Chapter 621 Changes
Ailsa gazed toward Isemeine deeply. This matter seemed to be growing larger and larger. At this point, even Ailsa couldn't see the end of it all.
For the Martial Gods to do this, moving to a world that wasn't their own all despite knowing what dangers it would bring and what sort of disadvantage they would be at… Just what were they running from?
No, this was just the tip of the iceberg. For the Martial Gods to come to this place having already fallen so far, and yet be able to lay claim to much of their world not even a billion years later… What chance did they stand?
By all rights, the Martial Gods had proved that they were far beyond what they could compare to.
Their Bloodline was perfect. Not only did it innately give them both high Body Realm and Qi Realm talent, it could synergize with other Bloodlines to create more power effects. Not only were they quick to adapt, but they were becoming more powerful with each successive generation without fail.
Their research abilities were unmatched. They managed to learn of the Chaos Plane before even Ryu and his family had. They managed to use the Nether Realm to bring talents from all Eras together. As if this wasn't enough, they somehow knew how to warp and manipulate the Fate of a Hegemon like the Tatsuya Clan to the point they didn't even have a head to raise any longer.
And now, apparently, there was an unknown number of Martial Gods who had died in the exact way Isemeine had described—forgotten and erased from history… And somehow, they still managed to have taken hold of this world by its horns.
This was all to say…
What chance did they stand against the Martial God's enemy if even they were forced to run?
Ailsa looked away from Isemeine and toward Ryu's back. Somehow, she felt like the weight on Ryu's shoulders had suddenly multiplied manifold.
At that very moment, a particular prayer mat within Ryu's Inner World trembled before settling down once again, reupping his Focus Qi without end.
…
Within Ryu's Mental Realm, large, sweeping changes were taking place.
The Immortal Sakura was a gorgeous ancient tree. It had a short, thick trunk and a large canopy that spread overhead. Much like the translucent trees of the Ice Devil Legacy World, it too had a crystalline structure. Shards of ice formed its bark and its cherry blossoms twinkled with a thin layer of shimmering crystal.
At this moment, beautiful blue Heavenly Patterns were being carefully etched onto every piece of crystalline bark and every fluttering cherry blossom petal. With every one Ryu completed, the strength the Immortal Sakura exuded became more ethereal and majestic, its size seeming to grow even though it hadn't budged a single inch.
Ryu had held back his comprehension of the Immortal Sakura for a very long time, not having the soul strength or stamina to continuously use it. In the end, after his massive surge in strength, it had actually fallen behind.
As usual, it was separated into seven stages: Translucent, White, Cherry, Red, Violet, Purple-Gold, and Gold. Each represented a new level of strength, but it also represented a certain level of comprehension that embodied the will of the Immortal Sakura.
The White Stage represented Persistence. It was a core belief that hard work bred results.
The Cherry Stage represented Humility. It was an acceptance of the vastness of the Heavens and an understanding of just what you were facing…
The Immortal Sakura trembled, beginning to shed its cherry petals one by one until they became a deep crimson. The colors reflected against the golden sea the tree rooted itself in, displaying a gorgeous painting of the dichotomy of red and gold.
The Red Stage represented Will. Upon comprehending Humility and the vastness of the Heavens, one must gather up their courage as the Immortal Sakura had to fight against it. Only upon comprehending the strength of the Heavens would one not be foolhardy in challenging it, but rather brave.
This bravery exuded itself from every pore of Ryu body, causing the space around him to tremble and his Indestructible Soul to spread its golden wings as it sat at the very top of this ancient tree.
However, just when this Will reached its very peak, the crimson colors shattered and formed a resonating Violet. It was such a gorgeous hue that it pulsed about Ryu head in the real world as though a crown had formed. An auspicious air trembled around him.
The Violet Stage represented Pride. It was the ingrained confidence one would gain after successive victories. In a battle between two of equal strength, it was often the one with more pride, more arrogance, more unabashed confidence in oneself that would win.
Of course… This was only the case if you didn't go as far as Sarriel had.
The Violet danced about the sky blue Heavenly Patterns. They complemented and rose each other's strength, solidifying the already impenetrable defenses of Ryu's mind to the point he felt like rather than an illusory Visualization, he could truly manifest the Immortal tree.
Ryu exhaled a deep breath, a fog of violet leaving his lips.
