Elder Aika seemed to have adjusted to her more youthful looks. After years of becoming accustomed to growing old, the sudden reversion to her young self had left her in an odd state of acting old and yet looking like a young woman. She had even kept several strands of white hair as well.
She hadn't changed much since the last time Ryu had seen her, wearing the same robes and such, and even still having her cane, but her demeanor was much more like that of a woman who was just beginning to mature. No, maybe it was more accurate to say that she looked like a woman wise beyond her years, while still maintaining a youthful air.
For Ryu, this was quite a fascinating sight to see because he had never seen such a thing before. Even Eska, who had experienced something similar, had had time to adjust back to such a state long before she met Ryu because she had been stuck in her soul form for so long.
"Ah, you're here. As I said previous, I will teach you the core techniques of the Radiant Star Sect should you want to. If you don't, that is fine as well. You can take the route Selheira did and simply take what is useful to you and ignore the rest. Regardless, you are already a disciple of my Radiant Star Sect, there's no need to worry about the minor details."
Ryu faintly nodded.
He wasn't opposed to learning the true teachings of the Radiant Star Sect. Due to the fact he practiced the [Refinement Sutra], he had room to maneuver down any path of his choosing so long as he kept the foundation relatively the same.
For example, right this moment, Ryu's meridians still have the characteristics of [Six Realm Opening] This meant that he had 12 miniature dantians within himself that could each store different types of qis.
As he practiced the [Refinement Sutra] and progressed into the future, these characteristics would fade in strength, but they would always be there. After all, it was the foundation upon which Ryu began his cultivation journey to begin with, it wasn't so easy to get rid of.
However, whether or not these qis would be more useful than Ryu's Chaos Qi and Promordial Chaos Qis was up in the air. It could be said that no qi in existence other than Essence and Primordial Qi could match up in this regard.
But there was an obvious elephant in the room: whether it was his Chaos Qi or Primordial Chaos Qis, Ryu couldn't use any of them. Right now, he was battling with normal qi blessed by his Heavenly Favor. If he wanted to boost its strength a bit more, he supplemented it with normal Fire Qi and Lightning Qi.
When Ryu formed his blue steel weapons with his Lightning God Talent, he wasn't using Tribulation Lightning, he was using normal lightning. The difference was akin to the gap between Heaven and Earth. But it truly couldn't be helped.
Until he had the strength to protect himself, it just wasn't smart to expose himself too easily in these matters. So, having something like the Radiant Star Sect's cultivation methods would be good if for nothing else other than to have some powerful qis under his wing that he could use without exposing himself to too much trouble.
Also, if Ryu was correct, the Radiant Star Sect should be far more powerful than what it showed on the surface, so how could its inheritances be weak?
"Mm, good." Aika nodded. "There are seven main Inheritances of the Sect, each one with a different approach to how they view the world. Speed, offense, defense, control, qi manipulation, recovery and soul.
"These are the seven facets, and each is powerful in their own right, manipulating qi in their own way.
"The doctrine I follow is qi manipulation. It gives us extraordinary control over our qi and its uses and functions. I have reached a level in attainment that allowed me to birth a Dao that takes this to an extreme. This is what truly powerful techniques can do. Although they will not give you something to drink, it will lead you to a spring and teach you how to find them.
"Of these seven, you can choose as you please. I won't care too much even if you take all seven, but be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. Like I said, these techniques will pull you in their own respective directions. It would be difficult to follow all seven even if you only use them for reference."
Ryu's gaze narrowed.
Inwardly, he was a bit amused by Aika's casualness. She didn't even bother to name the techniques, just listing off what they were good for without much effort or thought. But this was also good for Ryu as well. It wasted less time and got right to the core of things.
In truth, all seven intrigued him, but the one that he needed the most was, without a doubt, the defensive technique.
When it came to speed, his [Whispering Petals] wouldn't be lacking for a long while. When it came to offense he had learned a total of nine Dao Charm techniques to this point, each of which had great offensive output depending on how they were used. When it came to qi manipulation, his talent in it was beyond what most could imagine. When it came to recovery he had a Perfect Sky God's recovery ability currently, and even beyond in most aspects. As for soul, he already had a technique he was proficient in.
All this left was control and defense, of which the latter intrigued Ryu the most since the bow inherently had its own control abilities. After all, the most troublesome weapon to deal with from a distance was definitely the bow. Of the nine core weapons, it, without a doubt, had the stronger control abilities.
Still, even with this being the case, Ryu was aware that he had a great number of weaknesses in all these aspects and it mostly boiled down to one matter: the techniques he had were far too weak.
For example, Whispering Petals had already been brought to its maximum, but it couldn't out run World Sea Realm experts. Ryu had to rely on his Dao and its predictive abilities to see through an opponent ahead of time and move accordingly.
This was ultimately because Ryu's combat prowess was too amazing. This ironically made a Heaven Grade Dao Charm technique lack in strength.
When things were framed in this way, the only things he didn't need to worry about were qi manipulation and recovery. That said, this didn't make them a pressing problem. While [Whispering Petals] and his other Dao Charm techniques were a bit lacking considering his combat prowess, it wasn't to the point that he had to deal with them immediately.
Ultimately, Ryu knew that he would learn all seven eventually, but he still had to be smart with what he chose first. So, he made a decision.
He would learn the defensive stance first. Then, he would learn the control stance. Once he finished these two, he would re-evaluate.
"I will start with defense and control," Ryu finally said.
"Mm, okay."
Aika flipped a palm and sent two jades zooming toward Ryu.