Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu didn't actually believe that Child of Order was so much better than his Heavenly Pupils. They were ranked number one for a very good reason. But with his eyes sealed, he was certain that the feeling wouldn't have been nearly as transcendent without it.

The second facet was the fact he was in the True Martial World. The Breath of his world and the Breath of Sacrum were on two completely different levels. They couldn't even remotely be compared.

This was, without a doubt, the most potent One With Self state that he had ever entered.

But he didn't have the time to enjoy it.

The Meditation States drained Focus even faster than your normal state of focus would for obvious reasons. The Spirit Seeking Lilies would mitigate this somewhat, but because Ryu was putting in so much effort to be attuned with this lightning so that this sea of judgment would treat him as one of their own, the help he gained from the Spirit Seeking Lilies was being swiftly crushed.

In his optimal estimates, he felt that he had three minutes. In those minutes, he not only needed to take the treasure at the core of this land, but he also needed to start the next leg of his journey. That second part would be the far trickier of the two.

He was already in the core of this world, he had appeared here on purpose to save time even though it would be far more dangerous.

He had to be cautious and couldn't stretch out his Spiritual Sense, so he could only rely on his eyes. The problem with using his Spiritual Sense in this place was twofold. It was either his Spiritual Sense would be shattered and impact his soul, or he could protect it like he was protecting his body now.

It seemed obvious to do the latter, but if he did so, his Focus Qi drain would be exponentially worse. Let alone three minutes, he might not even have a few seconds.

'There.'

Ryu's eyes finally locked onto what he was looking for, but he felt his heart skip a beat.

It was a beautiful, oblong egg. Its surface was smooth, but it was also transparent. Within, there was what looked to be a qilin, folded up and silently absorbing the lightning in the surroundings without the slightest care.

It took Ryu only a moment to dismiss those thoughts. This wasn't a real qilin, not in the sense that it was flesh and blood. Rather, it looked to be an elemental spirit of sorts, the strongest sort of Lightning Elemental Spirit, one that would take the shape of the Heavens Chosen rulers of Lightning, the Lightning Qilin.

'This is... Troublesome.'

Ryu's gaze flashed. It was one thing to take a treasure. It was another thing entirely to take a treasure that might have a consciousness of its own.

The former would fight a battle, the latter would fight a bloody war.

There was a reason why infant Realm Hearts were so valuable. It was because they were in such a docile infant stage that even though they had a consciousness, it wasn't dangerous-relatively speaking-so long as you had proper patience and guidance.

But it was hard to tell if this spirit was the same. It might look like a baby, but that didn't mean that it was one. Who knew, it might have the consciousness of a billion year old monster. There was simply no telling.

The good news was that it was asleep right now.

'Maybe I should take it and worry about potentially absorbing it later.'

Ryu's mind spun and his Inner Matrix began doing a series of calculations, but he felt that this was too far beyond him. His Internal Matrix was only as good as his soul as strong. This threat level was too far beyond him for him to confidently decide on anything.

He took a glance at his Tribulation Lightning Seed. By this point, it was brimming with power. He had lost count of how many times it had broken through, and in its current state, it was already no weaker than what one would expect from a Fragmented Sky God Lightning Qilin.

When Ryu saw this, he put it away and felt as though his body took a huge shock. But he grit his teeth and endured. He felt that his body could take it. However, if he had let it grow any stronger, he would have ended up crippling himself.

He actually didn't plan on using this Lightning strictly as it was intended. Once he was out of here and in a safer training environment, he would pour its energy into his Bloodline to strengthen it.

Although he uttered that the Lightning Seed was as strong as what one would expect from a Fragmented Sky God Lightning Qilin, that was only with one with a Bloodline at Ryu's current Grade. Ryu, obviously, wasn't satisfied with just this.

Seeing that one of his goals was completed, Ryu took a breath and reached out.

"Are you crazy?!"

The little woman practically shrieked.

Ryu inwardly rolled his eyes. This woman really liked to wait until the last minute to say anything. If she had a solution, then why not speak? Why all this waiting?

"You-"

"Let me cut you off right there," Ryu said, somewhat quickly. "My Focus Qi is draining fast. If you have a approach of dealing with this, say it quickly. I will not leave here without this."

"You..." The little woman was speechless, before she grit her teeth. "Use your Spiritual Foundation directly. You won't have the luxury of storing it for later. If you don't absorb it here and suppress it, you can forget about taking it away.

"That's a True Lightning Spirit, it's more attune with the lightning element than even Faeries and Fey, its destruction incarnate. If you allow it to wake up, it could blast a tenth of this Heaven to nothingness."

Ryu was speechless. This was the Eighth Heaven... what kind of nonsense was this woman saying.

"Hurry up, then!"

Ryu nodded and felt a connection with his Spiritual Foundation form. But then he hesitated. How was he supposed to bring this into his Spiritual Foundation without touching it?

"All Elemental Spirits are reaching for the extreme, your Spiritual Foundation takes it a step beyond.

"This sea of lightning is the chosen home for this spirit because it's the best. Make your Spiritual Foundation even better."

When the little woman uttered this, it finally clicked for Ryu.