He grit his teeth, spinning his own spear and using its body to block both. His strength surged, the sturdiness of his body shining forth as he only took a single step backward.

But, the skill of the two Skeleton Warriors proved to be too much. In the blink of an eye, they both executed Lurking Shadow in unison.

On his backfoot, the Orobona youth was caught off guard. He hadn’t expected such a seamless dance to begin.

The flow of Nether Qi rose to a new level, harmonizing with the Yin technique to an extreme extent.

The energies of the world sung. For the first time, one assigned an adjective to a Skeleton Warrior they never thought they would…

Beautiful.

The sparkling light blue of their bones, their nimble steps, the way the dense black fog wrapped around their bodies, following the cadence of their dance.

For a moment, the roar of a White Serpent shook the city, the illusory image of the beautiful creature rising into the skies, its crimson eyes looking down upon the world as though a deity from on high.

The Orobona youth couldn’t fathom what he was seeing. He found two spears pierced through his chest before he even understood what was happening.

He roared, whipping down a forearm at the spear piercing him to snap them in half. But, in the end, his force was so great that he broke his own arm and caused even worse damage to his chest.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body trembling as he fell to his knees. A humiliation the likes of which he had never experienced in his life latched onto his heart, his fury only fueling it more. When had he, a son of the Orobona family, ever been humiliated to this extent?!

Ryu looked on from above, his cold eyes analyzing the situation as though it had nothing to do with him. However, inwardly, he had noted several things… Especially the Skeleton Warriors’ usage of White Serpent’s Dance.

Even though it was just the first part, their execution had been absolutely perfect.

White Serpent’s Dance was too high level of a technique for Ryu to use the way it was meant to be. Even when he tapped into some of its core truths, it took too much out of him.

However, these Skeleton Warriors weren’t restricted by such things. In fact, the mere first part of White Serpent’s Dance was all too easy for them to use, it was almost a shame they hadn’t needed to use the latter parts.

It had to be remembered that Ryu was able to learn White Serpent’s Dance after battling the Ancestors of the Awoken Moon Sect.

Back then, he had used Lines of Fate to read and copy their technique. Due to the fact his Karmic ties with the Sect were so deep, he was able to learn the technique perfectly, not just to the standard of the Ancestor he learned it from… But to absolute perfection.

His comprehension of White Serpent’s Dance was no weaker than its creator! He had been able to read the Lines of Fate and comprehend each and every intention the creator had ever had in forming every meticulous step of the Mystical Grade Technique.

They say that no one could ever use a technique as well as its creator. Whether this was true or not, Ryu didn’t care one way or another. What he did know, was that if it was indeed the reality…

He alone wasn’t restricted by such a thing.

It was only at this moment that Ryu truly understood just what it meant for him to have these Skeleton Warriors under his control…

These youths… They stood not a single chance against him.

If he could raise these Skeleton Warriors up two levels to the Higher Skeleton Warrior level, he would even be confident enough to face weaker Dao Pedestal Realm experts.

Nemesis slowly descended from the skies, his hooves clopping against the cracked stone as he landed.

The Skeleton Warrior ripped their spears from the bald youth’s chest, wrapping around him and slamming a kick into his back.

The youth sputtered with blood as his forehead banged against the ground. At this moment, he couldn’t have been more pitiful.

”Wait! Wait!”

At that moment, Zanlis ran out from the crowd.

Ryu turned his head in that direction, seemingly not surprised. If the bald youth died, Zanlis would likely suffer the most. He had probably had intention of interfering when things went left, but he hadn’t expected Ryu to defeat him so easily. By the time he wanted to act, the bald youth was already on his knees.

”Just a moment!”

Zanlis appeared on the battlefield, but found his way blocked by Sarriel who was giving him a glare. But, considering her demeanor, the glare looked more adorable than anything else.

Zanlis had half a mind to tease her, but remembering how Ryu had treated her, especially back to when he had wrapped his arm around her waist, he immediately decided against it. Something like teasing the woman of a man he was hopefully trying to appease was like asking for death. He had no intention of doing any of that.

In the end, Zanlis no longer tried to get by Sarriel and simply stood where he was.

Clearing his throat, he tried to explain.

”Ryu, right?” He had heard Sarriel call out Ryu’s name. “You’ve proven your dominance and do indeed have the right to take control of this city. But, you’ve only recently made it here and I don’t think you’re quite aware of the situation.

”It will take more than the strength of just one for us to survive. Just recently, Goeman came back from his expedition with news of the location of another city.

”In the time we’ve been here, we’ve noticed that there are a cycle of trials to clear and certain milestones we have to hit. If we fail to do so, there are consequences to face, of which even the weakest is losing protection of the city for a few hours. As for the worst… we haven’t experienced them yet, but it’s more likely that we will if we have less strength under our banner.

”Since we’ve all chosen the same city, I think it would be smarter if we had each other’s backs… Goeman is an asshole, but his strength is undeniable. He will be of great…”

Ryu reached out a hand, causing a swirl of spatial qi to surround and swallow Goaman up.

When he was finished, he looked back toward Zanlis who had frozen.

”Yes, he will be of great help… as a corpse puppet. Anyone who defies my orders can also be of great help as well.”