Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu's breathing became slow. From once every few seconds, his breathing slowed to the point where he only took a breath every few hours, and even then he seemed to be slowing down even further.

He had begun this state without a clear goal. He allowed his mind to wander, his thoughts unfocused.

In those moments, he didn't feel like it was necessary to focus on any one thing. Cultivation itself felt so amorphous, wiggling about and slipping through his fingers like smoke.

It was hard to look at it as anything different. For a long while, he had thought that everything had their set of rules, that everything followed a natural progression, that everything should naturally flow from one state to the next.

But his recent breakthroughs had proven that this was incorrect. In a certain sense, he was already a Dao God, and in another, he was still leagues away.

How could both things be true?

Even his soul no longer followed the normal path of progression, having been harmed and crippled in ways that would leave anyone else useless, and yet he sat here, just as fine and unhurried as he had always been.

It was something that didn't make sense... and it also made him worry just how valuable the Realms of cultivation were. Did they matter at all? Or were they arbitrarily set restrictions?

He had seen many worlds on his journey to see Ailsa, so many, and so quickly at that, that it was impossible for him to have a full range of details about them all.

But could all of them use the same cultivation method?

He wasn't sure.

Detecting a person's cultivation wasn't an exact science, it always took a bit of skill and experience. There was even a long while when Ryu was in the True Martial World that even he found it difficult to read the cultivation of those far above his own.

In this case, it was obviously more of the same. Even if they were using a different cultivation system, would he know at a glance?

Likely not... it would be more likely for him to assume that they were using some sort of unique cultivation method rather than assuming them to be on a completely different cultivation path.

The Taboo Powers, especially that of the Nine Pillar Flame Sect, was a perfect example of this. They were using the normal Body Realm Cultivation path as a skeleton, but functionally speaking, none of their path was the same at all.

But no one even realized Ryu was using it.

Taking another step back, what about the mortals who took science to levels that Ryu had never even thought possible? Could that be classified as its own unique cultivation method? Some of the strongest of them couldn't even be classified as human or demon anymore, they were something else, something that combined machine and man, and sometimes something that combined man and reality itself.

Who was to say that that wasn't a path of cultivation as well? Who could dare to make such a bold proclamation?

When you could wield stars and harness their powers, when you had enough strength at the push of a button to destroy a "real" cultivator, could you, too, not stand among them?

'Then what anchors this cultivation system...? what makes it worth following over another...?'

Ryu's mind pointed toward just a single path: Control.

From Fragmented Control all the way up to God Control, those were the real markers of cultivation and they were what formed the lynchpin of their cultivation path.

But was it the only path?

Ryu's thoughts were aimless. Honestly, he wasn't looking for anything in specific, nor was he seeking a great breakthrough.

As he circulated his Chaos Qi, pulling it from the Chaos Plane and steadily improving his cultivation, he let his thoughts wander.

He had realized a long time ago that while his cultivation might be able to keep up with those around him, his patience was lacking. Could he sit in secluded cultivation for thousands of years? Millions?

He felt antsy just sitting around for one.

The problem wasn't focus. If it was a matter of secluded thought, how many years had Ryu spent in the Tatsuya Clan Library doing nothing but scanning over countless old records?

He could do it. The problem was whether he wanted to, if it was worthwhile or not, if it was an actually good use of his time.

All of his greatest progress was made out in the world, running into situations and adapting to them, or using them as a reference to shine light on something he otherwise didn't understand.

If he was purely stuck in secluded cultivation all the time, his progress would have been much slower.

But now the situation was different.

He felt that so much had changed in such a short time that he had yet to truly grasp all the changes in him.

So today, he just stayed here, letting his mind wander as his cultivation soared step by step.

The aura of chaos around him thickened, permeating into the atmosphere. It was an aura that beasts feared maybe even more than the dragon claw around his neck.

'Cultivation... is so broad...' he thought, his mind in a deep state of peace. 'Even a painter could become a Dao God ...'

Ryu's aura suddenly began to wildly fluctuate.

From False Sky God he reached True, the Perfect... Then he suddenly leapt to Sovereign and then back down to Fragmented...