1297 More Pressure
The eyes of a young man behind Iarhorn of the Soul Body Faction, a young man who went by Hurath, lit up when he saw this. For those familiar with the Samsara Steps, they would only freeze on the first step for a split moment, the most powerful among them would break through it so fast that it would seem as though they hadn't paused at all.
But the fact they could see such a pregnant pause by Ryu meant that he was stuck.
Hurath was actually Aantha's brother and, obviously, Mae's first cousin. But he didn't seem to care about his status in the slightest. Every time he looked toward Mae's back, he couldn't help but lick his lips. He had the same carefree gaze as his father, the only difference was that he seemed to apply it to women as well.
Hurath was probably the only one among the young men who were silently brooding here that hadn't protected his virginity for this moment. He found it all to be foolish, wouldn't it be fine if he just didn't try to absorb his partner's Primordial Yin? Those fools were just being far too cautious.
At least that was what he thought until this one vixen practically sucked his soul from his cock. He had been so enraptured that his instincts took hold, not only did he release into her as deeply as he could, he even snatched up her Primordial Yin like a fish out of water.
It was truly an embarrassing moment, but he didn't let that deter him. As far as he was concerned, he was still talented enough to take up two Primordial Yins and support them both. So long as he didn't take on a third, he should be fine.
In fact, the woman in question was currently hanging from his arm, but he didn't hide his greedy gaze at all.
This woman, Beth of the Soul Wind Faction, didn't seem to mind in the slightest. She pressed her breasts up against Hurath's arm and continued to watch, her entertainment growing the longer Ryu remained paused. As far as she was concerned, a failure on Ryu's part was akin to a slap on Mae's face.
Of course, she didn't dislike Mae because her man was interested in her. Rather, she disliked Mae for the exact opposite reason, she actually kept rejecting Hurath. As far as Beth was concerned, since Hurath was good enough for her, he should be more than good enough for anyone else.
It was safe to say that no small number were taking pleasure in Ryu's misfortune, while Ryu himself was quite oblivious to it all.
When he took the first step, an odd sort of feeling welled up inside of him. He didn't need anyone to tell him that there was something special about these stairs because he could see it personally. However, the feeling he had been expecting wasn't the one he received.
There was no strain of qi, there wasn't some gravitational pull, it was rather a sudden, pervasive, chaining of his mind.
The longer Ryu stood in place, the more he began to understand.
These stairs were a treasure of Samsara. But the problem he was facing was that while most other people only had one life, he had experienced two. As a result of that, the test of Samsara was taking both of these lives into account and the challenge before him was twofold that of anyone else.
'No, it isn't two times, it's three?'
Suddenly, Ryu's gaze sharpened.
Indeed, he had gone through three lives... no, more than that. His Phoenix Bloodline Talent had mutated, fusing nine rebirths into one. This was akin to him facing 10 Samsara Steps at once, maybe even more than that.
It was all becoming so muddle and difficult to parse through, but he understood the general gist of it. The Samsara Steps were supposed to test your Dao Heart, but the method by which it did so placed Ryu at a ridiculous disadvantage. Even stepping upon just the first step made him feel as though his mind was being ripped apart.
Up above, Rogryll couldn't help but frown. On the outside, Ryu had managed to meet his gaze without issue, and he had even attacked directly for the sake of the Dream Asuras, so his opinion of the youth wasn't bad.
But seeing him now, Rogryll was beginning to believe that maybe Ryu was simply too na?ˉve. Maybe he had thought that since Aika was present, he would definitely be safe, so he hadn't felt any sort of fear. Clearly, this was ignorance because even with how powerful Aika was, meeting his gaze while he had ill intentions was akin to signing yourself off to death.
The longer Ryu spent stuck on the first step, the greater his dissatisfaction grew.
Ryu was being pulled in all sorts of directions. Every time he overcame one, another would pop up, and then another. Even he was beginning to grow a bit frustrated. If he had known that this would happen, he would have simply rushed through with his Spacetime Soul Nature.
Suddenly, a strain crashed down around Ryu's Dao Heart. Having finally made it through his Magus Lock, the pressure of the Samsara Steps threatened to shatter everything he had built up until this moment.
Sweat beading down his forehead and he grit his teeth. A violent sort of aura began to exude from him as he grew more and more annoyed. He had never thought that having experienced so many lives would come back to bite him in this way.
These steps were designed such that even Omniscient Sky Gods could walk them. The strain was scaled differently depending on the cultivation of a person so it was always possible to train themselves. So long as they weren't Dao Lords, it was still possible to train themselves on these steps.
But this only sealed Ryu's downfall all the more.
If Ryu had been in the Omniscient Sky God Realm, then the stairs wouldn't have been able to support the kind of strain it would need to match up to all the lives he had lived. But because he was only in the Dao Pedestal Realm, scaling the pressure to match him was all too easy.
He was only in the Dao Pedestal Realm, and yet he was currently facing more strain than even a False Sky God would on these steps!
[PS : Chapters usually get updated about 5 hours from now, so i don't understand why some were still asking about when they will be updated, and while the chapters have been updated now, please remember that from now on chapters will be uploaded on the usual time which is 5 hours from now]
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