Ryu's gaze went cold. He suddenly felt like he understood the true reason for the gap. Whatever qi Starlight was using was exceptional. Even when he wasn't actively using it, the benefits it had on his body were overwhelming. There might very well be other things that enhanced him in this way as well.
At that moment, the lagging geniuses began to catch up. They had half expected to find Ryu in the process accepting the final inheritance, they simply didn’t believe that he would be able to assimilate the Dao Lord's inheritance with the same speed. But what they actually found left them pleasantly surprised.
Ryu was locked in battle with another, didn't that mean that they still had a chance? In fact, they could even let the two of them tire one another out before they rushed forward themselves and claimed the rewards.
They looked warily toward one another, seemingly realizing that they had to be wary of one another once more. But before this could even last very long, they noticed something else that made their expressions incomparably ugly.
Up ahead, all the countless star paths there had been converged down to just three, and of those three... all three had already been claimed! It was only then they realized that just what kind of childish dream they had been holding onto. All of the star paths leading to the Dao Lord had already been claimed by these two, they couldn't enter the battle for the final inheritance even if they wanted to!
Vie gripped his fists, hard. He had thought from the very beginning that he had a good chance in succeeding, only for things to actually turn out like this. When he saw that the three paths ahead weren't even connected, he was even more infuriated. There was no sign of a third individual, there was no lingering aura, nor was there any corpse. This meant that one of either Ryu or Starlight purposely chose a second inheritance without needing to, essentially cutting off the rest of their dreams.
Vie had no idea that the so-called second inheritance that Ryu had claimed was a soul inheritance those here didn't have a chance of gaining the acceptance of anyway, but when fools got a chance to blame others for their own shortcomings, they would grasp at whatever ideas came to mind.
After realizing that their chances had been squandered, the geniuses only now truly focused on the battle in earnest and began to notice details they had been too hyped up on hope and expectation to notice before.
For one, they didn't seem to recognize either one of these young men. Ryu had been with a mask before, and Starlight was too easily forgettable, although they had interacted with the latter, they didn't even remember having done so.
Only Mae felt her heart clench when she saw Ryu, especially when it was very clear that he was in a bad state.
''This is... Origin Grade Immortal Qi?!''
That was absolutely impossible. Origin Grade Immortal Qi only existed on the Seventh Heaven. Could it be...?
Ryu had already come so far. He wasn't even born in the True Martial World, but he could already stand up to geniuses of the Fifth Heaven like her and the others. This wasn't just a small bit impressive. If he gained the Inheritance of a Dao Lord, he would definitely be able to close the gap entirely and face them even when they no longer faced their restrictions.
Although she wanted the inheritance for herself, she could still manage to feel happy at the chance he was able to receive, especially since as someone linked to him, and judging by how Ryu usually treater her, she didn't doubt that she would benefit as well.
But this...wasn't this a bit too unfair? Those of the Seventh Heaven shouldn't even be interested in this wave of the Convergence. According to historical records, they would only make themselves known when the wave of Fate was much higher. A genius of the Seventh Heaven might stumble in inheritances of this level taking a stroll out of their backyard, why would they stall their cultivation, suppress themselves, all to come down here for this?
But it seemed that life wasn't meant to be fair.
Ryu coughed up a mouthful of blood, his gaze shifting to the tear in his collarbone. His scales, one of his greatest defenses, had been directly ripped through as though it wasn't there at all.
At that moment, Ryu realized that there was no way he could continue like this. The gap was too enormous.
Ryu took a breath and exhaled, his gaze the placid reflection of calmness.
After cultivating his Heavenly Chaos Bone Structure, his sensitivity toward Heavenly Favor and its inner working had skyrocketed. Let alone winning this battle, he felt that even the enormous amount of Heavenly Favor he had gathered up until this point still wasn't enough to reclaim his Spiritual Foundation. He wasn't sure if even claiming the Dao Lord's inheritance would be enough.
He knew too little about the Martial Gods, but it seemed that whatever their standing in the True Martial World was, it was too much for Heavenly Favor at this level to deal with. There was likely not enough Heavenly Favor in the whole of this Heavenly Path to deal with their seal, maybe only if he went to this so-called Complete Heavenly Path would he have a chance at succeeding, but by then, he wouldn't just be facing Fifth Heaven geniuses...
There would be Sixth Heaven, Seventh Heaven, Eight Heaven...maybe even Ninth Heaven.
He didn't know where this Starlight came from, but he most definitely came from one of these higher existences, and he couldn't even last a few exchanges. Let alone a few exchanges, Ryu had yet to see what Starlight's real cultivation was. He could only faintly tell that he was still using Immortal Qi, so at the very least, he wasn't in the Cosmic Seed Realm yet.
The towering mountain before him only seemed to be getting larger.