Published at 26th of August 2024 8:16 am

Chapter 1896 Clear Mirror Dao Heart

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She wasn't just naive, but she was also a bit simple-minded. Her thoughts weren't very nimble… at least that was Ryu's first impression.

It was impossible for a cultivator to be truly foolish. Even if one was born with below-average intelligence, much like beauty, it would only increase with time and qi absorbed.

Of course, it was possible that things were different with Nether Qi. Ryu had gained a large amount of it, and his understanding had deepened, but it wasn't to the point of saying that he understood it just as much as he did his Real Qi… which was funny considering he didn't think himself to be a great scholar of Real Qi either.

That said, there were methods of cultivation that Ryu knew that while they might increase the perfection of the body, did little to nothing for the brain. Those were rare forms of Body Cultivation, and they tended to also be extraordinarily powerful as well.

Of course, the trade-off was that one's mind wouldn't be nearly as nimble as other cultivators. But did that matter if your body was harder than most treasures you would come across?

'Hm, interesting thought…'

Ryu thought about these Body Realm cultivation methods not because they seemed to be perfect for him. He had modified the Nine Pillar Flame Sect's methods, but he still wasn't completely happy. It was like he would continue to feel antsy so long as he was using the techniques of someone else.

The reason why he felt that these methods might be perfect for him was because his mind was already more than nimble enough. The benefits he got from normally cultivating were… well, Ryu couldn't remember the last time a change in cultivation had helped his mind become stronger.

In that case, why was he wasting so much potential by refining a mind that couldn't be refined any further?

Or at the very least, he had yet to find the method of refining his mind further. So long as he had his Mental Realm cultivation method, it was enough.

'I'll consider this another time…'

Though Ryu said this, he already had thoughts churning in his mind. That was because he recalled the Light and Dark cultivation method that he had received in the Incomplete Heavenly Path.

Back then, cultivating that method filled his body up with tattoos. But, honestly, he didn't really care what he looked like so long as he was more powerful. The real problem was that that method was too weak and eventually had to be left behind by him.

However, now that he had a perfect comprehension of Light and Dark, couldn't he reform this cultivation method into something perfectly suited to him?

His thoughts were churning all on their own, but he forcefully pressed them down.

'I'll send these thoughts to my Dao Heart and see what it can do about it. It may or may not align with what it wants to do. I'll let it decide if it wants to progress on that path or not.'

His Dao Heart was obsessed with fast improvement, and there was technically not much faster than Body Realm cultivation.

There was a misnomer that it took time, but that was mostly because of two things: a lack of mental fortitude and a lack of resources.

So long as you had enough resources and were willing to suffer through untold pain, then there was nothing stopping you from advancing by leaps and bounds in the field of Body Realm cultivation.

Ryu shook his head. His thoughts were getting more and more off track these days. He had to focus on one task at a time.

'These days?' Ryu chuckled to himself. Looking back on his life, he seemed to always veer off track one way or another. Everything seemed to interest him, he had some skill in a little bit of everything. It was as though…

Ryu froze, staring out into blank space again.

Having learned her lesson, this time, Hrakka didn't say anything or do anything. She just stood in silence, waiting for Ryu to finish his thoughts.

It took a long while, but Ryu's expression couldn't help but become brighter.

'Indeed, that is the type of person I am… I'm never satisfied. It's why I want to reach the pinnacle of cultivation. It's not even just because I want to have power to lord over others, it's because maybe if I reach that peak, then I won't have to consider anything else anymore… everything would have already been accomplished… there would be nothing else to chase after… nothing else to want for…'

Ryu's Dao Heart began to shimmer and shine again. It was an odd process, especially since the soul of his Dao Heart wasn't here. Ryu didn't even quite understand what he was resonating with at first. It felt like the world was opening it up to him.

Ryu had thought that it would take millions of years of meditation for him to understand who he truly was as a person. It was nagging at him these last few weeks as he mulled it over…

But he didn't expect to grasp it the moment the influence of his two other souls left his body.

He realized then that that was what had been holding him back all along. He had been making a mistake. He was trying to find the right path for him when there was no "right path." He wasn't as obsessed with fast progress as his Dao Heart, or as obsessed with a solid foundation as his Perfect Blackbody Soul… but he didn't hate both either.

He wanted whatever he could think of. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too.

Maybe part of the reason he had fallen into such a pit of despair after his Awakening Ceremony failed all those years ago was because one day, it seemed like the entire world was his oyster, and there were an innumerable number of paths to follow… but the next, 99% of them had been cut off.

It suffocated him, suppressed him down to the pits of the world, and made him filled with hatred for the world.

He was Ryu Tatsuya. He didn't want to have to choose. He didn't want to have to carefully select his path of cultivation like everyone else did, minding what they were good at and avoiding what they weren't good at.

He wanted to be able to grasp the world with a palm and flip it over with a twist of his wrist. Until he could reach the day where that was possible, he would never truly be satisfied.

Ryu's hair gently danced in the wind. His aura became more refined, and as she watched him, Hrakka found her heart skipping.

Ryu didn't look like he was changing at all, and yet his entire person seemed to have stepped into a new frame of mind at the same time. It was endlessly confusing to her, but she also felt endlessly attracted to it.

A long while later, Ryu's mind had cleared up. His Dao Heart shimmered not like a gem, but like a reflective mirror. It was so clear and crystalline that one could only see themselves when they tried to stare into it, shaking the very core of their souls.

Ryu exhaled a light breath and a bit of the gloominess that had been hidden between his brows vanished.

He had just dusted off his mind a bit, and yet the result was more progress than he had seen in a long while.

His Temperament had been refined to an extreme… and the day the idea of his past lives truly bothered him no longer… well, that would be the day maybe the strongest Dao Heart to ever be born would appear in the world.

Ryu smiled lightly.

"Master, will you marry me?"

Hrakka's words snapped Ryu out of his daze.

He suddenly coughed, looking up at this enormous woman only to find her blushing like a little girl.

"… Come again?"

Hrakka covered her face, wondering why she had just said such words.

"Nothing! Nothing!"

Ryu was stunned for a moment before he started laughing.

The Heavens had all the right to strike him down from above.

Objectively, he was terrible at picking up girls. Every time he actively tried to do so, he would end up making a fool of himself. The more he cared, the worse at it he seemed to be.

Yet, when he wasn't trying at all, such a thing would happen. If he didn't laugh about that, then what would he do?

"Come with me, Hrakka," Ryu said with a smile.

Using Idol Control, Ryu grew to a proportional height and ended up towering a head over her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and they disappeared.

When they had reappeared, Hrakka nearly fell due to the pressure.

A great number of powerful Lord and Sovereign corpses lay out before them.

"I have an idea to make you more powerful, and it'll likely be painful. Are you alright with that?"

"Yes!" Hrakka nodded seriously, her previous shyness having vanished.

Ryu nodded, his gaze becoming serious.

Nether Qi was known as the lower case chaos, and right here, Ryu had a large number of true Chaos-laden experts.

Normally, he wouldn't be able to even cut into these corpses… but this was his world, and now, it had the support of not just one, but the equivalent of three perfect God Realms.

Thanks to this, at least in some aspects, Ryu's Inner World was already no weaker than a truly powerful world.

So, Ryu was going to use this chance to mutate Hrakka's Meridians.

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