Ryu's aura completely changed, the wild qi around him coalescing into a focused stream.
"[Lurking Shadow]."
The first strike of [White Serpent's Dance]. It emphasized speed and stealthiness. Someone who wasn't familiar with the moveset would find themselves caught completely off guard.
Ryu's Great Swordstaffs became like winding snakes hidden in the wind. Compared to before when Ryu could only eek out a single strike in this state, he instantly strung together what felt like an endless combination of movements.
His steps, his demeanor, his presence all became like a fleeting wind, difficult to catch a trace of and even harder to counter even if you managed to do so.
Every time Ryu's blade flickered back into existence, an arc of blood and screeching roars would sound. In what felt like the blink of an eye, four chiefs who had just been standing perfectly fine found themselves covered in crisscrossing blades.
'[Lurking Shadow] is meant to be a spear technique… To dual wield its use, though…'
Ailsa's eyes glowed. All this time, she seemed completely unaffected by Ryu's rampage. She sat idly on his shoulder, enjoying the spectacle.
Of course, she wasn't exactly doing nothing. Whenever Ryu battled, Ailsa was always focusing on finding his weaknesses and understanding how best to help him take a next step forward. Ryu's strength had increased explosively recently, so she found that it was for the best if he spent some time learning where his limits were. But it seemed that even now, he hadn't quite dug deep enough to reach that quite yet.
Ailsa found this conclusion to be obvious. [White Serpent's Dance] might have been a powerful Mystical Grade Legacy Technique of the Awoken Moon Sect, but Ryu hardly if ever practiced it. Though this was mostly due to the fact that the technique was too burdensome for Ryu to do so, this was the truth nonetheless.
This was all to say that while it seemed like Ryu was using this technique because he had been forced into a corner, the truth was that in Ailsa's eye, he was just using the chiefs as a convenient whet stone.
The secret to the power of [White Serpent's Dance] was right there in its name… Name's held strength and power, ignoring them would only result in one missing something important.
Dance.
To believe that [Lurking Shadow] was just a single strike was a mistake. However, with the evolution of his Pupils, Ryu seemed to see through this with a single thought. Immediately, he shifted his thought process, stringing [Lurking Shadow] together in a flurry of steps and strikes.
The atmospheric qi reacted, causing a smokey fog to hang around Ryu.
The flexibility of his body made its presence known, his steps bending and bowing, his arms whipping and snapping.
This was originally a technique created for women to use. This much was obvious as it came from an all female sect. As such, it emphasized an elegance and grace, along with a lithe disposition that most male cultivators simply wouldn't have…
But, Ryu wasn't one of these males.
Ryu's figure flickered, the movement of his body so enrapturing that his blades were almost forgotten.
Four rock-hard heads shot in the sky.
Ryu landed before the shrine before their heads even touched the ground, his steps light and unhurried. However, his breathing was slightly labored, sparks of flames lighting his surroundings.
Though he had only used the first Dance, [White Serpent's Dance] was still a Mystical Grade technique far beyond his means. The only reason he was able to use the first Dance in the past was because its simplified version was just barely at the level of an Earth Grade technique, but even then he could only use a single strike. It was part of the reason he rarely brought it out.
Luckily, Ryu was now able to supplement his strength with atmospheric qi, so it was much easier. But, since he hadn't deployed his Small Realm and only relied on Ethereal Tapestry, the results weren't as exaggerated as he had hoped.
It seemed that if he wanted to use [White Serpent's Dance]'s second Dance, he would definitely have to use his status as a Monarch.
This wasn't too surprising, though. All Heaven Grade techniques and above relied on the use of atmospheric qi. This made sense, after all, the Heaven Grade was the dividing line for the Immortal Realms. Only Immortal Ring experts and above could use such a level of technique.
But, after becoming a Monarch, Ryu didn't have to worry about these restrictions too much. He could be a bit more liberal when choosing his techniques. Well, partially, anyway. He would still definitely need techniques he could use without using his Monarch Small Realm. If he had to activate it every time he wanted to use a technique, he would drain himself completely.
Ryu took a deep breath.
'Use your ice flames. Your body is running too hot right now.' Ailsa softly advised.
Ryu couldn't help but smile when he heard her sweet voice, a reaction that partially caught him off guard. It seemed this woman had her hooks in him completely.
Ailsa giggled. 'As long as you know.'
Ryu listened to Ailsa's advice and dispelled his Spirit Body and Rage Flames. A blue flame appeared, dancing around his body and rapidly causing the temperatures to plummet.
Ryu took a look back toward Giveon. He seemed to still be battling, but it only took a look for Ryu to tell that he was still holding back a considerable amount of strength. To anyone else, it would seem as though he was going all out, but Ryu's eyes couldn't be fooled.
'He's reserving at least half of his strength.' Ryu thought.
Since that was the case, Ryu ignored Giveon and the others and turned to walk to the shrine. The sooner the item was secured, the easier all of this would be.
'Hm?' Ryu's steps paused, realizing that items had begun to manifest above the head of the chief Mountain Barbarians he had killed.
He had almost forgotten that this wasn't real and the barbarians he had fought were supposedly just a fake race of people the creator of this world had placed here.
This had also happened when Ryu killed the Rainbow Scaled Eagle. But, that had happened months ago so it wasn't the foremost matter on Ryu's mind.
Though there were four chiefs Ryu had taken down, there were only two items. One was a stone with odd runic patterns that Ryu couldn't understand at first glance. The second was a transparent ball with odd translucent runes floating within it.
This second item, Ryu did recognize. Though he had never seen it personally, he had had it described to him by Amie of the Violet Olive Team. It was the item that could force an item out of someone's inventory. Some called it the Inventory Hack.
'This could be useful at some point…' Ryu kept the Inventory Hack for himself and began to roll the other item between his fingers. '… These runes…'
Ryu's eyes narrowed. 'Interesting.'
Ryu placed the item within his Inventory as well and shot into the shrine.
The place was just as shabby as the outside. The inside design was perfectly reflective of what Ryu had seen before coming in. He could see the divisions in the slabs of rock slapped atop of one another with just a sweep of the gaze.
Still, the shrine was larger than Ryu had been expecting. But then again, if he adjusted it for the massive size of the chiefs, it made sense. Maybe in their eyes, this place was still too small.
What Ryu found on the altar made his brows arch. A half dead female writhed on display.
Ryu was surprised to find that she wasn't a barbarian. The women of the Mountain Barbarians were just as burl as the men, having none of the softness of a woman. Even their breasts might as well have been literal piles of rock.
This woman, though, was very different. Though her looks weren't anything amazing, she at least looked like a woman. Well… As womanly as she could look with her intestines hanging out like that and her heart being opened to the air.
The woman seemed to sense Ryu's arrival. She weakly looked over, a hint of fear on her face.
When she realized that Ryu wasn't a barbarian, her fear gave way to a pleading look.
Ryu sighed lightly and flicked a finger.
Esme shot forward, piercing a dagger right through the young woman's forehead. The woman's last expression was one of having a final relief. Even in that state, she smiled.
'Even an Immortal shouldn't have such vitality…'
Ryu's eyes were sharp. In that moment, he realized that was killed the young woman wasn't the dagger to the forehead, but rather the Spiritual Qi that severed her soul.
Ryu had sent Esme forward because he didn't want to harm the young woman's soul. With the help of the daggers, he could kill in this world without harming the soul of the person on the other side. Likewise… He could also choose to harm their soul even more than usual as long as he could get Esme to land the final blow.
This was all to say that had it not been for the unique nature of Esme's daggers, that young woman would have actually survived.
'… How curious…'