Early on a morning halfway through the seventh month after his disappearance, Ryu's eyes opened with a flash. Air torpedoed through his nostrils and out of his mouth, causing several hundred green leaves to swirl into the air, shooting upward before gently falling to the ground.
At the moment, Ryu sat quietly on a thin branch several dozen meters in the air. The moment his soul awakened, both the Origin Flame and North Heavenly Wind that had been dormant until now manifested themselves. As a result, not only had Ryu gained the ability to replay perfect replications of his memories, he had also gained the ability to become as light as a feather, allowing him to sleep on such a high branch without worry of being found while he rested.
The good news was that until one entered the Spiritual Severing realm, flight without a treasure was impossible. And, obviously, Tor Kingdom couldn't send such experts after him without breaking the rules set by the Immortal Plane.
Everyday, he would wake up the moment the sun appeared in the skies. Beginning with the Tatsuya and Kunan Martial Forms, he would exhaust his body to its utmost limit. During those periods, he would insert teachings of the Ice Phoenix Clan, controlling his breathing and oxygen to the finest detail. Finally, he would use the Fire Phoenix Martial Forms, taking advantage of his torn muscles to increase his flexibility. Then he would use the recoverability Forms to rejuvenate himself during the night.
This sort of pace seems perfect on the surface, something anyone could replicate, but such wasn't the case. A large part of the reason Ryu could keep himself from collapsing was because his bloodlines perfectly complimented these techniques. It was for this reason that he was blessed to have four Ancestral Grade lineages.
Knowing this, Ryu took full advantage. All his life, he hadn't known what it meant to cultivate. He had felt weak and often useless. As a result, he overcompensated with his arrogance and the work he put into his secondary professions. So, now that he had such an opportunity given to him… No. Now that he had forcefully grasped this opportunity for himself, how could he not take full advantage?!
Ryu shifted to move, but suddenly froze. A few dozen meters away, the sounds of quickly moving feet caught his attention.
Smiling coldly to himself, Ryu remained absolutely still. It seemed that they had finally realized that he must have remained close to the Kingdom. Or, rather, they had to believe that. If they didn't, they'd have to admit that they allowed a frail boy who had just awoken to escape their grasp. Still, he was surprised to see that it was his Third Brother that was here. Him along with his little niece and nephew. Since their mothers didn't have good constitutions for cultivating, they had sent their son and daughter instead.
"… To call me for such a matter." Cayden grumbled. "I say let him take his time to cultivate, I'll crush him either way!"
Ryu's Third Brother had grown to share the same large frame as his father and grandfather. This was to be expected though. After all, he inherited their Skeletal Grade.
Skeletal Grades, also known as Bone Structures, were sometimes spontaneous, but were more often hereditary, much like bloodlines. The special Bones of the Tor Clan were the reason their Sect was known as the Heavenly Body Sect – how else would they have gained the Iron Bone moniker?
Because of his Iron Bones, Cayden was well over six feet tall at just barely sixteen years old. As one might imagine, it was his steps that Ryu noticed first.
Ryu smiled lightly. After awakening his memories, he found these people to be pitiful frogs in a well. If it wasn't for Granny Miriam, he wouldn't have even cared to get revenge for himself. He had more important things to deal with – like finding his wife and parents, for example. Although he didn't know how much time had passed, as long as it was within a few billion years, with their cultivation, they should still be alive.
The truth was that with this cloak, if he was dealing with mortals, didn't need to be activated consciously. Its passive ability was more than enough to hide from even Divine Vessel experts. When Elena described it, she had of course been speaking about its lackluster abilities in the face of Immortals of the Shrine Plane, but there were no such experts here. This was a Mystical Grade treasure, after all.
Ignoring his "family" below, Ryu looked down at himself and shook his head. 'First, I'll make myself some clothes from a few beasts.'
After his awakening, Ryu had found himself stark naked. Aside form his cloak, he had nothing else. But, while this was fine in Tor Kingdom where the weather was always warm, it wasn't for the place he was headed. Although he was now a First Stage Awakening realm expert, it wasn't so exaggerated that he could ignore the weather already.
"For mom's sake, we must find him!" Ryu's nephew grit his teeth. For the past half year, Ryu's First and Second Sisters barely spoke or ate. They had become nothing more than skeletons.
As immature children who believed their parents were always right, Hagan, Ryu's nephew, and Mai, his niece, blamed Ryu. They knew nothing of the reality of matters. All they knew was that their grandpa and mothers were always doting of them, and now they didn't like Ryu. That was enough.
Although he heard these words, Ryu didn't care. He no longer treated these people as family. His only thoughts were of his task at hand and how he would find out what truly happened in his absence. Though Granny Miriam had shed some light on these matters, it wasn't the full story.
'The Shrine Plane is sealed… But are you all okay?' Ryu closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
Ryu's soul was connected to Elena's, but it was still too weak to sense her over large distances. Unfortunately, it was also too weak for her to sense him.
The good news was that the partial opening of the Spiritual Entrance Pulse he underwent was a first step toward solving this problem. One day, he would be strong enough to let his wife know that he was here, and this time, he'd protect her.
Ryu descended after the group of three left, unleashing his senses to find the nearest large mammalian animal. After he was finished clothing himself, his next destination would be the ruins of the Natural Order Sect.