The war outside was still raging on but Ryu had no intention of stepping into it again unless he was called upon. It was all so boring and uninteresting to him at this point. In fact, he felt quite some jealousy toward the disciples currently fighting with their lives on the lines.
'At this point, I should be ready to recultivate at least the Divine Vessel Realm.'
With his Dao having improved, Ryu felt that his control and comprehension should be deep enough to reproduce the effects he wanted in the Earth Grade, which also meant that he would be able to do the Connecting Heaven Realm as well.
He was approaching perfection. Once he caught up, he would finally be able to break into the Path Extinction Realm and hopefully, finally and truly, break free of the shackles that perpetually hung over his Inheritances, shackles that kept forcing them to fall back down to the Ruler Realm.
In just his short time in the True Martial World, Ryu had actually broken through several more times. He had experienced six or seven breakthroughs in each back in Sacrum, but he had experienced many times that in the True Martial World.
This made sense. After all, the laws here were far more complete. As such, even with the passive observation of Ryu's Dao, grasping inklings to break through the Ruler Realm was all too easy.
Right now, Ryu's Dao was too far beyond the Ruler Realm. The Ruler Realm was considered to be the very start of the Immortal Inheritances, which meant that it was the equivalent to the Immortal Ring Realm.
When you looked at things like this, it didn't seem that Ryu was far beyond it, so why were things like this?
Ultimately, it was because Ryu's Inheritances couldn't match up to the Hegemonic Dao level.
While Ryu's Inheritances could form Birthed Phenomena in Sacrum, they could not do so in the True Martial World. As a result, it was all too easy for Ryu's Dao to see through their flaws and improve them.
With each breakthrough and collapse, Ryu's Inheritances became much stronger. By now, he had experienced over 30 breakthroughs, each one harder than the last, but he was slowly closing in on what he felt was some sort of perfection.
One Ryu could form a Birthed Phenomena in the True Martial World, he felt that this would be the signal that he had succeeded. But for now, he felt that he was still a ways away from that.
By activating his eight trigram diagram, Ryu could see through it with some degree of certainty. Right now, he felt like he was about 50-60% of the way there. But, each breakthrough wasn't created equal. Some might push him forward two or even three percent, but some others would only give him a fraction of a percent.
With things like this, it could take Ryu anywhere from 10 or so more breakthroughs, to upward of more than double the number he already had now.
At this point, Ryu felt that this was very purposeful. It was obviously happening for a reason. The Ruler Realm was probably the last Inheritance Realm that could allow this as it was the stage before it truly solidified into a domain.
As before, he felt that there were only two possible explanations. Either his Spiritual Foundation or his Meridians. Before, he had become certain that it was his Meridians, but quite frankly, he wasn't so sure anymore. He was confused about it and not quite sure how to take things from here. That said, there was something he had to cling onto.
In the past, when he had entered the Path Extinction Realm, his breakthroughs had finally been allowed to burst forth. This seemed to point to the fact that it was his Meridians holding him back.
Knowing this was curious because it likely meant that this was part of the secret to the truth behind what it took to have a perfect breakthrough into the Path Extinction Realm.
It had to be remembered that the Path Extinction Realm was a Realm where Inheritances took center stage, at least in Sacrum. In the True Martial World, it was both Daos and Inheritances, or sometimes one or the other, depending on the situation.
Ryu paused, his eyes narrowed.
Beads of sweat fell from his brow and he held his great swordstaffs out from his body.
During the Path Extinction Realm, one needed to take their comprehensions and shatter them. This could be considered to be the first true test of immortality. Only by rebuilding and reaffirming your comprehensions would you be able to survive the "Extinctions".
Ryu had done a lot of research about this, after all, it was the next Realm he would step into and he had already decided to do so with the [Refinement Sutra] which had its own unique methods.
But when things were laid out like this, the Path Extinction Realm sounded eerily similar to what Ryu was already experiencing. The only difference was that in the Path Extinction Realm, you didn't have to 'breakthrough', you only had to rebuild what you already had. Your comprehensions would entirely vanish, and only by rebuilding them could you be blessed by the Heavens and progress.
The process was more involved than this, but the details didn't actually matter. What Ryu was more interested in was why these things felt so similar.
'Wait, maybe the details do matter…'
Whenever one felt that they had accumulated enough to begin an Extinction, they would enter seclusion. Upon doing this, one would enter a Pseudo State of Meditation that could be considered the closest most would get to the real thing in their lifetimes.
This was less important, but what caused Ryu to pause was that when one entered this state, their minds and bodies would enter a different Plane.
The Planes of Existence were four in total, or rather, that was what Ryu had thought before he learned of the Chaos Plane. So, in reality, there were five…
The Chaos Plane, The Real Plane, The Ethereal Plane, The Nether Plane, and finally, the Plane Ryu had found his Realm Heart in, the Abyssal Plane.
Although Ryu hadn't known of the existence of the Chaos Plane before, he still felt that the most mysterious of the Planes was the Abyssal Plane. It was this Plane that new worlds were birthed from and thus the other Planes would sprout and grow, and it was the Plane Fate Stars and even Spiritual Foundations called home. And… it was also this Plane that one's consciousness had to enter in the Path Extinction Realm.
Entering this Plane allowed one's body to enter a state of limbo and shatter one's comprehension without backlash.
Thinking to this point, Ryu couldn't help but wonder. Could it be that since his Meridians were connected to the Chaos Plane this was the next unique breakthrough his Chaotic Silk Meridians required?
Maybe the oddity was related to a difference between breaking through using the Abyssal Plane and breaking through using the Chaos Plane?
Ryu's gaze narrowed. It was definitely a possibility. But how could he test it?
Just as Ryu was thinking, he was alerted to someone calling for him outside of his Immortal Abode.
He stepped out, drenched in sweat to find Selheira.
His torso rippled powerfully as he hadn't bothered to cover himself up.
Despite this, Selheira didn't seem to react weirdly and only kept the same gentle smile.
"There's been a few changes on the battlefield that you might be interested in."
"Oh?" Ryu nodded. "Okay, I will go, then."
Ryu stepped past Selheira. He held one of his Great Swordstaffs in one hand and hopped on the other before shooting into the skies.
Maybe only those with Ryu's confidence would jump right into battle barefoot and shirtless.