Chapter 2087 Let Me Borrow...
Chapter 2087 Let Me Borrow...
A Lord was put on his last breath by an Omniscient... in what could hardly even count as a single strike.
It was as though Ryu had only lightly patted at the air, like he didn't even use much of his effort at all.
The understanding that most had of the gap between Omniscient and Lord was overturned right before their eyes.
They had seen Ryu fight above his cultivation realm before, but those were still somewhat acceptable. But there had never been a documented genius in the True Martial World that was capable of bridging such a gap.
And if there was... they certainly shouldn't have been able to do it so easily.
The person that was the most shell-shocked, though, was Aika herself. She stood in the skies in a daze, her face growing paler and paler as tear streaks fell from her once delicate, now shallow cheeks. She looked as though she had lost her soul.
But it was hard to tell if that was because Samson was on his last breath, or if it was because she had seemingly realized something else.
Ryu descended from the skies and landed in front of Starlight, his gaze indifferent. Anyone who knew Ryu, though, felt that his actions were odd. Of course, that wasn't because of Samson. That was well in line with something Ryu would do. He had no intention of sparing or forgiving Samson just because he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Ryu's hypocrisy seemed to be based on nothing more than selfishness, but as he had thought many times before... comprehension placed far more emphasis on how you came to know something rather than that you knew it.
Ryu had always known that he was a hypocrite, but he embraced it now. And the reason for that was far more important than the fact he was.
The world was filled with moral grey zones. No matter what philosophers tried to tell you, there was no objective morality.
Was Samson wrong? From his perspective, certainly not.
Samson believed that Ryu was already dead, and Old Wan's words back then were very reasonable. Ryu's Fate was too volatile and he could too easily bring destruction to a Sect trying to rise again like theirs.
In fact, it was Ryu's presence in the first place that had given Sovereign Black Worm a chance to enter Dao Godhood.
However... Ryu just didn't care.
07-25
If you didn't stand with him, then you stood opposed to him. When Samson chose to hide Old Wan's deeds and live side by side with him for all these years, he had already slotted himself in as an enemy of Ryu's... and nothing at all would change that.
Ryu didn't have the heart of a saint. Often, the worst people in a disaster situation were the fence-sitters who didn't want to choose a side, or the moderates who felt that both sides had their merits.
To Ryu... there was no other side but his own.
"Bring out your weapon. This will be your last chance to do so before your pathetic master has to save you." Ryu said lightly.
High in the skies above, the Chaotic Space Sky God's eyes narrowed. He couldn't remember clearly the last time he had been disrespected by anyone, let alone a junior. And yet, now that he recalled... the last two that had dared to do this were both Ryu. He had pretty much expunged Ryu from his memory. If not because he had a small shadow over the heart of his disciple, he wouldn't have bothered to recall.
In fact, the only reason he had sensed Ryu so clearly when he entered the Eighth Heaven was because he had a small bit of Fate with Ryu. For someone at his cultivation level, he was very sensitive to such things.
But it was clear and obvious now that Ryu didn't take him or his prestige very seriously at all.
"You will regret speaking those words." Starlight said coldly.
Ryu didn't respond as he stood in silence, waiting for Starlight to do as he said.
Star Qi began to descend from the skies and illusory bronze arms took shape. The world shuddered and an ancient sword took shape in one of the many arms of dense fog.
A powerful momentum shook the space and the blade suddenly slashed out.
Ryu didn't move in the slightest bit. He stood there in a lazy silence, only for a scene they had already seen once before to play itself out once again without the slightest shift.
The blade light seemed to freeze in front of Ryu before it slowly faded away.
Starlight's pupils trembled, not quite believing what he had just seen.
He hadn't allowed Ryu's goading to stop him from pulling out his weapon. No amount
of words would stop him from taking Ryu as seriously as he could.
But what he didn't expect was that it wouldn't matter in the slightest.
"Is this all you have?" Ryu asked lightly. "I would say I'm disappointed, but I expected as much already. You were never going to be a match for me."
(0)
Starlight took a breath, forcefully stabilizing himself and not allowing Ryu's words to impact him.
He didn't believe there could be a Lord that could make him look so ridiculous, let alone an Omniscient.
Starlight unleashed a roar and his Constellation solidified. The hands of Buddha descended from above in solid, aged gold.
Starlight tried to warp causality, only for his expression to finally change violently.
Whether it was Time, Space, Fate, or Karma... it was all so solid around Ryu that it felt like he was trying to pull a thin strand out from a solid block of steel.
Ryu shook his head as though he was feeling bored.
Indeed... now that he thought about it, Starlight did like playing around with that sort of stuff... it was unfortunate that it was absolutely useless against. Ryu.
Ryu took a step forward and the ground trembled. The world warped around Starlight and his vision blurred. When his sight cleared, Ryu was standing so close to him that they could easily reach out and touch one another.
"Do you know why your master is pathetic?" Ryu asked with a smile.
A cold sweat permeated Starlight's back, but his throat was ironically dry. "It's because he overestimates himself. He thinks that stealing the talent of others to bolster himself and his sycophants makes him great, almighty, and powerful. He's a coward who can only rely on others to bolster his chances at breaking through. He's the most spineless Sovereign I've ever met in my life. Well, other than a certain snake." There was a reason the Chaotic Space Sky God's Inheritance appeared in both the Incomplete and Complete Heavenly Paths.
Both times, the coward had been at the end of his life and he hoped to rely on others to help him break through.
First, he had faced the bottleneck of the Lord Realm and managed to succeed inNôv(el)B\\jnn
breaking through.
Now he was facing the bottleneck of the Sovereign Realm and was trying to use Starlight to do the same.
In truth, he was already close. The amount of Fate that Starlight had gathered just based on his Tribulation alone was massive. In all likelihood, it wouldn't take more than a few months before the Chaotic Space Sky God began to feel his bottleneck
loosening once more.
But it would be a real shame... if Ryu ruined that.
Ryu raised a hand up slowly and Starlight explosively retreated... only to find that he
was still standing in the same place.
"STOP!" The Chaotic Space Sky God's voice clapped like thunder, but Ryu had completely ignored him, grabbing only Starlight's neck and holding him up like a
gutted animal.
Ryu shook his head as though he hadn't heard Starlight's master at all.
"A shame. Your Dao Heart was decent, but you listened to that fool and accepted a
talent that wasn't your own."
Ryu suddenly smiled. "That's fine, though. After I finish with you, you'll be like a brand
new person."
PUCHI!
Ryu's arm ripped through Starlight's dantian.
Under the stunned gazes of those present, a genius of an era was ruined right before
their eyes. Even the Chaotic Space Sky God had simply never expected that Ryu would dare to do this in his presence.
At that moment, it felt like Ryu's smile was nothing more than the image of a devil.
Ryu slowly pulled his hand out of the convulsing Starlight's body.
There was a sudden twist of space and Starlight vanished.
Heavenly Pupils. These were the first thoughts that everyone had, but they didn't even have much time
to remain shocked about this before Ryu's aura bloomed.
Chaos Qi flooded the air and a dark gold ripple spread out from Ryu.
In the instant this ripple touched the invading army, they burst into rains of blood. But
Ryu didn't seem to care very much about them at all as he stepped out into the air.
For the first time, his eyes landed on Old Wan.
"Hey. How about you let me borrow your head for a little while? I'll return it to your tombstone later."