Almost a month later, Ryu continued to practice the same basic stances. Other than to eat, he never stopped. Although his Qi Realm cultivation wasn't deep enough to go without sleep, his Mental Realm cultivation was, despite only have a half-foot into its first step. By relying on this, Ryu was able to stay awake for weeks at a time, something that shouldn't have been possible until he became a Qi Refinement expert.
However, this month wasn't without its problems. For techniques, their level of mastery was denoted by the so-called Four Levels of Mastery. These were: Small Success, Large Success, Great Success, and Circle of Perfection. For someone with Ryu's talent, especially with the help of the Origin Flame, he should have already reached the Circle of Perfection after a month of training the same movements, especially since these basic stances couldn't even be considered of the Lower Common Grade. Yet, he was stuck at the barrier to Small Success. This realm was so pitiful that it wasn't among the Four Levels of Mastery and was simply known as the Entry Level.
That said, with Ryu's intelligence, he also understood the reason why his progress was so slow. For the past few weeks, he hadn't been trying to perfect the basic stances using his own interpretation of them. Instead, he was relying on the images of his father and grandfather. What a Tatsuya man would denote as Small Success wasn't something those of the lower Planes could fathom. This was especially so for Ryu's grandfather whose level was even beyond that of his father.
This sort of Visual Training was impossible for others, but for Ryu who had a perfect recall of events thanks to the Origin Flame, he could rely on the comprehension of his family to improve himself. The only drawback was that the requirements for himself were also of an otherworldly level.
For perspective, if Ryu were to use the standards of this Higher Mortal Plane, he had already exceeded their Circle of Perfection realm by more than two times! The strokes of his halberd, spear and glaive were already comparable to a perfected Higher Common Grade technique.
Ryu's movements began to slow. Soon, the blade in his hand inched forward at such a snail-like pace that it seemed he wasn't moving at all. However, the beads of sweat that fell from his perfectly sculpted body told a different story. He focused his everything into understanding the smallest of twitches. Every time the image of himself and his father didn't align, he adjusted. Repeating this again and again for hours on end.
Another month later, Ryu emitted a heated breath, causing the ten-meter radius around himself to become filled with a scorching fog. Although he still hadn't breached the Small Success barrier, he had opened four of the Body Pulses within his heart. Now, only the two within his spine remained – however, these were even more dangerous to open than the previous four. Ryu didn't dare casually attack them with these mere 40% pure pills.
'It's a shame that I hadn't awoken to the true abilities of my Heavenly Pupils when father and grandfather taught me these stances…' Ryu lamented to himself. 'If I used their ability to see through all things, I would have already reached Small Success by now.'
Ryu shook his head. He had reached the limit of what he could do here. If he wanted to improve any further, he needed practical experience. Only by putting his life on the line would he be able to reach what he sought. He couldn't be more aware of his lack of practical combat experience. No matter how much of a so-called genius he was, if he couldn't bring out his abilities at the crucial time, it was all useless.
After practicing his Ice and Fire Phoenix Clan stances to help himself recover, Ryu finally got to choosing a movement technique. If he wanted to go out and seek experiences, he didn't want to rely on the North Heavenly Wind. He wanted to set a firm foundation first. Only then would it be appropriate to use.
The range of techniques the Natural Order Sect had was quite impressive. Aside from their attributeless and second profession related techniques found in the Human Pavilion, they had a whole host of Pavilion specific techniques among their other Peaks.
Common Grade techniques were the most abundant, numbering at just over seven hundred. For Ryu, who hadn't entered the Qi Refinement realm yet, these were the techniques he was limited to. But, surprisingly, there were also just over eighty or so Black Grade techniques and this small Sect actually had six Earth Grade techniques. Although, these Earth Grade techniques were all monopolized by their Upper Echelon.
As expected, the reason there were so many Common Grade techniques was because most of them were Lower Grade, making them practically trash. If Ryu focused on just the Peak Common Grade techniques, there were less than thirty. Of which, only three were movement techniques.
The trouble with Common Grade techniques was that they were the most prone to having imperfections. Many were created casually by pseudo experts and were riddled with potential potholes for Cultivation Deviation. Usually, the largest Sects would weed out the most dangerous of these techniques and leave behind those that would do the least harm. However, small Sects had no such choice. This left their disciples playing a game of Russian Roulette with their meridians.
Although Ryu's meridians were inseverable, one had to understand that meridians acted much like blood vessels. They were interconnected with many important organs of the human body. Even if his meridians didn't suffer, his far more fragile innards would.
Luckily, Ryu had a cheat. With his Heavenly Pupils, he was able to see through the flaws of techniques. Coupling this with the added enlightenment given to him by the Origin Flame, creating novel solutions to these flaws would only be a matter of time.
In the end, Ryu chose a technique titled [Gliding Cloud Steps]. He chose this because it not only matched the concept of his Heavenly Wind, but it was also had great hidden defensive capabilities. It wasn't just a technique about speed, but also contained concepts of the wind. One that reaches the Circle of Perfection in this technique could be akin to a feather in the sky, capable of dodging attacks simply by making use of their air pressure.
Ryu didn't rush to begin practicing this technique. Instead, he sat upon a large rock he had been using as a meditation stone and calmed his breathing. In the next moment, a strong 'WENG' sound emitted from his dantian as a holy light began to emit from his body.
Unlike the previous nine Rites, the Final Four were a monster unto themselves. Each were given their own namesake, allowing geniuses who surpassed their trials to puff out their chests in pride.
After surpassing the fourth Pulse of the Body Realm's Pulse Tempering realm, Ryu had finally decided it was time to attack the Rite of Limitations.