Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu found himself going back further than he thought he would have to, or more so, it wasn't that he had to, but instead that he found himself entranced. The movements of the panther spirit were just great enough that he felt overwhelmed, intrigued and highly impressed, but they were also weak enough that he could actually see what was so special.

The strength of the panther spirit was perfectly controlled, almost too perfectly controlled. Every movement was intentional, and yet could be stopped in an instant and reversed at will, almost as though it could...

A sense of enlightenment overcame Ryu. He was thinking too much about his muscles and firing signals to them, but not nearly enough about his Vital Qi and how it circulated. In fact, he didn't think very much about circulating his Vital Qi at all. The only times he did was back when he had to absorb the Vital Qi of beasts to improve his body, and also when he used his master's technique.

He felt that he had had this revelation before, but he had never taken it very far, at the very least, he never tried to apply it to concepts of his Martial Forms. His Vital Qi was the fuel of the engine that was his body. Whenever he used his body's strength, he would only circulate his Vital Qi passively, but there was much more strength to be had especially if...

Ryu's heart shuddered again, the nine pillars that anchored his flesh and bones vibrating as he felt like he had come to understand something. There were more applications of the Nine Pillars than he knew, he just hadn't had the time to continue to meditate on those Fundamental Runes that he had already memorized.

Subconsciously, Ryu tried it. He ran his Vital Qi as fast as he could in one direction, then, abruptly, he changed the direction to the complete opposite path.

His stomach expanded by a size and his eyes turned bloodshot. His blood vessels popped one after another and a suffocating feeling of death and destruction came out from within him. His organs ruptured one by one, and his heart took the brunt of it, shredding itself into pieces. If not for his Realm Heart, he would truly be on the brink of death right this moment.

He keeled over, gasping for breath, but even the small and delicate capillaries of his lungs had been shredded. The pressure build up of his blood had been so great that it expanded out in all directions, pouring into all the locations it could to disperse the pressure, but the result was that he had practically shredded his body to pieces.

This was what it meant to start and stop so abruptly, but not just to stop, but to try and reverse directions. This was the weight of that Ryu was used to doing this with his qi. His Meridians were unbreakable so he hadn't thought much about doing it with his Vital Qi. But now it was all too clear just how large the gap was and what advantage he had being able to use his qi like that.

The worst part of the devastation was what happened to his brain. Vessels rupturing elsewhere was still fine, but his brain ruptured as well, pushing against his skull and leaving him in an even sorrier state than he had been in before.

However, in the back of his mind, Ryu promised himself that he would take more benefit of the nigh indestructible character of his Meridians more. The ability to start and stop so suddenly, and even cancel and reverse, was so invaluable. The weakest character of the Chaotic Silk Meridians was something that he had neglected far too much because it was precisely that... its weakest character. He had been fooled by the Ancestral Grade moniker and didn't realize just how precious such an ability was... until now.

Ryu didn't actually believe that the panther spirit was starting and stopping so suddenly using such a crude method, rather it was that it was able to control and parse the flow of its Vital Qi, it didn't full commit to an attack until it was sure that it would land, and when it did, it would finally use its Vital QI in a sudden and fierce burst.

It was a complex balance, one that required using Vital Qi in steady and small streams all at once across the entire body, and then converging them when you commit, or using the separate streams to release the pressure when you wanted to cancel or reverse.

It was an clever method that would take years of training to master perfectly. Even for Ryu, he felt that he would need several weeks to get it just right. It was akin to using your veins and arteries like a plumbing system, adjusting water pressure, valves and capillary action to maximize both your strength, and the adaptability of its use.

However, Ryu had another method.

He coughed up another mouthful of blood before pushing himself up weakly to his feet. He flowed his Embryonic Qi once again and his body quickly healed. Then... he did it again.

If others were watching him, they would think him to be a madman. He had nearly died the first time, but he didn't even hesitate to try again, and this time he seemed to go even harder than he had before, pushing himself to the utmost limits.

But this time... Nine Pillars lit up.

Ryu threw out a punch with the full strength of his blood backing it, but just when it was half way there, he pulled it back violently, his Vital Qi circulating in the reverse direction as he took a step back, but just when he was half way through his step back, the circulation of his Vital Qi changed again and his hips pivoted, the leg he was using to step back suddenly becoming a furious kick.

His leg lashed out against the air, the after images of his punch and his step back still lingering.

CRACK!

The snap of wind was fierce and immediate, a scythe-like invisible blade cutting against the stone and ripping a hole through it.

Ryu slowly lowered his leg. Just with this alone, he felt his combat prowess had increased by at least 50%. In fact, that was still quite conservative. But, it wasn't enough.

'I can do better...' his stare flickered as he turned toward his Bone Structure.