1039: Held Back

Held Back

Ryu exhaled and closed his eyes once more. Adjusting himself, he quickly entered a deep state of meditation, his mind drifting off into an almost unconscious state.  2

By the time a cultivator reached the pinnacle of the Immortal Ring Realm, they were already faintly able to feel a connection to the Abyssal Plane. It was unknown where this connection came from, at least to the people of Sacrum, but Ryu had a feeling that this connection might very well be related to one's Fate Star. Of course, this was a conclusion he could only come to after observing the core techniques of the Radiant Star Sect. 

It was mind-numbingly easy for Ryu to feel the presence of his soul shifting between planes, sliding out from the Real Plane and slowly entering the Abyssal Plane. However, what he experienced on the other side caught him a bit off guard. 

Ryu had forgotten one very important thing: He didn't have just one connection to the Abyssal Plane, he had two. The first was his Fate Star, and the second was what made his heart almost invulnerable to damage… 

His Realm Heart. 

It had to be remembered that in order to form his connection with his Realm Heart in the first place, Ryu had no choice but to enter the Abyssal Plane, something he had only been able to accomplish back then with the help of Ailsa. 

Now, however, his soul had entered the Soul Birth Realm and was even far more powerful than the vast majority of Soul Birth level souls in existence. He no longer needed the help of Ailsa, and now he felt his Realm Heart to be even clearer than it had before. 

Ryu hadn't neglected his Realm Heart, it was just that it just wasn't quite so useful to him any longer. 

For one, after upgrading his Realm Heart to an Immortal Grade Realm Heart, it could now give him a great boost to cultivating with Immortal Qi. However, right now, he was far more focused on re-cultivating rather than speeding forward, so it hadn't been able to shine. 

In addition, Ryu had also made the assumption after entering the True Martial World that this ability of his Realm Heart to speed up Immortal Realm cultivation wasn't very useful to him. After all, it had to be remembered that this Realm Heart was formed under the influence of Sacrum. So, in Ryu's previous estimation, it wouldn't be very useful in the True Martial World. 

However, the moment Ryu's soul presence entered the Abyssal Plane, his heart trembled. He was wrong. Very wrong. 

The instant the connection was formed, Ryu felt that his Realm Heart had also transferred over, separating from Sacrum's Abyssal Plane and reforming a much stronger connection with the True Martial World's Abyssal Plane. 

Things that hadn't been clear to Ryu before suddenly became all too clear to him and his Dao, which had only just entered the Third Immortal Grade, began advancing by leaps and bounds, surging through the Third Immortal Grade. 

Ryu's heart palpitated. 

The greatest strength of a Realm Heart was in its ability to allow anyone that had fused with it to see through the mysteries equivalent to its level. Back when it was at the Mortal Grade, it had helped Ryu's Mortal Grade cultivation speed to be ridiculously fast, in addition to helping his Inheritances to rise to the peak of the Mortal Grade in a fraction of the time. When this was stacked with Ryu's Heavenly Pupils, it made his comprehension speed almost obnoxiously fast. 

But what Ryu hadn't realized back then, mostly because he had yet to form a Dao, was that… His Realm Heart could also help him to strengthen his Dao as well! 

What was the most shocking was that the barrier between Heavens didn't matter at all. Right now, thanks to his Realm Heart, Ryu felt as though he was basking in the most perfect laws of the True Martial World, laws that maybe even the Ninth Heaven couldn't match up to. 

The only unfortunate thing was that these laws only encompassed the Mortal and Immortal Grades so it couldn't help Ryu break free of the Third Immortal Grade and enter the First Cosmic Grade, but that didn't seem to matter to him at all. 

Even if he couldn't breakthrough, Ryu could make his Dao more and more perfect. With his comprehension abilities, it would only be a matter of time before he formed an Ancient Dao and then a Founding Dao. By then, he cared if his Dao was still in the Immortal Grade? He might even have the strength to directly begin slaughtering Sky Gods to improve his Realm Heart! 

When Ryu thought to this point, he forcefully exhaled a breath and returned to his usual calm demeanor. However, it wasn't long before that calmness became a smoldering fury that sat like a lump in the middle of his chest. 

He knew that he couldn't do it. He couldn't allow his Dao to reach true perfection. Not yet. 

It wasn't as though Ryu could do it instantly. If he wanted to upgrade his Dao from a Hegemonic Dao to an Ancestral Dao and finally a Founding Dao, it would definitely take time. However, none of that mattered if he couldn't do it. 

After forming a Hegemonic Dao, he was already branded once. Even right at this moment, there were Sixth Heaven powers scouring the Heavens to find him so that they wouldn't have to face the wrath of the Seventh Heaven. 

What would happen if he suddenly formed an Ancestral Dao? Or even stronger? Would Old Wan even still have a method of hiding him? Would this headband he was forced to wear even still be able to hide him? 

Ryu's mood became foul. It took him a long while to regain his calm, but by then, his resolve had been tempered into steel. 

On the day that he could match up to these Clans and Sects, he would make sure to raze them all to the ground. 

Ryu turned his soul presence to the vast and dark skies of the Abyssal Plane. Right now, he wanted the most powerful defensive Constellation that he could currently claim. 

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