At this Realm, the Immortal Sakura was capable of blocking attacks even from a Cosmic Seed Realm expert. However, with the great boost of Ryu's Heavenly Patterns, even absolute geniuses among the Cosmic Seed Realm capable of being undefeated at the sub realm would be blocked by him.
The weakness of the [Immortal Sakura] technique was always in that the petals would shatter when meeting equal force. However, with the reinforcement of Ryu's Ice Phoenix Heavenly Patterns, this trouble was surmounted. In fact, even if the petals should shatter, thanks to Ryu's Indestructible Soul, the damage to Ryu's soul would be nearly nonexistent even if the entire Visualization was shattered to pieces.
Ryu turned his attention toward his [Divine Chaotic Annihilation].
He didn't have to consider much with this either. He immediately jumped in, but rather than using Ice Phoenix Patterns, Ryu began to use Dark Phoenix Patterns.
The difference was stark. While Ice Phoenix Heavenly Patterns were beautiful and charming, Dark Phoenix Heavenly Patterns had a certain heaviness to them that made one gaze upon it with a solemn expression. At the same time, while Ice Phoenix Heavenly Patterns ran straight up and down or left and right, angling at 90 degrees, Dark Phoenix Heavenly Patterns had deep, swirling patterns.
Every time Ryu formed one of these swirling patterns, they would sink into [Divine Chaotic Annihilation]. At first it was hard to tell that anything was happening. The only reason Ryu was able to keep going without worry was because he could feel its strength increasing with every passing moment.
[Divine Chaotic Annihilation] was separated into seven stages much like Eska's Visualization. However, it was far different and had a far less linear progression upward.
Technically, Ryu wasn't meant to master the first three stages until he entered the Soul Ascension Realm, a marked difference from Eska's seven stages which was assigned to two Realms each up until the World Sea Realm.
In this way, Flora's Visualization was more exponential with the slow progress being on the front end and this was because of the way the technique was designed.
The first Mortal Chaotic Pestle stage was meant to crush Mortal Qi. The second Immortal Chaotic Pestle stage was meant to crush Immortal Qi. And finally, only after entering the Soul Ascension Realm would you be able to control Cosmic Spiritual Qi and thus be able to enter the Divine Chaotic Pestle stage which could crush Cosmic Qi to be used as Spiritual Qi.
By this point, an expert would have gone through the Spiritual Entrance, Spiritual Endowment, Soul Birth and Soul Refinement Realm all before reaching just the third level…
And yet, Ryu had reached that level while he was still a mortal. This went to show just how good his Pupils were at seeing through to the core of and comprehending Visualizations.
During his battle with his little nephews, though, Ryu had been forced to enter the Chaotic Birth Realm. Unsurprisingly, while trying to control something he only should have been able to enter in the Soul Ascension Realm, he had torn himself practically apart. He only managed to survive thanks to the fact he was in a Virtual World.
Then, during his battle with Sarriel, he managed to summon it for a short time again and got lucky in that Sarriel's technique was a soul based one, and as such, was incredibly susceptible to [Divine Chaotic Annihilation].
Now, though, Ryu's soul was in a far more stable situation than it had been in the past in addition to having been reinforced by Emperor Phoenix Heavenly Patterns on top of that.
One would think that adding Heavenly Patterns to this black hole Visualization would only make it more difficult to control. But, Ryu found the truth to be the exact opposite.
Heavenly Patterns seemed to both strengthen and rein in the techniques Ryu applied them to, almost like they were Heavenly Chains connected to Ryu Soul.
It felt like Ryu was branding these Visualizations with his mark and making them truly one with himself. This allowed him to have his cake an eat it to.
Eventually, [Divine Chaotic Annihilation] grew saturated with Heavenly Patterns, causing it to suddenly tremble and double in size. Very soon, it went from the quarter the size of a palm to a foot in diameter. But, this was just the tip of the iceberg.
At that moment, the black hole seemed to explode. When Ryu's vision cleared, he saw the black hole once again. But, this time, the swirling Death Patterns hung around it like orbiting moons, giving it a sinister and enigmatic feel.
The ground around Ryu main body suddenly cracked and sunk down by an entire inch as though a pillar had just stamped down. Lines of gravity shook the surroundings as though wanting the entire world to fall to its knees.