[Bonus Chapter for 150 golden tickets reached <3]
Ryu's body quaked. The punishment his internal organs had taken in the last view minutes couldn't be underestimated. But, Ryu had been so focused on completing his task that he had involuntarily entered the State of Meditation, allowing him to ignore the pain for a moment, until now, that was.
Luckily, this pain didn't last for long. As though it was waiting for Ryu to release the reins, the cracking barrier finally shattered in earnest. Essence surged toward Ryu at greater speeds, charging into Ryu's body. Ryu felt odd, the feeling of Essence circulating along so many paths of his body was numbing.
The good news was that Essence, as the purest energy in existence, had the ability to freely convert between all qi forms in existence. This not only made Ryu's Mortal Qi incredibly pure, but it also made the process of breaking through incomparably smooth.
Ryu began to cough, black blood and pieces of broken organs flying from his mouth. At first he was worried that he had put too much hope in the rebirth given during a major breakthrough, but he calmed in the next moment. These were definitely the remains of the built up and hidden injuries within his body.
The rush of pure qi made Ryu feel that the door that opened for his Bone Structure had creaked open just that small bit more. Ryu knew a small bit about just what this opening door entailed thanks to his mother, so he couldn't help but smile at his progress.
Finally, the final bits of Ryu's accumulated injuries healed. The fractures that riddled his legs finally sealed and his tendons and ligaments began to reconnect. In the end, Ryu collapsed, not in fatigue, but in relief. The endless pain for months on end had definitely taken its toll on his mind.
'So this is the consequence of breeching power I shouldn't, hm?' Ryu sighed. He hadn't expected that ignoring his own limitations to push his speed that far would have such drastic affects. His constitution was known for its healing ability, yet six months in a coma had hardly moved the needle.
This taught Ryu a valuable lesson. The greatness of healing factors was only relative to your own strength. How could it be just as easy to heal from damage dealt by a Divine Vessel Realm expert versus an Awakening Realm expert? Even if they objectively dealt the same damage, the quality of a Divine Vessel Realm expert's strike was simply a level above.
When Ryu tapped into the speed of a Divine Vessel Realm expert, he was doing damage to himself that his body wasn't equipped to deal with. He reached a threshold he had no business being a part of. Right then, he swore that he wouldn't do something so foolish again unless his life was on the line once more.
'I need to ensure that I have no hidden injuries left, or else they'll only accumulate.' Ryu knew that the so-called 'Rebirth' given by a large breakthrough wasn't infallible. So, he began to think of spiritual herbs that would best handle the situation. If he could find or buy a few young sprouts, with the Incubator's help, he shouldn't have anything to worry about anymore.
'Hm.' Ryu smiled lightly as he realized Leopold's spatial ring was still resting on his lap. He had been fully prepared for the Immortal Path to destroy everything of the Old Headmaster's, but who would have known that he would just throw his spatial ring over as a sign of good faith?
Ryu nodded in satisfaction as he looked through Leopold's ring. Though he was a weakling in the grand scheme of the Pedestal Plane, he was still rich by the standards of a Lower Qi Refinement expert like Ryu. Before, Ryu only had a thousand Inferior Mortal Qi Stones and twenty Medial Qi Stones. But, thanks to Leopold that number had raised significantly. Leopold had ten thousand Medial Mortal Qi Stones, a hundred Superior Mortal Qi Stones, and three Inferior Immortal Qi Stones!
Ryu didn't know much about the Outer Ring he would be headed to soon, but he reminded himself to not flaunt his wealth openly. He would realize soon how good a choice this was after he learned that the Outer Ring still dealt heavily with gold coins. To them, Qi Stones were a massive luxury.
Ryu didn't even think about using these Qi Stones for cultivation. Relying on them would not only dull his cultivation sense, but the ease with which they could be used would make his foundation unstable. He strictly set them aside as his currency. That said, if he ever found the Legendary Essence Stones, this would be a different matter entirely.
Medial Qi Stones were worth a hundred Inferior ones and were worth a hundredth of Superior ones. However, Immortal Qi Stones were a massive leap forward, being worth ten thousand Superior Mortal Qi Stones each, though no one would ever exchange them this way. This was all to say that for Ryu's current purposes, Leopold's wealth was definitely not small. In fact, it was enough to make him the wealthiest individual of the Outer Ring before he had even stepped foot in it.
Aside from these Qi Stones, Leopold had piles of gold coins he had likely accumulated from his years as Headmaster. The Three Kingdoms' Institute definitely didn't have cheap tuition fees. Unbeknownst to Ryu, they would soon come in handy, but for now, he couldn't be bothered to count.
What Ryu was more interested in were the cultivation resources. Leopold had the many of these, likely because he had stocked up, planning to spend years on the inferior Higher Mortal Plane. But, that suited Ryu just fine.
Thanks to the Natural Order Sect, Ryu had nine total Qi Whispering herbs and one Bone Separating Root. Since Leopold was a Connecting Heaven Realm expert, these Earth Grade Spiritual Herbs were of great use to him, so he had many, though he had far less Bone Separating Root than Ryu would have liked. There were a hundred Qi Whispering Herbs and twenty Bone Separating Roots. That said, it wasn't a large problem. Ryu still have many beast Spiritual Roots he had yet to cultivate with due to not having a Body Realm Cultivation Technique.
Unfortunately, Ryu's cultivation was still too weak to use Earth Grade Spiritual Herbs since he couldn't allow them into his Incubator. For now, Black Grade Herbs were the most useful to him and would continue to be into the Spiritual Severing Realm. But, for obvious reasons, Leopold had none of them.
Finally, Ryu glanced at the [Resonating Sense] Memory Jade in the corner of Leopold's ring. He realized that this technique was likely how Leopold had found him so easily. He didn't have time to learn it now, but he might consider it in the future. For now, Ryu needed to choose a Mental Realm and Body Realm cultivation technique for him. Once that was completed, he'd walk this Immortal Path to the end.
Ryu sent his mind back into Zu Palace and onto the familiar first floor.
Unlike his Qi Technique choices, Ryu's scope for his Mental and Body Techniques were fairly limited. He wanted a Body Technique capable of capitalizing on his flexibility and balance, not one that bulked him up. As for his Mental Technique, or, Visualization Technique, rather, what would be a better choice if not the Immortal Sakura?