Ryu stood in silence for a long while. He was so stunned that he barely registered the evolution his body was undergoing once again.
pαndα---noνɐ1,сoМ This wasn't just a small change, it was game changing. In fact, this change, even without considering the other abilities his Spiritual Foundation might have, was enough to change everything.
Ryu obviously couldn't use Essence as it would pose the same problems that Chaos Qi did to him. Flaunting his use of it would be like lighting up a beam told the he was here. However, this restriction wasn't as daunting as it been with his Chaos Qi, and that was because of the existence of Primordial Qi and its derivatives.
Ryu couldn't use Primordial Chaos Qi for obvious reasons. Primordial Chaos Qi could only come from the Chaos Plane and there were no known techniques that could extract such a thing. The same was true of its derivatives. No matter how far down the ladder you went with Chaos Qi, it would always have the air of Chaos Qi in it.
Even if Ryu took out a Common Grade Chaos Qi, just the fact it had the air of Chaos Qi on it would make people look at him twice or thrice over.
Chaos Qi was too caustic to normal cultivators, and the fact that Ryu could use it freely would be a red flag he couldn't escape from. Rather than opening himself up to such questioning, it was best to avoid the possibility altogether.
By now, it was obvious why Essence was so valuable to Ryu. Now that he could use his Spiritual Foundation as a proxy to control it, he could break it down into Primordial Qi!
Of course, being able to use Primordial Qi, while not as shocking as being able to use Essence or Chaos Qi, was still too shocking. The only cultivation techniques that could produce and allow one to control Primordial Qi in the True Martial World were all located on the Ninth Heaven. Not only were they all concentrated in the Ninth Heaven, but they were only in the hands of the powerful Clans and Sects of the Ninth Heaven.
However, the benefit here was that Ryu could use the Primordial Qis as a catalyst to use the derivatives of them, just like he could with his Chaos Qi and Primordial Chaos Qi, and because they followed the conventional path, no one would bat an eye so long as it wasn't too high level!
By controlling Chaos Qi and Essence, Ryu had essentially gained the ability to pick and choose any qi, of any level, that he wanted to use.
Chaos Qi and Essence were beyond Origin Grade. Primordial Qis were Origin Grade, the final and ninth grade of the Origin or the Sky God Grades.
If Ryu wanted he could take a step down and catalyze Chaos Grade Qis, or take another step down and form Order Grade Qis, or take another step down to form Omniscient Grade Qis... he could go all the down to Fragmented Grade or even lower to Common Grade if he wanted.
The entire spectrum of the world's qis had been opened up to him. The world was quite literally his oyster.
The only drawback that Ryu saw was that his creation of Primordial Qi wasn't as smooth as his creation of Primordial Chaos Qi, so these qis would likely be something he had to prepare ahead of battle rather than during battle.
Still, as far as Ryu was concerned, this was a minor drawback. So long as he formed a seedling of his target qi, catalyzing the creation of more would be far And, because his foundation had been forged with [Six Realm Opening], he had 12 total miniature dantians within his body that he could use to separately store different qis. And, even beyond that, he now had two real dantians to store even more.
'Starlight used Order Grade Immortal Qi, which should be the standard of absolute geniuses of the Seventh Heaven. In that case, using qi that is two steps down should be alright. We will stick with Transcended Grade Immortal Qi for now. I'll keep some Omniscient Grade Qi as a trump card, and Order Grade as a last resort...'
[Author's Note: I wrote that Starlight used Origin Grade Immortal Qi earlier, that was a mistake on my part, still had Sacrum on the brain. He used Order Grade, which is the seventh level of the nine Origin Grades]
Ryu closed his eyes for a moment.
He realized that he couldn't quite make a decision on what kind of qi to pick because he currently lacked the necessary techniques. He had already outgrown all of the techniques he might want to use with the exception of the Radiant Star Sect's core teachings, but they produced their own qi anyway.
'In that case I'll just pick a qi that's well suited to the most neutral ability of my Meridians: its toughness...'
The Transcended Grade Immortal Qi Ryu picked had the greatest requirements for Meridian sturdiness of them all. This was the perfect choice since it was the only ability of his Meridians that he could use without the world taking notice. In fact, just in terms of toughness alone, Ryu's Meridians were well on par with Meridians that had this as their only fixture.
