Ryu's face twisted with some disgust as he felt Pierthorn's power trying to return to him.
It was no surprise that Ryu had relied on the ability of his Perfect Blackbody Soul. There was truly nothing more effective against other souls than the devouring character of his own. However, the troublesome aspect of this was that he actually had to... devour.
It wasn't that Pierthorn disgusted him as a person, though sneak attacking a World Sea Realm expert when you already had a foot into the Sky God Realm was pretty despicable, the real reason his face twisted in disgust was because Pierthorn's memories had come with them, that and the fact he felt that this Mental Realm Master's Spiritual Qi was nowhere near pure enough.
Upon entering the Soul Quintessence Realm, Spiritual Qi was no longer referred to as such and was instead called Quintessence by some, Spirit by others, and some others yet still called it Spiritual Quintessence.
It should have been to Spiritual Qi what Cosmos Qi or God Qi was to Mortal Qi or Immortal Qi, but it felt muddled and quite trashy when Ryu sensed Pierthorn's, as though he had been in too much of a hurry to breakthrough, something odd considering his usual caution.
Of course, what Ryu didn't know was that Pierthorn hadn't been in a rush at all.
Just like normal Qis, Spiritual Qi had grades, it was just that this didn't become obvious until solidifying it all into Soul Quintessence. This grade was decided by not only your Soul Talent, but also your cultivation method.
Ryu had been using a Dao Sovereign's training method until this point, and even after he had abandoned it, it was for good reason. Quite frankly, he had never seen Spiritual Qi this poor. As for before he had entered the True Martial World, he chalked much of that up to his soul being messed with before his birth.
Other than those disgusting memories and the odd Quintessence, Ryu couldn't be bothered to care about anything else. Pierthorn didn't have a Soul Nature, and even if he had, it would have been useless for Ryu to absorb it. Due to the quirks of his soul, only if he managed to find a natural treasure or Soul Nature on the level of that Silver Star could he gain a second. Though, through the same token, if he accidentally absorbed one even stronger, then his Spacetime Soul Nature would vanish, not that he felt that that was very possible.noVe.lb/1n
There was nothing of interest in Pierthorn's recollections either. His master had too many enemies, the moment he died, they ravaged his belongings like a pack of wolves. Pierthorn didn't even dare to return and was only lucky enough that he found out the news before he did, otherwise he would have probably suffered a fate worse than death.
The fate of this man was a bit tragic, or it would have been... if not for those memories. Not that Ryu ever felt much sympathy even when he killed someone supposedly innocent. That was just the way of the martial world.
Suddenly, the ground rumbled and the separated peaks began to move. Though it was impossible to spot from this location, Ryu was certain that it was forming a formation of sorts.
Soon, the mountains snapped into place and Ryu looked up as the formation stretched across the skies. Then, each one of the mountains opened up a passage, of which Ryu was pretty sure you should only enter one.
Ryu didn't move immediately.
He still didn't quite understand what these trials were about, but if he had to guess he had probably cleared the first hurdle. All things considered, it wasn't too bad, though he had lucked out in the fact that Pierthorn was much too overconfident in his abilities. It was funny, even though he felt that he had lucked out, he had still ended up half dead previously. That was just his luck, he guessed.
Regardless, now there seemed to be a prize segment of sorts... potentially. Even that he wasn't quite sure of. It might just be giving him a chance to pick his next enemy. So, which one should he pick?
After a few moments, Ryu shook his head, feeling annoyed. He hadn't dispelled his Dao just yet, so he was still using it to read and analyze the world around him, but each and every one of those portals looked the exact same. It was as he had expected, one of the most annoying kinds of trials... purely luck based trials.
Why certain bastards and the heavens liked to test one's fortune so much, he would never understand. Then again, much of his strength now was due to the luck of what he was born with, that was exactly the point. The luck of the draw had already played out in all of their lives already, doing it any more was like slapping the faces of those that hadn't gained the luck of the draw with constant reminders of how inferior they were, never giving them a chance to rise up.
Ryu shook his head. He didn't know when he had gotten so sentimental, but his stare quickly became frigid again. He looked forward and toward the entrances.
He wasn't just anyone anymore. He was a man with a Founding Dao. A Dao that could change the very fabric of the Heavens should it be allowed to grow to that point one day.
"Reveal yourself to me."
Ryu uttered lightly, his Birthed Phenomena rising from behind him.
The portals seemed to swirl with various colors, much of which was a façade, but a deeper layer of which was laid bare beneath his consciousness.
His eyes locked onto one with a silvery construct wrapping around its base. It was familiar, calming, even. It was a silver that he had seen through for much of his life.
His Birthed Phenomena collapsed and his body stumbled, but his grin spread across his lips.
With a step, he vanished, appearing before the entrance and stepping through without hesitation.
