Ryu's vision went black and his Spiritual Sense was entirely cut off. It felt as though he was in his mother's womb once again, without the sense of comfort or warmth. In fact, it was quite cold. If this was a passive cold, it would have still been fine. But this level of cold was like fine steel needles piercing into his skin, slowly inching deeper and deeper until it touched upon his bone and continued.
Ryu frowned, but he didn't resist, not that he could.
He could feel the intention of the path. It wasn't like him to turn back.
Oddly enough, he couldn't even quite feel that he was moving forward right this moment, even his proprioception was cut off. The only reason he was certain that he was moving forward at all was because of the confidence he had in his own will power and his control over his body, but he also acknowledged that this could very well be an illusion.
A feeling of disgust welled up inside of him again. If you were going to test luck, then just test luck. Why were you layering a competence challenge on top of that. It didn't even seem to make sense, it was more cruel than anything else.
Ryu was slowly finding himself being disgusted with the Heavens again, a novel feeling, at least it was novel compared to how he had felt in the past.
After Ailsa woke him up, he felt a much deeper understanding for the Heavens and found it to be just an amorphous blob following rules that had been decided long ago. As for who decided those rules, he didn't know, nor did he know if it was possible for a sentient being to decide such important things in the first place.
However, as he had learned long ago, it was more important how one had come to a conclusion, than what conclusion they had come to.
In the past, he hated the Heavens because of a false sense of unfairness, especially when he had been given so much more than most others. It was a petty hatred, and one that came from a place of weakness. But whether it was this Heavenly Path, or the Incomplete one, he found himself feeling dissatisfied with how the Heavens did things for much more substantial and honestly mature reasons.
Ryu didn't turn back. Even if he had made a mistake in his choice, he would go down with the ship. He was a sharp and decisive person, these petty tricks couldn't sway him, no matter how much pain they came with.
With slow, but purposeful steps, he continued onward.
At the same time, he basked in this peculiar feeling. If there was one thing that he had neglected as he grew stronger, it was Soul Techniques. He remembered a particular technique that he had learned from the Radiant Star Sect libraries that enabled him to snatch away the senses of others.
He obviously didn't use it anymore because it was too weak for his current standard of battle, but this experience made him recollect it once again. He reminded himself to have a chat with Eska about her opinion on how Visualizations translated to this world and if they were still viable at the highest levels. He believed the answer was yes, but since he had a woman who could give him a shortcut, why not use it?
Ryu smiled to himself again. What a novel thought that was. Him? Ryu Tatsuya? Not insisting on doing things the hardest possible way? It was a breath of fresh air, one that left him with a brighter and brighter smile. This was the feeling of true freedom.
Freedom was always something that he chased after, but he had never realized just how much he had chained himself. It wasn't just the Heavens and his enemies that had shackled him, but even his mind was a prison of its own.
He would have to pay more attention to this in the future. The mind of a cultivator, their very condition of being, was just as important as every other factor. It could very well be said to be the Seventh Pillar of cultivation.
Suddenly, something flashed in Ryu's eyes.
He imagined that if there was someone observing him now, especially if that person was a living, breathing entity that had set up this test in the first place, they would be rather dissatisfied. After all, Ryu was smiling, his thoughts lost in his own world. He hadn't even doubted his decision for a second.
But maybe that was also why the "trial" came to a stop so quickly.
When Ryu's gaze cleared, the cold needles were gone and he stood in a hall, a familiar one at that. It was extremely similar to the hall he had been in at the end of the Incomplete Heavenly Path. God Treasures lined the walls and sat upon the pillars.
What was surprising, or maybe not so much, was the fact that these God Treasures were just as powerful as the ones that Ryu had seen after stepping into that reward center of the Incomplete Heavenly Path. But this was shocking for a different sort of reason.
Was that it? Was that the Complete Heavenly Path? Was this already the end?
Of course, asking a World Sea Realm expert, especially a Lower World Sea Realm expert, to battle it out with a Mental Realm Master Sky God was a top level test in every perception of the word, but Ryu felt a bit... dissatisfied.
'No, this should just be the first reward. But... Why does it emit a suggestion of finality to it?'
Ryu's gaze flickered and it suddenly landed on a floating cube in the skies. It bobbed slightly, radiating an ancient aura. But more importantly than that, it had words on it.nOve(Lb.In
Ryu smiled. He was so used to figuring things out on his own that he hadn't even noticed there were rules right in front of him.
'I see...'
The Heavenly Path wanted him to make a choice. He could take a God Treasure now and leave happily. When his eyes cleared once more, he would be in the Seventh Heaven. Or...
He could continue and try for greater rewards.
Ryu's lip curled and he walked past the treasures, leaving out the other end.
What he didn't know was that he was rather lucky in this regard.
