Pierthorn was completely taken off guard by the sudden raging tide of qi. At first he thought that his patience had paid off and that Ryu was just a fool who couldn't control his own cultivation energy properly. But very soon, that thought was through to the back of his head as he spotted Ryu high in the skies, standing upon a great swordstaff with his bow drawn into a full moon.
Even from here, he could feel the coldness emitting from Ryu. He was actually... enraged?
Pierthorn was so stunned, and then suddenly furious himself, that he laughed. A World Sea Realm expert dared to be angry with him? Dared to show discomfort and dislike toward the situation of losing to him? Who did he think he was?
PAK!
The release of Ryu's arrow interrupted Pierthorn's thoughts. The arrow was akin to a roaring wave, the snap of the string like a pop of a bubble holding back all of its seething power.
It appeared before Pierthorn so quickly that he almost couldn't react, but out of sheer instinct, he raised his hand, runes of Spiritual Qi gathering and forming a shield before him.
The collision was immediate and sparkles of qi radiated through the air. However, to Pierthorn's shock, the arrow actually shattered his shield!
'Just what...'
PAK!
The second arrow appeared before his forehead and Pierthorn didn't have time to think at all. He couldn't understand how a World Sea Realm expert could possibly have such overwhelming qi, so powerful and dense, so utterly surpassing that of his own.
While he hadn't entered the Sky God Realm in the Qi Realm just yet, the gap between the Lower World Sea Realm and the Peak World Sea Realm was absolutely enormous. In addition, because he was in the Mental Realm, his consciousness was able to allow him greater fluidity and control over his qi, making him far stronger in that aspect than most Peak World Sea Realm experts. Even if he was to refrain from using his Mental Realm Master abilities, there was no chance for normal World Sea Realm experts to match him.
'This qi..'
Pierthorn's eyes widened.
The third arrow came.
Pierthorn hadn't even dealt with the second, but his powerful consciousness caught sight of the third hidden in its shadow. It moved so perfectly, so seamlessly. It was a level of skill with the bow and arrow that he hadn't seen even from Sky Gods.
It was then that he sensed it.
Bow God.
In all of his shock and humiliation, he had missed such an omnipresent aura, a suffocating, towering, Godlike being standing upon the shoulders of none other than Ryu himself.
Fear crept into Pierthorn's very soul and he began to understand that he could very well become the prey if he wasn't careful.
He had all of these thoughts in an instant, the speed of thought of a Mental Realm Master not to be underestimated.
With a flick of his wrists, his silvery robe sleeves flared out and several readied spells took shape, wrapping around his body like an armor. These weren't spells that he had prepared before the entry but rather how he had passed the time while looking for Ryu. It was a habit that his master had ingrained in him from youth. Due to the Heavenly Path making preparation impossible, he had to redo all of the prep he had readied in the several weeks. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that he would have to use them on the likes of Ryu.
BANG!
They weren't enough. Pierthorn felt like a ton of bricks had slammed against him. While the spells held up, his body couldn't. They weren't complete yet and couldn't eliminate inertia, and his body alone wasn't strong enough to deal with Ryu's blows.
He flew out like a canon, but his expression was calm. He had already expected this. This sort of added distance wouldn't only make it easier to deal with Ryu, then he could truly prepare for his onslaught. Trying to fight a Mental Realm Master from a distance was asking for-
The fourth arrow appeared. Ignoring distance, it flashed through space itself. The speed of Pierthorn's flight backward was irrelevant to it as it closed the distance, appearing so close to Pierthorn's forehead that he felt its coat of qi piercing into his skin, causing a drizzle of blood to run down the bridge of his nose and around his nostrils, leaving his lips with a bitter, metallic taste.
Pierthorn's life flashed before his eyes before he unleashed a roar.
"ENOUGH!"
Spiritual Qi exploded from him like a shockwave, rippling outward. 10% of his Spiritual Sea was dried up in an instant as he crashed toward the ground, landing heavily, and awkwardly, on his feet.n)(0VelbIn
That ripple had cost him a lot, but it had also shattered Ryu's fifth and sixth arrows. While this might only give him a split second, a split second was more than enough time for a Mental Realm Master like him.
Without even bothering to stabilize his footing, his hands raised into the air, countless swordlights appearing in the skies. A cudgel appeared in his hands, it was short and stumpy, its rounded and protruding edges formed of a wood that looked as though it was rotting. However, in that instant of time, the illusory swordlights solidified and a rampaging, spinning tornado of Spiritual Qi formed around him.
Since Ryu wanted to play, they would play.
He looked up, but his pupils constricted. Ryu... was nowhere to be seen.
A shadow materialized in his blindspot and his heart leapt into his throat. He didn't have time to think about just how Ryu had evaded his Spiritual Sense, all he could see and sense was the latter bent down into a potent stance, his great swordstaff swinging down from overhead and approaching his neck with such swiftness that his soul fled his body.
Ryu's presence changed, from Bow God to Sword God, his intention to cut through all things was so palpable it could be tasted in the air.
And then he swung down.
Pierthorn's neck soared from his head, or rather, his head, part of neck, and half an angled piece of his torso, shoulder, arm and all, flew from what remained of his body.
Ryu stood to his full height, swinging out his great swordstaff casually. Usually an arc of blood would follow, but his newly forged great swordstaffs, each with a blade as thin as a cicada's wings, were impossibly perfect. So much so that during that cut, not only had he not felt a single ounce of resistance, it was too swift even for blood to latch on.
The feeling of not having to suppress his power made him feel like a god, but even more so than that, the power alone was shocking. The gap between the World Sea Realm and the Sky God Realm was enormous. His qi should have no ability to deal with Pierthorn's, and yet his arrows, formed of nothing but Chaos Qi, had been able to pierce through as though they were equals.
There was a problem, though. His qi was so potent that it simply didn't even make sense to use his bloodlines, the gap was too large. This was already his strongest state outside of using his Dao more actively and manifesting his Birthed Phenomena. Of course, there was also using Infinity Mist, but that was a death sentence for him currently.
'Hm?'
Ryu's gaze sharpened and his body suddenly vanished.
BANG!
The location he had just been standing in erupted in a blaze of sword qi, or something that seemed to mimic it.
Ryu's expression darkened.
After the Soul Birth Realm, cultivators already gained the ability to survive the death of their body. But Ryu obviously knew this, so whenever he dealt a deathblow, he took this into account and drove his qi to rampage a body.
Obviously, a Mental Realm Sky God was even better in this regard. Let alone just surviving, they could live without their bodies entirely.
The Zu Clan Ancestors had to rely on a special jade to sustain themselves, but someone who had entered the True Soul Quintessence Realm could survive years without their body. There were even some cultivators who discarded their bodies entirely.
Of course, more didn't choose to do this as it painted oneself into a corner, and it also required giving up all of your talent outside of your Dao and Soul Nature. This was a path only extremists would take, especially since there were many other related dangers that Ryu couldn't be bothered to think of right this moment.
The short of it was that he had been aware of this, so how could he not take action to prevent it?
Unfortunately, it seemed that he had still underestimated Sky Gods.
"BOY!"
Pierthorn's furious roar shook the world. The agony in his voice was clear, but the rage was even clearer.
His Spiritual Qi spilled over, fueling a suffocating presence.
