Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1311 Why Wasn't He?

Ryu's mind drifted. The back of his eyelids had never been more interesting to him as compared to this moment. He felt relaxed and his thoughts felt more flexible now than they had in a very long time. It was as though he was a child again, and his imagination ran wild.

The shattering of his Dao Heart wasn't something Ryu had wanted, but he hadn't thought that things would end up like this. What was interesting was that rather than severing his path, it felt as though his Dao Heart had only been another chain looped around his body, weighing him down.

It was an odd feeling because Ryu was certain that his path of cultivation was severed, at least right now. He could sense qi, but he couldn't gather it, nor could he control it. His Liviing Spiritual Foundation didn't respond to him any longer, and he couldn't sense his Chaotic Silk Meridians nor his Realm Heart any longer.

It was a truly out of body experience, if his body was all of the most crucial pillars of cultivation.

The only thing that seemed to listen to him at all was his Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation and by extension the Embryonic Qi he had used to heal Mae. But he didn't quite understand that either. He wondered what it was about it that allowed such a thing, or was it because he had connected it in such an unorthodox way? Or maybe it was because it had its own thoughts and had chosen him of its own accord?

Of those answers, Ru felt that the last one was probably the most likely. His Spiritual Foundation was definitely special, but he didn't believe that it was so special that it could ignore something as profound as the shattering of his Dao Heart. It was more likely that the simplest truth was the correct one.

His White Phoenix Spiritual Foundation wasn't his to begin with, it had been passed on by another. It could be said that in order to succeed in gaining its favor, it was precisely his Dao Heart that had been tested. That was the purpose for all the pain and horror he had experienced in the Tor Kingdom. But now that his Dao Heart had vanished, the linchpin that had kept this Living Spiritual Foundation attached to himself had vanished.

By the same token, his original Spiritual Foundation, didn't have such high requirements for him. It had chosen him from birth, so it didn't need a linchpin, or rather, the linchpin was his existence itself.

It was no wonder, then, that the Living Spiritual Foundation wasn't responding to him. And due to the fact it was that one in control of his main Meridians, it had taken his Chaotic Silk Meridians along with it.

Ryu couldn't help but sneer when he saw this. He was pissed, and he managed to maintain his calm and relaxed bearing nonetheless.

There was actually something in his body, occupying his space, that was so easily able to rip its support away from him. If it wasn't for the fact he had yet to recover from the backlash to his Spiritual Sea, he would have already summoned the chains to surround and lock it down. It sure had a lot of nerve.

It was unfortunate that Ryu had already entered the Dao Pedestal Realm. If he had still been in the Path Extinction Realm, the White Phoenix Spiritual Foundation wouldn't be able to take his Meridians hostage like this. The Dao Pedestal Realm, though, increased the connection between his Spiritual Foundation and Meridians a great, severalfold stronger than the Spiritual Severing Realm did. In addition, it expanded the Spiritual Foundation, increasing its individual strength.

It almost sounded amusing. It was as though Ryu had given his abductor the strength they needed to trap him and sell him for ransom. Even with all of this being the case for, he still felt the utmost calm. He preferred to know this now instead of in the future, and he wasn't very much surprised about it.

This was the same Spiritual Foundation that almost killed him for merely communicating with his original Spiritual Foundation. He could still remember the pain of that backlash. If it wasn't for his firm Dao Heart, that pain alone would have been enough to force him to crumble.

Ryu set this matter aside. Much like he had dealt with his Bloodlines, he would fine a method to deal with this White Phoenix Spiritual Foundation as well. It had to understand that it was no longer the Phoenix Sky God's Spiritual Foundation. It could either accept this fact, or he would disregard it and find another Spiritual Foundation to replace it.

What was more important to him right now were these new thoughts and comprehensions coming with the Dao Heart.

It seemed that there were two factors to consider when it came to Dao heart. The first was relative strength and the second was objective strength.

Relative strength referred to the strength of your Dao Heart in comparison to those of your level. So long as you had a strong Dao Heart for your level, all things were possible. Talent could be considered the motor while a Dao Heart was the path you could follow using uttered engine.

Was your Dao Heart weak? Then the road would be narrow, filled with twists, turns and treacherous roads. Was your Dao Heart strong? Then your lanes would be wide, dry and straight, the distance to infinity being clearly seen.

Then there was objective strength. This was how your Dao Heart compared overall. This was where the difference in cultivation time and cultivation level came into account. Ryu felt that he had exceptional relative strength, but his objective strength could only be weak due to his weak cultivation level...

But what Ryu had found out just now was that all of this was barely more than a façade.

Dao Heart was supposed to be your will but Ryu didn't feel as though his will was weaker than anyone else's. And if Dao Heart was entirely about will, then why would cultivation level make such a big difference?

That pathetic man who called himself Mae's father triggered Ryu's disdain whenever he thought of him. That man supposedly had a strong Dao Heart? What bullshit.

Ryu felt the answer lay in two matters. The first was the Samsara Steps and the second was the Dao Heart itself.

The Samsara Steps didn't have a perfect method of testing the Dao Heart, and it wasn't very accurate either. It might be seen as a great treasure, but in truth it was a crude construct. This could be seen by the fact it couldn't even properly differentiate between Ryu's lives and which were worth testing him on and which weren't.

The second was that the Dao Heart wasn't entirely just about will either. It was akin to a muscle, similar to how a bicep allowed you to curl your arm, the Dao Heat allowed you to cultivate. It was the hidden sixth sense that gave one the natural ability to cultivate.

This was an odd conclusion to come to, especially since it was actually the Spiritual Foundation that allowed this. If the Dao Heart was the center of this matter, then why was it that one had to Awaken to be allowed the chance to cultivate to begin with?

If Ryu was correct, it was actually precisely the Dao Heart that the Spiritual Foundation observed when choosing a cultivator to follow for the length of their life.

Despite feeling that this was correct, this still didn't quite feel like an answer. It seemed like excessive steps, for little reason or return.

But then something else clicked for Ryu, as for what it was, it might surprise many. That was because what he had thought about was the ban of Mental Realm Masters in Sacrum.

During that period, no one under the jurisdiction of the Tatsuya Clan had actively cultivated the soul... and what had that resulted in?

Well, the results spoke for themselves. The Tatsuya family ended up lacking any experts in the field of sensory matters, and as a result of that, they were unable to catch the trap of the Martial Gods before it was too late and they were destroyed... But this was the matter that Ryu was referring to.

Despite not putting any focused effort into soul cultivation, their souls still increased steadily with their Qi Realm Cultivation. Although it was still much weaker than a soul that was actively cultivated, why was it that this was possible?

At the very least, the reverse wasn't possible. Ryu couldn't just cultivate his soul and allow his body to naturally grow stronger over time. But that didn't seem to make sense, why was one possible but the other wasn't?

Ryu felt that he had an answer: it was the Dao Heart.

The Dao Heart formed the foundation of all things. As one cultivated, it had to grow stronger in order to support one's increasing strength and eventually one's Godhood. But why was it that this influenced the soul and allowed it to grow stronger?

If Ryu was correct, the Dao Heart didn't influence the soul at all, it was the soul. Rather, it was the true soul, it had always been.

Unfortunately, this opened up more questions than answers.

If the Dao Heart was the true soul, then what did his Mental Realm cultivate? What was the little body floating in above his Spiritual Sea? What about his Perfect Blackbody Soul?

But even more importantly than all of that, if it was the true soul, since it had shattered...

Why wasn't he dead?