Ryu didn't hesitate. He felt a keen sense of trust in Ailsa.
In his lifetime, he had only had a few friends. Among them, the only ones he considered friend outside of his immediate family circle were Nuri and Elena. It was a sad reality, but in Ryu's mind, his best friends were his parents and grandparents, this was how close they were.
If others knew of Ryu's mindset, maybe they wouldn't know whether they should laugh or cry. After all, what youth considered their parents friends? They would love them and respect them, but friendship? It sounded a bit odd.
Still, this was Ryu's reality.
However, Ryu couldn't help but warm up to Ailsa. Although he went out of his way to not read her thoughts, sometimes some of her emotions would breakthrough to him. One such instant was in the moment before she spoke just now.
Ryu felt Ailsa's inner turmoil, and he also felt that she hadn't made this decision lightly. So, Ryu decided to reward her with his trust, a fact that couldn't help but warm Ailsa's heart.
Manipulating Essence was near impossible. One could only use it for the purpose the Heavens gifted you it for and nothing else. For example, when Ryu evoked Essence after comprehending the Tatsuya Saintly Weapons to the Impose Realm, he had only been able to fill his Fire Dragon bloodline, reason being the Tatsuya Clan was effectively the Fire Dragon Clan.
Back then, the excess Essence had spilled over into Ryu's Fire Phoenix bloodline as well, however, this once again didn't break these fundamental rules. Both bloodlines were of a keen fire attribute, thus the conversion was allowed.
However, when Ryu awakened his first two flames to the Impose Realm, he could only helplessly watch the excess Essence dissipate. Although the Fire Phoenix and Ice Phoenix were both Phoenix bloodlines, their separation was incredibly important to the Heavens as each overlooked a fundamental aspect of existence. One life, and the other reincarnation. As such, the conversion was not allowed.
What did this all mean? Simply put, evoking Essence by awakening his Life Flame could only be used for filling his Ice Phoenix bloodline to the very peak of the Pulse Tempering Realm. Using it to form a Qi Blade was borderline testing the dignity of the Heavens.
Still, Ryu followed through with Ailsa's request. Not only was this because he trusted her, but it was also because he had seen Ailsa manipulate Essence to her will before!
Faeries were a branch race of evolved humans who were far more in tune with the Heavens than the other branches of their race. This connection was what allowed Ailsa to see the limits of one's potential with just a single glance. However, even among Faeries, the Cultus Clan was a special case.
They didn't have the high combat strength of the other top tier Faerie Clans, but they more than made up for this with their strengths.
Ryu suddenly felt a fiercer mental connection with Ailsa. This wasn't because their intimacy had deepened, but rather something Ailsa had forcibly done artificially. If Ryu rejected her now, not only would it cause severe backlash to her, but her foundation would be irreparably harmed.
This one act alone allowed Ryu to understand just how deep Ailsa's resolve was. How could he bear to reject her now? No matter how cold he was, he would never be cold to such an extent.
The instant he accepted, he felt his control of Essence skyrocket. What once was an energy that removed to budge no matter how he pleaded, though he hadn't suddenly become capable of manipulating it at will, had at least become malleable.
Ryu felt as though he was lifting something at the very edge of his limit. The strain was almost unbearable.
'Press on Ryu! Don't allow it to collapse!'
When one formed your Qi Blade, it was necessary to gather up all the qi in your meridians and pulses and expel it. Once it was expelled, one must control this qi and form it into a sharp Qi Blade. The deeper one's foundations, the clearer, more defined, and larger the Qi Blade was.
When he accepted Ailsa's request, Ryu hadn't hesitated to expel all of his qi. In fact, the ceiling of the underground cave he had hidden in completely shattered, pulverized into fine dust particles as he was exposed to the air.
Simply put, if one failed their First Severing, they would fall back to the initial stages of the Qi Refinement Realm! Ryu couldn't afford to fail!
For Ryu, controlling his qi, even outside his body this way was easy. Usually this was a tough hurdle all Qi Refiners had to leap over and this was a key reason why only Spiritual Severing Realm experts could send out qi from their body, Ryu had spent the last several months practicing [Demonic Strings], the Earth Grade technique he chose from the Awoken Moon Sect.
Thanks to the Fourth Floor of the crystalline jade, Ryu had already reached the Great Success stage. For a Qi Refinement expert to reach such a level in an Earth Grade technique only Divine Vessel and Connecting Heaven Realm experts were meant to be capable of using… Ryu's talent was undeniable!
Yet, Ryu felt his body trembling as he tried to form his Qi Blade. It wasn't because of his own qi, because he manipulated that with ease. But it was because of the Essence he was trying to incorporate into his Qi Blade!
Ailsa felt a wave of despair overcome her as she watched Ryu's body tremble.
Was she wrong? Had she pushed Ryu down a road of no return? With Ryu's talent, recultivating from the Lower Qi Refinement Realm wasn't that big of a deal, but if he fell now, what of The Selection?
To make matters worse, after failing one's First Severing, one's body would be completely devoid of qi. The commotion Ryu caused when he initialized his Qi Blade was already massive.
The size of one's Qi Blade followed the same principle as one's Spiritual Foundation. A common practitioner would only form a Qi Blade of one-half meter in length for their First Severing, but an absolute genius would form one of five meters for their first.
Yet, Ryu's Qi Blade, even without incorporating Essence, was fifteen meters tall!
Usually, a Qi Blade formed of neutral qi would be bland and uninteresting. But Ryu's trembled with a majestic purity, even the skies seemed eager to shatter under its presence.
This fifteen-meter-tall Qi Blade was the product of Ryu practicing three Six Star techniques at once! But even this Qi Blade wasn't enough to sever the third strongest material in all of existence, even if the target was its weakest point. Without the help of Essence, it was completely hopeless.