1310 Palm
Ryu took a seat and then fell into Mae's bed. He placed his hands behind his head, closing his eyes in peak comfort. However, Mae herself couldn't seem to do the same. In fact, she paced around her bed, her expression flickering between several states constantly.
She could still remember that look on her father's face, she had truly never seen him so enraged before, and yet Ryu was treating it like it was no big deal at all. Even now, he didn't seem to be very afraid of her father suddenly lashing out in a moment of rage and crushing him.
That said, at the same time, she couldn't help but smile from time to time, feeling that Ryu had indeed protected her honor very well. She had entered that space expecting to have to deal with an avalanche of comments that she would have no choice but to swallow, but even if these people looked down on her and Ryu, they hadn't even gotten the chance to say anything. In fact, somehow, in the end, it was actually Ryu who ended up looking down on them.
When they forgot to be scared beneath Ryu and Rogryll's auras, they became embarrassed and furious rather quickly. Somehow the situation of them looking down on Ryu never came because they were too busy being lambasted instead.
And now, the culprit was lying back without a single concern in the world.
Mae looked toward Ryu and her lip was unable to help but twitch when she saw the light smile on his face. He looked as though he had already drifted off into a peaceful dream and didn't have the time to care for the things around. him. She was left alone to carry the burden of worry all on her own, but this time there wasn't much that Ryu could even do to help her.
What could he do about her own inner thoughts? It was either she believed in him or she didn't, there wasn't really another path to take.
Mae sighed. In the end, she finally took a small seat at the edge of her bed, smiling bitterly.
She didn't believe that Ryu didn't understand the kind of situation he was in currently. Cultivators acted no differently from mortals when their backs were against the wall, and that was precisely the situation they were in right now.
They felt suffocated. On one side, there was the threat of the higher Heavens, on the other there was the ultimatum of the True Nether World. It seemed that no matter what path they took, only death awaited them, and more importantly, desperation.
Desperate people didn't think logically, they had less concerns, and they were less worried about consequences. Ryu had furious so many people, there were bound to be a few who lashed out when they no longer cared about the outcome.
It only made matters worse that they felt that all of this was Mae's fault to begin with. In addition, they felt that Ryu's existence was a slap to their faces. They were making all of these sacrifices for Mae, while she herself was willingly ruining her future. How could they not be enraged?
If they knew that the person they hated so much was just casually taking a nap without a concern in the world, they just might implode.
...
In a distant location upon the Sixth Heaven, a familiar figure sat in silence. This figure was none other than Asce, the very man who had wanted to take Aika as his wife but was rebuffed in the end. Sitting respectfully to his side was Starlight.
In reality, Asce and Starlight were both family and master and disciple. Asce could be considered to be Starlight's Great Uncle and the two of them were the two most talented of their family line in the last three generations.
Of course, this didn't give them free reign. The Fading Star Sect had many lineages within them and they were just one of many, but they could still be considered to be among the most powerful family lines, at the very least within the top three.
"Master, why haven't we informed the others about this?"
Of course, what Starlight was referring to was Ryu's Dao. This wasn't just a small matter. In fact, it could be considered to be huge. The Seventh Heaven only had a handful of individuals with Ancient Daos to begin with.
While there was a "limit", it could be said that this limit was already worthless at their level. That was because forming a Hegemonic Dao was already nigh impossible, the number who could even form Ancient Daos was far too few. So while the limiter was still useful for Hegemonic Daos, it was pretty much just decoration for Ancient Daos.
Starlight himself had an Ancient Dao, but it was only a Lower Ancient Dao, He had almost no hope in maintaining this once he broke into the Sky God Realm. There were many like him who had formed Ancient Daos in the sub- Sky God Realms before accepting their fate and taking on Hegemonic Daos later on. In fact, this was considered to be quite normal.
In Starlight's mind, extrapolating this logic, Ryu having a Founding Dao no meant that he was almost guaranteed to have an Ancient Dao as a Sky God.
Of course, he had never heard of anyone forming a Founding Dao to begin with. Those very few who had managed to maintain Ancient Daos on the Seventh Heaven had formed Middle or Higher Ancient Daos first, then they were knocked down a peg or two upon crossing over. In reality, Starlight had never even heard of a Peak Ancient Dao before, at least not on the Seventh Heaven, and he could only think of one person who had formed a Higher one.
To him, the fact Ryu had formed a Founding Dao was a groundbreaking matter. Wouldn't that mean he'd have a Peak Ancient Dao as a Sky God? He would be practically untouchable on the Seventh and Eighth Heavens.
He felt like this was a top priority matter, they couldn't allow the Radiant Star Sect to birth such a genius, it was unacceptable. And yet, his master seemed so indifferent about it all.
As thought to confirm this, Asce slowly shook his head.
"You're overly worried and aren't thinking clearly. Although you managed to break free of his coercion, and I commend you for that, you still had the residue of his shadow on your heart. You will need to get rid of that if you want to accomplish more in the future rather than retreating, do you understand?"
"Yes, but..."
Asce shook his head again. He seemed far more calm now than he had been in front of Aika, almost as though those matters had been nothing more than a fa?§ade.
"How much more difficult is it to form a Godhood with a Hegemonic Dao as opposed to a Dominion Dao?"
Starlight froze, almost instantly understanding what his Master was trying to get at.
"How about an Ancient Dao, then?" Asce asked calmly.
"Can't... He just accept a weaker foundation? If he willingly gives up his Founding Dao during his breakthrough, he's pretty much guaranteed to form a Peak Ancient Dao."
"You've over made simpler the matter. You cannot just choose to lower the quality of your Dao, it's a natural process that occurs. For every cultivator you hear of successfully breaking through with a weaker Dao, there are another five just like them who never manage to break through at all because the difficulty is just that great.
"Taking another step back and assuming that he does succeed in breaking through, is the journey over, then? You would still need to improve your Dao from Fragmented to False, and then from False to True, and then True to Perfect.
"Each one of these steps is even more daunting than the last. There are many geniuses with Ancient Daos that never succeed in making it to the Dao Lord Realm. The reason why you have the view of "giving up" on your Dao and lowering it to succeed is because this is a view that's been purposely promoted by your seniors for your own good.
"If you can't smoothly breakthrough with a Dao at your level with ease, then it's better that you lower it now or you risk never succeeding in the future.
"The gap between Sky God Realms is too enormous. Who cares if you have an Ancient Dao at the Fragmented Realm? A False Sky God with a Sovereign Dao can still crush you with a single finger. What's most important in this world is your cultivation Realm."
"Yes... But... Isn't your Cultivation Realm limited by your Dao?"
Asce chuckled. "What's the limit for an Ancient Dao?"
"... Theoretically, Dao Sovereign. It's also possible to become a Dao God."
"How many Dao Sovereigns does the Seventh Heaven have? What about the Eighth? How many Dao Gods are in the whole of the True Martial World? You need to focus first on becoming a Dao Lord, only that way can you roam without fear even on the Ninth Heaven. Unless you can do that, what worth is there in having mere potential to reach a stage almost no one can reach in the first place?
"Cultivation isn't about emotion, it's a science, it's a balance of probabilities. Overestimating yourself will only limit your future potential."
"So... he's not worth worrying about?"
"Likely not. That child is a brittle lightning rod, ramrod straight, taking on too much, unwilling to take a step back. If I'm honest, the fact that he's formed a Founding Dao gives him the right to be arrogant, but it also seals his fate.
"That said, this isn't the reason I haven't told others about this just yet. Aika seems to care about that boy quite a lot, and I know her well. The more we know about him, and the less others do... The more opportunity there'll be in the future to place her in the palm of our hands."
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