Ariad's expression changed. Or, rather, his soul rippled wildly, the scene before him more shocking than anything he had ever seen before.
Ryu's fist was slow, but it seemed to be pushing at reality itself as though he alone remained immovable while everything else was forced to move beneath his will. He hardly put even the slightest strength behind his punch. In fact, even a toddler who hadn't cultivated a day in their lives could have done so faster and stronger. And yet…
'… Oops.'
BANG!
The planet below Ryu splintered into two, the wind pressure of his fist separating the atmosphere and ripping apart the earth and soil until its core was revealed. The instant this happened, its structural integrity collapsed.
A wild rippled of heated magma and explosive qi shot in all directions. However, Ryu reached out a hand, a strong barrier forming and forcing it all to rebound around him instead.
When it all finally settled down, Ryu stared blankly into pace for a moment before he shook his head. The difference was actually large. Such a simple circulation method, only using as many Nodes as a Black Grade technique, could actually output so much power.
Not only had Ryu not put any true strength behind that blow, only relying on his shallow comprehension of the technique, but he didn't even have the foundational cultivation method this technique relied on, and yet it was actually still so powerful.
"C-…. Ca-… Calm Heart…" Ariad stuttered.
"Calm Heart? No. At best that was the tip of Steady Feet. Your comprehension is severely lacking. The fact you chose such a Dao is baffling to me. I don't even know whether I should feel impressed or not."
Ariad sunk into silence, not responding at all.
Ryu knew nothing about him, it was no wonder he would come to such a conclusion. The Ariad of old had, indeed, been worthy of his Dao. Well, maybe he would never be worthy in Ryu's eyes, but he was at least more worthy that he was right now back then.
Unfortunately, the Martial World had a way of swallowing up even the most robust of souls. Now he was just a piddling Working Disciple of the Sect without a clear path toward improvement. He had thought that Ryu's meridians would finally be his ticket, but he hadn't realized that just the fact he could have such a thought with his Dao meant that he had already lost the plot.
It was only a matter of time before his Dao deteriorated completely and he either ended up with a vicious Heart Demon he couldn't get rid of, or his cultivation stagnated forever, never to take even a single step forward.
'An interesting technique, better than any fist technique I've ever seen just by its sheer simplicity. If I use this principle, I can likely create my own techniques branching off from my Dao. But, in order to properly understand how to formulate them, I'll need to observe more techniques than just this, and definitely higher level ones as well… What these two have isn't enough.'
Ryu went through all of Ariad's techniques one by one and eventually switched over to Leolar's as well. As expected, they all followed the same pattern. But, truthfully, <Calm Heart Sutra> had been the best.
Ryu's expectations had started high, but none of the other techniques he ran across were even close. However, a curious discovery he had made was that <Calm Heart Sutra> was also the only one of the techniques in their possession that was tied to a specific cultivation technique.
'I see, so that's likely the separation. Techniques that match to cultivation methods are a step above…'
Ryu was prepared to wrap this up when he stumbled onto the final technique. He went through it just as quickly as the other ones before his gaze sharpened.
'<Rising Morning Roc>…'
This, unlike <Calm Heart Sutra>, was a movement technique. However, much like <Calm Heart Sutra>, it too was tied to a cultivation method.
Like he had done with <Calm Heart Sutra>, Ryu read it three times. Of course, Ryu had already memorized it all the first time thanks to his Origin Flame. Even without it, a small technique like this wouldn't pose a problem to many cultivators. However, it was a problem of words and their profundity.
The techniques Ryu was used to only had superficial tag lines and mostly just described the circulation method. However, these techniques had meaning infused into their words, carrying the secret behind the strength of the technique.
'The Roc rises in the morning. Its feet rooted to the earth and its proud neck piercing the skies.'
Ryu took a step and vanished, only for Leolar to be at a loss for words this time. There was something about Ryu movements that was immediately gorgeous without compare, a fluttering pair of golden wings seeming to follow in his wake.
This movement technique felt different. It was as though the Heavens were helping Ryu to move, much like how they had helped him to punch with <Calm Heart Sutra>.
Ryu realized that in the true Martial World, the value of his Heavenly Pupils wouldn't decrease. In fact, they had just increased exponentially. Now, his comprehension almost directly translated to strength.
'This technique isn't as fast as just using the Silver Star Visualization, or just using <Lightning Divine Mark>, but its variations and transpositions feel endless. The flexibility it affords is unlike anything I've ever seen before.'
Ryu suddenly came to a grinding halt, his heart trembling.
In one corner of his Spiritual Sea, locked away in a location he had been purposely ignoring, something stirred.
'… Elena?'
Ryu's face flushed, his heart beating out of his control. There were only really good reasons or really bad reasons Elena would do this, and either way, he would still react like this.
Ryu forced himself to calm down and he released the shackles he had placed on his soul's communication with Elena. But, what he heard made him freeze.
'The Seal of ice is crumbling.'