Ryu's Phoenix Bloodline was a bit weirder and more difficult to pinpoint, and this was because there wasn't a direct one to one comparison he could find anywhere. As such, it was impossible for him to make calculations or even guesses.
At best, he knew that the individual pieces that made up the fused Bloodline were also considered to be at the First Origin Grade. As for what they were when they came together, he didn't know.
When it came to Ryu's Bone Structure, it had mutated and taken a half-step beyond the Ancestral Grade and was considered to be a Quasi-Origin Grade talent.
Then there were Ryu's Meridians. He was absolutely certain that they were not only Origin Grade, but very high up in Grade. The trouble was that their strength was contingent upon a very unique cultivation method, a method that Ryu simply didn't have.
Ryu's Intuition had likely triggered because he needed a very special method to enter the Path Extinction Realm. Or at the very least, a very special method of cultivating the Path Extinction Realm itself.
However, Ryu couldn't wait. He had already decided to take the path of the [Refinement Sutra]. If he waited, who knew when he would stumble onto the unique cultivation method designed for his Meridians? In fact, it was very possible that he might never run into it. And even if he did run into it, how would he have the strength to take it if he stalled his cultivation for so long?
It was impossible.
If Ryu was correct, there were likely stages of unlocking that his Meridians could enter. He had to hit every checkpoint in order to unlock it to the highest degree. Unfortunately, he simply didn't have such good Fate. There were hard choices that needed to be made.
Once he finished recultivating to the Immortal Ring Realm, he would break into the Path Extinction Realm and blaze through it as quickly as he could. He didn't have the luxury of waiting.
When he did this, he probably wouldn't be able to improve his Meridians any further.
Ryu had no way of telling what stage his Meridians were at now, but it was likely at the Third Origin Grade at the very least, maybe higher. Regardless, Ryu felt that this was enough. He couldn't possibly expect to have a Ninth Origin Grade Talent in everything, right?
Ryu's Spiritual Foundation was another difficult one to deal with properly. It wasn't a known talent, but rather one he had gained from a Sky God, which made it difficult to pinpoint exactly. Ryu would have to wait until he reached the World Sea Realm to understand exactly how powerful the Phoenix Sky God's Spiritual Foundation was. He would also be able to gain some inkling at the Dao Pedestal and Cosmic Seed Realms.
All of this information pretty much pointed in a single direction: Ryu wasn't close to the pinnacle of talent in this place. In fact, he was probably a match for Fifth and Sixth Heaven talent at best, and that was only if he took his time to fully unlock them.
In fact, it could be said that the only reason Ryu had such great battle prowess even here was because of his Dao. But, in that way, there was also good news.
One's Dao was maybe the most important of the Six Pillars. This was why Ryu was confident in his progress into the future. So long as his Dao continued to progress and reach toward perfection, he wouldn't have to fear anyone.
But, there would eventually come a point where he met someone who maybe had a Dao that was slightly inferior to his own, but Talent that surpassed him by an immeasurably large distance. When that day came, what would he do exactly?
Just thinking about it made Ryu's blood boil, not with rage, but with excitement. He wanted to hurry up and get out of here, he wanted to see what the world looked like from that peak after climbing up himself.
That said, Ryu wasn't completely helpless in the talent department. There was still the final Pillar, his soul.
The Perfect Blackbody was categorized as an Ancestral Grade talent, but this was only because it was also a growth type, not much unlike Ryu's Chaotic Silk Meridians.
In reality, its potential was at the very peak of soul talents and would be no weaker than a Ninth Origin Grade Soul Talent so long as Ryu allowed it to flourish properly.
The only unfortunate part was that it required his other talents to be great. For example, his soul's ability to infinitely grow within any given cultivation Realm was actually dependent on the strength of his body. Likewise, what Soul Natures it could form was dependent on what treasures and comprehensions Ryu fed it.
However, Ryu wasn't worried about this in the slightest. Right now, he was feeling quite inspired.
Right now, he truly wanted to see what the Heavenly Path had in store for him. He wanted this pressure on his shoulders to get heavier. He wanted to experience what it felt like to be those geniuses below, to reach the limit of his potential and be forced to break through his cocoon or die.
Ryu didn't even realize that as he walked, the ground beneath his feet cracked and the air around him rippled wildly. Even the gravity around him itself twisted and bent, growing a hundredfold.
In a far off distance, in a piece of Existence maybe even Origin Sky Gods couldn't reach personally, Ryu's Fate Star sat, still just as completely still as always.
But at that moment, it trembled.
The instant it did, its gorgeous silvery gaseous body suddenly earned thousands of chains lashing across its body.
These chains appeared from nowhere and also slowly faded when the trembling ceased.
Ryu was completely unaware of this, however his insatiable desire didn't fade in the slightest.
In his first life, he never looked toward his Fate Star because he was scared of what he would see.
In this life, he didn't look toward it because he simply didn't care what it had to say.
These shackles, no matter how many there were, he would shatter them all.
Selheira, who had wanted to greet Ryu, suddenly chose against doing so. She could tell that this war, despite it only being the beginning, had truly agitated him. The Ryu she was meeting right now exuded an endless eagerness, an undying will to conquer everything in his path.
