"I am an Outer Sect Disciple appointed by Senior Brother Niel."

Ryu faced guards on duty with an apathetic expression, handing over a disciple badge. In truth, he could have avoided all of this trouble if he used the function of the badge to begin with. After all, it was designed so that the wraiths and spirits in the surroundings would ignore those of their Sect. But, obviously, Ryu had other plans.

If he wanted to remain lowkey, he wouldn't have come here.

He had no doubt that there weren't a small number of fools in this Moonlight Blossom Sect who believed that he had come here because he could no longer handle the heat coming at him from all sides.

They weren't necessarily wrong for thinking this. After all, there were no shortage of individuals looking for him at the moment. Whereas the Tri Key was valuable before, it was, quite possibly, even more valuable now than it had been in the past. Ryu wouldn't even be surprised if the Three Pupil Eclipse Sect was even regretting handing their key out now.

The guards who had come over ready for a fight gave weird looks toward Ryu. If you were a disciple, why did you cause so much trouble?

In truth, despite the fact that Ryu was an Outer Disciple, quite a respected position especially considering the cultivation level he had gained such an honor at, these guards weren't in awe of him.

The main reason for this was due to the fact that the guard position in the Moonlight Blossom Sect was taken up by those who were also disciples. In fact, it was a very sought after position due to the Sect Points one could accumulate with ease.

Most of the time, these guards had nothing to do but cultivate, yet they could still gain merit for doing so. The only downside was that the cultivation spaces near the gates of the Sect definitely weren't as good as their own Immortal Caves.

Plus, by now, Ailsa had already entered her small form and was sitting on Ry's shoulder, unbeknownst to them. So, other than seeing that Ryu was a bit of a looker, they didn't see anything else that was special about him.

"This idiot" One of the guards mumbled under his breath, shaking his head. "How do you plan on compensating us for this? You brought us out of our cultivation spots and wasted our precious time."

The guard turned a downcast look toward Ryu. Clearly, he planned on extorting the latter.

"I don't." Ryu replied plainly.

"What did you say?"

Ryu didn't bother to respond. As much as he didn't like to explain himself, repeating himself also happened to fall into this category.

"You have a lot of guts, brat. A mere Lower Connecting Heaven Realm expert actually has such bluster."

Ryu raised a foot.

Before the guard could react, he found a sole planted into his chest.

His body barreled backward with an inconceivable amount of speed, the air crackling and sparking as he shot out.

BANG!

The guard coughed out a projectile of blood, a dent forming in his chest even as his back practically shattered upon impact with the gate.

Ryu never really had much patience for such nonsense. He also didn't feel like waiting to be attacked first. Plus, his path forward was blocked so how else was he going to get through?

He swept a glance over the other guards and continued to walk forward.

"You!" The gazes of the guards lit up with fury.

It seemed to be a matter of human nature that enforcers of any kind would have a close knit relationship with one another. In the case of Sects, it was even more so because their sense of superiority wasn't only rooted in political power, but also in strength.

The only way to land such a cushy job was by having no small number of backers. In terms of positions of prestige, this guard role was only a step below that of the Enforcer Faction of the Sect. In fact, there were no small number of guards who rose up to become Enforcers, or guards who had gained this position in the first place by relying on the help of an Enforcer.

This was all to say that these guards were not used to being treated in this way in the slightest.

"Halt! You've broken the rules of the Sect!"

Ryu continued to walk forward. Ironically, he was pretty sure the guards were acting in accordance with the rules now. There likely truly were rules against attacking guards.

But, why was it that they cared so much about the rules now, but not when their fellow guard was trying to extort him? A curious case, indeed.

Ryu entered the range of the Sect Gates with ease. Though the guards to his back were screaming about conduct, they saw how their fellow man was treated. They had no intention of getting involved personally. They only bloviated from a distance to maintain their image while quickly contacting those who could deal with Ryu.

Either way, in their minds, this new Outer Sect Disciple was finished. If they blew this up enough, even having his cultivation crippled wouldn't be impossible.

Behind the Sect Gates, there was a small city beneath the mountain. This place was where all sorts of trade occurred and there were no small number of establishments for fine dining and entertainment.

But, at that moment, everyone who would usually be going about their business, either taking a small break from endlessly cultivating, or finding more resources to continue doing exactly that, had almost all turned their attention toward the gate.

In that instant, Ryu was walking by a guard who lay on all fours, hacking up blood even to this moment. If one looked closely, it would be a simple matter to find pieces of diced organs within the crimson. It was clear that Ryu's singular attack would leave this man bedridden for a long while.

However, Ryu didn't spare him a glance.

Numerous strong auras converged. Many looked into the skies, watching as a group of three flew over.

Their hearts seized. The only ones allowed to fly within Sect grounds were Core Disciples and above or Enforcers.. No matter which it was, it seemed there would be a show to watch today.