"Oh?"
Ryu looked around unperturbed, his gaze flashing with a peculiar light. It seemed as though more and more about this situation was slipping away from his expectations. Such a reality left him at a bit of a loss, but not enough to be completely headless.
The arrival of the three and Nemesis caught the attention of some, and many of them even began to whisper to themselves, but other than curiosity, Ryu didn't see any other emotion. In fact, it seemed like these groups of individuals shared this same curiosity for everyone they saw.
There was a slight tension in the air and the space between ingroups and outgroups were quite well defined. It only took a single look for Ryu to understand which of them had come from the same world and which hadn't.
After a moment of thought, Ryu realized that there was only one explanation for this matter: The Tri Palace appeared in many worlds.
However, with that conclusion came many other possibilities, of which, Ryu felt that there were only two that could truly be considered to be viable.
The first possibility was that there had always been many Tri Palaces, just maybe not by the appropriate name. Names were an incredibly important custom of the cultivation world, but this also meant that failing to understand the correct name of something or someone could easily cause misunderstandings.
If this first possibility was true, then it just meant that worlds like the Moon World, worlds that likely didn't have superiors like Ryu's Ice Phoenix Clan to see through the secrets of the Tri Palace, simply didn't name it properly.
This failure to name properly caused Ryu and his family to miss the true scope of these mysterious Tri Palaces. Not only would there not be appropriate records, but it would also be impossible to deduce their locations through Fate if they were known by the wrong name.
The second possibility, though, was the one Ryu was leaning toward in comparison to the first. And this possibility stated that these new Tri Palaces… Only appeared after Ryu's death.
There had been 900 000 000 years since Ryu's death. To him, who saw the world through the scope of World Sea experts and Sky Gods, this was a small measure of time. He had never truly thought much of it and he didn't believe the world could change much in that time…
At least… That was what he thought until his soul reconnected with Elena. It was then he realized that not everyone thought like he did. To those without such high levels of cultivation, and those who couldn't see through the endless tide of Fate like he could, 900 000 000 years actually felt like countless lifetimes.
Even for a Cosmic Seed elite, a cultivator just a single step beneath the World Sea Realm, they only saw the world in blocks of a hundred million years. For them, a near billion years was an obscene amount of time.
Ryu realized that he had been foolish and too na?ve. 900 000 000 years was enough for a lot to happen, especially in the eyes of a world where the Dao Pedestal Realm was the Peak. And… It was even worse to a young, recently married woman who had only experienced less than a million years of life before her husband left her.
Ryu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had already promised himself to leave his emotions for Elena in the deep recesses of his mind until he could see her again. But, time and time again, they surfaced on their own.
It made him feel like a ticking time bomb. His patience was limited and his fuse was short. As for his inhibitions, they seemed to have been lowered.
Ryu walked forward and toward the city gate, not caring for the looks he was receiving.
At that moment, the bustling city seemed to be divided by a line – those that were in and those that weren't.
The group lingering around on the outside stared longingly at the city. But, for whatever reason, they seemed unable to enter, or maybe they weren't allowed to enter.
Seeing Ryu's movements, many began to whisper amongst each other.
Not long later, Ryu stood beneath the gates, Nemesis to his side and Sarriel stealthily clinging to the sleeve of his robes. Niel, however, was at a loss. He wasn't a fool, he could tell that everyone was avoiding these gates.
To the sides, there were two motionless statues that seemed to be of petrified knights. But, they also exuded a vitality that shouldn't have been possible for a pair of statues.
To make matters worse, it seemed that everyone was actually surprised that the three managed to make it so close without anything happening.
"Hold on!"
"Hm?" Ryu's brow wrinkled.
That language he had just heard, it wasn't from this Martial Era. In fact, it wasn't from the Golden Era Ryu was originally born in either. It was from the Pedestal Era right before Ryu's Golden Era. In addition, it was the dialect of a certain giant race known as Rune Giants. Ryu had explored some of their Ruins before.
But, who the hell still used this language to this day? It was clear that both Sarriel and Niel were confused, not understanding the words of the young man in the distance. That said… They were they and Ryu was Ryu.
"Do you have something to tell me?" Ryu replied so fluently even the young man was taken off guard.
The young man froze. He had called out for the sake of helping Ryu, but by now, he was used to no one around him understanding his words. So, even though he had tried to reach out in kindness, he was well prepared for Ryu to shrug him off.
But, to his surprise, Ryu actually replied with a level of fluency he hadn't expected.
After shaking off his surprise, the young man's eyes lit up.
"Friend, the Gates only open during certain times. During those times, there will be a small test for those who want to enter. If you try to enter now, the guardians will kill you!"