could feel that Tharon was the strongest of the four of them. Well, other than the exceptionally silent Croft Clan heir.
"This is what you needed my help with?" Ryu gave Tae a cold glance. "You alone would have a 70% chance of beating them even if they came all at once."
Seeing Tae's shocked then bitter expression, Ryu suddenly understood.
"I see. So your grandfather is not only a fool in running a City and laying its rules, he's also a fool in running his own Clan. Ignoring talent for such a meaningless reason, he's not fit to be a leader."
"Don't talk about my grandfather like that!" Tae's bitterness turned to rage, her petite figure seemingly growing several sizes. But, upon further inspection, it was only her aura that grew.
Ryu coldly met her eyes, his expression not shifting. This was always how things went. No matter how much Tae cursed her grandfather in her mind, she wouldn't allow others to do so, least of all an outsider.
Those around suddenly felt an eerie silence. Ryu hadn't bothered to lower his voice. Those who recognized the necromancer of several months ago had weird expressions on their faces. It seemed whatever the City Lord did to him hadn't been enough to teach him a lesson.
Seeing that her outburst had caught a lot of attention, Tae glared at Ryu. But the latter only walked away, he still had to find parts for the Death Worm Immortal Cave.
As the bazaar began to regain its rowdiness, Tae followed Ryu to pass by the four heirs with an unresigned expression filled with unwillingness. It was only then that the silent Croft heir turned to gaze at Ryu's back.
"The matter isn't as simple as you think." Tae said stiffly. "The Inner Ring Clans are just pawns of the Core Region. We have the largest deposits of Mortal Qi Stones on the Pedestal Plane. Even if true experts of the Core Region only truly care about Immortal Qi Stones, I'm sure you understand the importance of a foundation… All of us here in the Inner Region do nothing but dance on the puppet strings of others.
"Which Clans rise and which ones fall are all decided by those larger Clans. Because of the appearance of the Ice Devil Legacy World, the matters pertaining to this Selection were moved up. Everything is especially accelerated because the Zu Clan is quickly rising in power, there are rumors that their First Grand Elder might become their Clan's third Immortal Ring expert. Even if they don't have enough Connecting Heaven Realm experts to become an official Sixth Order Clan, this alone makes them more powerful than some true Sixth Order Clans who only have one Immortal Ring Realm expert.
"The moment the Zu Clan's Patriarch followed their Ancestor's footsteps and entered the Immortal Ring Realm, the Zu Clan already became capable of controlling their own destiny.
"Knowing this, a series of tacit agreements were silently made. The Zu Clan would be allowed to shift their base of power to the better Core Region lands, and the balance of strength of our Inner Ring would be shuffled and shifted once more.
"The Zu Clan members continuously talk about how they're just 'laying the foundation for the coming thousands of years', but this is just a fa?ade. In truth, in as little as ten more years, the Zu Clan will move."
For much of the latter half of her spiel, Tae used a Qi Line. These talks were too sensitive for just any ears.
Ryu inwardly laughed. If the Zu Clan had managed to get their hands on the crystalline jade, their rise would have been assured.
Even without it, their foundations were far deeper than even the Core Region hegemons. Ryu speculated that these shrewd individuals of the Core Region understood that this was only the outward showing of the Zu Clan's strength, so they prudently decided to help them along instead of becoming their enemy.
In the end, the rise of the Zu Clan threw the Inner Ring into a heated turmoil. Maybe the appearance of this Armament Guild bazaar wasn't just coincidence either.
"I'm sure you understand by now, but the Core Region Clans have a … vested interest in some of us winning, and an even keener interest in some of us losing. My Loom Clan unfortunately happens to be in the latter category. Though we are the clear heir apparent to Zu Clan territory, there are many who don't want to see us win. And… We are also dealing with many… internal disputes."
Tae took a deep breath, trying to calm her emotions, thinking back to her cousin, Erea.
"In the coming weeks, there will be many 'sudden' appearances of 'hidden' geniuses. I'm sure I don't need to explain to you where these geniuses come from…"
Ryu nodded. Obviously, the Core Region Clans would be sending their own to assure that the Clans they have a stake in win. Maybe some time in the past, the Loom Clan would have received some of this 'hidden' support, but they likely angered someone they shouldn't have, leading to many taking a hands-off approach.
A system like this one only truly works if they maintain a thin veil of cordiality, so no one would do anything too overt to the Loom Clan. After all, the Core Region was very far away, and they had their own internal disputes to worry about. The strength of a Fifth Order Clan couldn't be casually handled even by a Sixth Order one.
Like this, the Loom Clan had a path to live, but it was a very small one. Ryu had thought that City Lord Loom needed his help to win some sort of prize to allow him to enter the Immortal Ring Realm, but it turned out that this was only one of his asks.
Tae bit her lip, seemingly wanting to explain how the Loom Clan fell into this sort of situation. But in the end, she couldn't bring herself to. The only clues to her thoughts were the raging emotions in her watery eyes. Feelings of rage, disgust and helpless were only just a few.
Ryu, however, had long since stopped paying attention.
He smiled coldly. 'That's more like it. I guess I'll stay.'