Re-cultivating with a new technique wasn't a huge deal, though it was a bit troublesome. Ryu was someone who had cultivated three techniques all at once even right up until this moment, there was no limit on such things. It was all dependent on your abilities.
Reforming your foundations was a bit difficult, but so long as you had the talent and the qi control, doing this wasn't a huge trouble. There were many examples of experts who had switched between cultivation techniques more than once in their lives.
Of course, this wasn't to say that there was no danger in doing this at all. And, this was especially the case with cultivation techniques of the True Martial World, and even more so for those that carried a hint of Dao Charm to them.
The more powerful a technique, the more resistant it was to change. In addition, if you practiced a Yin cultivation technique, but suddenly wanted to switch to a Yang cultivation technique, you would really be seeking death.
Re-cultivating required sustaining what you had already built, while building something entirely new. If these things were completely incompatible, they would definitely clash and lead you down the road of cultivation deviation.
Still, for Ryu, this wasn't a problem. All three of the cultivation techniques he practiced were neutral in origin.
Six Realm Opening had given his Pulses and Vessels small realms of their own, essentially giving him additional miniature dantians he could store his qi in. He used these wells of qi to quickly access his Primordial Chaos Qis while maintaining the neutrality of his qi. He had 12 total.
Abyssal Vortex Qi stored small qi cyclones within the Meridian Nodes. The level of perpetual control over qi Ryu needed to sustain this technique was immense, but it had never been too difficult for him. As time passed, it only became easier.
Revolutions Amplifier was the simplest of the three, but also placed the most pressure on Ryu's body. It increased the concentration of qi within his meridians, increasing the revolution of the Qi Refinement Realm.
All three of these techniques were designed to increase qi reserves. Most couldn't sustain even one of them, but Ryu used all three without great trouble. Chaotic Silk was a very strong material, having it make up his Meridians was most definitely a blessing.
But, of these four, the most suicidal thing Ryu had ever done was follow through on Ailsa's plan and form 13 Immortal Rings, using each one of these Pulses and Vessels as cores. That had truly pushed his Meridians to the very limit.
Back then, it had been difficult. But, as Ryu's Meridians continued to evolve, he found that he didn't even think about or consider it anymore. It was already as easy as breathing.
Since he had already pushed himself so far, he thought that he might as well push himself again.
Ryu went through the techniques one by one. It was a built difficult for others to make judgments since only previews were available. But, Ryu had his own methods. He only needed to use his Dao to probe.
At this moment, his Dao had become like his own personal scanner. With its foundation of Earth and Heaven, he was able to grasp the strength of something he was observing quite easily. Unfortunately, nothing caught his attention.
It wasn't that these techniques weren't good. Each of them gave Ryu a shock as he had never seen anything like them before. Their ingenuity, creativity, and even just their sheer usefulness were beyond what he was used to.
Once again, the complicated circulation patterns were done away with, and everything was very straightforward. However, what was the most curious was the introduction of comprehension with cultivation techniques.
If Ryu wanted to cultivate faster, he would usually have to circulate his qi faster. However, with the cultivation techniques of the True Martial World, so long as his comprehension deepened, his cultivation speed would likewise increase.
There was another problem that Ryu hadn't considered before as well. Some of these cultivation techniques came with a set of combat techniques that also best utilized their strengths. There were Sword Sutras, Saber Sutras, Spear Sutras… The list was endless.
Rather than following the normal Initial Success to Great Circle of Perfection, some techniques were separated into three layers of comprehension, some four, some five. From what Ryu could tell, it seemed that the more separations there were, the more powerful the technique, though he wasn't sure if this was true or not.
Still, even with how fascinating all of this was, nothing truly stirred Ryu's heart. He had hoped that he might luck into finding what his <Intuition> had wanted him to find, but it seems that things wouldn't be so easy for him.
Even after going through all of the Inner Disciple techniques, Ryu wasn't satisfied, so he decided to go down to the Outer Disciple level, but he was once again disappointed.
That was until he descended down to the Working Disciple ranks.
The number of individuals within the Working Disciple floor was exactly one, Ryu alone. Working Disciples were the only disciples that didn't get free entry, and their cost of entry was also greatly expensive, some had to spend decades of effort just for one entry. Plus, if you gained a free entry as an Outer Disciple, why would you ever go down to pick a weaker technique? Even Ryu wasn't planning on doing so, he just wanted to expand his horizons. To him, even these 'low grade' techniques were fantastical.
As expected, there was nothing much. Even after going through half of them, nothing stirred Ryu's heart.
It was after he went through about 60%, though, that he came to a pause.
Common Grade: <Pill Refinement Sutra>.
Ryu paused for a very long time, holding this jade in his hand.
For cultivation techniques in the True Martial World, Grades didn't work the same as they did for combat techniques. Common Grade usually meant it was best for Awakening Realm and Pulse Opening Realm cultivation to use. But, for a cultivation technique, it simply meant it was the lowest class of technique, you could still use it to cultivate the Immortal and Cosmic Realms.
In this world, even the worst technique could bring you up to the Sky God Realms so long as you had the talent and the time.
Such a simple name. <Pill Refinement Sutra>.
A simple name, for an even simpler, completely un-unique technique just about anyone could use.
And yet, Ryu was fascinated.