Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu stepped out of the void, his gaze flickering with several unshared thoughts. The feeling he was getting was odd, too odd.

From what he could tell, the [Unbalance Mantra] didn't actually make his spatial qi any stronger. It didn't grow more powerful, nor was it suddenly able to output more offensive or defensive power. Rather, it was like its structure and fundamental nature had shifted somewhat, changing what it could accomplish.

If Ryu had to explain it, it was almost like changing water from a liquid to a solid state.

If you wanted to rip through a piece of paper with water, what would you have to do? Well, the obvious answer would be the pressurize the water until it became no different from a speeding drill. At the highest velocities, water could be just as dangerous as just about any other substance.

Another approach was time. Even if you dripped water slowly onto a solid piece of steel, given enough time, it would make its way all the way through, let alone a piece of paper.

Both of these were analogous to cultivation. Time and strength were what were needed in order to accomplish lofty goals. If Ryu had wanted to learn to step into the void, even with his current Soul Nature, it would take him the time and effort he would need to reach the Fragmented Sky God Realm before he could accomplish it and for others, it would take even up until the Trascended Sky God Realm.

But what if he froze the water into ice first? Would it still be difficult to rip through the paper?

The answer was obviously no, but it also wasn't so simple as well. Given enough time or strength, water could cut through steel. But what about ice? Could it do so?

Technically, the answer was yes. So long as the velocity was great enough, it could accomplish it. But the main issue faced here was the very same issue water faced. Suddenly, when given a large enough hill to climb, even the mutated water, or in this case, Ryu's mutated spatial qi, wouldn't be able to reach the peak.

This was how Ryu saw the changes to his spatial qi. It hadn't become more powerful, it had just changed its state. At the same time, while water was better at some things in comparison to ice, so too was his Unbalance Spatial Qi inferior to his True Spatial Qi in some aspects.

For example, Ryu could tell immediately that while he could cross far greater distances with his Unbalance Spatial Qi and even hide in the void with it to somewhat avoid the attacks of those incapable of doing the same, it was also harder to control and maneuver.

In addition, this didn't mention the stamina drain.

Of course, this stamina drain was applied to his soul, and as such, Ryu hardly worried about it. With the vastness of his Spiritual Sea, he didn't believe there were any geniuses beneath the Seventh Heaven who could match him in this regard, and even at that height, they would likely be rare.

Even so, it was still something to consider. For a normal individual without a Perfect Blackbody Soul brought to its absolute limits, they would probably only be able to use the [Unbalance Mantra] for a few seconds at a time at Ryu's cultivation realm.

Ryu, however, felt that it wouldn't be an issue to fight a battle of normal length while constantly having it activated, not to mention the fact that keeping it constantly activated was completely unnecessary.

With this thought, Ryu began to test the effect of the [Unbalance Mantra] on each one of his talents. He wanted to see just what they could accomplish when applied. If he didn't know about his own combat strength, how could he be expected to maximize it? Since he was already lagging a bit behind in his collection of Heavenly Favor, he might as well lag behind a bit more so that he could fully catch up with these new gains.

The first thing Ryu noticed was that the [Unbalance Mantra] was ineffective on his Daos. But he wasn't too disappointed by this. If it was effective on his Daos, then in all likelihood, the odds that he could use his Dao to deduce its secrets would be minimal.

The second thing Ryu noticed was the change to his Rage Flame.

His Rage Flame relied on his fury to bolster its strength. The angrier he was, the more powerful the flame became. However, when the [Unbalance Mantra] was applied to it, the shackles of this seemed to be lifted. Rather than relying on his fury, it became completely reliant on the shackles, or lack thereof, on his Bloodlines. Essentially, he could unlock the full potential of his Rage Flame instantly so long as [Unbalance Mantra] was applied to it.

This realization made Ryu curious as he immediately tried it, only to have his heart skip a beat as he quickly extinguished it.

In just a brief instance, his clothes had burnt to ash and his ground beneath his feet had turned a bright red. This was the very same ground that hadn't suffered more than a scratch even during his and Mae's battle!

Ryu's heart palpitated.

The only time he had reached the fullest extent of his Rage Flames was during his final battle of Sacrum, he couldn't remember ever being so furious in his life. But back then, his talents were still shackled to the limits of Sacrum.

But now, Ryu had unsealed his potential to the standards of the True Martial World, and since he had been here, he had been forced to restrain his true talent and never really tested it out.

Now that he thought about it, though, the moment he brought out his Rage Flames against Mae, he had gone from barely being able to cause her flesh wounds to nearly incinerating her, and that was despite the fact she had a high fire affinity herself!