Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu's Magus Lock threatened to collapse entirely. Just in case, before he had split his soul, he underwent a great deal of trouble to rebuild and reconstruct his Magus Lock. With his talent, he was already infinitesimally close to the Soul Quintessence Realm, at least in terms of the size of his Spiritual Sea - when his soul wasn't split in two, that is. Even so, the Magus Lock he had on right now was the representation of the best of his abilities, and yet half of it had collapsed due to a single attack.

Much like the change to Cosmic Qi after the Cosmic Seed Realm, entering the Soul Quintessence Realm allowed a qualitative change in one's Spiritual Qi that was impossible to fight against with quantity alone. Ryu had plenty of quantity, but when it came to quality, it was several steps behind Pierthorn.

At that moment, he almost regretted not attempting to break through. In truth, his soul talent was so exceptional now that if he focused for a month or two, entering the Soul Quintessence Realm in one fell swoop wouldn't be an issue. But he discarded this thought the moment he had it. What was the worth of his Perfect Blackbody Soul if he couldn't make full use of it?

It had to be remembered that at its foundation, the Perfect Blackbody Soul was only ranked at the Ancient Grade. That was a talent barely good enough to be ranked in the Third Heaven. The only way to unearth its full potential was by one, having a powerful enough body that you could take advantage of its ability to infinitely expand, and two, by swallowing up Natural Treasures or profound understandings that could grant you powerful Soul Natures.

Ryu refused to cut off his potential just because of a mere Pierthorn.

'FOCUS!' He roared in his mind.

Ryu activated what was left of his Cosmos Fog to slow the time within his body even more than he would normally be able to with his Spacetime Soul Nature alone, and then he began to circulate the technique of the Prayer Mat, moving that mysterious energy through his Seven Spirits as he quickly began to replenish his Focus Qi.

Of course, his Focus Qi hadn't dwindled. The problem was that Pierthorn's attack, on top of the migraine he already had, was whipping his mind out of focus. He couldn't control his qi or his body, and if he just sat here, he would only be able to wait for death.

Knowing this, he immediately activated this circulation method, not for the purpose of accumulating Focus Qi, but rather to force his body into a state where focus was its number one priority.

In that instant of time, he managed to regain control of his body and he forced his Spiritual Sense to manifest. The feeling was akin to his body being ripped in two. Having torn his soul apart not long ago, forcing his Spiritual Sense to manifest was like sticking a finger into a festering wound and trying to dig out the infection with a jagged nail.

Ryu had experienced a great deal of pain in his life, but this had to be among the very worst. Even so, his mind was extremely pointed as his cold glare landed on Pierthorn.

This time, he could sense the gathering and swirling Spiritual Qi, he could even see the subtle formation of a Rune he was about to use to attack him.

Ryu realized he had to escape, there was a great doubt that he could do much even if he was at full strength. With his talent, Pierthorn's Body and Qi Realm might never catch up to his mind, but that didn't change the fact he still wielded the power of a Sky God.

However, he had just escaped from the clutches of a Half-Step Dao God. What was Pierthorn worth to him?

His Spacetime Soul Nature surged and he twisted the space around the gathering Spiritual Qi. Pierthorn felt as though his control had suddenly lagged just when he was about to finish, if not for his over hundred years of rigorous training, it would have completely gone out of control.

In the moment he spent regathering himself and centering his focus, Ryu had already paled considerably. Using his Soul Nature while left with only half a soul? Yet another terrible, horrible feeling of pain. However, he didn't let that stop him from immediately turning around and bolting away.

His Northern Heavenly Wind wrapped around his body and his gaze flickered with a light that was both cold and sparkling. Gritting his teeth, he shrunk the earth beneath himself and appeared hundreds of kilometers away.

By the time Pierthorn realized what was happening, Ryu was already deep into the mountain range, or maybe more accurately, the collection of mountains.

His gaze became red. How could he allow a mere World Sea Realm expert to run from him?!

He dispersed the spell he was forming and cast something new. A shuttle appeared beneath his feet and he shot off into the distance, quickly closing in on Ryu.

While his personal speed was slow, how could he not have methods of dealing with his weaknesses. There was nothing that his spells, or mage arts, or Mental Realm techniques couldn't make up for.

It was already twice now that he had underestimated Ryu, he couldn't allow it to happen again. He had grabbed at the air, the distance between him and the running Ryu barely a dozen or so kilometers, but such a distance to a Sky God might as well have been a single step.

However, just when he was about to chain Ryu up, the latter vanished again, appearing hundreds of kilometers away with beads of sweat falling down his brow.

'I can't let this continue, there has to be a way to vanish completely.'

Ryu had already reached the state of being able to enter the void even without his God Treasure. The problem was that his soul was too injured to allow him to maintain it.

Entering the void was a very dangerous matter. After crossing the threshold of the skill and/or strength needed to do so, the actual process itself could end your life. One had to rely on their innate talent to avoid these potential dangers.

However, at the moment, those fast twitch responses that Ryu relied on from his instincts had instead become roaring pangs of pain.

'I can...'

Ryu flipped his palm, his Matrix appearing. Then, gritting his teeth and releasing another roar of pain, he vanished into the void.

If his talent couldn't keep up, he would have to rely on his mind to calculate what his soul couldn't. As for whether he could focus long enough to do so...

Pierthorn landed heavily in the location Ryu had just vanished, gnashing his teeth. As a Mental Realm Master, he could still sense Ryu's location, but he didn't have the strength of a Transcendent. How could he still attack Ryu?

'Follow him, he doesn't seem to be able to keep this up for long!'

Though he articulated this, Pierthorn was sweating. Since he had attacked, he really couldn't allow Ryu to leave. But Ryu, who he wanted to follow, was already over a thousand kilometers away.