The stoic elder was stunned by Ryu's words. Had he heard properly?
"What did you just say?"
At that moment, even the amicable elder raised an eyebrow before an amused smile crossed his lips.
Though the two had relatively benign reactions, the elders to their backs seemed as though they might blow their tops off at any moment.
"You dare ask for such things, brat?!"
"You have a lot of audacity for a Connecting Heaven Realm ant. Do you think you truly have the right to negotiate with an entire Sect on your own?!"
In the distance, Zulfiqar's eyes flashed. Connecting Heaven Realm?
It wasn't just him, but Niel as well. They both looked toward Ryu with serious expressions. Was he hiding his cultivation back then? And was he maybe still hiding it even now? Wasn't that the only possible explanation for what they were seeing currently? How else could you explain it?
If Ryu was hiding it back then, what was stopping him from hiding it now? The answer was exactly that… nothing.
As Necromancers, they were quite proud of their senses and their Mental Realm. For them to be tricked so thoroughly… There was no doubt that Ryu could do it again if he wanted to. The only thing remaining was understanding why…? What did he gain from this?
Of course, these two had no way of knowing that Ryu truly was in the Divine Vessel Realm back then. But, this was even more difficult to accept than the idea that he simply hid his cultivation.
For Zulfiqar, it was especially important to him that Ryu hid his strength. Because if this wasn't the case, that would mean that he had truly lost to a Connecting Heaven Realm pup. Though this wasn't as bad as losing to someone in the Divine Vessel Realm, the sting was no different in Zulfiqar's eyes.
"Are you done?" Ryu said off handedly. "Your Supreme Elder asked me a question, yet instead of allowing me to answer, you jumped in with all your nonsense. A Sect without hierarchy might as well not exist at all. How are you any different from a pack of rogue cultivators?"
"You…!"
However, they truly didn't dare to say much more. They also had no idea how Ryu could tell that the man who spoke was the Supreme Elder. How could they know that Ryu could easily see the flow of Faith thanks to his eyes?
Why were Priests called Priests when they were technically just elders of a Sect? Well that was obviously because at a certain level, a Sect was no different from a religion. Faith was so important to the cultivation world that a Sect might as well have been a Church. Of course, it wasn't a one to one comparison, but this was the core of it.
By extension, then, each member of a Sect had a certain amount of Faith allocated to them. The higher your standing, the more you would have.
For Ryu, reading through this amount and making deductions, especially after the evolution of his Pupils, was as easy as breathing.
Before, Ryu could only guess that Niel was an Inheritor Disciple. But now, even if he didn't meet Niel by means of recruitment for a Sect, he would have known that Niel had high standing within one with just a glance.
"I think that my strength has already been adequately portrayed. I'm a Connecting Heaven Realm expert who lasted more than a few rounds with your Inheritance Disciple."
Zulfiqar's jaw clenched and the elders fell silent.
"However, I don't want to become the Throne of the Moonlight Blossom Sect and I'm sure that there are some people here who wouldn't like this either.
"That's just the first point, but there are more.
"The second is the short duration of my stay. How many resources do you think I can use? I won't claim that I won't put a dent in your funds, but it wouldn;t be anything you can't recover from in a few decades… And that's only if entry into the Tri Palace isn't taken into account."
Ryu pointed a slender finger into the skies.
"I'm sure that all of you are aware of the shift in Fate the Moon World has undergone. This entrance into the Tri Palace is important not just for your Sects, but even the Three Pupil Eclipse Sect and Three Pupil Clan are no longer sitting idly by.
"The amount of Faith you can grab from this expedition will likely decide the future rulers of this world. And, beyond that, the number of resources will likely far outstrip anything I could use personally.
"Some of you probably still believe that there's no need to make such a deal with a Connecting Heaven Realm expert like me. But, not only can I say that would be foolish, beyond that, I can only say that you can have a try if that's what you really want.
"Fair warning, though. When I'm angry, I tend to not think of the consequences too much.
"At least if I'm only your Throne for two months, you have a reason to freeze me out later. But, if I'm your Throne for a lifetime… I'm sure you can fill in the blanks for yourself."
With Ryu's current combat prowess, even though this would be his second Throne trial, he had the utmost confidence in succeeding. It was just that he didn't want to waste an opportunity on the Moonlight Blossom Sect.
One had to remember that with each attempt and with each stack of a Throne, the difficulty in claiming the next became exponentially more difficult. This was obvious. After all, to be able to supply more than one Sect or Clan with enough Faith, you had to be much stronger than even the average Throne.
"And why is it that you don't want to be our Throne if you're so confident in yourself?" The stoic elder asked.
He had just received a voice transmission from Niel that it was possible that Ryu was hiding his cultivation level. If that was the case and Ryu was actually a Path Extinction Realm expert in sheep's clothing, wouldn't they all have been fooled?
Becoming a Throne ultimately required exceptionally high combat prowess. If Ryu's cultivation realm was fake, he obviously didn't have that.
He began to look at Ryu skeptically.
Ryu's lip curled.
At that moment, the wind began to kick up. And oppressive force descended from the skies and a majestic throne seemingly tore its way through space to make its presence known.
As though a throne of ice, the sky-blue gems of the throne glimmered, freezing the air around the Sect.
Deep within the Moonlight Blossom Sect's territory, a middle-aged man could no longer keep his concentration, his eyes opening as a mind numbing pressure spread outward.
"I already have the Throne of a Sect beyond yours in strength.." Ryu said plainly. "If I'm going to claim a second Throne, why would I take a step down?"
