Chapter 433: Hundreds

[Sorry Guys, I had planned to write two chapters today, but I completely forgot that it was my sister's birthday T-T ] 

Ryu walked around the altar, the state of the woman's corpse not fazing him in the slightest. She might as well have not been there at all. 

Even with the recent rise in Ryu's libido, it was impossible for him to be attracted to a corpse with its chest cavity spread open like that, right? Ryu didn't have the mind to care at all. 

The longer Ryu spent circulating the altar, the brighter his eyes glowed. 

'So it's like this…' 

Ryu took out the rock he couldn't quite comprehend before, mixing and matching the Runes he saw to the symbols that surrounded the altar and the young woman's corpse. It amounted to just half a minute of time, but within those instances, Ryu felt as though his mind had traveled around the world and back. 

Along with the increased ability of his Pupils, it seemed that his mind had gained a boost to its thinking speed as well. Ryu almost felt that the Origin Flame was no longer enough to keep up with him and his thoughts. 

But this only made sense… Ultimately, Ryu had fused with an incomplete Origin Flame. If it was a complete one, how could his weapon's Inheritance have surpassed his fire Inheritance?

On one hand, the only reason Ryu's Ice Flame, Rage Flame and Rebirth Flame had all been able to enter the Rule Realm so quickly is because Ryu had the Origin Flame. But, it was simultaneously because of the limitation of Ryu's Origin Flame that they hadn't shown any progress since then even with the evolution of Ryu's Pupils. 

This was the way of the world. There was always give and take when it came to these matters. 

This aside, Ryu felt that he was finally beginning to understand the rituals of the Mountain Barbarians. Beyond that, even this Rune etched rock in his hand was displaying some of its specialness as well. 

In the mortal world, a human was considered dead once their brain activity ceased to be. At least, this was the strictest definition that mortal could rely upon. 

There were no shortage of people who might be brain dead while their heart continued to beat. However, these people would still be considered dead while their beating hearts were no different from the final drizzle of a waning storm. 

Likewise, there were many instances of people with brain activity with a body that had shut down. In those cases, it was still possible for them to be revived or, more accurately, resuscitated. 

Still, these were just the matters of the mortal world, theories and explanations given by those who had no understanding of the real world and didn't know the faintest thing about cultivation. 

Death to a cultivator was clear cut: the dispersal of the soul. It was that simple. But, the paths toward this were numerous, and this was especially so after the Soul Birth Realm. 

Before the Soul Birth Realm, it was impossible for a soul to exist without a body. The moment the body shut down and the brain ceased to function, so would the soul disperse. 

After the Soul Birth Realm, though, an Immortal Cultivator gained some resistance to their soul's dispersal. It was possible to fight back and even strong arm one's soul into staying put – depending on one's level of talent and achievement level in the Mental Realm – and keeping oneself alive for a period of time until the body could be restored. 

The more powerful one's soul, the easier it was to accomplish this and the more horrid kind of damage one could survive through. 

The most extreme examples of this were the Lich, a special branch of Necromancy which fell under the Refinement Necromancer category. Except this time, rather than refining other corpses, one would refine oneself into a corpse puppet to be manipulated. 

Most couldn't reach this level, though. Even Lich Necromancers had at least one living part of their body they had no choice but to attach their soul to. The only exceptions were Liches capable of finding extraordinarily rare treasures that could preserve the soul without the body. 

But… As one could see from the weakening of the Zu Clan Ancestors, this method wouldn't last forever. They had already been greatly weakened from their peak states. 

What exactly was the point of all this? 

It was to put into perspective just how pleasantly surprised Ryu was to find an altar of Runes that seemed capable of stopping the soul from dispersing under even more strenuous circumstances like… 

Being eaten alive. 

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'I didn't think I'd actually find something so comprehensive. I thought that at best, they'd know which organs to avoid to slow the process down as best as possible. But, to think that their method would be so sophisticated. Is this really a fake civilization?'

Ryu had a hard time believing this. He guessed that it might still be possible, but did the creator of this dream world really put so much thought into this matter rather than just copying? Or was it that Ryu was still underestimating Sky Gods?

Ryu didn't have a propensity to look up toward anyone or anything. To others, the Sky God Realm was a Realm the likes of which countless individuals, even geniuses, revered. But to him, it was just another Realm he would eventually enter… No, one he would enter for the sake of saving his family. 

However, this mentality also made it a bit difficult for him to put matters into perspective. He couldn't quite decide…

Ryu shook his head. 'It doesn't matter if they're real or not, what does matter is that these Runes should theoretically be effective outside of Osiris as well. Like this, it will be much easier to deal with corpse Refinement.'

Ryu's gaze suddenly sharpened. 

With calm movements, he turned toward Esme. 

Ryu's eye throbbed slightly, causing a whirlpool of Space Qi to form around Esme. In the blink of an eye, she vanished. 

It had been a long time since Ryu used this ability of Heavenly Pupils wielders. Compared to the past, he could accept much larger objects with hardly any effort into his Pupil's inner world. He previously had to rely on Ailsa to achieve this, but now it wasn't a problem at all. 

Ryu wasn't intent on exposing the fact he had Heavenly Pupils. But, if he used this ability cleverly, he would both be able to keep this secret and catch an enemy off guard. 

Ryu circled around the altar one more time and snatched a tome open on the podium behind it. After placing it into this Inventory, he walked out with light steps. 

By now, Giveon was standing above three Mountain Barbarian corpses, his breathing somewhat heavy. But, Ryu could tell that this was still an act. 

"You got it?"

Ryu nodded. "No issues."

As they had agreed upon before, Ryu kept the item and didn't try to hand it over. If all their other plans fell through, it would be Ryu's task to run back to the city and hand in their quota. While everyone would think that Giveon as the Leader would have it, Ryu might have an easier time slipping through. 

Giveon weighed what looked like a heart with eight chambers in his hand. It was the size of his head and had a shell of rock around it. Even now, it continued to beat, spreading out the scales of rock and revealing the flesh beneath. It was quite an odd sight to behold. 

Ryu caught the heart without a word and placed it into his Inventory as well. These two items were their mission. With them in Ryu's hands, he considered these matters as good as over. 

Their enemies weren't even aware of what they needed to fulfill their quota. For all they knew, even if they saw Ryu with the heart, they might assume it was just like the other rewards Ryu casually picked up. This was why the two didn't bother to conceal their actions in the slightest. 

Both Giveon and Ryu looked into the distance, watching as several unknown individuals began to make their presence known. It felt as though every cave entrance was barred by at least three individuals, looking down toward the half burned down city with hints of subterfuge in their eyes. 

Ryu immediately senses a heated gaze on him, causing him to curiously turn in that direction only to find Grinder staring at him like a cornered animal. 

The former powerful individual of the Deep Valley Team gripped at the opening of the tunnel, his grip so strong that the edges cracked and folded, fusing with the blood from his fingernails. 

The rest of the Violet Olive Team continued to fight the lingering members of the Mountain Barbarians, still fulfilling their task to keep them away from Giveon and Ryu. But by now, their expressions were truly unsightly to behold. 

They knew a lot about the Deep Valley Team, more than enough to know that their numbers should only total around 40 to 50. This was about the same for every Team under the Alliance, none was too big. 

So where had these few hundred individuals come from?

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