Chapter 681 Archway
The young man who stood before Ryu was stunned silent. He had gone from thinking that Ryu was scared of him to suddenly feeling a murderous intent enshroud him completely.
He couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. Didn't Ryu just say he wanted to snap his staff in half? Why did it look like he wanted to kill him?
Wait, that wasn't the point at all. A staff master having their staff taken away was enough of a humiliation. But, for that staff to then be snapped in half?! The young man suddenly realized that he would have rather died than allow such a thing to happen to him.
"You—!"
By the time the young man had finished his thought process, Ryu had already brushed by him and appeared beneath the gates.
'Hm… This wasn't here before…' Ryu thought to himself.
Up above, there was a massive archway painted in a bright red. It was very clearly an elaborate paifang and it exuded an aura of majesty completely separate from the gates that surrounded it and the even the city itself. Ryu's discerning eye was easily able to pick out the fact that this was a recent addition, even if he didn't have the experience of having come to this Guild before.
Ryu's gaze flashed with a hint of color and he was immediately able to deduce what the paifang's function was. That said, he probably also could have learned this simply by observing his surroundings, but it seemed that Ryu was quite fond of doing things the hard way.
Ryu took another step forward, following the large crowd of individuals who were stepping through, but immediately felt a strong barrier doing its best to block his path forward.
Yaana immediately realized that something was wrong because she didn't seem to have the same problem at all. For the first time, it was Ryu's steps slowing her rather than the vice versa.
A shroud of qi fell before Ryu and a hovering mark appeared above his head. It didn't seem to be very special, but it touched down upon Ryu's lapel, marking him with an odd ancient character before allowing him through.
Ryu, who seemed to have expected this, didn't react very much. He simply continued to walk forward, taking Yaana along with him, seemingly oblivious to the looks he was receiving around him.
"Stop right there!"
The youth from earlier stormed forward, passing through the archway with absolute ease much like Yaana had. In fact, he seemed to be far more furious than he was before, especially after seeing how the archway had responded to Ryu.
"You haven't comprehended even a single Birthed Phenomena and yet you have the audacity to be so arroga—!?"
BANG!
The youth couldn't react before Ryu's foot found its way to his chest. His back bowed so violently under the pressure that his staff bent against its straps, snapping in two not even a split moment after Ryu's kick landed.
Ryu slowly lowered his foot as though he had just been taking a casual step forward to begin with.
"At least he was a little useful." Ryu said lightly.
Thanks to the youth, the crowd of people had been forced to split in two. In fact, a few poor souls hadn't moved quickly enough and ended up getting launched away along with him. But, with how well Ryu controlled his strength, the only one who likely ended up seriously hurt was the youth himself.
Taking advantage of his own commotion, Ryu strolled forward with Yaana, Ailsa practically wheezing at this point. Toward her laughter, Ryu could only shrug. He tried his best to give the lad a chance, it's not his fault he had a death wish.
Yaana giggled as well, but hearing such a thing, Ailsa sat up.
"Don't laugh, Little Yaana! He's actually such a bad influence on you! Don't look!"
This only made Yaana sputter with more laughter. Even behind her veil, her youthful charm caught the attention of many around them. But, very few actually dared to do anything after seeing what happened to the youth.
That brat from earlier was definitely a member of the Virga Clan. To be so casually disrespected in one of their cities could lead to trouble, but this Ryu didn't seem to care at all.
"… That archway…?" Yaana finally stopped laughing and asked the question that had been on her mind.
Ryu shrugged. "It tests what Birthed Phenomena you've comprehended. Anything beneath the Ruler Realm won't be detected."
"But that character?"
"If I had to guess, it'll probably make it more difficult to maneuver around the city freely."
Yaana frowned. "But you…"
She was confused. Ryu had definitely comprehended a Birthed Phenomena, right? She had seen it personally. In fact, he had comprehended multiple.
Last time she saw Ryu, he had already grasped glaive, spear and halberd Birthed Phenomena. It can't be that he had regressed in all these years, so what was going on? With his talent, there was no way he hadn't grasped a Birthed Phenomena above the Impose Realm by now.
Ryu smiled. "These detection systems can't always cover everything. It can only recognize what it is familiar with. As things stand now, the only one of my Birthed Phenomena that is common is my Bowmanship. But, that is below the Ruler Realm so it wasn't recognized."
"Ah…"
Yaana blinked.
Though Ryu's Great Swordstaff Inheritance was incomplete and faulty currently, it still existed. But, it seemed that the Great Swordstaff was such an obscure weapon that it wasn't even recognized by the Armament Guild.
As for Ryu's odd Fist Inheritance, even Ailsa couldn't figure out what it was, let alone this archway. This was why Yaana's Palm Inheritance was easily recognized but his own counterpart was not. In the end, this was a troublesome matter that Ryu would have to deal with.
That said, how much longer would it be a problem? Ryu had a feeling that very soon it wouldn't be at all.
As for those that wanted to harass them, he had a perfectly good foot for them all.
Like this, the couple finally strolled by the youth who had collapsed on the side of the road.