Ryu's head tilted backward, unleashing a roar akin to a dragon awakening from a deep sleep. Tor Palace shook violently, unable to withstand his unbridled rage.
The dye that coated Ryu's hair incinerated to nothingness, revealing a streak of pure white that blinded those who looked directly toward it. At the same time, Ryu's bare and frail chest seared red, pumping with grotesque lines of blue-green that wiggled along its surface as though alive.
Spiritual Qi, for the first time in Ryu's life, rushed toward him like a fiendish hound. Blood vessels within his brain bulged with impunity, making Ryu feel that his mind was splitting apart into shredded chunks of meat.
Without knowing it, Ryu had stepped along a path of incomparable danger. He had just attacked a Pulse! Although he had failed to open it fully, the process of doing so, even partially, was a great detriment to his body as things stood now.
One had to understand that the opening of Pulses was something only to be done after completing what were called the Nine Rites of the Awakening Realm. Of course, this so-called Awakening Realm was the very first step a martial warrior would take into the world of cultivation. When one completes their meridian awakening ceremony, they would be considered to have completed this first, and easiest, Rite.
Obviously, cultivation realms were meant to build upon each other slowly. However, Ryu had taken a third step before even taking a first – a mistake that was only possible due to his blind pursuit of a higher Mental Realm!
The Pulse Ryu had stepped upon was known as Spiritual Entrance Pulse. It was the opening of this Pulse that allowed the cultivation of Spiritual Qi in its truest form. In fact, this wasn't a Pulse those of the mortal Planes ever bothered with because it was completely separate from Qi Realm cultivation. Instead, it was solely anchored in Mental Realm cultivation! Although it was possible to wield Spiritual Qi before entering this realm, it was to a finite extent decided by birthed talent and not hard work.
Without even realizing it, the Mental Realm accumulation of two lives had pushed Ryu to this point. Whether it was him leaping over his final mental hurdle to kill himself for the sake of others in his previous life, or the constant humiliation and the death of his Granny Miriam in this one, both had coalesced to push him onto a rarely explored path.
The issue was that now, Ryu's unawakened body was now dealing with the opening of a Pulse it wasn't prepared for. Even so, the momentum of his partial breakthrough alerted every soul in Tor Palace!
Ryu was in no position to care. His blood vessels pulsed with an added vigor, having partly removed a blocker to its enraged flow. At this point, it was no longer just his head, but every portion of his body that was ravaged with this unceasing pain.
His jaw clenched to the point where blood began to flow between his teeth even as his fingernails dug into the skin of his palms. As Ryu's skin grew redder, his body heat skyrocketed, shooting past levels of a normal fever and into a range that should have meant death to a mortal.
It was at this moment that Ryu's slumbering soul stirred.
No one knew what the true Phoenix God trial was. Even Ryu, who labored over millions of Folk Lore couldn't piece it together in its entirety. The only thing he became certain of in the end was that it was only possible to leap over this trial barrier by experiencing three forms of quintessence… Life, Death and Reincarnation.
Ryu's trial hadn't ended the moment he reincarnated. What he had to prove was that even when born into an entirely new life, he could make the same tough decision twice.
In his first life, he resolved to improve the lives of his Clan and parents by any method he could before ultimately deciding to sacrifice himself for the slim chance that he could help them more.
In his second life, he tempered himself through a decade of pain before finally resolving himself to fight against Fate once more. Whether it cost him his life or not, it didn't matter. He would seek revenge not for himself, but for his Granny Miriam.
The true Ryu had begun to awaken. Memories of a life he had thought was nothing more than a dream etched into his mind as though he himself lived it. In the next moment, he awakened fully, understanding that that life he had pined for, the one he thought he would never deserve, was actually his own!
He had a true Father and a kind Mother. He had grandparents who viewed him not as a tool, but as a child to be cherished. He had a wife. A beautiful, loving wife – one that was waiting for him even now! His promise, he remembered it, he remembered it so clearly that it was as though it happened yesterday!
Blood roared through Ryu's veins, pumping through with such a vigor that it was audible even from the outside of his body. In response, his clothes burnt to ash, revealing his scarred back and the faint etchings of a once bloody cross over his heart.
The moment Ryu's former soul awoke from its slumber, his Spiritual Foundation shook. As though calling the Sky Gods from above, clouds rolled over Tor Kingdom, blackening out the sun and sinking the capital city into a dense night the likes of which they had never experienced.
Ryu's body began to glow. First, it was his skeleton, shining as though it was carved of the most precious gems. Then, it was his meridians. Their complex inner workings layered atop each other, widening and strengthening with each passing moment. Then, the cycle completed with his blood once more. Four separate but wholly amazing bloodlines awoke from their sleep, quashing and destroying the inferior Tor blood that ran in Little Ryu's veins.
However, each and every one of those awakenings completely paled in comparison to the beast hidden deep within Ryu's Spiritual Foundation. A sea of white flames danced, growing fiercer as the seconds ticked by. Suddenly, they surged upward, shattering a barrier that had held Ryu down for not one, but two lives.
Ryu's eyes flashed opened, the disgusting scars that had coated his back falling away to reveal an incomparably smooth figure. His muscles rippled with vitality, his eyes shone with killing intent, and his frame had grown another size.
His white hair fluttered in the wind behind him, his expression no longer like a little boy lost in the world, but rather like an expert who had lived more than a thousand years. With a thought, a pool of spatial energy bloomed from his silver eyes, causing a black cloak to wrap around his body. Then, he disappeared.