When it came to his soul, Ryu felt that the process would be even easier than what he should expect for his body, and that was because he had access to something most did not: Heavenly Patterns and an Emperor Phoenix Bloodline.
One had to remember that one of the abilities Ryu unlocked when he first formed his Indestructible Soul was the ability to use Qi Realm techniques with his soul. For example, right this moment, Ryu could project his soul outward and cast [Thirteen Soaring Azures] with both his body and his soul!
This sounded like a small matter, but doing so would make one feel as though they were facing two Ryu's instead of just one! And each one of these Ryu's would be perfectly in sync with each other. If Ryu did such a thing, his combat ability would more than just double.
Of course, though, Ryu rarely used this ability because it was simply the perfect trump card. In addition, he couldn't use it in the True Martial World casually without exposing his Soul Talent and his Emperor Phoenix lineage.
However, right now, this ability was going to come in handy once again. Using Emperor Phoenix Heavenly Patterns, Ryu could circulate his Spiritual Qi in the very same pattern that he used to call down Heavenly Favor, and just like this, he would likewise be able to refine his soul.
This just left the choices Ryu would make left. He simply felt that pill and potion making wasn't quite the perfect choice to make for his soul and his body. In fact, although it skyrocketed the difficulty of what he wanted to do, he felt that if he put the same effort into Blacksmithing and Formation Mastery, he would be able to bring his Soul and his Body to the same level of perfection.
The unfortunate part was that the Frost Clan was ultimately a Clan of alchemists, so their secrets, their techniques, and their formulas in the aspect of Blacksmithing and Formation Mastery weren't nearly as deep.
That said, as a Clan that reached the pinnacle of the Sixth Heaven, the information they did have on the subject were still enough to drown out powers of the First Heaven by leaps and bounds. In fact, even Clans that specialized in Blacksmithing or Formation Mastery of the Fifth Heaven could only barely compare to them.
The reason Ryu felt that Blacksmithing was perfect for his body hardly needed to be explained.
Pills were perfect for the Qi Realm because they could easily represent the myriad of changes of the Meridian Pathways and the depth of the Qi Realm. The Qi Realm was ultimately a human created state of cultivation, and alchemy, although Phoenix Flames were among the best one could have to take this path, was yet another human created existence that functioned best to help it.
On the other hand, Blacksmithing wasn't directly related to Body Realm cultivation. However, many of the principles of Body Realm cultivation translated perfectly to Blacksmithing. Tempering, the importance of hardness and flexibility, and even the pride Body Realm cultivators took in having bodies as strong as weapons, all of these things influenced Ryu's choice.
Beyond this, Formation Mastery was even more directly analogous to the soul.
Formation Masters were all, first and foremost, Mental Realm Masters. Formations were the translation of the Heavenly Dao into simpler lines that could be digested and used by humans. It was essentially the line of communication between something much larger than cultivators and cultivators themselves, exactly like the soul.
These three pillars were considered to be the greatest of Secondary Professions, by far surpassing other branching Professions like Spiritual Seamstresses and others. Ryu felt very comfortable choosing them to light his path.
Ryu was far less worried about his soul. He planned to take his time and he had already left those at the Soul Birth Realm far behind him. Plus, unless he first strengthened his body, the improvements he made to his soul would be limited.
In addition, there was no rush to get to his soul either. Ryu was certain that between Formation Mastery, Blacksmithing, and Alchemy, finding the perfect match of Formations perfectly tuned for his soul would be by far the most difficult. He had to be cautious and make ample preparations before he made any choice.
Not only were there far more Formations in existence than there were pills to concoct and even metals to use in Blacksmithing, Ryu's soul itself could travel down far too many paths. Due to the fact he could gain any soul nature, Ryu had to really think about whether he simply wanted his soul to follow the exact same path as his eight trigram diagram, or if he wanted to take a different path that could supplement it.
There were too many options before Ryu, and his soul's talent allowed him to take any of them.
There was his eight trigram diagram, there were the Visualizations of the Zu Clan Ancestors, especially the Silver Star Visualization which still left him baffled, and there was even the possibility of building his own Visualization from scratch.
The worst part was that even if Ryu had already made a decision, it still wouldn't be easy. Like he had already said, there were simply too many Formations in existence, each with countless variations and complexities.
He almost felt that it would be smarter if he first studied for a few years or even decades before he even thought about making a choice like this.
Luckily, Ryu didn't have to be in a rush. He had a Chaos Grade technique by his side that would be more than enough to unleash a great amount of potential from his soul for now. And, [Refinement Sutra] would allow him to recultivate whenever he had made his decision.
So, all Ryu needed to do for now was focus on his Qi Realm and Body Realm, both of which would be far more straightforward.
Having made his choice, Ryu felt endlessly relaxed. The path ahead would be difficult, but when had he ever feared something like that? What he cared the most about was having a path to take in the first place. Regardless of how difficult it was, he wouldn't even feel the need to frown.
The first thing that Ryu did was casually flip through a few rudimentary books on Blacksmithing. Unlike with alchemy, he had actually Blacksmithed once before, and his talent was just as deep if not even deeper.
Using his Dao, he could feel the true essence of a metal and forge it into the state it most wanted to be in. In addition, he had even greater talent in creating blueprints.
Ryu felt that this was actually because of these three paths, although it was the most difficult, he actually had the greatest talent in Formation Mastery. His in-depth understanding of formations made his ability to create blueprints and plans for weapons very high as well.
However, Ryu wasn't in a rush to create a blueprint for himself just yet.
Though he had less choices to make in Blacksmithing, he still had quite a number.
For example, what weapon should he forge? Should he make a Great Swordstaff? A bow? An arrow? Or since it was his body, should he forge body armor instead? That seemed to also potentially make sense.
Beyond that, what path should he put his body down? Should he just try to make it as sturdy as possible? Or should he lean into the strength of his Bone Structure and try to maximize the abilities of his Ice Jade Crystal Body?
And what about his Bloodlines? Blood was the core of Body Realm cultivation to begin with. After all, it was all contingent on Vital Qi. So, maybe, he should just try to create something that embodies his Phoenix, Dragon and Qilin Bloodlines?
Ryu's eyes lit up as he read.
What if he didn't try to create a weapon at all?
There was a branch of Blacksmithing that focused not on weapon forging, but instead on creating new and more powerful alloys. These metals wouldn't appear naturally in nature and could only be created and refined by hand.
In fact, in Blacksmithing Clans, Sects and Guilds, they would often have secret formulae they wouldn't share with anyone else, and these powerful alloys would be the base of their strength.
Ryu blinked in curiosity, feeling his heart stir. He was just casually reading but he didn't expect to stumble across something so interesting.
This path did exist in Sacrum as well, but it seemed to be taken much less seriously there than it was here in the True Martial World.
Much like with the creation of top tier weapons, when these Alloy Blacksmiths created something that pleased the Heavens they would likewise gain Heavenly Favor. In the greatest of cases, the Heavens would take this newly created alloy on as one of its own and somewhere in Existence, it would begin to grow.
Ryu was endlessly fascinated. He thought it would take him a while to make a choice, but this was already too perfect for him. The best part was that if he was just creating alloys, he could easily forge it into any weapon he wanted afterward and didn't have to be constrained. This would also greatly help with his body's flexibility in battle. Without being restricted to a kind of weapon or armor, the things he could do would likewise be freer.
'The True Martial World truly comes with a great many mysteries…The question now is… What kind of alloys should I forge? What path is right for me?'