1224 See Through
The Favor Alchemy Sky God was silent as she paid some attention to Ryu, but in reality her heart was beating quite fast.
In truth, the [Absolute Domain] technique wasn't as simple as it seemed. Though it was funny to say this considering just how complex it was, what she meant by this was that it wasn't just a movement technique like Ryu thought. Rather than just a movement technique, it was more accurate to say that this "movement" technique was the very foundation of her race's strength. Every one of their techniques, talents and Daos were built off of it as a foundation.
Adjusting such a foundational technique wasn't nearly as easy as Ryu was making it sound. The more things a technique relied upon, the more set in its ways it was. Just like how Ryu struggled so greatly with dual wielding spears, glaives and halberds because there was too much Fate weighing it down, [Absolute Domain] was similar.
If Ryu had just said it casually, maybe the Favor Alchemy Sky God wouldn't be reacting like this, she would just take it as a fleeting idea he would give up on in time. However, the way Ryu had spoken just now, it sounded like he had already figured it out.
Indeed, the Favor Alchemy Sky God was correct. Making changes to such powerful techniques, especially ones that were so foundational, weren't so easy no matter how much "sense" the method made.
It really did seem like the perfect solution.
[Absolute Domain] relied on reading the stars like Fate, and using those stars to decide the next step you would take in battle. When used defensively, you would be untouchable. When used offensively, your attacks were unavoidable.
In theory, if instead of memorizing the map of stars for every location of the True Martial, you instead resonated with a nearby constellation, all of that work could be done for you and you could skip a lot of steps, focusing entirely on the profundities of the technique instead of getting bogged down in the little details, many of which would be useless to you most of the time.
Even so, logic and sense didn't always win out. There was no logical reason why Ryu struggled so much dual wielding polearms. He had a unique body type that allowed him to do things others could not, if he wanted to dual wield, he should have been able to. But he never managed to take out more than 20% of what their true strength should have been.
In reality, the explanations Sacrum and the True Martial World had for this were different, but fundamentally the same as well. To the people of the True Martial World, this was known as a defense. In the case that a Clan or Sect didn't have any worthy successors for a long while, this protection would stop their core teachings from deviating down a weaker path. Only when a path overwhelming would changes be forced to occur.
This allowed Clans and Sects to slow their declines while they waited for a generation that could raise them up again.
However, for some reason, at this moment... Ryu didn't seem to struggle at all. In fact, after a few minutes, his eyes had already opened.
Star Qi circulated around him as he stood in place. Suddenly, small pockets of stars began to accumulate around him, forming a small galaxy.
Ryu suddenly took a step.
The step was incomparably simple, but if one had been observing him closely, it would have felt like he vanished more a moment before suddenly appearing once again. Those with far sharper senses would have felt that his body had suddenly become filled with such an overflowing well of profundity that their minds were overwhelmed, making them react just a half step later.
Ryu came to a stop and frowned.
'He's already at Half-Step Initial Success...' The Favor Alchemy Sky God muttered. 'Is this the power of an Ancient Dao? It shouldn't be so exaggerated... No, there's something else going on. The scope of his Dao is broader than any I've ever seen, and also, because he's using his Realm Heart as the anchor, it's able to see through all the secrets of the Lower Cosmic Grades, making it even easier. This method that he's created for himself has taken a complex technique and simplified it to the point that not only will the Focus Qi consumption be kept to a minimum, but improvement is also strikingly fast...'
Half-Step Initial Success might not sound all that impressive, but it was already enough for Ryu to crush anyone at his cultivation level.
The overload of senses that one would experience was a proxy of Ryu's unrefined version of the technique. However, the [Absolute Domain] technique was so profound and powerful that even it displayed in such an unrefined mode only seemed to help its power output.
Even so, Ryu wasn't satisfied. He closed his eyes, feeling the problems.
It felt too weighty, too clunky.
The Favor Alchemy Sky God shook her head. 'This is a weakness that will likely never vanish. Because he's relying on resonating with the Constellations, he'll have to contend with all sorts of different types of Star Qis rather than the pure Star Qis of the [Absolute Domain]. Even though he isn't calling that Star Qi down, it would be impossible for it to have no influence over the movement at all.'
'If he's lucky, he'll run into a movement type constellation when he needs it the most and it will help him in using [Absolute Domain]. But if he runs into a defensive or a mountain type constellation like the one he's resonating with right now, running will feel like rushing through thick oil...'
The Favor Alchemy Sky God was still impressed, though. A solution like this one was bound to have its drawbacks, the fact he could use it at all, and so quickly at that, was shocking enough.
In the future, if Ryu ever needed the movements to be perfect and he had a planned battle, he could just look up the star maps ahead of time, that way he wouldn't have to rely on such crude methods. That might be the best ideal he could hope for.
Ryu's gaze suddenly flashed and another idea came to mind. He waved a hand and the gathering of the stars dispersed. After a moment, they began to reform, but they formed a decidedly silvery light, different from the gentle whiteness of before.
At the same time, Ryu began to slightly shift the position of the stars. It was ever so subtle, but every time he finished with a star node, it would seem to snap into place as though they had finally slipped into the right place.
Ryu took another step.
This time, his body seemed to ride a stream of the universe. It was a gorgeous sight, his hair fluttered, his feet moving as though he was dancing. The Heavens seemed to sing and the Planes resonated.
The Favor Alchemy Sky God's heart skipped a beat and her cultivation almost went awry. This fact alone was more shocking than anything else. In just a few hours, the Favor Alchemy Sky God had already returned to the Immortal Ring Realm, her cultivation was so smooth she might as well just have been sipping water. The understanding she had toward these lower realms couldn't have been any sharper, but she had actually almost made a mistake just now.
"You..."
Ryu had done two very important things just now.
First, he had used his ability to see the flow of time and space to adjust the nodes into the perfect position. Even for the Favor Alchemy Sky God, when she used Absolute Domain, her Domain would have very slight deviations in comparison to the stars in the skies.
Light moved very fast, but it wasn't instantaneous. The Stars in the skies that they saw were, in reality, their past selves. However, given the vast size they were working with, the orbit changes were very slight even so, it would take countless millions of years for the night sky to change in any meaningful way.
However, Ryu seemed to see through this stream of time and adjust the stars such that they were in perfect alignment. Just this change alone made his version of [Absolute Domain] maybe more perfect than any that had ever existed before.
The second thing he did was something he had tried on a whim. He was curious about his Silver Star. Although his soul had already devoured it, that only meant that its very essence was already ingrained into his very being, this meant that Ryu could visualize it and manifest it whenever he wanted, up to a level where his cultivation could still withstand it, that is.
It was just a casual attempt, but Ryu hadn't expected that the Silver Star would truly be so compatible with Star Qi itself. As such, he was able to replace the influence of the Constellation he was resonating with, with his Soul Nature and its Visualization.
Like this, a perfect connection was formed between Ryu, the Stars, his Eyes and his Soul, creating a movement technique that was endlessly profound. At that moment, the Favor Alchemy Sky God couldn't even quite decide what level of Success Ryu had reached.
There was a very clear difference between the Ryu who struggled with dual wielding polearms and the current Ryu...
The Ryu of now had a Dao that would see through the Heavens.
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