Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1315 Proceed?

Logically, one would think that the only way to heal a Dao Heart was to grab a hold of their mind once again, self-healing and reaffirming one's identity. But this was clearly nonsense. Ryu felt better than he had in a long time, and yet his Dao Heart was still shattered and his Spiritual Foundation was still leaking this deathly sort of energy that he couldn't allow to continue for fear of what might happen to his Cosmic Seed.

This was another peculiar matter that was worth exploring, though. Why did he feel so much better?

Of course, there was the fact that his Realm Heart wasn't allowing him to feel the despair that should come with this matter, and the fact that he was apparently very much used to not having all of his souls working properly in a tandem as they should. But he felt that this wasn't all.

Now that Ryu knew that his Dao Heart, one of his souls, was actually within his Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation, he couldn't help but think.. What would hundreds of years of being chained up have done to it?

In one way or another, one of his souls had been in contact with those chains for such a long time, what kind of effect would that have had on him? Who knew if it was related to how jaded he had become or not?

It was hard to tell, though. He had been in contact with those chains before, but he had still taken a very long time to get adapted to them. If he really had such a deep familiarity with them, it wouldn't have taken nearly as much effort.

There was probably only one of two explanations for that. Either the effect was minimal because it wasn't actually connected to him at the time and it couldn't be considered "his soul" at the time, or the second option, and the one Ryu felt was more likely, was the fact that the Spiritual Foundation itself probably wasn't the Dao Heart, and instead the soul was hidden somewhere within it.

If this second option was true, then there was likely a separation between the chains and the soul, not allowing the former to affect the latter to a great extent.

But then the question was... Why did he feel so much better?

Ryu had a few theories, and he felt that it might very well be the case that they were all confounding factors, layering atop of one another.

The first and simplest was that the fusion of his Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation with him hadn't gone as smoothly as he thought. The Realm Heart helped to balance him, but the effect of this new soul, influenced by those chains, wasn't as good for him as it seemed.

Because he was strong headed to begin with, he hadn't noticed much. But it was also easy to miss this matter because he had been in such a bad state right afterward, even falling into a coma for such a long period. And, when he came out, the first thing he had done was get used to the dreary nature of those chains, making him notice the impact of his new Dao Heart even less.

The second was far more complex and likely related to his child-like self.

When he failed his Awakening the first time in his first life, he had fallen into a pit of despair. He remembered his original personality well due to the Origin Flame, so despite the time that had passed, he understood his changes more intimately than anyone else.

He had been far less cold, far more gleeful toward the world, he had always felt light on his feet and he had a blinding smile that dazzled everyone he met.

And then everything changed after that moment. He entered the Tatsuya Clan library for years, and when he exited, he was an entirely different person, far more knowledgeable, but also far more distant and indifferent to the world.

This reforged personality was something that he had carried with him continuously, and in Ryu's understanding, that was a fundamental change to his Original Spirit, maybe the most important of the three souls, at least in terms of his personhood.

Then, when he gained a Spiritual Foundation and began to cultivate, his Original Spirit likely took over the functions of his Dao Heart since he hadn't had one.

These changes were then solidified when he fused with the Realm Heart, and then solidified once again when he regained his Original Spiritual Foundation.

Like this, his foundation was built and then rebuilt upon this sort of cynicism and much of his original personality was being greatly suppressed. Ironically, the stronger his cultivation became, the more obvious this became.

That coldness became the base of all he was, and though he had learned to smile once again, it still wasn't something that came naturally to him. It had taken a great deal of effort on Ailsa's part to even get him to this state, but even then, it was akin to pulling him against the tide of his new nature.

But now that his Dao Heart had suddenly shattered, all of those restraints had suddenly turned into a puff of air. His true self reached its central alignment once again, and he felt an internal peace that came from his souls no longer pulling him in two separate directions.

Of course, the influence of those years were still within him, they were his experiences nonetheless.

When these things were put into perspective, it was no wonder he felt so relaxed. His Dao Heart was no longer a burden pushing him in a direction he didn't want to go in, and his Original Spirit regained the flexibility it had once had to grow with him.

Now the question was... How would he fix this?

Well, now that the Dao Heart was as vague a concept as it was to him in the past, the answer was no longer metaphysical and he could take real, solid steps toward resolving this matter. As for the answer he had come up with, it was something that he had overlooked for a long time...

The [Refinement Sutra]. Most accurately, the refinement of his soul which he had ignored due to having the training method of a Dao Sovereign to use instead.

But now, it seemed he wouldn't have much of a choice.

How would he proceed, though?

How could he set up a structure in his current state, let alone one so important. Even his Dao itself wasn't responding to him right now, so how could he even trust himself to build something so life altering?