Ryu looked at the bottle in his hand. He could feel him, his grandfather. There was no doubt that this bottle held the core of his grandfather's physical form. It was just a vial of blood, and yet it was heavy beyond imagining and it formed lightning all on its own. Ryu had never seen such a thing before.
Usually, even after awakening one's Spirit Body, it was impossible for a lost body part to continue exhibiting the same characteristics. If Ryu's blood spilt, it would remain as blood, it wouldn't remain in its lightning form.
But, this blood seemed to flicker back and forth between corporeal and ethereal, it was almost impossible to see its truest form.
'Could this be?'
Every Ancestral Beast had many Talents, but, there were usually one or two that stood about all the rest. In fact, this was the same for practically any beast with a talent. This Talent would present the pinnacle of their evolution.
For the Fire Phoenixes, this talent was obvious. It was the Nine Lives Talent which allowed them not only rebirth from death, but also allowed an exponential increase in their power.
Not only would each reincarnation allow one to bask in the true meaning of rebirth for an extended period of time, it would also refine and burn away impurities in one's foundation. It was likely because of this that Ryu's cultivation had regressed, and yet he felt so much stronger.
The fact that he only fell by a single Realm, though, went to show just how strong and firm Ryu's foundation originally was.
For the Lightning Qilin, though, it was the ability to cultivate one's own Lightning. This was the ultimate of a trifecta of abilities.
The first was the Storm Talent. The second was the Lightning God Talent. And the final… Was the Heavenly Tribulation Talent, the greatest of the three.
The first Storm Talent allowed one to call down Tribulation Lightning from the Heavens. The Lightning God Talent allowed one to take this Tribulation Lightning and manipulate it to any form you wanted. However, the Heavenly Tribulation Talent allowed you to store and refine this Lightning.
While the Fire Dragon had the Rage Flame, the Phoenixes had the Ice, Dark and Rebirth Flames, the Lightning Qilin didn't have any of its own… Or so it seemed.
As the harbingers of Tribulation, it was the task of the Lightning Qilin to pass judgment. As a creature tasked with such a thing, how could it rely on lightning formed by the Elements?
Ryu's Storm and Lightning God Talents were both entirely reliant on the environment around him and the strength of the Heavens. His Storm Talent was practically useless against the Sky Gods of the Martial Gods in this world because Sacrum was simply too weak, it couldn't form lightning that could smite characters of this level on a whim.
However, if Ryu could gather lightning, refine it, feed it precious treasures and continue to nurture it, the strength of his Heavenly Tribulation Lightning would reach an unprecedented level.
Rather than waiting for lightning strikes to accumulate and then forming them into a single attack like he had when he formed the pool of lightning. He could instead have already long since prepared a refined bolt of lightning that carried the strength of countless bolts of lightning!
This bottle in Ryu's had represented his grandfather's life's work, a lightning refined by a man who had conquered both the Lightning Shrine and the Tribulation Shrine. If it wasn't for the fact that his grandfather had subdued it and forced it to calm, Ryu was certain that even at his current strength, he would have no business even holding this bottle in his hand.
Ryu reached forward, grasping onto a bow that leaned against the shelving. His grandfather had always been so casual with his favorite weapon, but it was a weapon he would rather die than part with just the same.
His mother hadn't touched it nor even looked its way, but Ryu knew that this wasn't because his mother didn't care or didn't recognize it. It was because she had seen the weapons Ryu wielded and didn't want to place added pressure on his shoulders.
It wasn't as easy for Ryu to read his mother as she could read him, but he still understood her.
The two of them were the last blood the Kunan Clan had. Yet, one of them dual wielded swords and the other dual wielded Great Swordstaffs. It felt like the legacy of the Kunan Clan would die out here, but neither of them had a choice.
His mother had traveled too far down her road of cultivation to turn back now. His mother's half-sister had long since been snatched away and Ryu had only ever laid eyes on her once or twice before. And then there was Ryu who only carried a quarter of the Kunan bloodline.
The bow trembled in Ryu's hands. Ryu could feel its sorrow as it wept. It could clearly feel that Saint Kunan was no longer of this world.
The bow couldn't have looked simpler. It was carved of a sleek grey wood, polished to the finest detail. Its handle curved around the palm of a large man quite perfectly, the beast skin pelt of a sea lion wrapping around it and feeling smooth to the touch.
It was three and a half meters tall and small little trinkets dangled off of its bottom end.
One of the trinkets was a lock of white hair. Ryu knew that it was from his very first haircut. His grandfather had insisted on preserving it and even tied it to his precious bow.
The second trinket was a bracelet of shells. Ryu's grandfather had told him that this was the very first present Himari had made for him when she was little. Even after so many battles, the shell bracelet had not a single scratch on it.
The third trinket was a locket, sealed tight.
Ryu had seen what was in it once before and he didn't need to open it. It was the only picture his grandfather had of his mother's half-sister before Mistress Holy Wing took her away.
Ryu grasped the bow tightly in one hand, downing the bottle of lightning with the other.