1161 Both
The more Ryu let his body move as it felt and the less he thought, the more wild he seemed to become. But at the same time, his Focus Qi likewise began to slowly recover. Although it was much slower than the pace he would have recovered had he been sleeping, it was still an improvement nonetheless.
The enemies he faced fell in extraordinarily large numbers, again and again. His slaughter was relentless and he forgot about everything instead of killing faster, swinging harder and suffocating the opposition with his momentum.
Suddenly, Ryu reached a point where his blade had nowhere else to swing.The enemies stopped coming and he stood there, huffing and puffing, his Chaos Qi causing cracks in the folds of space around him. These cracks weren't visible to the naked eye, but he could see them with his current pair. It made him wonder just how much further he could traverse with his Spacetime Soul Nature if he was using his Chaos Qi at the same time instead of neutral qi.
'Hm?'
Ryu looked up in the world of darkness and found a staircase slowly forming before him. He didn't even wait for it to finish forming before he took the first step.
A heavy pressure bore down, but it seemed to be shredded apart by his Chaos Qi before it could even descend on his shoulders. Ryu was a bit surprised by this, but that didn't stop him from taking a second step, and then a third.
Soon he came to understand what was going on. These stairs were using Heavenly Favor to test him again, much like the miasma he had passed through to enter the Heavenly Path to begin with. However, unlike last time hen Ryu restrained his Chaotic Silk Meridians, he had let them have free reign this time.
Heavenly Favor was just technically a derivative of Essence which was Chaos Qi's only equal. So, how could Heavenly Favor alone withstand Ryu's Chaos Qi? It was shredded apart like half melted butter and instead of slowing down, Ryu's speed only became faster and faster.
Even if Ryu was facing Essence itself, he doubted that the process would be any less easy. Who else could boast to have the capabilities of countering Essence if not for the wielders of Chaotic Silk Meridians?! From the very beginning, it seemed that this test had been laid out for Ryu and Ryu alone.
In the outside world, although Ryu was unaware of it, his numbers continued to jump. From 2 (rainbow), to 3 (rainbow)... and then from 3 (rainbow) to 4
(rainbow). ..
Ryu's original hypothesis had been correct. These trials were the trigger point that caused the large gain of Heavenly Favor, without it, the number in the all time leader board would have never been reached. But what was especially fascinating was that Ryu's amount of Heavenly Favor was the highest in recorded history when it came to how much one had entered the third phase with from the second phase.
Thanks to this, Ryu had been able to open all nine tiers of doors which allowed him to unlock the highest level of trials in this very tower. Due to that, Ryu not only had entered the third phase with the most Heavenly Favor ever , but he had also gained an opportunity that allowed him to accumulate more Heavenly Favor than anyone else before him.
Du to this, by the time he had made it 10% the way up the staircase before him, he had already caught up to his great grandfather, reaching 4 (rainbow). But very quickly, he began to surpass that, and then surpass himself again and again.
5 (rainbow)... 7 (rainbow)... 8 (rainbow)... 9 (rainbow)...
In the outside world, the geniuses were getting anxious. But when they saw Ryu's numbers climb beyond the realms of reason, they felt as if someone was stabbing their hearts through with countless needles. They realised that even if by some miracle they managed to kill Mae now, it wouldn't matter.
There was simply no catching to these all time numbers.
It was clear that in this trial, speed was rewarded. You weren't just competing with yourself, you were competing with those around you as well. This was why you could fight and snatch Heavenly Favor from one another. But if the third phase concluded without giving them a chance to battle at all, they would have lost everything!
Mae breathed heavily, not having the strength to even to wipe the dripping blood from the corner of her lip. But even so, her smile was blinding.
At at moment, a new batch of geniuses managed to reach the diamond city and open the doors. But when they saw what was in front of them, they cou dn't help but be shocked.
"Big sis!"
Aantha called out when she saw the state of her elder cousin. She didn't know exactly what was happening, but when she saw so many ganging up on Mae, how could she not be infuriated?
"SCRAM!" Aantha roared out, moving forward like an enraged lioness. It was rare that she didn't have a playful expression on her face, and right this moment, she seemed to be truly infuriated to the max.
Vie's gaze flashed. Wasn't this an opportunity? He really wanted to see who Mae would choose, her "husband" or her little sister?
"Capture her first!"
He seemed to have completely forgotten the young noble persona he usually had. All he cared about at this point was success, he wouldn't allow anything to stand in his way.
Aantha sneered. Did these people think that she was easy pickings? Just because she let her big sis have the spotlight didn't mean that she was a target any of these people could easily target.
Her body glistened and she morphed into her demonic form. But just when others thought it was complete, she shimmered once again, her black-red scales becoming a glistening gold as a halo of light appeared above her head.
She raised a staff in her hand and countless swords of light formed. If Ryu had been there, he would have felt that this ability was eerily similar to the Magus Sky God's inheritance, but also somehow more... natural, almost as though it was Aantha's Soul Nature.
And that it was.
Mae wasn't the only one born with a Spirit Soul Nature, so too was Aantha. These pair of cousins were maybe the most talented women born to the Dream Asura Race in a very long time.
And this group had managed to piss both of them.
