The more Ryu read about his own soul, the more he understood what had happened that day against the tribulation and the more shocked he was.
While his soul was ranked within the Ancestral Grade, it could easily become more powerful than most Origin Grade Soul Talents. In fact, it could become more powerful than them all!
Ryu was very tempted, he was tempted to turn his soul toward that Silver Star hovering in his Spiritual Sea and swallow it whole.
Back then, when he first got his Perfect Blackbody Soul, it swallowed up his <Divine Chaotic Annihilation> and he hadn't understood what was happening. But, now it made much more sense to him.
<Divine Chaotic Annihilation> wasn't the only thing his soul could swallow, it just happened to be what it was most compatible with.
According to these texts, there was a mention of a Perfect Whitebody Soul and it was able to repel all things. These Soul Talents were two sides of the same coin, it was just that the Perfect Whitebody Soul was considered to be the pinnacle of the Origin Grade and even beyond, something this book called the Evolved Grade or something to that effect. It was very possible that it had gotten lost in translation.
This aside, the Perfect Blackbody Soul was considered to be chaotic and heavily yin in nature, so it was very much inclined toward <Divine Chaotic Annihilation>.
If Ryu wanted it to absorb his other Visualizations, he could. But, he had to be very careful. Nurturing his soul would take time and patience.
If he wanted to absorb the Silver Star, setting aside whether it could or not without him imploding, this would mean that he would be gaining the Space Soul Nature.
However, unless he absorbed something else just as powerful as the Silver Star, any other Soul Nature he tried to gain would be suppressed until it could catch up. That would mean Ryu would lose out on the strongest gift of his soul by being too greedy.
The Silver Star Visualization was beyond anything Ryu could even begin to comprehend right now. Finding something equal to it might even be impossible. As useful as a Space Soul Nature would be, he couldn't just paint himself into a corner due to a moment of recklessness.
Ryu wondered, though, if he wanted a Spear Soul Nature or a Sword Soul Nature, how would he get it? Should he absorb spears and swords? That didn't seem to make much sense.
As Ryu kept reading, he learned why it was that his soul was considered to be so chaotic and yin in nature.
The Perfect Blackbody Soul could absorb other souls and snatch what talent it had. It was similar to Little Nemesis' talent, but on a whole other level. Not only could he take another's talent, but he could take their memories and even snatch their Daos if he wanted.
Someone else wouldn't dare to snatch someone else's Dao, but what about Ryu whose Dao encompassed Heaven and Earth itself? Wouldn't taking another's Dao instead strengthen his own?!
'It's like… This soul was specially constructed for me…'
Ryu shook his head at the ridiculous thought. Soul Talent couldn't just be snatched like Meridians or Bloodlines could be. Someone's soul was the foundation of their being, you couldn't alter it. If you could, whoever left Ryu's soul for him would have long since taken it for themselves. Such a powerful Soul Talent, who wouldn't want it?
'I see, interesting, so the Perfect Blackbody Soul also has these abilities.'
Ryu realized that he had still been underestimating his soul. Ryu had reined in the nature of his soul too much.
If he allowed his soul to begin to influence his Spiritual Sea, not only it, but his Spiritual Sense as well would undergo a fundamental shift.
Once Ryu's Spiritual Sense gained the Blackbody characteristic, everything that touched it would feel as though it was sinking into an ocean.
At its weakest application, Ryu's Spiritual Sense would feel no different from an empty void, formless and undetectable.
At a medium level application, it could swallow up someone else's Spiritual Sense, distorting their senses and making them feel as though they were sinking into darkness.
At the highest levels of application, so long as someone touched Ryu's Spiritual Sense with their own, he could swallow their soul.
Reading to this point, Ryu almost couldn't control the beating of his heart. This was the first time he had seen the strength of an truly unshackled talent of the True Martial World and it left him without words. Was this the power of a talent without chains? Was this the pinnacle of Existence?
Ryu subconsciously released his soul. Looking into his Mental Realm, he did nothing as his Perfect Black body sunk into his Spiritual Sea.
Very quickly, a vastness of beautiful gold, rippling with illusory waters and waves began to turn an ink black. Soon, the only color that remained at all were the flames rotating about his soul and the bright Silver Star that hung above it all.
Ryu felt his mind tremble. Even without trying Spiritual Qi rushed toward him, catalyzing from normal qi and fueling his soul. In the blink of an eye, Ryu's soul felt like it had been reborn, shedding the faulty qi of Sacrum and overturning it for the perfect qi of the True Martial World.
Then, it stepped into the Middle Soul Birth Realm as though it was just a casual stroll in the park.
Ryu exhaled a breath, forcing all of this to come to a halt. His breakthrough had caused a slight commotion, but it was ultimately still the Soul Birth Realm, barely the Immortal Realms of the soul and not enough to cause an uproar. In fact, he could sense many amused gazes as though they all found this little junior brother of theirs cute.
However, only Ryu knew just how shocking this had been.
He spent practically no time on his soul, mostly due to the inherent biases he had against it as a person born in Sacrum. However, he knew well that every step of the soul was worth far more than most.
There were only five Soul Cultivation Realms if one ignored the sixth, Soul Quintessence. However, there were 12 Qi cultivation Realms. Taking a single step in the former was akin to taking more than two in the latter, and that didn't even consider the fact that all Soul Cultivation Realm were broken into four pieces, while some Qi Cultivation Realms were divided into nine or more!
Ryu went from the very bottom of the Soul Birth Realm to the Middle in one inhale. It quite literally could not get more exaggerated than this! It made his Ice Jade Crystal Body look like a joke of a Talent!
Ryu shook his head. It was about time he stopped patting himself on the back and focused his attention on the books that were here for alchemy. He wanted to see just how he would apply this new Soul Talent of his toward this field.
However, just when he was going to move, several strong auras descended outside the library and a huge commotion was swept up.
Ryu looked up a bit confused before a hint of realization overcame him.
'Oh, that's right. I did kill someone.'