Ryu blazed a path through the skies, his body vanishing for hundreds of kilometers at a time before he would appear again. As he did so, his control over the silver star Visualization increased with every passing moment. The affinity Yaana had gifted him ran through his veins. Combined with his Pupils, it felt like he was increasing by leaps and bounds…
And yet somehow, it felt like he was moving in place at the same time. For any other Visualization, it would feel as though was already close to mastery. But, for some reason, this particular Visualization was so vastly beyond anything Ryu had ever experienced that he hadn't even grasped a single percent of it after all this time.
For someone else, this might make sense. But, for the wielder of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils, especially when fully unsealed, it was unheard of.
To put this matter into perspective, Ryu's current cultivation allowed him to use Heaven Grade techniques. With his current perception, he could fully master one to Great Circle of Perfection in just a few seconds.
What was truly shocking about this was that even Cosmic Seed Realm experts still used Heaven Grade techniques as the bulk of their foundational strength. This was because Mystical Grade techniques were extraordinarily rare, for one, and secondly, they were taxing to use. This didn't even consider just how difficult it was to raise Mystical Grade techniques to the Great Circle of Perfection as well. And yet…
For Ryu it was just a matter of a few minutes to a couple hours. Maybe only an Ancestral Grade technique would now require Ryu days to weeks to fully grasp. But even then, it was just a few days to weeks.
But somehow this Visualization left him feeling like he wasn't progressing at all.
Ryu's smile widened. 'Is this the taller mountain? I kind of like looking up at it.'
With a thought, Ryu brought out Patriarch Ember's spatial ring. He dumped everything out, finding useless treasure after useless treasure. Someone else might have been enraptured by the cultivation resources of a Path Extinction Realm expert, but Ryu saw nothing but inferior materials, treasures and craftsmanship. He didn't even want to waste his time.
'Ah, there it is.'
Ryu smiled, bringing out a communication device.
Of course, it was well hidden. It took the shape of a skin of wine. Within, there was definitely a few hundred liters worth and was a convenient spatial treasure for drinking. However, it had its own secrets.
Ryu put his bow away and used his free hand to flick at the side of the skin of wine. Numerous hidden formations glowed and took form. Not long after, a voice as sweet as a spring breeze yet as cold as a vat of ice spoke.
"Did I not tell you to not contact me? I don't have time for this. If you can't handle even this task alone, just let the Pedestal Plane rot."
Sarriel had every intention of hanging up right this moment, but the voice she heard on the other side made her gaze narrow.
"How rude. It's been so long since we've met and I can't get a hello or a how are you doing?"
Sarriel fell into silence for a long time. This was a voice she had had in the back of her mind for a long while. It was deep and had a hardly concealed pride. But, it was brighter than she remembered and far more relaxed as well. If she didn't know better, she would think it was someone failing to imitate Ryu very well at all.
"Your words have become more childish." Sarriel replied.
"Hm?" Ryu nodded after a moment. "Maybe so."
Sarriel wasn't wrong, but Ryu still felt like himself. Or rather, he was feeling more like himself than he ever had. He had always had a streak of witty comebacks and words that could teeter between teasing and venomous. However, it had always been suffused with an irrefutable coldness. It seemed, though, that his coldness had diminished quite a bit.
That said, that was only for certain people.
Ryu didn't normally give anyone leeway, even if she was a beautiful woman. He had killed more than his fair share of gorgeous women in his time. But, he couldn't seem to carry the same anger for Sarriel.
Of course, he still wouldn't hesitate to punch a hole through her chest, he wasn't that foolish. But, he couldn't maintain the same exterior of coldness.
"Patriarch Ember, he is dead, I presume?"
"Of course he's dead. Since you've been lurking in the dark all this time, I'm sure you're aware of what he's done to me in the past."
"You don't need to justify his death to me, am I a child to you?"
"That depends on which version of Sarriel we're talking about."
Though Sarriel didn't respond immediately and he couldn't see her face, Ryu could almost sense the palpable irritation through the communication formation.
"If you're done, I'll be hanging up now."
"No need to leave so fast. I have a feeling we can work together, don't you think? You seem to be occupied and I'm already on my way to the Pedestal Plane's Shrine Mountain. If you tell me what your goal is, I just might decide to help out a bit."
"My goal? You're a bit naïve, aren't you. Why would I waste my time having a goal related to this world?"
Ryu chuckled. "You have a lot of bravado for a person who schemed so much to steal from a family of this world."
"Your Ice Phoenix Clan's riches would have made things more convenient, but that is all. You have no idea that 99% of what are in its treasure vaults are completely useless and in proper context, wouldn't be worth more than a piece of copper by the roadside."
Ryu's gaze narrowed. "It sounds like you know quite a lot."
"I know enough. Once I find what I need, I'll have no use for anything here any longer."
Now it was Ryu's time to fall into silence. Eventually, he settled on a question and asked it.
"Are you really the last left?"
"In Sacrum? Yes. In Existence…? No."