Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1333 Body Formation

Mae's heart was practically beating out of her chest. She had a lot of love for Ryu, but it could be said that among his wives, her actual faith in him was probably the lowest. This wasn't about a matter of trust, but rather an understanding of how he did things, how he reacted in complex situations. and what kind of strength he could tap into when his back was against the wall.

Of all his wives, the one who probably had the greatest utmost trust in him actually wasn't who one might expect. If Ryu was asked this question, his response would be Yaana without a shadow of a doubt. Or more accurately, a Yaana who had awakened her memories of her first life.

The person who had seen Ryu accomplish the most heaven defying acts wasn't Ailsa who had followed him from almost the beginning of his cultivation journey, but rather Yaana who had protected him in secret for hundreds of years.

Yaana's role had always been to protect Ryu from the void as he ventured the world, cleared Ruins, and completed his streams of research. She had seen things others couldn't imagine, and that was when Ryu was a mortal without the ability to cultivate.

Compared to her, Mae's understanding of Ryu was far too limited. So seeing this scene, while Yaana would have only nodded to herself, feeling that it was only a matter of course, Mae was completely floored. She couldn't believe what she was seeing at all.

She looked toward Ryu's somewhat tired but resolute face, her heart fluttering out of her chest. Ryu seemed to be stuck in a moment of enlightenment, allowing her to observe him a great deal more, and she couldn't seem to get enough of him. She was so lost that even after Ryu had awoken from his stupor and looked toward her, she almost didn't notice at all.

Ryu smiled, touching his palm to Mae's delicate forehead and moving it up to smooth out her hair. It was only then that Mae was stunned out of her silence and blushed, but the ease in her heart superseded her embarrassment. She wanted to ask Ryu how he had done it, but with so many people here, she didn't feel that it was appropriate.

"It's unfortunate," Ryu suddenly said, looking into the distance where some of the Sky Gods had vanished.

If there was one weakness of Corps Formations, it was movement speed. Even if they could crush Sky Gods in terms of raw power, when it came to maneuverability, agility and speed, they were too lacking. That was because everyone needed to maintain perfect form as they moved, and as such, movement couldn't be pushed randomly.

If Ryu had had more of his Focus Qi remaining, he could have forcefully used this large amount of qi to fuel his Spiritual Qi and teleport the whole army, but that kind of action would probably cost him more Focus Qi than that punch did.

However, there was good news. Even though they couldn't lock down intelligence about their appearance, Ryu had finally found the center of Focus Qi that eluded him for so long. As he had expected, the secret was hidden within his Seven Corporeal Spirits.

The Seven Corporeal Spirits were the Earthly Souls, these were the souls that decayed along with the body and vanished after death when the Three Souls entered various stages of reincarnation. It was no wonder Ryu had never found the source of Focus Qi, because it had never been in his Spiritual Sea to begin with.

However, even after learning this matter, it became even more complex.

The Seven Spirits represented the Stomach, the Liver, the Gallbladder, the Spleen and Intestines, the Heart, the Lungs, and the Kidneys.

The Spirits were well hidden within and could be easily misunderstood to be the organs themselves. It was just a subtle difference. From Ryu's understanding, while the Spirits weren't the organs themselves, they were the motivator behind the cellular changes and responses.

What made this matter even more difficult to decipher was that Ryu was. certain the source of Focus Qi wasn't just in one of these Spirits, but rather the result of several of them working together, all linking back up to his mind where his Spiritual Sea and two of his Souls lay.

But there was something else that Ryu noticed immediately.

Of these organs, all of them aside from two were used to accomplish various forms of refinement. The Liver, Gallbladder, Intestine, and Kidneys all took in, stored and cleansed energy before feeding it back to the body.

The central figures were then the Heart and Lungs. The Lungs provided the oxygen that the blood needed to support the body, and the Heart which circulated the blood to carry this energy to the locations that needed it.

What was interesting was that cultivators could entirely replace the need for oxygen with their qi, and this filtering and replacement process also occurred within the lungs. Whether it was oxygen or qi, both were passed to the blood by the lungs.

It felt like the Heart and Lungs were the core of the engine, the driving force, and the others were the pieces that kept everything running smoothly.

So in all of this, where was his Focus Qi?

The answer was all of them.

Ryu had come to an understanding, an comprehension he had had for a long while now, but only now did he apply it in such a novel manner.

The body was a formation.

The way Qi Realm cultivators used techniques was by using the configuration within their Meridians to circulate their qi and activate the world changing strength they wanted to use. Body Realm cultivators did the same with veins. The only exception were Mental Realm cultivators, but even then they just used their Spiritual Qi to free form formations.

What if, though... The Mental Realm had its own formation within the body and most people had just missed it? And what if the core segments of that formation were, precisely, the Seven Corporeal Spirits?