Heavy as the Skies
After a few moments of silence, the region around Ryu seemed to disperse entirely. Everywhere around him, people circled, but none was closer than two to three meters. They all looked toward him with a varying range of expressions, but it could clearly be stated that reverence was more definitely not one of them.
Most of the participants were in the Cosmic Seed Realm. Those that had the greatest chances in the combat stream were all in the Higher Cosmic Seed Realm at worst. Of course, it wasn't yet clear if Ryu was an alchemist or not. Theoretically, he had somewhat of a chance if he was an alchemist so long as his soul was in the Lower Soul Ascension Realm at the very least.
Though having a stronger soul than one's Qi Realm cultivation was rare, it wasn't unheard of for secondary profession geniuses. About 3% to 5% of them would be at this standard, so if Ryu was so bold, it wasn't difficult to assume that his soul was also at that standard.