Chapter 682 Nine Sections
The moment Ryu got out of the range of the initial crowd, his gaze flashed once again. A surge of qi shattered the character on his lapel as though it had never been there to begin with. What a joke, as if he would waste his time getting constantly harassed because their equipment was inferior.
"I haven't done this in a while. How do you think I should go about learning a new weapon?"
In truth, Ryu wasn't very excited about the staff, that was why he picked it first to get it over with as quickly as possible. He was aware that this wasn't the ideal mindset to go into learning something new, but he couldn't help the way he felt.
There was a good reason he felt this way, though. The Staff was tied with a lot of religious and fanatical philosophy throughout history. It was a weapon of defense and passivism, and though it couldn't' be said to be anywhere near as rare as the Great Swordstaff, no child upon starting the cultivation journey would ever jump at the chance to use this weapon.
If Ryu wanted to succeed in what Ailsa was asking of him, he would have to find a method of pulling this weapon out from its tangle of Faith that was quite literally the antithesis of all that was Ryu. A true staff wielder would have probably let that youth from before off lightly. As far as Ryu was concerned, the fact he was alive at all was lightly enough.
One might think that Ryu's way of viewing things was extreme, but his reactions were simply based on what he knew the martial world to be.
If Ryu was truly weaker than the youth, what would have happened? Maybe one would say that he would have just ended up beaten. And this may very well be a possibility, but in Ryu's estimation, it was just a possibility, and a small one at that.
The more likely scenario is that he would have gotten beaten, then he would have been humiliated, then attention would have shifted to Yaana. In the case that Ryu was already weaker than him, Yaana would most definitely also be so, and the result would likely be her being humiliated as well.
To hide their evil deeds, Ryu would have ended up six feet under while Yaana, unless she too killed herself, would have to suffer endless torment for the rest of her days.
When things were painted out like this, it all seemed like nonsense. A person couldn't' possibly be so unreasonable, right? And yet, this was a story that played out in this same exact way day after day in the martial world.
The more Ryu thought about it, the more he disliked the staff. He found it to be hypocritical.
All those holier than thou Buddhist temples and monk sanctuaries that touted this weapon as their main were only able to act like this because they already held power in their hands. Then, often, their passivism would do more harm than good.
There were many such powers Ryu could think of throughout history. However, they were so reclusive and to themselves that they weren't much better than the Faeries. Even now, they were sitting idly by doing nothing. This may not be the kind of person Ryu hated the most, but they were definitely up there on his list.
Ailsa smiled and shook her head. Her Ryu was truly too violent. He was getting up in arms now because a weapon was too peace loving.
'The staff does have a history of passivism attached to it, but that's just one aspect of its history. There are plenty of destructively powerful offensive experts who used the staff as well, it's a weapon that the Ancestral Gorilla and Monkey races love a lot. In fact, because of this, it could be said that the root of the staff is destruction that then birthed passivism.' Ailsa said.
Ryu might have been an Origin Ruin Master, but when it came to the specific histories of cultivation and how it evolved, Ailsa topped him in every way.
The Ancestral Beasts had a handful of Gorilla and Monkey races among them, all just as prolific as Dragons, Qilins and Phoenixes. It was very rare for beasts to use weapons at all, most using their own bodies. But, these races were an exception.
These beasts chose the simplest weapon and transferred their power and strength to it. It could be said that Ryu was definitely shortchanging the staff.
Hearing this explanation, the cloud over Ryu's head cleared up, a light of ambition sparking for him right then.
'That's a much better mindset. At least you're not throwing a tantrum like a little boy anymore.' Ailsa giggled. 'It doesn't matter where you start. The entire city is immersed in the culture, just pick a direction.'
Ryu took Ailsa's advise and strolled through the city. He realized that she was very much correct. If it wasn't a restaurant or an inn, it was most definitely a shop related to staffs.
There were shops that sold prime cuts of wood to be carved into staffs, shops that sold premium oils and finishers for grooming and taking care of your staffs, shops that sold holsters, others that sold techniques… Then there were dojos for practice, arenas for competition, and the most intriguing were some 'arcade'-like games to test a person's skill in the staff.
These dojos were actually maybe the most important. While a city had its Armament holder, it also had several dojos. These dojos all had their own masters which also had their own benefits to give in return for defeating these men and women.
From Ryu's understanding, you could essentially gain free credit in the city for defeating a dojo master, allowing you to buy all sorts of treasures. And, you could challenge the Armament wielder after defeating a certain number of them. Unfortunately, though they were less important than the Armament holder, in order to be a dojo master, you had to join the Armament Guild.
Ryu came to a stop, his gaze landing upon one of the many 'games' he had come across.
It was very simple and Ryu only needed to observe a person do it once to understand.
The platform was divided into nine sections and to each section there was a weight. This weight was to be added to the tip of your staff and your task was to, with that weight, attack in a variety of patterns as prompted.
It seemed that your performance was decided not only by how well you completed the patterns, but also just how steady your staff was. Even after observing for a while, no one had managed to satisfactorily complete the third section.