Starlight could hardly register Ryu's words enough to sneer at them before the world came to a grinding halt.
The skies above split in two and a pit encompassing the world swallowed up the ground. It felt like the world was ending and those in the surroundings prostrated themselves almost immediately, unable to withstand it.
At the same time, Starlight's Birthed Phenomena was vanquished into the wind before it could even properly form.
Ryu suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, subconsciously putting a hand to his chest. He was shocked by the pressure he was feeling right now.
Compared to his Immortal Rings, or even his Dao, it seemed that the Heavens didn't want this to happen even more... however, by some oddity, it simultaneously felt as though the resistance was the smallest as well.
If Ryu had to describe it, it was like the Heavens wanted a reason to act, but couldn't find one and could only mope about in silence. While Ryu's Immortal Rings tested its bottom line, and his Dao was artificially attacked by it due to the machinations of those selfish powers, there was nothing that stood in the way of his Birthed Phenomena.
BOOM!
The cracked space that had been fluttering around Ryu and Starlight finally gave way, unable to withstand the pressure.Starlight, who was still stunned by the dispersal of his own Birthed Phenomena, was sent flying like a broken kite, too late to defend himself.
At that moment, what could only be described as a perfect replica of Ryu descended. However, it was lacking in something very obvious... a pair of eyes..
Where a pair of silver irises should have been, there was nothing more than a vacant darkness, an abyssal depth that seemed to want to swallow up everything in path.
This was not just any Birthed Phenomena, it was an Origin Birthed Phenomena, one forged by Ryu's own hands when he finally completed his Dao back in Sacrum. Now, under the evolution of his Dao, it had only grown even stronger than it had been back then.
The Birthed Phenomena summoned by others were usually from inheritances passed down by their Ancestors. Even so, they were incredibly powerful, and even rarer than that. However, the harsh reality was that these Birthed Phenomena would never be as powerful as it had been in the hands of their Ancestors. These people were working with nothing more than echoes of the past, faint ripples passed down to the current generation.
However this power... This was all Ryu's own...
Ryu took a step forward, feeling as though the entire world was under his beck and call.
His Birthed Phenomena moved along with him, a sharp contrast to the ones he had summoned in the past which would only stand by and observe him coldly. In the past, Ryu had never thought too much about his Birthed Phenomena's lack of movement, but it was only now he understood that this represented a lack of acknowledgement, a fundamental incompatibility... An incompatibility that he no longer had to deal with.
BOOM!
Ru's fist shredded the space before him, appearing before the slightlypanicked Starlight in the blink of an eye.
Starlight's body bent like a bow, his sliver, bronze and gold protection cracking all over under the might of just a single strike.
Ryu took another step forward, sending forward another strike.
His Birthed Phenomena moved again. It felt as though its movement could call upon all the energies of the world, as though this location wasn't owned by the Heavens, but rather Ryu himself.
Starlight was sent flying once again, but this time, his metal coverings were shattered entirely. He rebounded against the ground heavily as he tried to stand, but he collapsed once again. He had almost forgotten just how many injuries he had hidden beneath his constellation's armor. But now with hisconstellation threatening to disperse, and with him lacking the qi to sustain it, an ugly expression couldn't help but twist his features.
He had lost. He had really lost.
Starlight's head tilted up and he looked toward Ryu as though he was looking at the greatest enemy of his life. But Ryu hadn't taken a single pause, he had already suffered at the hands of the cockroach-like abilities of these rich geniuses twice before, he didn't want there to be a third time, and definitely not for someone like Starlight.
However, after sending this third strike, Ryu didn't send a fourth. His Dao was too sharp. He could tell that it was already too late.As Ryu's fist gi approached Starlight's head to shatter it, the latter glared forward as though trying to sear Ryu's face in his mind.Starlight smiled a malevolent smile.
"Don't get cocky. You can barely fight me while being an entire Realm stronger. When next we meet, I'lI crush you to nothing along with the Radiant Star Sect. The Fading Star Sect won't allow such trash to continue existing."
Ryu didn't even see how Starlight did it, but he vanished into thin air. He didn't bring out a talisman, or break any seal, he just disappeared. The only explanation was that whatever it was activated the moment Starlight's life was in mortal danger. There had simply been no chance to kill him in the first place.
BANG!
Ryu's fist qi exploded where Starlight had just been, hitting absolutely nothing.
Ryu stood in place, heaving deep breaths. He was more drained than he had maybe ever been, his body hardly holding itself together.Even so, Ryu suddenly began to laugh. This was that feeling. Even if he died when he stepped foot out of here, to have experienced it once and for him to confirm that he wasn't wrong for having chased it all this time... it was worth it!
Ryu's gaze turned toward the Dao Lord... no, Dao Sovereign's Inheritance.
He reached a hand out and finally touched its surface. The Dao Sovereign was entirely silent, or maybe he had already stopped paying attention. There was a limit to how much he could twist the rules of the Heavenly Path and he had maybe already gone beyond them. At this point, there was really nothing else he could do.
Ryu rubbed the surface of the glass orb, a bright smile on his face. He hadn't felt this happy in a long while.
The Dao Sovereign watched this in silence. He had to admit that he was quite impressed by Ryu's Origin Birthed Phenomena, this wasn't something that could be casually accomplished and it was just as rare as a Founding Dao. The only difference was that a Founding Dao was guaranteed to be powerful no matter what, while Origin Birthed Phenomena tended to vary in their ultimate results.
He still couldn't put his trust in Ryu because the problem of his Spiritual Foundation was still far too glaring. But who ended up with his inheritance in this place mattered little. His true hope of entering the legendary Da God Realm would be the person who claimed his inheritance on the Complete Heavenly Path.
For now, this little one could take this and enjoy it for as long as he could. He doubted that he would survive for long, and even if he did, his true disciple, the one that gained his main inheritance, wouldn't allow a second to exist regardless.
Ryu continued to smile. His claws sharpened and he shattered the glass orb.
However, just when the inheritance was about to bathe him in its light, his claw straightened out into a palm.
His Origin Birthed Phenomena moved with him and the action seemed to say if he wanted the world to stop, it would stop obediently.
Ryu's smile curled into a sneer.
"You want my, Ryu Tatsuya's, karma? You think too highly of yourself."
Ryu's palm squeezed down and his Origin Birthed Phenomena closed its fist, shattering the Do Sovereign's inheritance into nothing.This Dao Sovereign had tried to snub him at every turn. He had suppressed him, he had wagged his finger in his face, and in the end he had made Ryu fight for him as though he was some kind of sideshow.
"I fight for no one but myself."
Ryu's Dao Heart blazed so fiercely that he outshone even the miasma of Heavenly Favor in the skies. In fact, at this moment, this mass of Heavenly Favor seemed to become greatly agitated as the aura of Ryu's Dao continued to rise.
"When the time comes, I will go to the so-called Complete Heavenly Path as Ryu's Dao Heart blazed so fiercely that he outshone even the miasma of Heavenly Favor in the skies. In fact, at this moment, this mass of Heavenly Favor seemed to become greatly agitated as the aura of Ryu's Da continued to rise.
"When the time comes, I will go to the so-called Complete Heavenly Path as well and shatter your inheritance to pieces once more.
"My name is Ryu Tatsuya! And that is my promise and my Dao!"
These were the last words the Dao Sovereign heard before his incarnation vanished.
BOOM!
Ryu's Dao shredded past the Immortal Grades and entered the Cosmic Grades. A monster whose Dao surpassed his cultivation realm by two had been born.
