Ryu didn't care what these geniuses thought of him. They didn't understand what it meant to have a backbone, to have true pride in oneself.
They thought themselves to be strong willed, but that was only because they had never faced true adversity before. If any of them had experienced what he had at the hands of the Dao Sovereign, even if they succeeded in the end, they would have obediently bowed their heads like dogs and thank the Dao Sovereign for giving them such a chance with their tails wagging.
As far as Ryu was concerned, at this point, one more reason for him to be chased was fine. It hardly changed whether he would die at their hands or not. After a certain point, death was death, he couldn't end up more dead.
This opportunity, however, was a potential game changer.
The Heavenly Path was ultimately a place where one changed their Fate. This was why Heavenly Favor was used as a reward, it was why one tied karmic bonds with Sky Gods far beyond their imaginations, and it was why there would be a final third phase battle where one would fight with their lives on the line.
Even so, when Ryu didn't gain any Heavenly Favor from the Unbalance Art Sect, his antennae were raised. There seemed to be something in existence here that was outside the normal bounds, and if one could step outside of those bounds to be rejected of all Heavenly Favor, could it be possible to do the opposite?
In order to be rejected by Heavenly Favor, one needed something quite exaggerated, an entire cultivation system that exists beyond the realms of reason and reality. In that case, if one wanted the opposite effect, one would have to do something equally as exaggerated likea?|
Rejecting the Inheritance of a Dao Sovereign who could even affect change on the Heavenly Path with nigh impunity.
On this day, a legend of sorts was born, and said legend had his own Origin Birthed Phenomena. As such, the Heavens responded in kind.
The moment Ryu's Unbalance Mantra faded, his Focus Oi unable to sustain it, a cascade of Heavenly Favor descended. In fact the torrent was so exaggerated that Ryu couldn't even stand properly. It took something quite unique for Essence, which was known as the gentlest of all energies, to have this sort of devastating effect on a person.
"Come on... Come on.
And yet, Ryu didn't want it to stop. In fact, he wanted more, and more of it.
'It's not enough... It's not enough yet... It's not nearly enough..
Ryu clenched his teeth. He needed to shatter the chains on his Spiritual Foundation. He didn't have any other method of gaining a second Spiritual Foundation. With such a clear path ahead of him, why would he veer toward a new one?
Unfortunately, even with the sudden boom of Heavenly Favor, it soon began to taper off.
Ryu's jaw clenched. It wasn't enough, it still wasn't enough.
Martial Gods!
Ryu clenched his fists with what strength he had remaining, his gaze entirely bloodshot. He was furious to an extreme, but there was nothing else that he could do, this was probably already about as much as this lesser Heavenly Path could accomplish.
Could it be that he would have to go to the Complete Heavenly Path to have a chance? But how could he make any waves over there as a mere Path Extinction Realm expert? Ryu had no doubt that the geniuses who entered that path would be at the Cosmic Seed Realm at the absolute worst. In fact, he would be surprised if some would have already stepped into the Sky God Realm.
He might be able to cross such levels in the lower Heavens, but setting aside the fact that he still couldn't fight Sky Gods of the First Heaven even now, if he had to fight a Sky God genius of the Sixth Heaven, how could he hope to succeed?
No matter how unwilling Ryu was, though, the pillar of light continued to shrink and weaken until it was nothing more than a small beam of breaking light upon his forehead. Then, it vanished entirely.
The moment the pressure vanished completely, Ryu coughed up another mouthful of blood, slowly trying to push himself to his feet before he eventually succeeded. His expression didn't seem to be happy in the slightest. In fact, his smile had entirely vanished, replaced by a dark glint.
He had failed. He still needed about 10%, but considering how much Heavenly Favor he had already gathered, that 10% was an astonishing amount. Even if he killed all of the top geniuses during the third phase, it wouldn't be enough to fill the gap. It only made it worse that he didn't believe he even had the strength or stamina remaining to do something like that, especially since they all had those absolutely ridiculous life preserving methods.
Ryu took a breath and exhaled.
He had come here with too much confidence, believing that he would definitely be able to reclaim his Spiritual Foundation, but in the end he had still come up short. It wouldn't even be possible to carry this Heavenly Favor outside with him as this was a very special environment that allowed it to thrive. It would all have to be exchanged for rewards before they left.
"There's still a way. The Favor Alchemy Sky God's pills, so long as I swallow one, it should have enough momentum to shatter those chains.
Even if it's a waste, it can't be helped.
"There's also potentially another way as well. If Heavenly Favor is the counterpart of Essence, there's like a similar counterpart for Chaos Qi. If I can find and learn what it is, there's a chance I might be able to gather it from the Chaos Plane myself and shatter the chains on my own.
'Both are viable options!
Ryu raised his head and looked into the skies. So long as he didn't die, he would find a way. He wouldn't allow his path forward to be blocked by anything.
'Hm?'
Ryu's gaze sharpened and his eyes shifted from the skies above to something below. However, before he could realize what it was, the star path began to tremble and the miasma above split as a ancient, four sided cube began to descend. At its base, a city with walls of diamond made its presence known, shimmering with all sorts of lights.
One by one, the ancient cube began to etch names across its surface, but what was peculiar was that there were two lists, one of which had relatively smaller numbers to the side of the names that appeared and another that had much larger numbers.
What was even weirder than that, though, was the fact that the side with the smaller numbers seemed to exude the fiercest auras, so much so that they were entirely dwarfed by the former side.
The main difference, though, was the color of these numbersa?|
The side with the larger numbers were written in blocks of black and maybe a faint bronze. However, the side with the smaller numbers were written in silver nearer the bottom, gold nearer the top, and in a bright, resplendent rainbow color at the absolute peak.
Ryu's gaze was absolutely focused on the list with the smaller numbers, his heart skipping a beat.
7. Ryu Tatsuya - 9999 (Gold)
His name didn't move him in the slightest. What he was moved by was something entirely different.
3. Titus Tatsuya - 3 (Rainbow)
1. Primus Tatsuya - 4 (Rainbow)
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