Dark
The geniuses at the forefront of the star paths continued to move forward with their fastest speed. As Ryu had expected, there were actually very few fights if any at this point. There were more than enough paths to take and too few here to take them all. It instead became a battle of who had the most options before them and who had the strongest comprehension toward those options.
Just now, if Ryu hadn't grasped the essence of the Nine Pillar Flame Sky God's inheritance, he would have been burnt to ashes. But because of his level of comprehension, the flames hadn't even tickled him.
Ryu had noticed this shift in the inheritances long ago. The inheritances much further to the back required battling an avatar, this could be considered to be the simplest form of test. So long as one had a strong enough elemental affinity, it took a fraction of the effort to defeat this avatar.