1264 He Knew
This was quite a dilemma.
The Nine Pillars worked well in the void, but Ryu knew they wouldn't have a single ounce of usefulness in front of Infinity Mist. It was currently relying on his comprehension of spatial qi and his Spacetime Soul Nature to be able to do this.
From Ryu's understanding, the Nine Pillars were designed to prop up the Heavens, to find solidity within the Earth. However, these two concepts, Heaven and Earth, were figurative. The Earth represented the foundation of the cultivator using it, while the Heavens referred to what the cultivator aspired to.
So, because Ryu had a foundation of Spacetime, his Earth, and aspired to enter the void through the use of it, his Heaven, it could work in this aspect.
In this way, the Nine Pillar Flame Sect was quite similar to the Unbalance Art Sect in that it allowed one to bridge the gap between what one could do currently and what one would be able to do in the future. When it was framed like this, it gave Ryu a great deal of understanding. Though, of course, this simplified explanation came from Ryu's in depth comprehension in the first place.
This was all to say that Ryu couldn't expect to step out into the Infinity Mist and use his Nine Pillars to protect himself.
"The only thing that can seem to survive it is my eyes, but I have no idea how long they would last..."
It wasn't lost on Ryu that his eyes had fared far better than the rest of his body when it came to dealing with this odd mist. But it had to be remembered that he had only spent a fraction of a moment out in it. Although his eyes had fared better, there was no way of telling if this would be an indefinite matter or not.
Of course, it would also be very difficult to accept if it truly was indefinite. Because that would mean that Ryu's eyes were more powerful than even the bodies of Dao Gods, which just felt like nonsense on its face. Even in all his arrogance Ryu would never believe such a thing.
It was likely more accurate that his eyes were far above his body's current level, but not to the point of being able to ignore any and all damage.
Plus, what good was it even if his eyes were immune? It wasn't as though he could separate them from his body. If he stepped out with them now, it would be like leaving two treasures behind for whoever the next powerhouse who came here was. All that would be left of him would be two floating eyeballs.
Ryu fell deeper into his thoughts. Every solution he thought all ran into the same problem: Infinity Mist simply didn't allow energy to pass through it.
'Why can't I observe it properly through the void... what is stopping me...'
Being in the void made Ryu feel that he was a world away. He could vaguely sense the world around him, which was why he was able to orient and direct himself. But whatever sensory feedback there was ended up greatly diminished by the time they reached him and they even had to be interpreted through a unique lens.
It was akin to trying to observe the world through a funhouse mirror. How could one gain a good picture of Fundamental Runes like that?
Suddenly, Ryu's heart skipped a beat.
He remembered back to his time in Sacrum. He had used an Immortal Cave left behind by his family's Clans to distort time and prepare for the biggest battle of his life. However, there was a very large problem that he had had to contend with back then, a problem that all those who used time distortion to speed up their progress had to deal with: and that was the distortion of laws.
When one was within time dilation, the laws were unclear and distorted. If you tried to meditate on them, to increase your Dao or your Inheritances, the result would more than likely be cultivation deviation. Even if you succeeded and weren't harmed, it was more likely than not that you would have cracks and imperfections in your foundation.
Of course, most people would have such imperfections even if they weren't in a time dilated setting. After all, if everyone was perfect, then they'd all have Founding Daos and it wouldn't be as rare as it was now. Also, progressing one's Dao wouldn't be so simple and easy.
But this wasn't why Ryu had suddenly thought of this. His mind was filled with just a single thought. That distortion...
Wasn't it very similar to what he was seeing right now?
Everyone knew about time dilation and the kind of distortions it could cause. This was a problem even in the True Martial World, there was simply no escaping that distortion. But what almost no one talked about was the kind of distortion that space could cause in those same laws.
Ryu's gaze flickered.
Time caused distortions. Space caused distortions. What about spacetime?
When Ryu increased his speed by shrinking the land before him, the resistance he faced was akin to all the qi of the shrunk land bombarding him at once. But when the land hadn't been shrunk, he faced a similar resistance, it just wasn't as violent.
At the same time, wasn't time always moving? Just standing here, breathing, he could be said to be experiencing the movement of time. So why was it that those laws didn't feel distorted to him then but did when time was sped up?
In both cases, what matters most was the degree to which space and time was moving. Whether it was the distance through which you were observing and moving, or the speed at which the seconds ticked by.
That was when it hit Ryu like a speeding wall of steel. There was no such thing as observing undistorted laws. Space was always moving. Time was always moving. By their very definition, laws were always distorted. In fact, their fundamental state was distorted.
Ryu's gaze blazed.
He knew how he would observe the Infinity Mist now.
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