Ryu's gaze flickered several times before he forced his heart to calm.
In truth, he had had a hint of worry in his heart. His battle with Mae had been so incredibly difficult and a large part of the reason he was able to win in the end was because she had reservations and certain rules that she was meant to follow.
Of course, it was also equally as important to consider that he too had reservations about things that he could and could not use as well, and in the end, he was forced to reveal his Fire Dragon Bloodline, something that could have ended very poorly had his and Mae's relationship not taken such a … route.
This wasn't to say that Ryu trusted Mae with his secrets all of a sudden, however compared to another knowing his secret, he would prefer a woman he had bedded to know instead. At the very least, the connection they shared now, albeit shallow, was still more substantial than one he would share with anyone else.
For Mae, it was in her best interest that the man she gave her first time to to be as powerful as possible. It wouldn't suit her well at all for Ryu to suddenly be hunted down for his talent as that would mean that one of her most valuable possessions had vanished in return for nothing.
At the very least, if she treated Ryu like her man, then it would be an investment into his future, and from Ryu's perspective, she would only gain from such a thing.
This aside, the main problem Ryu faced was that Mae was too powerful and she wasn't the only one of her kind that was here. There may very well be individuals more talented than her who had descended.
Ryu had already decided before this that if it came to it, and he had to decide between revealing all of his talent or failing to accumulate enough Heavenly Favor, he would more definitely not choose the latter. This was his best chance at having a perfect breakthrough into the Dao Pedestal Realm, he couldn't just give it up, even if it meant exposing himself.
He had to have been willing to make that sacrifice. With the strength that Mae had displayed, if he wasn't willing, the only thing waiting for him was failure, and if he still attempted while holding back, there would only be death.
But this information here… This could potentially be a game changer and it was a shortcut to a lot of the things that Ryu wanted to accomplish but hadn't been able to properly think through.
In the several years he had spent playing Domain, there were many things that became clearer to Ryu, he only needed an impetus of inspiration to break through the final barrier and he would be able to have another enormous leap forward in his strength.
Ever since Ryu had first met Mae and the other geniuses of the Second Heaven in that powerhouse's former abode, he had been thinking about formations. This wasn't only because the method of use the powerhouse displayed fascinated him, but it was also because of his soul.
Back then, Ryu hadn't decided to press forward with his Chaos Grade Soul Cultivation Technique, and as such was still looking for a path to make use of his [Refinement Sutra]. As he had previously decided, he wanted to use alchemy for his Qi Realm, blacksmithing for his Body Realm, and formation mastery for his soul.
The method of infusing one's Dao into one's Formation Nodes had greatly intrigued Ryu, especially since he had the Zu Ancestor's Visualization which would allow him to very quickly deploy large and complex formations to aid and strengthen his overall combat prowess.
Unfortunately, the difficulty was too high and he couldn't do it in a short time. At the same time, he had so many other things on his plate that focusing on this distant goal was simply unfeasible… until now.
The history jade was encoded, containing a special mantra. This mantra held the secrets to the power behind the calligraphy jade.
The calligraphy jade was akin to a lamp post. The lamp post would be the guiding light that allowed the formation jade to display its true strength.
Of these three jades, it was the formation jade that had the greatest stand alone power, at least on the surface. This was mostly because the formation jade had the most obvious benefits to be gained. However, if Ryu's deductions were correct, the most valuable of the jades was actually seemingly the most useless one of them all…
The mantra hidden within the history of the Unbalanced Art Sect was the most shocking of all the items here precisely because it was the secret to peering into the secrets of Unbalance.
Symmetry was intuitive, many of the ways the Heavens naturally created and allowed things to function fit in line with a certain way living beings lived and interacted with the world. In order to follow the methods of the Unbalanced Art Sect, many of these things had to be unlearned, and the window into doing so was the [Unbalance Mantra].
According to what Ryu could tell from a cursory glance, the [Unbalance Mantra] placed the soul in a state of Unbalance. If there was an equivalent state one could compare it to, it would be akin to placing one's body into a state of anti-gravity and losing all sense of equilibrium.
For many people who experienced such a thing, they would likewise experience feelings of dizziness, nausea, and most wouldn't even be able to last a few seconds before throwing up.
For those who practiced the [Unbalance Mantra], the potential side effects were even worse than that. It could lead to cultivation deviation of the soul, something that was far worse than even cultivation deviation of the qi or body. While the latter two would cripple you at best and kill you at worst, the fate one would suffer under soul deviation was far worse from some perspectives.
Not only could you still be crippled and die, but maybe the worst fate was to have your personality twist and warp unbeknownst to yourself. You could very well think yourself to be acting normal, only for thos around you to perceive you as a completely different person entirely.
It was said that of a thousand cultivators capable of piecing together the secrets of the [Unbalance Mantra], 900 would die, 90 would be crippled, 9 would never be themselves again, forever losing their true personalities in a whirlpool of confusion, while only one would ever be capable of grasping it fully.
It was only by placing your soul in this state of unbalance, however, that you would be able to break free of the shackles of convention and see the world in a different light. It would feel quite literally like stepping outside the bounds of reality.. of thought… of even physics itself.
Just grasping the Mantra alone would make one's battle style unpredictable, unreadable, untouchable. If the descriptions were correct, it might even allow a mortal to defeat a lower level cultivator if only they somehow grasped this Mantra.
Even so, this would just be the tip of the iceberg. The true prowess of the [Unbalance Mantra] would be hidden until it was paired with the [Art Mantra] of the calligraphy jade and forge the complete [Unbalance Art Mantra] which would allow the true power of the formation jade to shine through.
What would shock the elders of the Unbalance Art Sect if they were still alive, though, was that Ryu only stood in silence for all of five minutes, allowing his Dividing Chaos Dao to sink deeply into these jades and slowly construct and fuse them into one.
After a moment, everything suddenly clicked.
Ryu reached out a hand, forming a blade and slicing downward. A formless ripple formed and a tear in the void suddenly manifested. Without hesitation, he stepped into it and vanished.
However, even though he was invisible to the naked eye, to Ryu, he was still standing in the very same spot, in the very same room.
Ryu's heart trembled.
Void tearing. This was an exceptionally high level of spatial affinity attainment impossible even for him. Usually, only Sky Gods could do such a thing, and even then they needed to have exceptional spatial affinity as well.
From Ryu's understanding, only Transcended Sky Gods should be able to warp reality to the extent that they could accomplish this. Even for someone with spatial affinity as broken as Ryu's, he too would have to become a Fragmented Sky God before he could accomplish this, while, of course, raising his soul to the same level.
The fact that he could accomplish this now only had a single line of reasoning…
The [Unbalance Mantra].
The [Unbalance Mantra] didn't come with power of its own. Rather, its strength came from its supplementary strength. Essentially, in the simplest terms possible, when you fused your talents with the [Unbalance Mantra], it allowed you to break the rules and restrictions of said talent and accomplish things that should have been impossible…
Ryu had already guessed that this was the case, but seeing it here personally, he felt that it was all surreal. This wasn't just a small measure of power boost, if used correctly, his current battle prowess would take an enormous leap forward, this would truly allow him to leap cultivation levels to challenge.
Although Ryu could do so at the lwoer Heavens, he never really considered this to be jumping levels. After all, his own talent was so much better than theirs. The true state of leaping cultivation levels to challenge would be if he could do so facing enemies like Mae.
If in exchange for losing out on Heavenly Favor he gained this… it was all too worthwhile.
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