Ryu didn't quite know what to say other than that these people had way too much time on their hands. Could they be considered Inner Disciples?
Ryu hadn't really paid attention to the time he had spent there, but it had to be at least a day, maybe a day and a half. He had gone through and read so many techniques, taking his time and going through them all one by one. He just couldn't believe that someone, no, several someones, would be so free as to wait for him all this time.
And yet, rather than being embarrassed, the three of them all had sinister expressions on their faces as though he should be scared of their scowls.
Ryu was a person who had faced an Eleventh Order Wind Dragon while in the Immortal Ring Realm without flinching. He had even fought a true Sky God of the True Martial World in Mistress Holy Wing. Was he supposed to feel intimidated right now?
Despite this usually being a situation Ryu would lose his temper in, he almost couldn't help but laugh. After all he had been through, this nonsense bordered on comedy. Is this what the geniuses of the True Martial World were up to?
No, these people couldn't be considered geniuses. They were the dregs of the First Heaven and Ryu's aim was far beyond what they could imagine. They were lucky to be born here while Ryu was lucky to be given this talent he would slowly, but surely, unearth.
These people before him were nothing more than jumping clowns.
"Ryu Tatsuya, is it? I would advise that you make your way to the Outer Disciple Ring promptly. There's someone waiting for—"
Ryu didn't even divert his path, walking right through a gap in their trio formation as though they weren't there. From what it looked like, he was not only blind, but also deaf. He couldn't be bothered to deal with this nonsense at all. They were lucky that he had been amused rather than enraged.
The trio were so stunned that they didn't even react until Ryu was easily 50 meters away. Of course, this was also in part due to the fact that Ryu seemed to glide through the air. While his steps were unhurried, he actually covered extremely long distances with every stride.
Snapping out of their stupor, the three vanished from their spots, crossing Ryu once more and this time squeezing together to block his path.
"You—!"
Ryu's reaction was swift, swifter than anyone would have ever expected. He had already let them off once in exchange for the laughs, but he had never been a fan of listening to others talk nonsense in front of him.
When the middle of the three saw that Ryu was actually attacking, a sinister sneer twisted his average face into something far less than average. It looked like this was what he was hoping for all along. The fact that Ryu dared to do this already sealed his fate.
He struck out with a palm, using over 80% of his strike. For a probing attack, this was already overkill. Most would only use about 30% to probe an enemy before slowly increasing over the course of a fight. The fact that this young man had chosen to use this much out of the gate made his intention shine through all too clearly.
Ryu's two pinched together fingers versus his palm, to him, the result was all too obvious.
Someone who hadn't even stepped foot into the Path Extinction Realm actually thought they could deal with him? He might have been at the bottom of the Inner Disciple rankings, but he was still ranked 9892nd. There were over a thousand spots between himself and a new recruit like Ryu.
Just as the youth was feeling cocky, his palm slapped at nothing but air. The sound of whistling wind and compressed nothingness filled his ears for but a moment before two fingers shot through his throat.
The disciple's eyes widened, as did the eyes of everyone around him.
He… dared to kill?
Ryu pulled his hand back and it was as though he had never pierced a throat to begin with. His long, slender fingers were just as unblemished as they always had been and those that were sharper noticed that his footsteps hadn't faltered even a single time.
He left a single afterimage, one that was almost impossible to track, and before anyone could blink, he was already back in the very same spot. No one present had profound enough attainments to understand just how great Ryu's movement technique was, and Ryu obviously didn't have the patience to explain.
The two other Inner Disciples that had come stood frozen in place as Ryu walked between them and their companion collapsed to the ground.
Just what had happened?
By the time anyone realized that Ryu had broken one of the Sect's primary rules, he had already vanished into the distance.
…
Ryu had long since memorized the map of the Radiant Star Sect. So, outside of some seemingly forbidden regions that should be left untouched and were blacked out on the maps, he knew where pretty much everything was, including the library.
The library was about the only place on the Radiant Star Sect accessible to all. As such, it was located on its own mountain. Said mountain was hollowed out entirely and filled to the brim with books and knowledge, much of which touched on either abstract concepts, raw truths, or unsubstantiated research.
Entry into the library was probably the only free pass in the whole of the Sect. Ryu assumed that this was likely due to some policy passed by the higher ups, but regardless, it didn't seem like many were taking advantage of this. The old female elder that allowed Ryu in seemed almost surprised to see a new face like Ryu's, but she seemingly also calmed down assuming that Ryu would find what he needed and leave in a few minutes like every other new face seemed to.
However, Ryu didn't have any intentions of doing such a thing, he had plans on being here for a while.