Ryu's brows rose. Not enough qi? He had never even considered that this might be a problem. Could the world really run into such an issue? Had he still been underestimating the strength of Sky Gods?
But was this really a problem he would ever have to deal with? Ryu technically had an entire secret plane all to himself, filled with high level qi that no one else could access.
Then again, according to that talk he had had with Eska through the use of Isemeine, the Martial Gods had located the Chaos Plane as well. But, this didn't necessarily mean that they could make use of it, nor did it mean that they could make use of it as easily as Ryu either. Regardless, this was definitely a Plane of Existence that was practically tailor made for Ryu and Ryu alone.
In addition, from what his Master was saying now, it seemed that high level energy was practically a necessity. What could be a higher form of energy than Essence's counterpart, Chaos Qi? And even if that wasn't necessary, didn't Ryu have access to all the Primordial Chaos Qi he could ask for?
The only question was… Would it work?
Cultivation was a process of moving toward Order, but Chaos Qi was clearly the direct opposite of this. Whether or not these thoughts of his would come to fruition would be reliant on time and experience. It was likely that the Chaotic Silk Meridians had another surprise in store for Ryu because he very much doubted that it was finished with diverting the path of his cultivation.
Thinking to this point, Ryu's gaze suddenly flickered.
He hadn't thought of it before because his run-in with the Phoenix Sky God's will had jaded his view. On top of that, the fact <Reanimation> had fallen into his hands in that fake Nether Realm trial had put Ryu even more on guard. It felt like there was one, but likely even multiple people trying to pull the strings of his life in different directions and each of them was far beyond himself to the point he couldn't even catch a glance. But…
What if the continuous regression of his Inheritances wasn't due to foul play, but was rather related to his Chaotic Silk Meridians?
Of course, though Ryu thought this, he didn't accept it immediately. He was still very much skeptical. That was because if it was the doing of his own Meridians, then why would it have to erase his memory of the events or keep him in the dark? Unless…
Ryu's pupils constricted.
'If I was a set of Meridians and I had an ability to regress the Inheritances of my owner, I would likely have a purpose for doing so. Though it might be possible that this is a defective effect caused by its mutation, I highly doubt that this is the case. I don't believe that my meridians 'mutated', that's just a label the Mercenary Guild placed on it because their system had never seen such a thing before. Rather, this is the true method to make use of the Chaotic Silk Meridian's true abilities…
'In that case, let's assume for a moment that this isn't a 'defect'. That would mean that this was done on purpose. And, if it was done on purpose, it would likely do so for the sake of strengthening myself.
'This all began as I was gearing up for the Path Extinction Realm as well, the first Realm heavily reliant on comprehension, and specifically comprehension of Inheritances.
'Laying out all of this, wouldn't it be in the best interest of said Meridians to keep their owner in the dark?'
Ryu thought back to Yaana. Why was it that she progressed so fast? It was because she had already learned it all once and she didn't remember that she did. As a result, rather than making it harder on her, it actually became easier. She thus gained the best of both worlds, not only would her Inheritances be stronger after grasping them a second time, but it also wouldn't be harder to grasp because she had no memories of doing so in the first place.
The same logic would have applied to Ryu.
Why did his wills keep regressing back to the Ruler Realm but never lower than that? Wasn't it because the Ruler Realm was the first Inheritance level of the Immortal Realms?
If every time he grasped something, he was forced to pull back and it continued compounding again and again and again, by the time he entered the Path Extinction Realm and began to 'Extinguish' his paths, wouldn't he be able to cut through the Realm like a hot knife through butter?
'So … did I shoot myself in the foot?'
Ryu's gaze wavered somewhat. Why was it that he remembered and realized what was happening? It was because he managed to get his hands on the Origin Flame that all of this happened and he was made aware of what was going on. Before that, he was completely in the dark and things had been working as expected.
Ryu shook his head. Why was he thinking about this himself when he had his master right here? So, he chose to ask.
For a moment, Balaur was speechless. Not to mention the unique mutation of Ryu's Meridians being shocking enough, he was baffled that among these treasures Ryu had, the Origin Flame was among them. If he had also known that Ryu was responsible for finding the Origin Flame as well, who knew how he'd react?
"… I can only speculate, but I don't believe you're entirely wrong. Your reasoning is sound and it does seem like this is the natural progression that was meant for your Meridians.
"But, this isn't a bad thing. In fact, I think you're underestimating the Origin Flame by a large margin. This is one of the greatest if not the greatest natural treasure you can get your hands on. If all it could do was give you indelible memory and speed up your Fire Inheritance comprehension.
"When a person normally 'remembers' something, even for a Sky God, there will be certain truths left out. However, when you have the Origin Flame, you can quite literally feel like you're experiencing that moment again. Do you understand?"
Ryu's gaze glowed. "You mean to say the same restrictions that apply to those relearning an Inheritance don't apply to me?"
"Mm… Not necessarily. It's more accurate to say that the same restrictions don't apply to you, they're a bit different. It will still be harder for you, but if you use the Origin Flame properly, the leaps your Inheritance will take when re-comprehending them will be leaps and bounds beyond another person.
"You can put yourself back in the same headspace you were in when you first advanced. You can remember every feeling, every thought, every emotion. You can remember the precise route of reasoning you used and even at exactly which point the Heavens Blessed your progression.
"The most important point is that you can remember every time you went through this, how the feeling was different and what small tweaks your logic underwent every time you broke through.
"If you layer these experiences and combine each one of their strengths rather than just comprehending something 'better', the collective result will be beyond your imagining."
Ryu's gaze glowed.