1356 Emotions
The situation was more than just not good. Ryu had done a lot of research for this event, combing through the ancient texts of the Lizard Demon Race. But he had never considered the possibility of the other Planes coming together like this, it just didn't make much sense.
From his understanding, the Birth Rights were separated by the Plane. They should have no connection with one another, unless....
Ryu's pupils constricted.
When he first entered the Nether Plane, he felt that it was ridiculous for the Convergence of the True Martial World, and a similar event of the Nether Plane, happening at the same time. The odds of one happening ws just far too low, the idea of them both happening at the same time was asinine.
However... this was the reality before him. In all likelihood, this matter wasn't normal in the slightest. If he was correct, this was the Convergence of the Nether Plane taking shape right before his eyes.
'Unbelievable... This sort of thing...'
Ryu's expression became unprecedently serious. Once was a coincidence, two however....
Even if one considered how old the universe was, how many generations had passed, and how old the Clans and Sects at the very top were, statistically enough time still had not passed yet for this to occur spontaneously. That only left one answer...
The Heavens were preparing for something. Something so large that it didn't even bother to discriminate between the Races and Worlds. But Ryu couldn't even fathom what kind of event this would have to be to trigger such things.
Ryu stopped thinking about these matters. He wasn't even in the Sky God Realm yet, he didn't yet have the cache to think about such things. What was more important than that was figuring out how to survive this matter.
He looked around, not caring or even avoiding the gazes of those around him, maybe much to the astonishment of those that were here. They could tell with a glance that Ryu was in the Sky God Realm. Such a gaze, if they could move, would likely have caused them to directly kill him with a palm strike before they even got a chance.
"Four of nine are here. Aside from the Fifth Plane represented by us, there are three others. Seems to be the Ninth Plane, the Eighth Plane and the Seventh Plane..."
Ryu shook his head. This made sense, who else but the strongest Planes could reach this place before he had? Of course, he had also been forced to delay a lot in order to shake free of the others, but in his mind it was still extremely impressive of them. He didn't seem to take their status seriously at all.
The second thing Ryu noticed was that there was an invisible barrier blocking the pillars from interacting with one another, other than light, it blocked pretty much everything else, even sound. Aside from reading the lips of others, they couldn't even communicate.
"Odd choice. Why would that be? Is it a coincidence, or?"
Ryu frowned as he realized a third thing.
If nothing had been triggered yet, it was likely that they would be waiting for representatives of all Nine Planes. If that was the case, this situation was even worse than he had thought, that was because there would be time for Empana and the others to catch up to him.
The Pillars were huge, spanning a hundred meters or so. There was room for a large number of individuals. There were several hundred between the three other pillars, making the three of Mae, Little Silk and Ryu look extremely conspicuous.
This told Ryu that there likely weren't restrictions on numbers, and there didn't seem to be any reason those he had left behind would be barred from catching up.
After a moment, Ryu exhaled a breath and called for Little Silk to touch down to the ground. He leapt down and took a seat.
"Focus on adjusting your condition. Leave the rest to me," Ryu voiced to Mae.
Mae's cherry lips opened as though she wanted to say something, but in the end she shook her head. Ryu had already closed his eyes and entered a state of unprecedented focus. She had felt quite useless in these recent weeks, more like an accessory than anything else. She wanted to take some of the burden, but she felt like this was all far too beyond herself.
She was a genius who had entered the Soul Quintessence Realm, but before these few she was too inferior. She didn't know how Ryu made it look so easy.
She gripped her fists. For some reason, despite the fact her cultivation was leagues beyond the current Ryu, she already felt like she was falling behind. His backview was so far ahead that she could hardly see him.
When they had first met, they had had a great battle. But the more she reflected on that battle, the more she felt that Ryu hadn't even been using his full strength. Had she ever been on his level? She really wasn't sure anymore. But now, what was clear was that she was far inferior.
The feeling bubbling up in her chest was suffocating. She didn't want to just be a beautiful vase, but she couldn't even begin to guess how she would catch up.
Mae sighed to herself and took a seat by Ryu, basking in some of his warmth. Even if she couldn't catch up, being by his side was its own sort of calming reality.
Ryu could feel Mae's gaze, but he didn't say anything. There would come a day where no one in the world could compare to him, that much he was certain of. When that time came, those complex emotions of Mae would vanish with the wind. What burden would she have to help him carry if there was nothing that could withstand a fist of his? When there was no burden to be had, she would naturally relax. Then, she could focus on that beautiful smile of hers and nothing more.
This was Ryu's promise to each one of his women. They would be free of worries, free of troubles, free of negative emotions. They could be as willful as they wanted, as arrogant as they pleased, as proud as the gorgeous peacocks that they were, all because he stood to their backs.
With that thought, Ryu forgot everything else, reaching an unprecedented state of focus. He used the odd in between qi through his Seven Spirits, quickly recovering his Focus Qi after pouring a drop of Embryonic Qi into it.
In just a few minutes, he felt as though he had just taken a great rest, his body adjusting itself to perfection.
Once he was finished with this, he gazed toward the Favor Alchemy Sky God.
She was completely focused on her research, her hair even being slightly haggard. Ryu was quite neutral about this woman, but he couldn't help but feel that she looked quite beautiful in this state.
Who uttered that only men could be attractive when they were focused?
That said, he felt that she gazed far more adorable than she did gorgeous. She had a sort of innocence to her that was rare. It didn't feel like she was a woman who had experienced countless years at all.
After some hesitation, Ryu jolted his head and pulled away. He needed to think of a different solution for this matter.
'... It will have to be that. But I can't deploy it on my own, it can only be done through Mae. If I want that to succeed, I'll need a large number of Spiritual Sense replenishment pills, but that might not be enough.
Ryu needed something more potent, more powerful. All the Spiritual Sense replenishment pill formulas he knew were designed for the one soul system, not the Three Soul and Seven Spirit system. Ryu felt that there was extra potential here that he had yet to excavate.
Luckily... he hadn't spent the last month idle.
His current comprehension of his Three Souls and Seven Spirits was on a completely different level than what it had once been. He had already contemplated of several ideas.
'I'll make some small modifications to those formulas and take advantage of Mae's Soul Fire, it should have a more potent response.'
Mae's Soul Fire was heavily tied to her emotions, that was why when she was agitated or felt heavy feelings of love, she reacted quite oddly. This had come under more control after she left the Samsara Wheel, but the underlying foundation was still there.
By extension, according to legends, the Seven Spirits were tied to certain emotions as wells. Namely Fear, Aggression, Affection, Mood, Joy, Pleasure, Desire and Melancholy. If Ryu succeeded, he would be able to allow a new door for Mae to open up as well, and she may very well improve by leaps and bounds.
But this would just be the first part of his plan. It would all be meaningless if he couldn't make the rest work properly...
His goal was simple. He would have to release another one of the Unbalance Art Sect's treasured formations.
