While Ailsa was practically losing her mind at the prospect of finally grasping onto something that had alluded even the Cultus Faeries for so long, Ryu himself was in a state of absolute euphoria.
He remembered very clearly the last time he had felt so good. There was only one place of comparable comfort, a place he remembered oh so clearly thanks to his now complete Origin Flame…
His mother's womb.
Everything was so warm and inviting. There was no danger, and he was always perfectly protected. The qi that nourished him was always so rich and pure, devoid of any impurities. He could feel the soothing rhythm of his mother's heartbeat, he could hear the slow and methodical rush of her blood… And the perpetual darkness he was in didn't feel endless or abyssal, it was more like the gentle embrace of sleep and relaxation.
This was a moment in life no one would ever remember. Even the cultivators with the greatest of memories would have long since forgotten this event by the time they grew to the point their minds became infallible.
However, Ryu remembered it so clearly that it was almost as though he was experiencing those moments again right this instant. And it was exactly because of this that even within his state of absolute euphoria, he was shocked.
'… There's a third qi on the level of Essence and Chaos Qi… A qi that everyone has experienced in their youth… A qi we all forget about in due time…'
Even after gaining the full Origin Flame, Ryu never really thought about it. He had so many memories that he now remembered so clearly. He could remember his first steps, his first word, even his first coherent thought, it was simply impossible to focus on just one memory. Ironically, it all ended up muddled, becoming a bundle of memories he didn't ever really think about, mostly because along with all of those moments, there were plenty of awkward memories from that time as well, memories he would prefer not to think about at all.
But now that he had a perfect one to one comparison, Ryu was almost infuriated.
Why was he such a fool? Why was he so simple minded and idiotic as a child? Why did he have to wait for an 'Awakening' when he reached seven years old?! Why wasn't he enough of a genius to start cultivating in the womb?!
With this kind of qi, Ryu felt that he could have stepped into the Peak of the Connecting Heaven Realm in just a few months. Had he been able to start cultivating as a fetus, his progress would have been so fast and unrestrained that he would have been able to accomplish something most took thousands of years to do in less than a fraction of that time!
When Ryu thought about how, even with his current talent, just how many fortuitous encounters had he needed to reach his level so fast? There was of course the help of his fast comprehension helping him to absorb large amounts of Essence every time he took a step forward, but even then… He needed a Realm Heart which gave him ridiculous cultivation speeds in the Mortal Realms, a rare treasure that only three others in the history of the martial world had ever been able to take part in, and he received the Primordial Yin of two Dao Pedestal Realm level women and a Sky God!
And even then, it still took Ryu years to reach his current level.
This didn't even consider the fact he was lucky to stumble into Chaos Qi by awakening to the true abilities of his Meridians, something that made his cultivation speed even faster. It didn't consider the fact he had a Cultus Faerie Princess by his side that could streamline and optimize his growth. It didn't even consider the fact he had all sorts of natural treasures that made his comprehension speed faster than what it normally already was.
He had all of these advantages, all of this help, and it couldn't even match up to a single strand of this qi…
Ryu was at somewhat of a loss. How many other things was he in the dark about? If even he, the wielder of the number one ranked Pupils in all of existence, could miss such a thing, what chance did others have?
Was he really the only one who knew about this? Or were there others who were aware?
Just these impurities leaving his body now… Ryu felt that once they were all gone, his cultivation speed would be on an entirely new level. He was already at the very Peak of the Immortal Ring Realm and he wasn't even 25 years old yet. But after learning this, he felt slow… Too slow.
Then he began to think of something else?
What was an Awakening, truly? Why did it have to wait until seven years old?
He had always thought that there wasn't much of a difference between him Awakening using a Ceremony and his Awakening naturally… But now that he thought about it, was this really true? Or was it the case that there was a hidden difference he was completely incapable of grasping right this moment?
Ryu's mind wandered again, suddenly stopping on a thought that made him tremble.
Could it be that the Phoenix Sky God was aware of this difference? Or was it all a coincidence?
If not for the Phoenix Sky God's trial, Ryu would have never Awakened naturally. It was because he went through all of that that he was able to push himself to the limits like he had.
And also, why would the Phoenix Sky God choose the Mortal Plane of all places as a trial?
There were a near infinite number of worlds with a near infinite number of situations he could have been birthed onto, and yet of all of them, he just so happened to land in the one place with maybe the purest stores of Mortal Qi, unobstructed by higher level energies, in the entire martial world?!
Just… How much did this Phoenix Sky God plan, exactly? And what was their purpose with Ryu?