Ryu felt that the full potential of all of his Bloodlines had been released.
If he had to describe it, it was like his body was a jar and his Bloodlines were the objects he had placed within it. Due to his Ice Jade Crystal Body, he was able to balance four Bloodlines almost perfectly, making the objects he placed within the ‘jar’ that was himself about the size of a finger nail.
However, even with the objects being so small, the air gaps were inevitable. In Ryu’s opinions, his impurities, especially the toxic ones, had been hiding within these ‘air’ gaps, thus diminishing his overall strength and limiting how much power his Bloodlines could flood his body with.
The moment these impurities were gone, Ryu’s Bloodlines fell into place like fine sand. Not only was there not the slightest air gap between them, but they had become absolutely perfect.
His Phoenix Bloodlines had gone from 800 jin of base strength to 1000. His Qilin and Dragon Bloodlines had gone from 1700 jin of base strength to 2000!
This seems like a small change, but when its considered that a change in base strength results in a continuous changes up stream, it becomes quickly obvious just how large this change was.
To put this matter into perspective, Ryu’s base strength had increased from 5000 jin previously, to now being 6000 jin. At the Peak of the Pulse Tempering Realm, he was meant to have 500 000 jin of strength, but with this change, he was now granted 600 000 jin, a 100 000 jin difference!
To put this into even further perspective, it had to be remembered that the normal base strength for a common talent was 500 jin. Ryu was already 10 times better than this before, but now he was 12 times better! An Ancestral level talent would usually only have a single Bloodline and the average for them was around 1000 jin. Ryu had once been five times better than this, but now he was six times better! Even in comparison to a talent with a strength type Bloodline on the level of the Dragon or Qilin, Ryu was still three times better!
If this wasn’t enough to understand just how large the difference was… The Peak of the Vessel Tempering Realm was equivalent to the Half-Step Path Extinction Realm. A Qi Realm expert on this level would usually have around 100 000 000 jin of strength.
At that level, Ryu originally had five times that, at 500 000 000 jin. However, now, he had 100 000 000 jin more than that, the equivalent of an entire Half-Step Path Extinction Realm expert more, and reached 600 000 000 jin!
Of course, Ryu was no longer in the Peak Vessel Tempering Realm. In fact, he was well into the Blood Tempering Realm now. In fact, he had stepped into the very first stages of the final level, the Origin Blood level or Royal Blue level.
The Peak of the Blood Tempering Realm was meant to be equivalent to the Half-Step World Sea Realm. Ryu was still a ways from the Peak since the Origin Blood level was meant to be the longest, heaviest and hardest of the levels to wade through. But, with the enormous boost to his base strength, he truly wasn’t very far from matching a Pinnacle Cosmic Seed Realm expert with just his body alone.
However, as far as Ryu was concerned, the boost to his physical strength was just the tip of the iceberg.
Ryu had never felt his Bloodlines so clearly before. They sparkled and shined throughout his body almost as though they had spirits of their own. No… It was exactly like they had spirits of their own.
When Ryu focused his attention, he was certain that he could read the thoughts and grasp the memories of some unknown entities.
WHOOSH!!!
Ryu’s mind suddenly felt light. He had reached out and touched one of these memories, only for it to instantly assimilate with him. What once were vague recollections, under the might of the Origin Flame became like a clear movie reel Ryu was able to stop frame by frame.
‘Wow…’
Ryu felt like the entire life of a being capable of crushing him with a single finger had suddenly been assimilated into him. It was all as clear as day.
This was where the synergy of Ryu’s treasures and abilities came into play.
First, Ryu was lucky enough to have his entire body cleansed and all its impurities, allowing the lingering Bloodline ties that had been hidden within him to manifest.
Second, Ryu was able to sense and touch those ties because his Realm Heart and Pupils made his senses especially sharp to matters of the Ethereal and hard to grasp.
Third, when Ryu touched these memories, his Origin Flame activated, making what should have been blurry recollections as sharp as if he was reliving an entire life right this very moment.
Fourth, one had to remember that one couldn’t just pass on comprehensions to another person. The most important thing Ryu had grasped by observing Yaana’s situation was that how you learned something was even more important than the fact you learned it. This meant that just because these memories had assimilated with Ryu, didn’t mean they were his own, he would still need to very slowly digest them.
But, Ryu had something others did not: The First Ranked Heavenly Pupils and the access to an ability through them known as… <Lines of Fate>.
It had been a very long time since Ryu used <Lines of Fate> to copy a technique. The first time he used it, it was to perfectly grasp <White Serpent’s Dance>. The second time was to grasp the sacrificial technique of the Martial Gods.
Ryu knew he couldn’t just copy any technique. He had to establish strong Fate ties to the person he was targeting, only then could he follow the strand of Fate to the Origin of the technique and comprehend the intentions of its creator perfectly.
By now, Ryu’s advantage was obvious. What could possibly have stronger Lines of Fate with him than people whose memories were quite literally rushing through his Blood?!
‘If this is possible… Could I use Lines of Fate to see through the intentions of my past self and weave them together to forge a path forward for my Inheritances despite them constantly regressing…?’