Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1775 Faith

Ryu didn't quite feel it clearly.

When his Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation was suddenly enveloped by white flames, he only felt endlessly comfortable.

The confusion in his heart was dispelled, and he finally felt like he could see a path forward, but somewhere deep inside…

It just felt too simple.

The reason those with the strongest Dao Hearts were the most susceptible to failure was because those with weaker Dao Hearts could benefit from the plasticity of man.

Living beings had a great amount of flexibility in their thoughts and emotion.

If today a perfectly healthy man thought of what their life would be like when they lost a leg, they might even boldly say that they would rather commit suicide than continue to live such a life.

But upon the day this very same man suffered such a fate, would they follow through?

It could only be said that those that would were incredibly rare.

This wasn't to say that those who had lost limbs should or shouldn't, but rather that the mind of living beings were incredibly flexible. Things that seemed like the worst possible fate could be adjusted to and accepted with time.

The difference between those with strong and weak Dao Hearts was a rigidity in their values. If they made a decision in one state, no matter what changes came in the future, they would still choose to make the same decision in a later state.

This was why it was so difficult for those with strong Dao Hearts to pass this test.

But that wasn't to say that there was no flexibility in strong Dao Hearts at all.

When anyone was pushed past a breaking point, it was still possible for them to collapse beneath their own weight.

When Ryu finally became aware of what was happening around him, he couldn't help but think of this.

Had he really shaken himself free? Or had he just bent to the wind like everyone else?

He could sense the shock and awe of the nine figures. It was clear that to them, he seemed to have passed their test.

But as Ryu's mind stopped being assaulted and his calm returned to him, he couldn't help but wonder.

Had he really found the right answer? Should he really make his new moral an amalgamation of all the lives he had lived?

Ryu knew the real reason he was having such thoughts…

These white flames, weren't the very same mysterious white flame he still couldn't pronounce the name of to this day? A flame that was the core of the Phoenix Sky God's strength?

He felt that his previous thought process was correct… but it made him feel uncomfortable that, once again, at a critical breakthrough point, the Phoenix Sky God seemed to have their fingerprints all over him.

With his pride, how could he not feel uncomfortable?

If the Phoenix Sky God invaded his second Spiritual Foundation as well, what capital would he have in the future to break free of their control?

The flickering flames came to a stop, and Ryu stood in silence.

He was still at peace, but the world froze around him. His breathing was even, and time slowed.

He played close attention to the changes and, with a sudden forcefulness, he squeezed down on the flames, snuffing them out.

The nine figures were stunned, but Ryu was still perfectly calm.

For a long while, he had been wondering how to make maximal use of his Bone Structure. Everything else was being left behind by it, and he couldn't figure out exactly what to do to strengthen it.

But now he knew.

In fact, this path was so perfect that he had to thank the Phoenix Sky God for being so hateful.

"You have your path, and I have my own."

Ryu's voice wasn't layered like the nine figures but was rather calm and even.

There was just a single voice.

His own.

One by one, he began to sense the tendrils of Karmic Qi that connected this life with his last. Then, he pulled on them, hard.

Runes began to glow on his transparent bones, Boundless Cosmos Fog churning with a fiendish might.

He wouldn't take the same path as the Phoenix Sky God. He refused to do so.

Instead, he would build his own world, and this opportunity gave him the perfect opportunity to do so.

Everyone knew how important Faith was, but what no one ever asked was why it was the Heavens handed out Faith to begin with.

What was the point?

If everything was truly up to luck, then why parse Faith based on achievements? Shouldn't one's Faith be decided from birth?

Ryu, too, had never really thought about this. But this experience had revealed it to him.

The answer was simple.

Everyone had a set amount of luck given at birth.

But that didn't mean that it couldn't be changed with hard work.

This was the hope the Heavens gave.

However, this was still only half of the reason.

Why had the Heavens had the Fey and Ancient Beasts of Sacrum fight it out for supremacy? It was obviously because the Heavens, too, benefitted from powerful experts being born as well.

Even this, still, was just part of the answer.

The more lives Ryu analyzed, the clearer and clearer his understanding became. And eventually, he was able to summarize it in just one line.

This was the Heavens' method of cultivation.

The feedback between Faith and Faith gatherers was what allowed the Heavens to slowly strengthen themselves. And it should be exactly because of this that the Heavens were so protective of their worlds.

Wasn't this why Sacrum had sent Heaven's Knights to battle against the Martial God youths attempting to breakthrough?

And that truth hid a third layer, and the last layer Ryu needed for his understanding.

Heavens tweaked their laws to benefit the strongest beneath them. They didn't want their Faith to go to others because they would benefit less overall.

Those three pillars were what Ryu needed.

You could work to change your Fate.

The Heavens used Faith to cultivate.

And finally, particular individuals granted Faith benefited the Heavens more or less depending on how they resonated with the Heaven's laws.

When these three came together, Ryu's aura finally changed so wholly and completely that even the nine statues began to tremble.

First Ryu's Nine Pillar Flame Sect inheritance shattered and reformed.

Second, Ryu's Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation shuddered, and he felt that he could exert more control over its Natural Treasures.

Third, his Dao Heart became so resplendent and gorgeous that even as his mind sped through his most pathetic lives, he was able to gaze upon them calmly, accepting each one as they came.

He no longer saw these at points of weakness.

Instead, he saw them as pillars that would strengthen him in this life. His final life.

And fourth…

His Dao shattered the glass ceiling that had suppressed it, surpassing the level of Peak Foundation Dao.

At that moment, on the outside, the skies of the Nether Plane changed.

It was usually an endless dark violet and red, but now…

It shimmered with gold.

The clouds split, and white mist took its place. Even the skies turned blue. It was it like Ryu was forcefully cleansing the Nether Plane and returning it to a state of a Real Plane.

…

In Dream Wraith territory, Mae's master looked up with a flickering gaze. Her beautiful eyes reflected her shock, and she seemed to deduce what was happening immediately.

"… It seems your husband is not normal, my disciple…"

Remembering Ryu's gaze when they first met, she couldn't help but shake her head.

A young man who could look at a Dao God like that was either incredibly foolish or incredibly self confident.

And it seemed like the latter was the case.

Now, he had monopolized two of the True Nether Plane's most important inheritances for himself. One he gave to his wife and the second he kept for himself. Not only did he keep the latter for himself, but he seemed to have changed and warped it in an unexpected way.

Truly unexpected…

…

Ryu continued to pull on his former lives, using them to cultivate his Inner World and strengthen his independence from the Heavens.

At the same time, his Boundless Cosmos Bone Structure was quickly gaining a robustness that came from this independence.

From what Ryu could tell from his lives, there were only two existences that could cultivate using Faith.

The first was the Heavens, as he had already said.

And the second was a type of cultivators known as Buddhists. Monks could be considered to be the weakest version of these existences and couldn't quite be considered Buddhists.

In all his lives, he had never been a Buddhist, and it was because, as he had realized, he couldn't truly let go.

But, he had become a Monk several times.

In this life, he still had no intention of becoming one.

Normal people could only take the route of selflessness to become a Buddhist and harness the power of Faith.

As for him?

He would become his own Heavens.

And he would rely on this pile of trash past lives to do exactly that.

[Just one chapter today. Should be the last day I spend in the hospital and it should be clear sailing for at least the next while, fingers crossed]