Ryu treated the tribulation like it was something to toy with, his casual strikes seemingly piercing into the hearts of all those who watched him.
The commotion of a tribulation wasn't something that could be ignored. Let alone the disciples in the surroundings, even the elders at the highest echelon of the Sect were alerted. But when they too turned their attention to what was happening, they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"Who is that child?"
The elders weren't familiar with Ryu's appearance. In truth, they weren't familiar with the appearance of most disciples aside from the most astounding of the Core Disciples and the Inheritor Disciples. There was simply too much overturn, too much death, too many disappointments to care about investing so much in what was ultimately hundreds of thousands of youth.
But even with all of this being the case, the moment they saw a disciple like this one, regardless of whether they knew his odds of growing to maturing were small or not, such a talent was so incredibly rare that their hearts couldn't help but thrum.
Their Sect had fallen from the ranks of Two Star Sect for a long while. Back when it happened, most of them hadn't even been elders yet. However, the will of their predecessors lived on in many of them and they hoped to push the Sect back up to its former glory once more.
Unfortunately it was difficult. Too difficult.
Not only was meeting the standard itself a tall mountain to climb, but there were also two behemoth-like obstructions in their path… The Hidden Blade Sect and the Iunae Clan.
The fact that their most talented disciple was a descendant of the Iunae Clan was maybe the greatest humiliation of the Sect. It was all too clear that the Clan had done this on purpose to suppress their prestige and their momentum, not to mention sap away all of their secrets and foundation.
Every day, Galemar seemed to earn himself a new piece of their greatest treasures. There was no doubt in the minds of the elders that he was bringing these secrets over to the Iunae Clan, likely in exchange for even more benefits. But there was nothing they could do.
There was no one in the Sect that could suppress him. And even though he wasn't an Inheritor Disciple, they were running out of excuses to stop him from stepping through that final tier.
Any other disciple could be unceremoniously suppressed by the elders here. But if they tried to do so with Galemar, it would give the Iunae Clan the excuse they needed to step in. Once that happened, their Sect would truly be finished.
The rankings might say that they were just a half step from Two Star, but in practice, this gap might as well have been an entire chasm.
"No one knows?"
The elder looked around only to find that no one seemed to have an answer for him. That was, until, his eyes landed on Elder Li of the disciplinary faction.
"Elder Li?"
Elder Li was snapped awake. Then, with a half bitter smile and half smoldering anger, he recounted the events of a few months ago. As they listened, many elders frowned, and the more hot tempered of them almost blew smoke from their ears. Such a thing had actually happened? Their Sect rules had been so easily flouted with no repercussions?
It was only at that moment that many elders scanned the region, only to find that there were two heads on ice pikes outside of Ryu's abode. They could only gasp at the brazenness. He didn't seem to care about offending them in the slightest. He had just killed two disciples and then called the entire Sect's attention over and didn't even bother to hide his actions.
Why were things like this? They had gone from seeing a bright hope and light for the future, to suddenly finding out that this ungrateful child couldn't even be properly raised.
What would happen if they put their full backing behind Ryu and he didn't die? Would someone with such a disposition even know how to return their gratitude in kind? He would be more likely to raze their Sect to the ground. It might be better to kill such a scourge right here and now.
However, when they thought about the fact that this young man had the backing of the Great Elder, none of them dared to move. Not that they could, regardless. Anyone with half a brain knew now to interfere with a tribulation, even if it was only for what seemed to be a Common Grade pill.
When they reached this point in their thoughts, though, they froze.
That was right. This was a tribulation for a pill. Didn't that mean that this young man had formed a Runed Pill?!
At that moment, Ryu's fingers pierced upward once more, but this time, the momentum of his strike and the power behind it were completely unlike anything that came before it. It was as though he was saying that the Heavens had done their job and could scram now.
A piercing and blinding white blade light shot into the skies, piercing through the center of the formed Tribulation Clouds and splitting them in two.
Just like that, the rumbling of the skies came to a stop, replaced by an all new rumbling that came from none other than Ryu's cauldron.
Right then, the lid shot up, a resplendent pill following its wake. None present had ever seen a pill so beautiful in their lifetime.
It was only about as big as two thumb nails, but its surface was formed into a crystal ball, golden runes dancing along it.
Within this crystal ball, a gorgeous blue liquid swished around the like the waters of a clear ocean. It was an incomparably gorgeous sight.
However, it seemed to be lacking something, something important that none could put their finger on.
And it was then that it happened.
Right where the clouds had split apart, a pillar of golden light shot down toward the pill.
At the same time, Ryu's body erupted in flames and he began to circulate the [Refinement Sutra].
Large waves of Heavenly Favor began to storm into Ryu's body, his skin glowing a bright light beneath the raging flames.