Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

At this point, about the only thing Ryu's Realm Heart was good for was protecting his heart should it be stabbed through. After entering the Immortal Realms, there was simply little else that a Mortal Realm Realm Heart could help Ryu with, especially since he had already reclaimed the Phoenix Sky God's Spiritual Foundation so he didn't need to rely on it to cultivate without a dantian.

The truth was that the Realm Heart had so many abilities that Ryu had just never used because he outgrew the Mortal Realms so quickly that they were hardly useful.

For example, in terms of comprehension, a Realm Heart allowed for a grasp of knowledge even beyond Ryu's Heavenly Pupils. And, when the two were combined into one and used as one, the speed of comprehension could be considered to be obscene.

However, because the Ruler Realm was the dividing line to the Immortal Realms, it had been useless to Ryu. With Ryu's own personal comprehension, entering the Heir Realm and clearing the Impose Realm was as easy as breathing, he had never truly needed to rely on the Realm Heart… If you could complete a task in one second, was it really that much more beneficial to complete it in half a second instead? The difference had been negligible.

Now, though, with an Immortal Realm Realm Heart, it was vastly different. A Realm Heart evolved to this level would be able to given great insights and comprehension into the Ruler Realm and the Monarch Realm.

Of course, the Dominion Realm and the Divinity Realm were considered to be Cosmic Realm comprehensions, so an Immortal Realm Realm Heart would be unable to help with them. But, in Ryu's current state, where his comprehensions had been forcefully regressed back to the Ruler Realm, wasn't this absolutely perfect for him?

With the tandem of a Realm Heart and Ryu's Heavenly Pupils, the enormous mountain he would have to climb to breakthrough in his Inheritances again would become that much more manageable.

To understand just how great of a chance this was, just consider the abilities of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils for a moment. The signature skill of these number one ranked Pupils is in the fact that they can peer into the secrets of the Heavens and read into the hidden lines unseen by others. Thanks to this, those with these Pupils could improve very quickly through cultivation Realms that relied heavily on comprehension.

With a Realm Heart, though, it would be like taking a closed book exam with an opened book. Ryu would have to put in less effort pulling back the curtain and could put all his effort into just deciphering what was right before him. The difference would be akin to night and day.

Even then, this was just one ability of the Realm Heart that Ryu had never gotten the chance to use.

The second benefit of the Realm Heart was its ability to nurture treasures, especially treasures of the Origin Grade and the Unique Grade. Usually, the birth of a world was accompanied by all sorts of amazing treasures, so it was a natural ability of infant worlds to be capable of nurturing such things. After all…

Disciplines of Blacksmithing and Alchemy and even Formation Mastery were all learned by observing the Heavens!

It could be said that a Realm Heart was like a window into this world of Crafters. While Ryu was uninterested in Blacksmithing and Alchemy, even he had to admit that the idea of peering into the secrets the Heavens hid of Formations intrigued him. Coupling his own knowledge with his evolved Realm Heart, not to mention Ancestor Morvar Zu's personal Visualization technique, the applications were nearly endless.

There had only been so much knowledge of the Mortal Realms could help Ryu. But, the Immortal Realms was a different matter entirely. In fact, though Ryu was far more interested in straight forward battle, he couldn't help but be intrigued by the possibilities.

Of course, even this paled in comparison to the true strength of this ability: nurturing the Northern Heavenly Wind.

The progression of Ryu's Northern Heavenly Wind had already stalled at the pinnacle of the Mortal Realms because that was the limit of Ryu's previous Realm Heart. But now, it would be able to be nurtured to the pinnacle of the Immortal Realms, giving a great boost to Ryu and make grasping the true Wind Inheritance even easier.

Still, this was just the beginning of the benefits.

Ryu had still yet to find the core Natural Enlightenment of this Realm Heart. It had to be remembered that the birth of a Realm Heart came with it a precious form of Natural Enlightenment that rose above others. This core Natural Enlightenment was not only stronger than most other Natural Enlightenments, Ryu wouldn't need to grasp at straws and comprehend it himself. After all, the origin of the Natural Enlightenment would be within himself!

Then there was the Recognition. With a Realm Heart, other Realm Hearts and Protector Spirits saw him as one of their own. If Ryu could use this to refine Shrine Mountain, the strength he would be able to display in the Shrine World would exceed anything imaginable.

It was precisely this final ability that smiled down upon Ryu and blessed him. He had been so worried about if he would be able to return to the Mortal Planes or not, but he had forgotten to consider that with his Realm Heart, even at the Mortal Realms, he was beloved by other Realm Hearts and Protector Spirits.

Even if Shrine Mountain would have stopped him from returning previously, it most definitely wouldn't stop him now. After all… He was a dear friend.

Thanks to this, when Ryu stepped onto the Heavenly Path for the second time in so long, this time walking in the opposite direction, he felt refreshed as though a calm had spread over his heart.

When Ryu reached the end and stepped onto the Mortal Planes, he felt his heart tremble, his gaze turning vacant as a swirl of energy whirled around him.

Within the Incubator, Yaana and Ailsa watched on with a bit of confusion before Ailsa's own brows shot up.

'Enlightenment? But how? And why…?'