1275 Large Advantage
On his way to the Inheritance, Ryu asked the little woman a few more questions and he realized that his Infinity Mist Cosmic Seed wasn't as perfect as he thought it had been. In Sacurm, the act of a Cosmic Seed forming roots to begin with was already the marker of maturity, but it seemed that this wasn't enough.
The Runes of his Infinity Mist Cosmic Seed weren't perfect enough and were still somewhat lacking. Even though it had formed roots, it was still at the Small Realm level, nowhere near the Deity level.
After finding the tracks of the Inheritance once again, Ryu began to absorb the more Infinity Mist in an attempt to perfect it. As he did so, he felt that the vision he had of Infinity Mist in his mind was only growing clearer and clearer with each passing moment. It truly felt like it was becoming one with him.
The Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation was truly amazing. Not only could it withstand the impact and assimilate with such high level treasures, but even beyond that it was capable of taking said treasures and refining them into Runes. These Runes would then become part of Ryu's psyche and memories as though he was the one who had personally comprehended them all. This Cosmic Seed was no different than if he had created it personally.
Ryu realized now, though, that not only would he need to find such Beyond Perfect Extreme treasures, but he would also need to find them in large enough quantities. Although Small Realm was enough to reach the maturity level, Ryu wasn't the type to settle for the bare minimum.
Truthfully, though, Ryu didn't think that the difficulty would be as high as he had originally believed, at least not in the aspect of finding these locations.
Infinity Mist was incredibly dangerous to step into, and even worse to reach in the first place, but was it a secret? Not at all. Most powers would have some documentation of this region, at least on the Ninth Heaven, that is. In fact, all dangerous regions such as these would be widely available to that masses. No one could step into them and control the territory, after all, it was far too dangerous to do that.
Such regions ended up being used as training grounds amongst countless powers. There might be rare occasions where one power held dominion over them, but in the grand scheme, learning about these territories would be easy.
The real question was... what would he do after he learned about them? It wasn't like he could have a convenient teleportation to them all, and even if he did, how would that help him? Not everything was as docile as Infinity Mist, if he entered such a region now he would be blasted to death...
'Or could I?'
Ryu's eyes narrowed. He didn't believe that the Nine Pillar Flame Sect was the only one to take advantage of these dangerous regions to hide themselves. It might very well be possible to find the location of other Taboo Power Ruins and use them as a proxy to enter these locations. As for whether or not he would actually be able to harvest anything in those locations... Well, that was a problem for a future date.
Ryu slated this matter to the back of his mind as the Infinity Mist Cosmic Seed trembled.
At that moment, a budding flower of the more delicate blue took form. It swayed back and forth, its edges misty and uncertain, but this sort of haze only added to its beauty. It greedily swallowed up the qi coming from the cracks of Ryu's Spiritual Foundation, growing larger and larger. However, although it was growing larger, Ryu noticed that the cracks weren't becoming any more prominent.
'This is its limit, true perfection.'
Ryu had never known that Cosmic Seeds could bud before the World Sea Realm, but here it was right before him.
He felt that his comprehension of the Water Element had grown exponentially. In truth, Ryu didn't know much about the base element, after all, his affinity was more so toward ice and not water. Although both had the same root, the way they functioned and the way their laws manifested was greatly different.
But right now, Ryu felt that his Infinity Mist Cosmic Seed directly supplementing his comprehension of the Water Element, making it far more firm and robust. If not for the fact he didn't want to throw the balance of his eight trigram diagrams off, his Water Character would have already broken through several times over.
That said, even without breaking through, the rise in strength was noticeable.
'Interesting. I've been using my Dao to raise my Inheritances all the while, but the opposite is possible as well.'
Ryu was certain. The Beyond Perfect Extreme Natural Treasures that he found in the future would better suit him if they matched his current affinities. That meant he would have to find the extremes of a region of lightning, of fire, and of wind. If these four weren't enough, he would begin to branch out into other matters.
With a step, Ryu vanished and he appeared once again in a familiar region. The lava-like pool was right before him and the nine pillars that had surrounded it had dimmed. However, seemingly sensing Ryu's appearance, they shone once more and began to drip.
Ryu nodded to himself. It seemed that this place entered dormancy when he was away. This was the best method of preserving this spot for future generations. Obviously, they hadn't put all their eggs in Ryu's basket.
With a wave of the hand, Ryu marked this region. In the past, he didn't have the skill to do so, but he was confident now. He would be able to teleport this area with just a bit of effort on his part now. Finding the Ruin again would be as easy as breathing.
After confirming things, Ryu walked toward the exit, but his feet suddenly paused, a frown pinching his brows. Soon, they smoothed out and he shook his head, walking forward and vanishing.
Not long after he had vanished, a shadow flickered and an old man appeared seemingly from thin air. His back couldn't seem to hold up the weight of his body any longer so he was excessively hunched over. The length of his greyed brows and beard were so long that it was clear he hadn't cut them in millennia. They pooled on the ground around him, forming a swirling pile of white hair.
He looked toward where Ryu had disappeared with murky eyes that revolved nine golden pillars. Looking down, he discovered the marks Ryu had left behind. He raised a wrinkled hand with the intention of dispersing them, but then he hesitated.
After a moment, he lowered his hand again, looking toward where Ryu had disappeared once again.
"... Truly an anomaly..."
It seemed that this was the first time this old man had spoken in years. His voice came out in a hollow whisper, almost as though the sound had to crawl and scrape its way out of his throat and just barely ran out of energy when it finally reached his lips.
The old man raised his hand again and touched the pillar to his side. He wasn't a fool, he could see it in Ryu's eyes. That brat wasn't thankful or even worshipful. The odds that he would hold the Nine Pillar Flame Sect as anything more than karma to repay in the future was minimal. This wasn't the kind of heir he wanted, but he also couldn't bear to crush a seed that had a chance of growing.
Ryu wasn't the first to make it here. As he had thought, the Nine Pillar Flame Sky God had been one. What Ryu was wrong about, though, was the fact the Nine Pillar Flame Sky God hadn't ended up in the wrong place, he had ended up right here as well. The reason his Inheritance didn't have anything else was because even after his death he didn't betray the Nine Pillar Flame Sect.
But in the end, he had died as well.
This was the unfortunate state of the Nine Pillar Flame Sect.
In order to be recognized by their Inheritances, one had to be bold, arrogant, willing to look up into the Heavens and say no. But it was also this personality that made their people overly brazen, causing many of them to die early.... Including the Nine Pillar Flame Sky God.
The difference, though, was that the Nine Pillar Flame Sky God had a great amount of empathy in his heart and soul while Ryu clearly did not.
'Maybe this lack of empathy and conscience is exactly what we need.'
The old man turned and seemed to vanish. He was tired and weary, he already didn't have many years left, but that matter was relative. Given his lifespan, he probably had the time to watch ten more Ryus come here and die.
A sigh resonated through the depths of the ocean.
The Nine Pillar Flame Sect had been great enemies with the Unbalance Art Sect in the past, but somehow both of their legacies had appeared in the hands of the same young man.
He had sensed the Unbalance Mantra on Ryu immediately and thought about simply killing such a successor, but in the end he had chosen to show compassion.
Whether or not that would come to bite him in the future, he didn't know. But after all these years of attempts, he felt that maybe it was simply time for the Taboo Powers to give up.
The Martial Powers were too strong, too cautious, and even after all of these years, they hadn't grown complacent... they didn't let off even small worlds that might have a chance to threaten them in the future.
How could such an enemy, with already such a large advantage, ever possibly be taken down?
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