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Ryu's gaze flashed with a cold light.
A mere First Heaven actually dared to be so arrogant after it had just finished being the lackey of a higher Heaven? Did it think Ryu had already forgotten?
At that moment, the eight trigram diagram in Ryu's eyes lit up, the Heaven Character roaring to life.
"I said—Take Form and Conquer the World!"
Ryu's words roared out like the bellow of a dragon.
In the slight lull, Dob had already appeared right before him, his fist mere inches from Ryu's chest. In the final moments, Ryu's Immortal Rings shattered the air and took form, a violent and oppressive might ripping apart the gravitational pull Dob seemed to have had on the qi in the surroundings.
A flood of strength overwhelmed Ryu. The kind of power he suddenly gained access to as his 13 Immortal Rings floated to his back was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
He hastily formed a qi barrier between himself and Dob, the latter's fist being blocked for an instant at the final moment before shattering it.
Ryu's body curled, his figure being flung outward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Ryu coughed up a mouthful of blood, but his gaze only grew colder. Although his internal injuries weren't bad and would heal in a few minutes, he was still pissed. To think even after feeling such a great boost to his strength, and even halving Dob's own by snatching away the ability of his Dao, he would still be so heavily injured.
Dob was like a madman, chasing after Ryu. But, with his Immortal Rings summoned, Ryu began to display the true charm of <Whispering Petals>. The movement technique wasn't designed to maximize straight-line speed like Ryu seemed to be using it for. Rather, it was best known for agility, its wistfulness and elusiveness.
With his Immortal Rings present, the 1% cap of Initial Success rose tenfold, making it feel as though Ryu was already in Small Success.
Dob lashed out again and again, each one of his fist strikes leaving craters in the snow and his steps melted away the landscape.
'Dammit.'
Ryu could feel his Focus Qi rapidly draining as he sustained his Immortal Rings. The First Heaven was still fighting back to wrest control from him even now. Without a choice, Ryu had to use his Heaven Character to crush the First Heaven's Intent, but that was quickly eating away at his Focus.
The only path, especially with the wolf beast quickly approaching, seemed to be to use his full Dao and kill Dob as quickly as possible. But, if he did that, how would he deal with the wolf? It was already impossible to run away by now. Soon, the wolf would come out from those dense trees and lock eyes with him.
'My Focus Qi shouldn't be this weak. I don't believe that a true Ancestral Grade Soul has such a weakness. There's something I'm missing.'
Suddenly, Ryu's gaze snapped in a certain direction out of habit despite his blindness. He locked onto the corpses of the two lackeys, his Spiritual Sense surging.
Like a rolling fog, a dense blackness overwhelmed what remained of their shattered corpses, pulling out the last dregs of their soul and swallowing them whole.
At that moment, Ryu's soul reacted as though it had eaten a scrumptious meal, surging with energy it hadn't had before. It was only then that Ryu realized that his soul didn't provide a boost to his Focus Qi like most other soul talents would because he could swallow up nutrition to replenish it when it was needed!
Ryu felt a burst of strength, his soul even threatening to break into the Higher Soul Birth Realm right this very instant.
He slid past Dob's next punch, wrapping around him.
The wolf beast was already within 100 meters. Ryu would have been able to see its figure through the dense trees with even normal eyes had he not lost his sight. By this point, even Dob should have been able to sense the beast, but he seemed to be entirely focused on ripping Ryu to shreds.
Ryu flipped the situation on the battlefield, twisting his hips and rounding around Dob again. His back now faced the coming wolf beast and he shot backward with the same speed and grace as always.
'Come be useful.'
The wolf released a roar. In another bound, it closed the remaining distance swiping for Ryu's back.
Ryu's Immortal Rings trembled in the skies, threatening to shatter beneath the might. This was something that actually shocked Ryu, he didn't think it was possible to directly attack Immortal Rings like that, but it seemed that the manifestation of Immortal Rings were far more tangible in this world than they were on Sacrum.
Without a choice, and unwilling to find out what would happen if his rings shattered, Ryu released them, the pressure on his mind also vanishing like the wind.
The paw of the wolf beast crashed downward, ready to crush Ryu to pieces. Even being of the Ninth Order, the beast wasn't too large, barely being four meters tall. Still, its paw was large enough and its claws sharp enough to rip Ryu in two if they should connect.
However, at that moment, Ryu's leg pressed against the ground, his thigh bulging.
<Whispering Petal>. Small Success.
Ryu's became like a bullet out of a barrel. His sudden shift in speed was so great that the wolf missed, swiping at the air and sending a scythe of wind toward Dob.
Ryu vanished beneath the body of the wolf, his void-like Spiritual Sense cloaking him as he disappeared from the wolf's senses.
It was all too perfectly timed, even with the earlier slip up.
Dob and the wolf clashed. And, without Ryu's suppression of his Dao, Dob's power imploded to another degree once more.
Ryu slipped into the trees, leaping onto their branches and hiding in the foliage.
He breathed heavily, the injuries to his inner organs slowly healing.