1239 Fork in the Road
While the second option was more dangerous for most, for Ryu, it was basically the only option he had. In his current state, the only thing protecting him from dying right this moment was the uncollapsed space. If he stepped outside, his current cultivation and strength level wouldn't be able to hold up at all.
Even so, Ryu wasn't worried.
Strength was created on the edge of danger, and if there was one thing Ryu didn't lack, it was guts. Plus, he didn't feel that he was throwing his life away at all.
At that moment, Ryu's aura changed. Twin eight trigram diagrams appeared in his irises and a dense sense of ancientness began to exude from him. The Time Qi deep within Ryu began to rumble and roll. At the same time, his Chaos Qi rumbled.
This situation was probably one of the only times Ryu would be able to use his Chaotic Silk Meridians freely. With the volatility of the surroundings, it was almost impossible for anyone to parse apart the different qi in the atmosphere, and even if by some miracle or great strength something sensed his Chaos Qi, it could easily be ignored as well.
If even Origin Flame sparks could appear, was Chaos Qi so shocking? Even strands of Essence might appear. The very fabric of an extremely powerful Heaven was currently cracking and folding, all sorts of powerful phenomena would appear. If anything, Ryu's Chaos Qi would be far too weak to catch the notice of anyone with power enough to care or sense such a thing.
Ryu unleashed everything he had, even popping yet another Runed Pill into his mouth. A flood of Spiritual Qi surged out in all directions, but he used it up as fast as it appeared. The stress that using the time aspect of his Spacetime Soul Nature placed on him was great, but the drain of Focus Qi was actually not as bad as the drain of Spiritual Qi.
This made sense. It was his Soul Nature, by definition seeing through time came naturally to him. The only unfortunate part was that his Spiritual Qi didn't get the memo. However, with the support of Runed Pills like this, that worry became almost non-existence. So long as he was within normal realms of time usage, his Focus Qi shouldn't become a problem.
"There'
Ryu flickered and vanished just as the node collapsed. He reached out toward the Origin Flame Spark.
Just as he was about to touch his, his gaze sharpened with a blinding light. He could sense something else coming with it. However, even so, he still continued to grab forward, bracing him.
A spark of black lightning descended, trying to shatter kyu's body into ash.
Ryu roared, his Chaos Qi swapping to Primordial Chaos Lightning in an instant. He pointed downward and sent out a streak of it.
As though moth to a flame, the streaking black lightning changed course, rushing downward to catch up to the Primordial Chaos Lightning as Ryu palm clamped down, snatching the Origin Flame Spark.
A surge of power entered Ryu's body and his Origin Flame, which were fairly dormant most of the time, suddenly rushed forward and swallowed up the Spark. With just that one action, Ryu felt the shackles on his Origin Flame loosen considerably. It rose from the Fragmented Grade to the False Grade instantly.
Ryu's gaze lit up. Just a single spark was able to do this, what about if he gathered more?
His gaze became like lighting as he continued to look around. He didn't have time to focus on what changes might have occurred, he could always do that later. He didn't know how much longer this phenomena would last, so he had to take advantage.
A half second later, Ryu moved again and snatched another spark, then another. His Origin Flame rose from the False Grade to the True Grade, then entered the Perfect Grade. When he grabbed his fourth Spark, it didn't breakthrough in grade, but he could sense that it had become substantially stronger. It wasn't until he had snatched a fifth one that it raised its level once again and entered the Transcended Grade.
Ryu continued to move as fast as he could, but the returns were quickly diminishing. Even after gathering three more, he still hadn't entered the Omniscient Grade and he could already sense the phenomena beginning to wane and reality beginning to mend itself.
In addition, if Ryu wanted to avoid problems, escaping now would probably be his best chance, if he waited until later, all sorts of variables might crop up. Who knew what the Heavenly Dew Pavilion would do if he actually ended up winning the event?
Of course, there was his Dao Heart to worry about. But Ryu could already guess that the likelihood of this event continuing was next to zero after these changes. In that case, staying here would be like putting a target on his back for next to no reason.
'There.'
Ryu flickered and vanished again, the silvery wings on his back flapping once and taking him forward with a great deal of speed.
"This is..."
He found himself standing at a fork in the road. If he took the path toward the Origin Flame Spark, this final spark should be enough to enter the Omniscient Grade, that would be a huge, qualitative change.
However, if he took the other path, he could sense a huge stream of Northern Heavenly Wind.
At the moment, just like his Origin Flame, his Northern Heavenly Wind and Southern Heavenly Wind were both at the Fragmented Grade. They were still very useful toward his speed and his recovery, but they were becoming less useful. It was difficult for them to have much effect with the suppression of the higher Heavens being so much greater.
A Fragmented Grade Natural Treasure was exceptionally useful on the Third Heaven, but by the time you crossed into the Fourth, it would already be lagging behind.
Ryu narrowed his eyes. It was clear that the Heavenly Wind was in a far larger quantity, which was also why this was the first time Ryu had laid eyes on one during this entire process.
He flickered and vanished, heading toward the Northern Heavenly Wind without hesitation.
While he didn't know what changes would occur to the Origin Flame, he knew exactly what a Northern Heavenly Wind could do for him.
