Ryu raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as lanjor put up a barrier. He seemed to remember that this guy was using a fake name, and there was probably a reason for this.
It didn't make much sense if the reason for this was just to hide the identity that Ryu knew about. After all, so long as he was powerful, who cared if he came from a small world? At worst he would suffer a bit of discrimination, but Ryu didn't believe that lanjor cared about these matters. So, there had to be another reason.
That said... it was odd that Ianjor would change his name, but not his appearance. Why would he need to hide one but not the other?
When Ryu thought to this point, his thoughts immediately drifted to the Heavenly Path and the names left behind, but then he shook his head again. He had already been to the Incomplete Heavenly Path, and Ianjor's name wasn't there. Unless he only appeared on the Complete Heavenly Path? But then how had he made it to the Complete Heavnely Path in the first place?
Ryu shook his head, he was going on in circles. Over nine cycles of a hundred million years had passed since Ryu saw this man last. Although others felt that lanjor's cultivation was quite substantial, Ryu felt that he was actually quite slow given how much time had passed.
But it was also precisely because of this that he felt that there was another secret to this matter. But he wasn't one to pry into the secrets of others, he didn't like explaining himself, let alone asking others to do the same.
"Empana isn't a basic character, I don't know how much you know about the Sky God Realm in the True Martial World, but in order for him to look so young, he broke through before he was even 20 years old."
Ryu's eyes narrowed. He didn't know much at all, but he had met one person on pace to do such a thing... Starlight. Starlight was still a teenager when Ryu met him and now he was already in the World Sea Realm. He could very well breakthrough before he was 20, and even if he missed the mark, he would only be a little bit over.
However, that was the standard of the very pinnacle of the Seventh Heaven, and very nearly the standard of the Eighth Heaven's geniuses. But this... was just the Fifth Plane of the Nether World. Unless the standard of the Nether Plane was far higher, something wasn't adding up.
"He's a genius," tanjor explained clearly. "He's indeed at a much higher norm than this Plane and due to that, he's long since become a disciple of an Eighth Plane power. So ask yourself, why is he here?"
Ryu's gaze narrowed further. Was it possible that the Nether Plane and the True Martial World were both undergoing the Convergence at the same time?
The odds of that were very slim. These were practically two independent systems and neither worried about the other because they simply had nothing to gain. The resources that grew in the Nether World were entirely different from the ones that grew in the True Martial World, so why would they shed blood over such a thing? It would be a large amount of effort for nothing in return.
The Convergence was only triggered by a series of coincidences. For two wholly separate systems to activate it at the same time was akin to the one in a trillion trillion probability of the Convergence happening in the first place being stacked atop of one another. It was an impossibly small chance.
"Does the Nether Plane have a Heavenly Path?" Ryu probed.
lanjor blinked. Seeing his confusion, Ryu realized that he was correct. The odds of this were indeed next to nill.
"No," lanjor said, "I didn't expect you to ask something so stupid. It seems your IQ has gotten worse in these days. What is it, you've tasted too many women these days? And hear I thought you would love only Elena to your death bed."
Ryu's gaze flashed with coldness. "You're lucky I'm in a decent mood."
"Or what?" lanjor sneered.
They both snorted at the same time and lanjor continued to speak as though nothing at all had happened.
"The Heavenly Path is only something humans would have. The Demon Races aren't nearly so nice. It also has to be remembered that this realm has a completely different purpose as well, this is where the Cycles of Reincarnation are stored. The Demons at the top didn't fight for their position, they were born into it, and their position is completely unshakeable."
"What are you trying to say."
"I'm trying to say that every Plane has its own birth right. The only cause the Dream Asuras can come back and there was even a negotiation on the table was because they have enough claim to the Nether World and they have ties to a Clan near the very top, are you getting it?"
"Why is this important right now?"
"The important piece of the puzzle is the matter of Birth Right."
"You're trying to say that Empana has a Birth Right to the Fifth Plane and he's come back to get it?"
"Exactly right."n0Velusb.c0m
"And what does this have to do with me?"
"What doesn't it have to do with you? You've come to wage war on the Fifth Plane at the absolute worst time possible. Under normal circumstances, most of the other Clans here would be willing to observe the Lizard Demons suffer, but do you think they would now?
"Right now, all they're worried about is reducing the competition as much as they can, and they'll do whatever they need to toward the end.
"If you cause too much trouble, you won't just face one army, you'll face three, and just to make certain that everything goes smoothly, they might even chase you to the True Martial World.
"Empana is probably one of their strongest combatants, why do you think he was sent out so early? Does that sound like a normal reaction to you?"