Spars? Ryu's gaze narrowed.
Although Isemeine was confused, Ryu himself was quite used to dealing with old monsters like this. The word games they played, the way they skirted out of responsibility, and the method by which the bent and twisted others to their will… It was all just like what he remembered.
World Sea Realm experts had lived too many years of life. At their stage of cultivation, they were exceptionally sensitive to matters like karmic ties and Faith. As a result, they were even more careful with their words and their sentence structure.
Everything they said held a trap. All the words, phrases and sentences they weaved together hid themselves within layers. Usually, these layers were difficult for those beneath the World Sea Realm to pull apart and reach the root of…
But who was Ryu Tatsuya, exactly?
The Overseer's use of spar told Ryu a lot of things. Firstly, the Overseer wanted Ryu to fight for him for some purpose. Secondly, the event he wanted Ryu to participate in likely wasn't a matter of life or death. And, thirdly, and most important of all, he wanted to ensure that Ryu knew that since this was something as low stakes as a 'spar', he shouldn't expect to receive any sort of reward for it.
To make matters more shameless, he was also simultaneously telling Ryu that he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He, as an 'oh so magnanimous' Overseer, was actually willing to let all of this go in exchange for such a 'small' favor. If anything, Ryu should be on his knees thanking the Heavens for him being so big hearted and kind.
? ?? ??-?? ???. ??? It only took Ryu a moment to understand all of this. It could be said that he was quite versed in the language of World Sea Realm experts. So, rather than explaining directly, Ryu feigned ignorance.
"I wouldn't dare, esteemed Overseer." Ryu said humbly. "The gap between our strengths and experience is far too large. What I can do is repair the city in your stead so that you won't have to worry about any of it."
Ryu Spiritual Sea surged, Ancestor Morvar's [Formation Eye] Visualization manifesting. Ryu didn't wait for the Overseer to respond and instead immediately sent the Formation Eye into the sky.
The auto-repair formation that covered this city was of the Ancestral Grade. Even with Ryu's soul having gained a great amount of talent, maybe even more than the rest of his body, this was still far beyond him to construct. He couldn't make nearly enough Formation Eyes.
But, this didn't matter. After all, the formation was already completed, all Ryu needed to do was activate it and provide it with the power it needed. Both of these things only required a single Formation Eye to accomplish and were as easy as breathing for Ryu.
The Overseer could only speechlessly watch as the energies of the world converged, pulling in qi from all sides and rapidly healing the fractured and broken city.
Completed formations were invisible to the naked eye making them difficult to deal with for normal individuals. But, Ryu had never had a problem with this. In fact, even if he didn't want to see a formation, it was as plain as day to him just by the swirling colors of his [Ephemeral Tapestry].
The Overseer wanted to stop Ryu, but it was already too late. In just a few moments, a city that had been ravaged by battle was as good as new, leaving the Overseer at a loss for words.
Isemeine, especially, wondered how all of this had happened. Now that she thought about it, Ryu was in fact known for his Heavenly Pupils and was quite good at working with formations. But, the issue was… How had he done it without even using Qi Stones?
The truth was that this formation was always meant to function without Qi Stones. High grade formations, much like cultivators, could use atmospheric qi. The rulers of the city probably just hid this little rule so that they could claim more taxes from the people who lived here in the form of more Qi Stones.
But now all of this left the Overseer at a loss. Had he met someone more shameless than himself?
He didn't understand how his words could be misunderstood as an ask for a spar. Why would he want to spar with a brat like Ryu? He could blast him apart with a single fart. Wasn't all of this too ridiculous?
But, how could he expect that someone who couldn't even use Cosmic Qi could activate an Ancestral Grade formation? Worst of all, now that the city was repaired, much of what he had to coerce Ryu with had suddenly vanished. Could he still get away with making Ryu work for free?
Logically, he felt like the answer was yes. After all, Ryu had still broken the no fly rule. If he was shameless enough, he could definitely force Ryu into a corner with this.
But, something about the look in Ryu's eye told him that it wasn't a coincidence he managed to slide by his first word trap completely unharmed. And… something more told him that if he had done it once, he could most definitely do it again.
Who the hell was this brat?!
At that moment, Arteur, who had still been coughing up voluminous mouthfuls of blood finally landed, his body beaten and broken. From the moment Ryu landed that foot on his chest to the end of the battle, he hadn't been able to gain a single upper hand. It was frustrating to the point he wanted to raise his head up high and roar in rage. But, his body was too weak to allow him to do such a thing.
Hearing the sudden cough, the Overseer's eyes lit up. He looked toward Ryu again, a sly grin growing.
'I might not be able to get you directly, but I can definitely get you by proxy.'
"Do you know your crime?!" The Overseer's voice boomed.
But, rather than being in Ryu's direction, it was aimed toward the pitiful Arteur. Just when the Scarlet Clan member had just managed to settle to his hands and knees, he collapsed again under the pressure of the Overseer.
Ryu's lip couldn't help but twitch. This damned old fox.