Ryu's cold gaze swept across the battlefield even as his hand tightened on Guiot's shoulder. A glaive appeared in his other hand, breaking the attack of a soldier who attacked him without hesitation and leaping into the air.
The moment he did so, Ryu knew he had made a mistake. An onslaught of arrays assaulted him from every angle, attempting to burn him and Guiot to ash.
Ryu had never been on a battlefield before. But, he knew what these arrays were. They were the protective mechanisms of the two armies. Only those who were sufficiently powerful would dare to enter the air like this. But, those who were so powerful usually wouldn't act in a battle of this scale because their abilities were too devastating. The battle between such entities would be decided on a different field.
It was in the best interest of both armies that the battle continued on the ground. If flight was allowed, it would be far easier for stronger cultivators to pick off the weaker ones. In the case that an army was trying to raise a group of youths by helping them gain experience, it would be too easy for them to be assassinated.
These reasons were just the tip of the iceberg. But the ultimate conclusion was that battles of this scale were usually littered with these aerial arrays, meant to shoot down anyone brazen enough to enter the air. And now, they were all targeting Ryu and Guiot.
Ryu's gaze turned colder. The easiest thing to do would be to toss Guiot into his Incubator. But, if he was willing to do this, he would have already done so and saved himself the Qi Stones he spent on him coming here. Obviously he wasn't comfortable with Guiot knowing about such a great treasure.
Despite the situation, blasts of multi-colored qi assaulting him from all sides like beaming lasers, Ryu felt inwardly satisfied. This was exactly what he had come here for. If this Moon World wasn't at least this dangerous, it would be a waste of his time.
It was suffice to say that seeing a young man enter the sky so brazenly, both sides were stunned. In fact, since they had no idea who Ryu was, they took turns pointing and laughing at the other side for having such a foolish soldier on their side.
"Rule."
Ryu's voice deeply rumbled.
A vast barrier of ice bloomed around Ryu, the pillar of an immortal tree protecting him from all sides.
The violent booms of detonating arrays colliding against his [Immortal Sakura] from all sides was deafening. The battle below could only stop for a moment so that they could take measures to protect themselves.
As the smoke slowly cleared, many believed that they would see two corpses. But, what they instead saw was one shivering young man, and another who seemed to be in a sorry state, blood dripping from his lips and his face pale.
Ryu coughed out a mouthful of blood, sweeping another gaze across the battlefield.
Without another moment of hesitation, he shot into the air. The only way to avoid another assault was by ascending much higher than the arrays were set. Of course, the prerequisite for this method to work was surviving the first assault.
Little Rock appeared below Ryu and Guiot just when Ryu felt he couldn't hang on any longer. Shooting off into the distance, the beautiful silver-scaled Lightning Hawk disappeared from the battlefield in the blink of an eye, leaving both sides stunned.
Who was that young man? How had he survived an onslaught only Path Extinction Realm experts could shrug off? Whose side was he on?
These questions could only continue for a small while before the battle was forced to erupt once more. It was hard to tell just how far the story of this white-haired young man would spread. But, it most definitely wouldn't be barred to this battlefield.
**
Ryu grimaced.
With his Life Flame having reached the Ruler Realm and being followed by a saturation of his Ice Phoenix Blood, his healing factor was far more robust than it had been in the past. So, though he was in a bad state, he was still fairly confident in recovering in a few days.
Those warriors on the battlefield were right. Only Path Extinction Realm experts should have survived that onslaught. Obviously, Ryu didn't have the defensive abilities of such an expert. He only survived for a few reasons.
One, his [Ethereal Tapestry]. Second, his expertise in formation theory. And, lastly, his [Immortal Sakura]. Without all three, he wouldn't have been a corpse before he even lasted a single minute in his Moon World. What a joke that would have been.
Hours later, Ryu managed to stabilize his injuries and slowly sat up.
"Are you alright?" Guiot finally spoke. He hadn't wanted to bother Ryu before, but now that he saw Ryu moving, he thought that asking was the least he could do.
In truth, guilt was all but eating him alive. He had come here with such brazen confidence, yet he had almost died in the first instant. Had it not been for Ryu, he really could be dead. In fact, he was certain that if it hadn't been for his presence, Ryu would have gotten out relatively unscathed.
"It's not a problem." Ryu replied emotionlessly. "Just bad luck."
"… What should we do first?"
"It seems that the Moon World is in a constant state of war if that battle is anything to go by. So, there will be many opportunities to come. I personally want to join a Necromancer Guild. It will obviously be impossible for you to follow me, so you'll eventually have to find a path for yourself."
Guiot nodded. He didn't feel dissatisfied with Ryu's words. After all, he had tagged along uninvited.
"But first, I would like to open my second Body Vessel." Ryu said. "For that, we'll be heading to quite a dangerous place where Yin Lightning Beasts reside."
That's to entering the Ruler Realm in three of his flames, Ryu's Fire Dragon and two Phoenix Bloodlines had already reached saturation within the first Body Vessel. He needed to reach saturation in his Lightning Qilin Bloodline, and thus reach fifty million jin of strength, if he wanted to attack his second Body Vessel.
Ryu learned the hard way just how many kinds of lightning qis there were when his body was ravaged by Immortal Qi during his battle with Youkai. He knew that the Lightning Qilin was a Yang Lightning beast, so absorbing Yin Lightning wouldn't be very efficient. But, he could only work with what he had.
The good news was that Ryu was very familiar with the Moon World. Even if the factions and powers were likely very different from what he remembered, at the very least, the major geographic locations should be the same. As long as that was true, he wouldn't have a problem navigating.
A Half-Step Path Extinction Realm expert would have 100 million jin of strength.. If he opened his second Body Vessel… it wouldn't be so far from his grasp any longer.