Very quickly, whatever calm flow of qi there was vanished. Chaotic waves of energy took hold of the large hall, causing many to feel as though their qi control was slipping further and further away from them.
Ultimately, of those here, the vast majority were absolute geniuses with only a few like Niel having relied on others to make it this far. So, they likewise quickly adapted to the circumstances, the soles of their feet almost anchoring to the ground beneath them.
Ryu sent a casual glance upward. The astral winds whipped through his long, shimmering white hair. It seemed for a moment that he would be completely thrown off his feet. But, as time passed, it became clearer and clearer that he was mostly unaffected.
Ryu took a calm and steady breath. The vicious winds around him suddenly slowed to a crawl, his hair resting upon his shoulders and back with hardly a whimper.
Astral Winds were among the most dangerous phenomena of deep space. They came from stars of a certain caliber expelling their waste. This waste supercharged qi in its surroundings, resulting in violent reactions that could even reap the lives of strong, veteran cultivators.
If it was just about violent qi, it would still be easy enough to deal with. But, the main issue with Astral Winds is that they were capable of passing on their state of excitement onto any qi they happened to come across, including energies within the bodies of cultivators.
One could imagine the devastation that could be caused if this violent tidal wave of qi appeared within your body. Ryu might still be fine due to the sturdiness of his Chaotic Silk Meridians, but not many would dare take on such a thing.
As things stood now, the Astral Winds were fairly weak, even Niel could deal with them without an issue. However, Ryu knew that this was likely just the beginning.
“The selection rounds will all take place in this environment. If you’re unable to deal with this much, you aren’t worthy of gaining a spot amongst our esteemed Apostles and you may as well take the rewards you’ve received until now and turn tail.
“This region has a small protective ward over it. The further down this hall and toward the next level you travel, the less protection there will be until there comes a point where you are facing the full brunt of the Astral Winds.
“You might as well not call yourself a Necromancer if you can’t control your qi to at least this extent.”
Zenavey smiled sweetly in Isemeine’s direction. Though she didn’t say a word, her meaning couldn’t have been more obvious. It couldn’t be that Isemeine planned to stay by Ryu’s side all this time to help him cheat, right?
However, when Isemeine saw this, rather than continuing to be angry, she smiled back. Zenavey must have thought that the Astral Winds were so calm around Ryu because she had stepped in to help him. But, she knew the truth was that she hadn’t lifted a single finger.
If there was one thing she could be confident in, it was Ryu’s talent and strength. This ‘trial’ wouldn’t pose a challenge unless Zenavey wanted to stir up some trouble. And, even in that case… Zenavey and Isemeine had always been neck and neck in terms of strength. If Isemeine couldn’t defeat Ryu, what made Zenavey think she could?
Isemeine put her hands up in mock surrender and glided backward with an effortless leap.
At that moment, Zenavey already stood at the target goal, looking down on them all from above. A sweet smile curled her lips, seemingly not caring about the disorganization of it all. As far as she was concerned, none of that mattered. Whether or not you could make it to her level was all that did.
So, Ryu obliged, taking a step forward, treating the Astral Winds as though they were nothing more than a gentle breeze.
**
“Fuck!”
The people in the restaurant all looked over toward a particular old man, their expressions odd. It was rare seeing someone so old be so brash and unrefined with their words. Usually, people like this would be especially concerned with their face and how they appeared in the public eye. But, this old man didn’t seem to care in the slightest. He hadn’t even tried to hide his voice.
“Calm down old man,” a middle aged man sitting across from him took a large swig of alcohol, waving a hand to hide them from prying eyes, “are you trying to embarrass me?”
“If I didn’t have such a useless son, would I even have to worry about any of this?”
“Why are you blaming me? You really lack any sort of accountability. Your jizz is just too weak. Can’t believe my poor mother had to deal with such a low quality man.”
“Jizz? What the hell is that?”
The middle aged man spit up his drink, spraying his father all over the face. He couldn’t hold in his laughter anymore.
“Fuck you.” The old man seemed to finally get it. “Don’t you think I’ve tried to replace you already? But that brat disappeared for 200 years. 200! He’s probably dead by now.”
“Well, who asked you to be so stubborn about it? Who was the one who said he would have to beg me to join? If you had just snatched him up back then, he wouldn’t have even been able to struggle. And, if you had told him that you were the one that saved him instead of playing all of these mind games, he might have already been of great help.
“Instead, you wanted to protect your useless pride. Now you’re sitting in a restaurant that wasn’t even fit to clean the soles of your shoes in the past, crying over some cheap liquor. Don’t you find it all to be quite sad?”
The old man stared at his son for a very long time before he spoke.
“Does it still count as infanticide if you kill your fully grown son?”
The liquor that had been sprayed onto his face continued to drizzle down in slow drips.
“No, dumbass.” The middle-aged man responded.
The father-son duo almost leapt at each other’s throats for a moment before they settled down. The tone of the atmosphere seemed quite heavy.
“We’re running out of time.”
“He was never going to grow fast enough to help,” the middle aged man rebutted. “200 years isn’t even enough time to grow into a man, let alone save that organization. We never really stood a chance to begin with.”
“… We need to go back.”
The middle aged man looked up from his wine bottle, staring into his father’s eyes. There didn’t seem to be any of the playfulness that had been there in the past.
“… You’ve already lived a long life, old man. But, I’m not quite ready to die yet.”
“Oh, please. They don’t dare to kill us so blatantly. If they did, why would we have survived for so long? Quit being a pussy.”
“You know… Parents are supposed to protect their children from danger. What the hell is this? Have you no shame?”
“You’re no child of mine, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I picked you up on the side of the road. You think my seed would be so weak?”
The father-son duo seemed to be back at each other’s throats again, but their decision had clearly been tacitly made. They would be back.
If others knew of the choice they had decided upon, the commotion wouldn’t be small. The father-son duo seemed to be nothing more than a pair of comedians… But no normal pair of individuals would be feared by the Armament Guild enough to be ostracized like this.
The Armament Guild was formed of nine powerful families, each representing a treasured weapon of the Heavens.
The Scire Clan. The Securis Clan. The Glone Clan. The Gladio Clan. The Lorum Clan. The Arcus Clan. The Virga Clan. The Ferum Clan… And the Hastam Clan.
The Hastam Clan was renowned for the use of the spear. There wasn’t a single Clan in existence that could match up to them in this regard. They were simply unmatched.
The Hastam Clan was known for having two demons, a twin pair of devils that wielded the spear with wild, and naked abandon… a duo that happened to be father and son.
The son. Godefride Hastam.
The father. Aberardus Hastam.
And on that day, they had decided to return.
**
Back within the Nether Palace, Ryu had no idea that 200 years had somehow passed in the outside world. He had been focused on his own body the entire time and still felt that he was 21 years old, not being aware that he had been displaced through time in a completely different fashion, and there was no telling how much more displacement he would experience before all was said and done.
But at that moment, this was hardly what he was thinking of. In fact, it wasn’t what anyone present was thinking of.
Ryu stood before Zenavey at the very top of the steps. Astral Winds blew around him with wild abandon, and yet he was completely unaffected. It was as though all the volatile energies of the world acting together wouldn’t be capable of touching the hem of his robes.