Life. It was a short four-letter word, but it encompassed a level of depth and mystery that could hardly be fathomed. There wasn’t an individual in existence that could, with any sort of certainty, claim to comprehend it in its entirety.

However, if one wanted to start peeling back its layers of complexity, how would you begin? Would you start with a list of species? Maybe you would start by defining what it was you considered life to be? Was it a word that referred to those that lived and breathed? Or was it more enigmatic, taking all of existence under its wing?

If the few wielders of the first ranked Heavenly Pupils were to be asked such a question, they’d answer very simply. To them, there was no confusion at all. Life. It was a complex realm of cause and effect. Nothing more, nothing less.

Everything related to life could be explained in this fashion. The future could be predicted by the past. The past could be deduced from the present. The present was decided by the past and the potential future. Any and everything could be described in this fashion.

When you look at it this way… Are there really any Mysteries remaining?

During the Era of the Zu Ancestors, Ryu’s pupils were an afterthought. They worked well to deduce the details of things, but compared to the fanciful abilities of the other Heavenly Pupils, they seemed lacking. At the time, the fourth ranked Heavenly Pupils which had fallen to the seventh rank during Ryu’s first life, could quite literally turn people into puppets with a gaze. With such competition, it was no wonder the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth pupils were neglected.

No one knew exactly when these matters began to change, however, those of the martial world began to notice that those born with these pupils seemed to have the world in their palms. It was too difficult to explain what they saw, so Ryu’s senior brothers and sisters could only convey the strength of their eyes through their actions and their feats.

Ryu could finally see the world his predecessors saw. A world of cause and effect, where every action had a set probability of causing another action. If he pulled here, something would be pushed there. If he struck here, the result would be a wound there.

However, that was an incredibly simple way to look at it. What Ryu saw was far beyond that. He could see the Lines of Fate that constructed the Valkyrie’s attack. He could see the line of logic, the deduction and the comprehension that went into building it. He could see the objective of the technique’s creator and the paths where the Valkyrie deviated from that objective.

Even further, he saw lines of black that resulted in the bad. He saw lines of grey that were irrelevant to the current timeline of events. And… He saw lines of white that guaranteed his victory.

Like this, a beautiful Valkyrie, with a gorgeous figure, became nothing more than a calculation in Ryu’s mind. Her body, one that made men swoon, became a woven doll of shaded string.

Ryu’s body shifted, it too disappearing along with the Valkyrie’s. All that remained were his twin spears, circulating in perfect balance, two white serpents dancing in the shadows.

The Valkyrie didn’t have the time to be stunned. It felt as though her entire being was laid bare, as though she was stripped naked for the world to see.

Seeing Ryu’s strike, she understood her mistake. The piercing technique was known as Lurking Shadow, so why was her spear so bright? Why couldn’t hers be like Ryu’s? Disappearing under the light of her spear…

The Valkyrie’s head was blasted off of her shoulders. The attack wreaked such devastation that the foundation of the Ice Castle quaked.

The elders fell into silence. How could a mere Qi Refinement expert shake the foundation of a Castle built by a Ninth Order Sect…?

The glow in Ryu’s eyes dimmed as his spears slammed into the ground, holding him up from falling over. His neutral qi was spent, and in that instant, so was his cool qi… No. His Karmic Qi – the only qi capable of bringing out the true strength of his Heavenly Pupils.

Unfortunately, the trial of Thrones was only just beginning, only now would the true experts of this once mighty Sect begin to appear, the lofty Ninth Order Ancestors.

However, Ryu didn’t seem worried. In fact, a fierce battle intent shone in his eyes. The glare was so fierce that even the elders and disciples watching from a separate Realm felt their hearts boil.

Not long later, the next Valkyrie shimmered into existence. It seemed to take longer and longer now. But, seeing how much emotion his recent opponents had displayed, Ryu understood why. It obviously took longer and more energy to produce more accurate and lifelike projections.

The Valkyrie’s eyes widened with surprise when she saw Ryu. But, the abrupt show of emotion disappeared as soon as it appeared.

‘Young Master Tatsuya… But?’ The line of qi entered Ryu’s ears. It was obvious what the Valkyrie wanted to say… Ryu, he should be dead. How was he here? And why was the Scion of the Tatsuya Clan taking their small Awoken Moon Sect’s Throne trial? Even if he stripped them bare of everything they had, it wouldn’t equate to even a single percent of the resources the Tatsuya Clan could pour into him.

It didn’t surprise Ryu that this Valkyrie recognized him. As the last Ninth Order Ancestor, she had been the final Ancestor before the collapse of the Sect, and had thus been around during Ryu’s life. However, she was also smart. She was aware of the collapse of the Tatsuya Clan, so she wouldn’t foolishly call out Ryu’s name in such a way. It was impossible to know who was listening and paying attention to them at this moment.

Still, even though he expected this, Ryu’s heart began to race. Could he finally find out what happened after he took his own life? He wanted to know… No, he needed to know.

‘Young Master Tatsuya, although I’d like to allow you this victory, the rules of the trial bind me from doing so. My hand is being forced, please forgive my rudeness.’

‘I need to know what happened.’ Ryu finally spoke, making his intentions clear.

‘Replying to young master, I can answer your questions, but you must last long enough to hear them.’

Ryu smiled lightly. His spears disappeared, replaced by a single halberd a head and a half taller than even himself who stood at over two meters tall. If it was just about lasting… He was very confident.