Ryu closed the book he was reading. They had taken longer to find him than he thought, so much so that he had already been here for several hours.
The truth was that Ryu didn't know the rules of the Sect, but most Sects regardless of background, unless it followed some sort of obscure, degenerate path, would have rules against disciples harming one another. It was just basic common sense.
Of course, it also happened to be common sense that Ryu didn't care to observe. He had little patience for such things. He simply didn't care.
If he had joined the Sect through normal means, he would have, at most, crippled his "oppressors". But, since he had done so off the back of Old Wan, then he would act as he pleased. Commanding him around didn't come without its troubles.
Ryu casually walked out of the library to find a group of stone faced elders. There were three of them in total, and they could be considered to be quite the lineup. Though, Ryu had no idea why they would send so many experts after a small-time Inner Disciple like himself.
Every one of these elders were in the Cosmic Seed Realm, the true Cosmic Seed Realm. When they were younger, they had probably been Outer or Inner Disciples. But, after failing to reach the mark to become a Core Disciple or higher, they became lower tier Elders instead.
Elders were divided into the same ranks as disciples, excluding Working. So, the lowest tier of Elder were Outer Sect Elders. But, considering the fact that Ryu was an Inner Disciple, at least in name, at least one of these three was an Inner Sect Elder.
As expected, Ryu's deductions were correct. The stone faced elder in the middle of the other two was, indeed, an Inner Sect Elder. He with by the name of Elder Li and he was in the second tier of disciplinary hall members.
The two elders to his side, Elder Kai and Elder Guo, were both in the first tier and were Outer Sect Elders. It was likely that these two were only here because the reports of Ryu's whereabouts came from disciples in their jurisdiction.
Ryu hadn't bothered to hide his movements, so when he made his way down, many had seen him. In fact, those who learned of the news afterward all believed that Ryu had run, it wasn't until the reports confirmed that he had entered the library.
The female elder frowned when she heard all the commotion, and it only deepened after Ryu walked out. But, she didn't say anything.
When Ryu appeared before the three elders, the pressure they exuded seemed to multiply several times over, causing the ground to quake to the heavy winds to rush over Ryu.
Ryu, who had been uncaring to this point, frowned. However, because he could say anything, a somewhat shrill voice spoke out.
"What the hell do you three think you're doing? Is my territory a place you can just stomp around on as you please?!"
Ryu only raised an eyebrow when he heard this, but the three elders reacted as though they had had their tails stepped on. Their auras receded like a like. No, it felt more like a tsunami. They rushed to hide their strength so quickly that Ryu was pretty sure he sensed at least two of them suffer backlash from the endeavor.
At that moment, a small old lady walked out of the library, a cane in one hand. Without asking for Ryu's input, she suddenly used her free arm to wrap around his own, leaving him quite speechless.
For one, this woman definitely didn't need his support. He couldn't see through her cultivation entirely, but she was most definitely beyond these three by no small measure.
Second, even if she did need his support, Ryu wasn't the type to go easy on others regardless of age or gender. But, he realized he couldn't even bunch a step with this old lady holding onto him. It was as though his only choice was to obediently be taken advantage of.
"E-Elder Aika—"
The stone-faced elder turned docile and hesitant on a dime. Quite frankly, he wanted to slap his own forehead for forgetting that such an old coot was here. Why someone of her standing insisted on being in this place was beyond him, but what he did know was that this person had been here for so long that even he forgot about her.
It wasn't until just now that he snapped out of it.
Elder Aika didn't really care about anything normally, but when she did decide that she cared about something, dealing with the fallout would cause even the Sect Patriarch a headache.
"Hurry up and scram!"
"B-but…"
"But what?" The annoyance on the old lady's face only seemed to be growing with each passing moment. Her cane even rose from the ground, a strong swirl of qi threatening to attack.
"This—This disciple killed a fellow disciple of his!"
It took all of Elder Li's strength to finally squeeze these words out. He hoped that this would at least change things for the better. However, what he heard next almost made him faint.
"And? Why should I care about a trash disciple who doesn't even know the value of knowledge?!"
It wasn't until this point that Ryu understood why it was this woman was doing this. It seemed that she was fond of disciples who took reading and literature seriously.
With how fast cultivators read, how much information could they consume in just a few seconds? Let alone a few hours?
Elder Aika was very used to new disciples like Ryu popping in for a few seconds or minutes before leaving in a rush and never coming back. It was very, very rare for any of them to stay as long as Ryu and even seem like they wanted to stay for more on top of that.
Beyond this, she didn't care about anything else.