Selheira blinked, a gentle smile spreading beneath her veil as she looked toward Ryu.
She was quite curious. Old Wan was quite eccentric and seemed quite warm and bubbly, and that he was. But, it was almost precisely because of this that he was so distant to most.
Many thought that the only way to keep people at a distance was by being mean and cold, but this wasn't the case at all. In fact, Selheira herself was considered to be quite a gentle beauty of the Radiant Star Sect, and yet no one dared to cross the line with her. Her words were always carefully chosen and bred a certain respect that even the worst of hooligans didn't dare to easily cross.
Old Wan was a lot like this as well. But, oddly enough, Old Wan actually seemed to be quite close to Ryu… no, that was the proper way to describe it. It was almost like Old Wan was looking for Ryu's validation.
It wasn't quite exactly like this, either. Old Wan had his own pride, after all. It just felt like Old Wan was dancing to Ryu's tune rather than the other way around. It was as though he was trying to toe a line his personality wasn't used to toeing.
This was, of course, the truth. Knowing how difficult it was to rein in people with Ryu's personality type, Old Wan was being very careful with his word choice and actions, and this resulted in him acting a bit differently than he normally would.
Usually, one would be able to pick up on this subtlety, but it seemed that Selheira was quite empathetic.
Selheira smiled and turned away, not saying much. Ryu didn't seem to be focused on her at all, his mind turned toward other things. It was a bit rare for a man to be so close to her in the first place, and for them to ignore her on top of that? This Ryu was quite a special character, indeed.
Of course, it might be explained by the fact he was blind. But, blindness in the mortal and cultivation world represented two completely different things.
With Ryu's cultivation, he should be able to see just fine so long as he used his Spiritual Sense, it wouldn't be much of a problem at all. However, despite getting her permission, Ryu didn't bother to take her up on it, keeping his Spiritual Sense just as restrained.
For a normal woman, this might make sense. But, Selheira knew well the sort of captivation her voice had toward men. And, for those that couldn't hear its profundities, her scent alone was its own enticement.
To put matters into perspective, Selheira's scent was intoxicating to the point that she couldn't stand to smell others. This veil acted to hide her appearance, yes. But its secondary function was to neutralize the scents around her so that she could live more peacefully.
Knowing all of this, it was no wonder Selheira was a bit curious about Ryu. Her snow owl didn't reject him, he was unaffected by her voice and her scent, and he didn't take her up on using his Spiritual Sense. And for her, it was actually quite rare to run into a man who was taller than she was.
He was an interesting man, for sure. But, that was all.
Despite Ryu's disregard, Selheira didn't seem angry and simply maintained the silence he seemed to want.
After a few minutes, the sights of the Radiant Star Sect came into view.
The Sects of the True Martial World, at least of the First Heaven, seemed to be far less fantastical than the Sects and Clans of Sacrum. Ryu was used to floating islands, expansive winter wonderlands, countless moons hanging in the air, and formations that could hold entire cities up in the starry skies.
Compared to these things, the Radiant Sect was almost… bland. In fact, it looked not much different from the Sect ruins of the Natural Order Sect Ryu had taken advantage of in his youth. The only real difference was that this Sect wasn't abandoned.
Of course, it wasn't an identical copy, it was just similar. The buildings and structures were built into the mountain where they could be. Where they couldn't be, large swaths of mountain were flattened for convenience.
The structures were relatively simple, and it looks as though anyone could have done it. The only real specialness of the Sect was its incredibly dense qi. Ryu had never experienced such a strong concentration of qi before. Just this alone made Sacrum look like a joke.
Ryu understood that it wasn't that the Radiant Star Sect didn't want to form a fantastical home ground, it was more so that the laws of the True Martial World were far stricter. If they wanted to replicate what had been done on Sacrum, they would have to be far stronger. Maybe only those Clans and Sects of the Eighth and Ninth Heaven could replicate what Ryu had seen on Sacrum.
But, Ryu had a feeling that when he laid eyes on those phenomena, it would be like the difference of night and day.
The snow owl fluttered down from the skies, allowing Ryu and Selheira to glide to the ground from its back. Soon after, it flapped once and disappeared into the clouds one more, the strong gust of wind sending many disciples retreating.
Selheira apologetically bowed her head to the disciples around, but they were all in a daze.
Many of them had only seen Selheira from afar, that mysterious tall woman whom so many seemed to be infatuated with. But, as close as she seemed to everyone, she was also endlessly far.
"My apologies, everyone. I'll be more careful next time."
Selheira was used to landing in a more powerful section of the Sect where the flight of her snow owl hardly bothered anyone. It seemed she had been a bit reckless this time.
Seeing the tall beauty apologizing, many couldn't take it and hurriedly shook their heads, apologizing instead as though they were lamenting the fact they were so weak.
After this event, Selheira finally led Ryu forward, and they entered a building. It was maybe only then that those enamored by Selheira finally noticed Ryu. However, the women of the crowd had long since noticed him.
When had their Sect gotten such a man? And why did he smell so good?
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry, but I will need your name to register you properly. Do you mind?" Selheira asked gently, looking toward Ryu.
"Ryu Tatsuya," Ryu responded.
It was unknown if it was a coincidence or not, but the skies released a low rumble.