Ryu sank into a state of meditation, entering Breath of Earth with ease.
He focused all his senses onto his meridians, paving out every pathway with his Spiritual Sense and imprinting it onto his mind.
In truth, this was the first time Ryu had spent so much effort focusing on his Chaotic Silk Merdians. As an Ancestral Grade set of Meridians, Ryu had believed that his own had been researched as thoroughly as possible.
In Ryu's previous views, unlike other specialty Meridians which had their own unique quirks and unexpected abilities, his own were only known for their sturdiness and low density. There shouldn't have been anything else to study.
But, who would have thought that the secret of the Chaotic Silk Meridians could only be unearthed by someone crazy enough to ignore the conventional path of cultivation? Beyond that, had Ryu not gotten his Realm Heart, he might have never seen the truth of the matter.
Originally, Ryu thought that this had to be a sham. To rely on something as rare as a Realm Heart in order to display its true prowess? What else could his Meridians be if not fraudulent?
However, after he spent some time thinking about it… Was it really necessary?
Technically, the action that catalyzed the unearthing of his Meridians' true potential was opening his Qi Vessels, not the action of failing the Spiritual Severing Realm.
So, what if, all along, the true method of awakening his meridians was simply completing cultivation Realms out of order? And maybe, the sturdiness of his meridians was only designed that way to allow this to be possible without killing oneself?!
Of course, Ryu felt that this was the most logical answer. He had happened to stumble upon the truth through his failure, but the reality was most likely that he never needed to fail to begin with!
At the same time, though, Ryu felt that his failure made sensing the truth of the Chaotic Silk Meridians even easier. Without the interference of his Spiritual Foundation, he could sense the changes of his Meridians with far more acuteness.
Still, while all of this was true, Ryu realized that he still didn't understand much about his Meridians. Since this was an all-new path of cultivation, he had to be especially alert.
What if there was another out of order step he needed to take in the future? What if his failure to complete this step would throw his Meridians back to the state they once were?
Of course, this state would still be that of an Ancestral Grade level talent. But, the goals that Ryu wanted to accomplish required him not to just be among the best, but to be the absolute very best.
His Realm Heart allowed him accelerated cultivation within the Mortal Realms but he was already soon approaching the Immortal Realms. He needed more methods, more strength, more talent.
Ryu took a deep breath, stopping his mind from going astray.
Ryu sank deeper. Before he knew it, he had crossed Breath of Heaven and entered Breath of World. If he had been awake to consider it, he would have definitely recognized this as a blessing bestowed by his evolved Heavenly Pupils. But, at this moment, his entire world was the inner sanctum of his Meridians.
During the Spiritual Severing Realm, one's meridians strengthens their connection to one's Spiritual Foundation, thus allowing the former to gain the characteristics of the latter. This action, in turn, allows the objectively thin and narrow meridians to have a larger world on the inside than what would be apparent from the outside, thus allowing one to store more qi.
Ryu had thought that since he skipped this cultivation realm, the space within his meridians would be relatively narrow still with hardly any space. He also believed that the only reason he was still so powerful and his stamina was still so great was because of Chaos Qi.
Ryu believed that due to Chaos Qi's great density and quality, it simply took less of it to accomplish the same action. And in fact, Ryu wasn't wrong…
However, what he was wrong about were his Meridians being narrow.
When Ryu entered the world of his meridians – or, rather, observed it – he was stunned beyond belief.
At the very center of his Meridians, running through his body like a long meandering string, there was Chaos Qi. This thin line of dark gold was the foundation of most of Ryu's strength.
But, all around this thin line of dark gold was an endless expanse of darkness. Though Ryu could vaguely feel the edge of this expanse of darkness, he could tell that let alone just one thin line, the space within his meridians could accommodate as much as thousands of lines of this exact thickness without issue, all while hardly making a dent into this expanse of darkness.
The darkness weighed heavily on Ryu's Chaos Qi, constantly suppressing it, refining it, and increasing its density.
At first Ryu had thought that this darkness was just a waste of space, but the more he observed it, the more he understood that it was a necessary part of the process. If it wasn't for this darkness, catalyzing regular qi into Chaos Qi would be impossible. But, the tradeoff was obviously that Ryu would have to make-do with less qi overall.
Obviously, Ryu was doing just fine with such restrictions. So, he didn't mind. But… this darkness kept reeling him in as though calling out to him. There was a sense of familiarity that gripped at his soul, refusing to let go.
'This is… Primordial Essence… Or should I call it, Primordial Chaos…?'
Primordial Essence was the root of all qi in the Real Plane, and, most importantly of all, it was responsible for the creation of Essence. Essence, the purist form of qi, could then be released and influenced by the world, thus resulting in the countless variations of qi in existence.
None of these qis, though, could match up to Essence in overall strength.
However…
'According to historical records, there are Qis that, while not as powerful as Essence, are uniquely structured such that their use is no less potent than that of Essence. They're called the Primordial Qi and are the only Origin Grade Qis in all of existence.
'However much like Essence, they disperse not long after being created. But, unlike Essence, they can't be called down via Inheritances, thus, ironically, making them even more rare than Essence itself…'
Ryu's heart beat slowed to a crawl.
If this was really the Chaos Planes equivalent of Primordial Essence, then would it be possible to touch upon the Chaos equivalent of Primordial Qi as well?