The Runes Ryu drew in the air quickly became more and more complex, his focused state only increasing with each passing moment. He could only lament the fact that his eyes still hadn't awakened or else this process would have most definitely been far faster. Even if he didn't rely on its comprehension abilities, just the ability to step into deeper States of Meditation on a whim would make things far easier.
Even so, this didn't put off Ryu.
Largely, Ryu split the formation into two parts.
The first part was the portion that could be classified to be at the Immortal Realm.
The formation itself could be classified as a Mystical Grade Formation which was a step above the Heaven Grade and, likewise, a step beyond the Immortal Grades. Or, more accurately, it shared space with the Immortal Grade.
Mystical Grade Formations and techniques were best laid down by experts of the Dao Pedestal Realm and Cosmic Seed Realm. As such, from this, one can see that the former is considered an Immortal Realm while the latter is considered a Cosmic Realm.
Due to this, there were portions of the Formation that could be understood by Immortal Realm cultivators, but there were also some portions that could be classified as secrets of the higher realm and was, as such, the second part that Ryu had split the formation into.
This was important because Ryu could see through the Immortal Realms very easily and quickly by relying on one, his Dao, and two, his Realm Heart. In combination, the speed he flew through the less complex parts of the formation was extraordinary. In fact, it felt that so long as he glanced at it, he would understand it.
The issues began to creep up when the more complex Runes were in question.
In the face of Immortal Fundamental Runes, Ryu could clear a hundred a second without pause. However, for the Cosmic Fundamental Runes, it took him between one and three seconds to understand just one. The difference was drastic, especially when it was considered that Ryu's hundred per second cap in the face of Immortal Runes was only so slow because he had to maneuver around Cosmic Fundamental Runes as well.
If it wasn't for the fact this formation was a fusion of the two, let alone a hundred a second, even ten thousand a second wouldn't be a problem for Ryu. By that point, he would grasp the entire formation in just a few minutes.
Realizing how slow things would be if he continued like this, Ryu abandoned trying to grasp this formation to the Great Circle of Perfection. Instead, he intentionally left holes in his comprehension and reasoning, allowing his speed to reach a greater height.
Without trying to master the Cosmic Runes fully, his speed increased to ten a second. As for the Immortal Runes, he still took the path of fully mastering the Immortal Runes. Not only would this help mitigate the overall weakness of his comprehension, but so long as he continued to fully comprehend the Immortal Runes, his comprehension of the Cosmic Runes wouldn't slow.
Ultimately, all of these Runes were connected as one. Only by understanding one part would you be able to grasp the reason for the existence of the next. If Ryu took a path of weakening his comprehension too much, then his lack of understanding would compound and eventually stall his progress in the future.
If he wanted to succeed, he had to find a balance between comprehension and speed that wouldn't cause too many adverse effects, and that he did.
In just three hours, Ryu grasped the entirety of the formation, exhaling. His gaze flashed with a blinding silver light.
Right now, his comprehension was at Small Success. This just went to show how large the gap between the Immortal Runes and Cosmic Runes were.
He had fully comprehended the Immortal Runes to Great Circle of Perfection, and yet because he had only comprehended the Cosmic Runes to Initial Success, his overall comprehension had actually fallen so far.
'It's time.'
Ryu knew that this had already taken him much longer than he wanted. Three hours was long enough for a pair of Sky Gods to do almost too much for him to fathom. They would have definitely started doubling back by now.
As Ryu gathered up the resources he needed to start, his mind worked in overdrive. He would definitely need to adjust his plans now, but the question was how. This time, he couldn't be so brazen. The gap between himself and his enemies was far too large.
Ryu's gaze flashed as he hid his face behind a mask.
BANG!
Ryu shot out from the rock he had stored the golden moon world ring within. Stealth wasn't something he bothered with because very soon, the qi storm that would gather up would rock this world far more than the shattering of a single rock.
Ryu's soul presence flourished and a large number of items began to flood out from his body, his speed reaching levels more Formation Masters didn't dare to use for fear of messing up. However, Ryu's confidence in himself was absolute. He didn't even think twice, relying on his comprehension to move even faster. In fact, as he deployed the full formation, he found that his overall understanding was quickly increasing.
"You little rat, so you've been here the whole time!"
A voice boomed from the distance as a man surged through the skies. It was clear that he had only roared like this in order to shake Ryu awake from his concentration and ruin his attempt. Even if he slowed Ryu down by a small measure, it would be enough. How could a junior stay bold in the face of a mighty Sky God?
Unfortunately for him, Ryu didn't pause even more a moment, it was as though he didn't hear it at all, the surging qi of his formation deployment increasing with every passing second.
However, what was unfortunate for Ryu was that he already knew that he wouldn't be fast enough.
His gaze turned frighteningly cold as the pressure of a Sky God shot over, the oppressive might turning from an empty threat, to one that was very real. As Amanrah's presence descended, even if Ryu wasn't scared of him psychologically, his body itself turned heavy and his qi became languid in its movement.
There was nothing he could do about this. It was an absolute suppression.
By the time Amanrah entered range, Ryu was only 50% of the way through the deployment of his formation, his body already covered in sweat as his nose and ears bled.
"Come here!"
Amanrah grabbed at the air, wanting to capture Ryu. It was clear that they all wanted to understand exactly who Ryu was and where he had come from. Plus, it was best to extract talents when the target was still among the living, or else things could get complicated.
At that moment, though, Ryu looked up, his gaze meeting that of Amanrah's. The coldness and indifference within it made the Sky God pause for just a moment.
A surge of spatial qi whipped through the surroundings.
"You want to teleport before me?! You overestimate yourself!" Amanrah recovered and his voice boomed, the sheer rippling wave of his aura causing Ryu to cough up a mouthful of blood.
However, just when Amanrah thought he had succeeded, the spatial qi suddenly ramped up, forming a powerful dome of protection that suddenly vanished.
Amanrah stood in the air, stunned as Ryu vanished.
It didn't make sense. He was certain that the formation wasn't finished, how had this happened? What was going on?
Amanrah's pupils constricted as the dome of spatial qi dispersed.
"This isn't the aura of a large scale teleportation, it's a short range teleportation again. He used the half completed formation as a barrier to block my attempt at sealing space so that he could escape again safely. This…"
It was hard to describe this with just the word "genius", this was far beyond just genius, it was savant-like. However, this should make sense. How could a soul talent like Ryu not have skills of some kind? If he didn't, wouldn't he be wasting his talent?
Still, it didn't matter. Who cared if it was another short scale teleportation? The moment he tried to leave this mountain range again, he would sense it.
Amanrah's expression became malevolent.
'You little rat, just wait until I get my hands on you…'
Just as Amanrah thought this, a sudden rumbling came from not far again. A behemoth-sized shadow loomed over the fog, heading right for Amanrah.
"Shit!"
Amanrah struck out a palm quickly.
…
Ryu suddenly appeared. However, if Amanrah saw where he had chosen to appear, his expression would have warped uncontrollably.
At that instant, Ryu had actually appeared right outside of the camp of the Carving Ice Sect!
"Enemy!"
"Enemy attack!"
Ryu's palms flipped up, causing his great swordstaffs which hovered to his back to snap into his hands.
With two swings, almost a dozen Carving Ice Sect disciples fell into bloody pieces.