Chapter 1516 Good Enough
Ryu left the old man's information shack moments later, not asking about the Battle of Faith. He had a keen understanding of which questions he could get an answer to, versus which ones he very much could not ask without raising suspicion. The question of Battles of Faith was most definitely one of the latter. This was the reality, and he had to be cognizant of that.
But it wasn't as though this was the end of the world, after all, he still had the little woman, and not long after he left, he asked her the burning question.
In Sacrum, Faith was crucial as well, but it was more illusory. However, he remembered long ago that he had learned from Sarriel, that in the True Martial World, Faith took physical shape in the form of a well spring of sorts. In order to truly destroy a Sect or Clan, this well spring had to be destroyed first, and if this wasn't done thoroughly enough, there would always be a chance for a comeback.
Although Ryu knew this, Faith still felt more illusory to him than not, more like something that could cause the sky to rumble for an instant than anything else. But even when you spoke someone's name and the Heavens reacted, it would usually be up to the person themselves if they wanted to smite you, not the Heavens.
Essentially, there was probably no one in existence who you could just die from the mere mention of, and he felt that it was likely the same for Sects and Clans as well.
For example, he mentioned the Martial Gods all the time. He even cursed them, swearing to destroy them on top of that. But wasn't he still standing here just fine?
He imagined that with the ways and methods of the Martial Gods, there were countless individuals who were cursing them every second on the second.
Maybe it was because he was a native of Sacrum, a "country bumpkin," so to speak, but he really found it hard to wrap his head around these matters.
"A Battle of Faith is exactly what it sounds like, but on a deeper level, it's similar to two powers changing the states of their Wells of Faith and using them as a grinding edge against one another.
"Under usual circumstances, this would only be done if there's a huge power imbalance, or if it was a last resort. Honestly, even if there was a huge power imbalance, it would be better to just send a few experts to destroy them directly. This sort of battle truly only happens in exceptional circumstances like this one.
"Aika is an incredible genius, and has become a Dao Sovereign to boot. She's most definitely at an Eighth Heaven standards. These Sects and Clans don't stand a chance against her and can only use hit and run tactics while relying on their large-scale formations and resources to keep her at bay.
"At the same time, the Radiant Star Sect is in a far weaker position. They lack disciples that can stand at the peak of the Seventh Heaven aside from Selheira, but the worst part is that Selheira has a huge Faith of her own as she became famous long before joining the Sect, which makes it hard for her feats to map onto the Sects.
"In truth, this sort of unique circumstance where there is a Sect of weak Faith that can't be properly handled by its enemies is practically the only one you'll see a Battle of Faith in."
"What are the details?" Ryu pressed, feeling that Hope's descriptions were far too lax and overly broad.
"The first phase of a Battle of Faith is letting everyone know you're having a Battle of Faith. That way, when everyone's minds are focused on it, and public opinion can sway wildly one way or another, the Battle can be ended in the shortest period of time possible.
"Once there's a large accumulation of Faith and the public is heavily engaged in what's going on, then it's possible to truly crush the spirit of the target Sect or Clan.
"When the Radiant Star Sect's Well of Faith dries up or is on the verge of collapse, everything else will happen either naturally, or by force."
"Meaning? It's not like Aika will suddenly disappear."
"If it happens naturally, the Radiant Star Sect name will be unable to be used without the re-establishment of the Well of Faith, something that is notoriously difficult to do as you can't just create a new one, you would have to resurrect the old one.
"Second, all of the Radiant Star Sect's Dao Techniques, related Daos, and Core Techniques, would all become mute and unusable.
"This is the most crucial point. Aika's strength would plummet to an abyss if this were to happen. She might be able to still fight if she can manage to hold off her own Dao, but if her Dao is built too heavily on the concepts of the Radiant Star Sect, she might very well become a cripple.
"This will have obvious, cascading effects and there will be little anyone can do to stop their enemies from crushing them at that point."
Ryu's gaze sharpened. For all of their core techniques to suddenly lose strength?
But then what about the Taboo Powers? Why did their techniques still work? Or could it be that...
The Taboo Techniques he was using now were far weaker than they had once been in the past?
It was a shuddering thought, because it revealed one very crucial thing.
The Taboo Techniques had lost their Well of Faith to support them, but the techniques of the Nine Powers definitely did not and they should be no less powerful if not more powerful than the Taboo Techniques had been at their peak.
Just what level were the geniuses of the Ninth Heaven on, then?
"Well, then. That's quite the problem, now isn't it?" Ryu chuckled and strolled right out of the city.
The old man hadn't given him a map, but it told him enough.
So, the Radiant Star Sect was somewhere between the inferno Sect and this lightning Sect...
Good enough.
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