1124 Dark
The geniuses at the forefront of the star paths continued to move forward with their fasted speed. As Ryu had expected, there were very few fights if any at this point. There were more than enough paths to take and too few here to take them all. It instead became a battle of who had the most options before them and who had the strongest comprehension toward those options.
Just now, if Ryu hadn't grasped the essence of the Nine Pillar Flame Sky God's inheritance, he would have been burnt to ashes. But because of his level of comprehension, the flames hadn't even tickled him.
Ryu had noticed this shift in the inheritances long ago. The inheritances much further to the back required battling an avatar, this could be considered to be the simplest form of test. So long as one had a strong enough elemental affinity, it took a fraction of the effort to defeat this avatar.
However, as you came to the more robust inheritances, the task became more complex. Although there was less fighting involved, the tests were actually several times more difficult. Due to this, despite being by far the closest, the pace of the geniuses ahead was very slow, and they were still just outside striking range of the Dao Lord's inheritance.
As they pressed forward, they continued to jeer at one another, lambasting the ones lagging behind and trying to shake the confidence of those a step or two ahead.
At that moment, though, Vie frowned, looking toward his spatial ring. He was currently being bathed in a light of pure white gold as he tried to comprehend the inheritance before him. The pressure was immense, and he didn't have time to divert his attention away, but that vibration just now was from his younger brother.
Judging by the obstructions in the star path, if this message was just getting to him, whatever had happened had occurred long ago. In such a situation, it was already too late for him to do anything in response, and this left him a bit anxious.
Despite the danger, he still chose to divert some of his attention to see what was happening. His brother was very strong, they shouldn't be anyone who could threaten him to the point of forcing him to this extent if he was with the other batches of geniuses.
Orthros and the others weren't necessarily of weaker talent than the frontline geniuses that were here, it was just that their cultivations were lower so their overall value to the Dao Lord was lesser as a result.
Orthros was still in the Path Extinction Realm while Vie had long since surpassed that along with Mae and the others, as such they were also given forward placement.
Of course, this division was only important after you reached a certain threshold of talent. After all, many of the geniuses that were the furthest back had long since entered the World Sea Realm. The distinction was only made when it was worth it.
This was to say that Vie had a lot of belief in Orthros, only slightly less belief than what he had in himself. Anything could fluster him was worth taking seriously.
Ultimately, they were still restricted by many rules in this place, and they couldn't bring out their true talent without attracting unwanted attention, so they had to extra cautious in how they find things. This was the second reason Vie took this risk.
Withstanding the pain, Vie slowly listened to his brother's message, sighing a slight sigh of relief when he realized that Orthros had survived. Afterward, though, his expression became far darker as he listened to the rest of the message.
After a long while, he turned his attention toward Mae who was being baptized in a raging river of black water. Despite the situation, she was calm and unmoved.
Vie was human, as such he was well aware of the stigma of a union of human and demon. The two races might as well have been oil and water in the way they refused to mix. Although there was a ton of extra-marital activity, actual marriages were very rare.
Even so, Vie was enthralled not only with Mae's beauty, but namely her Spirit Soul Nature. He didn't like having any weaknesses, and though his soul couldn't be said to be weak, it wasn't a strength either. Thos real geniuses of the Sixth Heaven, those absolute monsters who couldn't be bothered to descend to the lower Heavens like the rest of them, didn't have such ''weaknesses''.
If he wanted to be like them, he not only had to have Mae's primordial Yin, he also had to have her obediently fuse her soul with his own and become his wife. Once she did, his only ''weakness'' would be filled, and he would be no less talented than those real geniuses. Like this, he would be able to truly fight for a spot to enter the Seventh Heaven.
However, never had he expected that in the time she was gone, Mae would find herself a husband.
At that moment, the situation suddenly changed.
An odd balance was broken as the figure of an unknown individual walked into view.
No matter who it was, even those focused on their inheritances, they all turned their attention over immediately. In the time they had been here, this was the first time someone had caught up with them. In addition, with how close they were getting to the Dao Lord's Inheritance, everyone who could make it here was a competitor. In fact, in a lot of ways, catching up was more impressive than having been here from the very beginning.
All they could see, though, was a pair of silver eyes hiding radiant golden rings. The amount of Heavenly favor this individual had accumulated was absolutely astronomical. It was difficult to look him in the eyes without blinking and looking away, it was simply too hard to maintain eye contact.
Mae blinked when she looked back before she suddenly smiled. If Aantha could recognize Ryu, how could she not? But unlike her little cousin, the moment she saw that Ryu was wearing a mask, she restrained her reaction, not wanting to expose Ryu and not knowing that Aantha had already done enough of that.
Ryu looked toward Mae and nodded lightly, letting her know that it wasn't a big deal. But this sort of action caused the expressions of many to suddenly become weird, especially when Mae's beautiful smile came with the hint of a blush.
Mae had only just realized that this was the first time she was greeting her husband in front of so many people, this wasn't something that she was used to.
To the side, Vie's usually bright and cheery expression could only become dark.
