Ryu's pupils constricted.
His first thought was that he did well by not allowing such a thing to happen within his body. The second thought he had was of the sheer violence of it all. The two had only barely cracked open their eyes, seemingly sensing a disturbance, and the result was immediate fury as though neither could stand to be in even remote proximity of one another.
However, at that moment, Ryu suddenly remembered something else.
This wasn't the first time his Bloodlines had awoken like this. In fact, the last time they had awoken, it wasn't to bluster and bloviate like they were doing now, trying to assert their dominance as though he was their Bloodline rather than the other way around.
The last time his Bloodlines opened their eyes was in an act of cowardice. They sensed the fury of the Heavens and they ran away with their tail tucked between their legs.
Ryu could still remember the level of rage he had had toward his Bloodlines back then.
How ironic. He had gone from absolutely abhorring them and even trying to carve out a path without them, to suddenly being entirely reliant on their improvement for the sake of his future.
Seeing their fury, Ryu's gaze went cold. The pressure of his Bloodlines now was far beyond what it had been in Sacrum, but he knew well that if the Heavens suddenly descended with punishment again, there was no doubt that they would cower again.
'Trash...'
Despite the fact that the words were internal, both the Fire Dragon and Lightning Qilin seemed to sense it. They looked toward Ryu at once, the crack in their eyes slowly widening as the sphere of crimson began to boil.
The phoenix aspects of Ryu's Bloodline retreated, but the Emperor Phoenix strands, suddenly feeling its dignity provoked, suddenly rose up. While it hadn't been slumbering like the other two, it had been quite lazy and lackadaisical, until this moment.
All at once, they rose up, their auras blazing.
Ryu sneered.
From his birth, talent had never been the problem. However, ever since coming to the True Martial World, he found himself lacking at every turn of the corner. Right this moment, other than his soul which he was certain was already comparable to the best geniuses of the Ninth Heaven, at least in terms of raw talent, everything else was lagging behind in the extremes, he was dwarfed even by many Fourth Heaven geniuses.
While his Meridians should compare as well, without any guarantee that he would be able to deduce the rest of the cultivation method, there was no way that he could claim this, and this limitation would likewise bottleneck his Spiritual Foundations if he didn't proceed appropriately.
The logical solution to this was to simply throw in his lot toward his soul, focusing entirely on the Magus Sky God's Inheritance and becoming an unstoppable existence.
But... would he really become unstoppable?
Due to the way his Perfect Blackbody worked, without a powerful body, he would never be able to pull out its true potential. What good was a soul that could infinitely expand if he could never tap into a large majority of that infinite expansion because the rest of his body couldn't handle it?
Unless he wanted to become a lich and abandon his body entirely, this was something that he would always have to contend with.
Unless you were a perfect talent in all aspects, one Pillar would always restrict the other. This was why they were called Pillars in the first place, the absence of one would already make your foundation unsteady.
He had gone from someone with untouchable talent to someone suddenly being stared down by his own talents because he had the audacity to want to get the most out of them.
The more he thought about it, the colder Ryu's gaze seemed to become.
In that moment, it felt as though four beasts were standing in the middle of a lush field of wheat.
"You three have a lot of nerve..." Ryu said softly.
Suddenly, illusory chains shot out from Ryu's body, whipping toward the Emperor Phoenix, Fire Dragon and Lightning Qilin portions of his Bloodline.
ROOOAARRR! QIIIIIIII!
"Pipe down." Ryu said coldly.
BANG!
he illusory chains wreaked havoc, tearing the sphere of crimson apart and shackling the mighty overlords of their races one after another.
The Fire Dragon found its neck wound tight, its eyes still half open and half closed.
The Lightning Qilin's hooves were bound, its body stumbling and whining as it collapsed.
The Emperor Phoenix lost control of its wings, the both of them being pinned down to its body while its lofty head was brought to the ground.
The chains shook and rattled, but every time they did so, Ryu only suffocated them all the more, squeezing down tight and hard.
These might be Bloodline with the potential to reach the peak levels of the Origin Grade, but right this moment they were merely tempered to the very beginning of the Blood Tempering Realm, a Body Realm only equivalent to the start of the Path Extinction Realm.
The Lower Blood Tempering Realm was equivalent to the Path Extinction Realm. The Middle Blood Tempering Realm was equivalent to the Dao Pedestal Realm. The Higher and Peak Blood Tempering Realm were equivalent to the Cosmic Seed Realm and approaching the World Sea Realm.
Even if his Bloodlines had been at the Half-Step Nine Life Revolutions Realm, his chains would have been able to suffocate them, let alone the fact they weren't even close currently.
"You five have long since forgotten that this is my body. You dare to forget your pride and prestige before the Heavens, and yet be so arrogant before me..."
The chains squeezed down, suffocating the essence of the Bloodlines as though he would truly kill them where they stood.
"...The only reason I haven't shattered you all is because you represent my Ancestors, their blood, their sweat, their tears..."
The chains squeezed down once more, the roars suddenly becoming whimpers.
"...You shouldn't fear the Heavens, you should fear me. It will always be me who decides your Fate long before the Heavens get a chance."
Infuriated, Ryu controlled the chains to squeeze down once more. Unable to resist, the phantoms of the three overlords shattered, becoming nothing more than fluttering blobs of energy within the crimson sphere. However, after doing this, the brightness of the sphere of blood quickly dimmed.
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