This Transcended Grade Immortal Qi was known as Bronze Resonance Qi. It had an exceptionally high density and it tended to clump together when it was in the presence of its fellow globulles of energy, where it would then When it resonated with enough like-energy, it would concentrate further and increase its density. Usually, those that used this qi would only dare to use a small amount in a stream of neutral qi because this qi's strength was decided not by the qi itself, but rather the amount of it there was. In a high enough concentration, could even dwarf qi a grade above it.
Funny enough, the main ability of this qi wasn't in attacking or defense, but in construction. It was a favored qi of secondary profession professionals as it gave structures stability and permanence. For those that used constructs in battle, it was invaluable.
Ryu reached out a hand, still in meditation, and a large gathering of Bronze Qi formed on his palm. It quickly followed his lead and formed a radiant bronze rod. While it looked simple, just the veins popping out around Ryu's forearm as he tried to hold it up told a completely different tale, and this was a Ryu whose body had just undergone a qualitative change!
Ryu dispersed the qi and began to gather up a silvery energy. This was Silver Resonance Qi, a step above Bronze. However, this time, Ryu couldn't even gather up the qi properly before the back of his hand crashed against the ground so hard that if not for the improvements to his body, he would have fractured it into pieces..
'Good' Ryu thought.
If things were like this, he might not even need to use Silver Resonance Qi at all as a trump card. Bronze Resonance Qi alone at a high enough concentration was a bulldozer. Anyone else's Meridians would have been crippled trying to hold this much Bronze Resonance Qi alone.
At this point, with a single circulation, Ryu's weight could increase by tens of thousands of folds, but in the next moment he could be as light as a feather. This was the beauty of having hidden dimensions within your body, and even further, the beauty of having two dantians.
Ryu wanted to take his time to really feel out the Dao Pedestal Realm, but after a moment, his head spun and he nearly lost consciousness.
Ryu grabbed his head and slowed down. Inwardly, he shook his head at himself. Due to the breakthrough, he had felt exceptional. But he hadn't realized that although his breakthrough had healed all of his injuries, it hadn't replenished his Focus Qi. Just now, he had almost ruined everything by using up the little bits he had left.
Exhaling a breath, Ryu slowly stood to his feet and looked around.
He had thought he had reached the top of these stairs already, but it seemed that this wasn't the case, there was one more step remaining. He had been so enamored with his breakthrough that he hadn't even noticed.
Ryu raised his foot and took a step others would have struggled with, with absolute ease. He exhaled a breath and suddenly a flood of Heavenly Favor descended once again.
Basking in it, Ryu's body slowly vanished from the tower, and when he appeared again, he was standing outside, a complex array of golden illusory flames flickering in and out of life around him.
Ryu frowned and his eyes opened. When he saw the scene before him, his gaze became frighteningly cold.
Beaten and haggard, Aantha and Mae stood by side. Their once beautiful black wings were torn in several places as though in a malicious attempt to keep them grounded. Their clothing was barely holding onto their bodies, leaving their scales with the task of maintaining their modesty, but it seemed that their attackers were trying their best to ruin even that. At the same time, they took heaving breaths, their skin pale beyond measure and their stamina running on near empty.
It took a single look for Ryu to realize that Mae had never stepped into the tower like he thought she had. He had assumed that she had followed right after him, but it was clear that he was wrong.
How could he not understand why she had made such a decision?
Ryu was instantly incomparably furious.
Ryu took a single step forward and struck out with a palm. His body seemed to move through space as though it didn't exist and he appeared before the two women.
A bronze palm coalesced from his own, expanding in size with every meter it crossed and eventually enveloping the entire battlefield. It was so heavy and looming that even without striking the ground, its gravitational pull alone shredded it to pieces, causing bits and pieces of earth to cling to it.
At that moment, dozens of geniuses were blown away, some coughing up mouthfuls of blood, and some fairing far worse and ending up with crippled limbs.
Even so, the fury in Ryu's gaze did abate in the slightest.
"You all deserve death!"
Ryu's aura rose like a violent torrent, his gaze locking onto Vie who was standing much too far away for someone who had likely instigated all of this.
He could see the lines of space and the layers of time with his eyes alone. This man's fingerprints were all over this. He deserved to die first.
