Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
Chapter 1693: Just One.

Ryu didn't seem to notice this at all, his heart in a state of perpetual calm.

The Chaotic Silk Meridians were well-known for their shocking abilities. Though most didn't know exactly how to unleash their full potential, many were aware of what that highest potential was.

Ryu, though, had never had the luxury of using it. This was because he had been forced to hide it all this time. Unable to circulate or project the qi, he was forced into a passive state where he could only cultivate like a normal person.

But why was it that his cultivation was so fast in Sacrum? Why was it that while it took others millions of years to progress as far as he had, it took him a handful of years?

The reason for this was his access to the Chaos Plane. He didn't have to pull in qi from the surroundings because he had access to a Plane of qi within himself.

Even so, back on Sacrum, his Chaotic Silk Meridians had only been partly awakened. As such, he still relied heavily on outside qi.

There were two reasons for this.

Firstly, the Mortal Realms, the Immortal Realms and the Cosmic Realms almost all relied on changes to the internal structure of the Meridians.

The Pulse Opening Realm, the Qi Refinement Realm, the Spiritual Severing the Divine Vessel Realm, the Immortal Ring Realm... all of these Realms necessitated large changes to the Meridians themselves, and many of them took place before Ryu could even gain access to the Chaos Plane in the first place.

Because of this, it was impossible to use both his access to the Chaos Plane at the same time as cultivating these Realms.

How could he open a Pulse or a Vessel if he had opened up the gates to the Chaos Plane? He would just end up wasting all the energy and his Pulses and Vessels would become endless abysses.

That was just one example, but the others had similar, though more complex explanations.

The second reason was the most obvious, and that was that his Chaotic Silk Meridians had yet to fully awaken. He had to fail the Spiritual Severing Realm first before he could even realize there was something magical about his Meridians, and even afterward, he had to tiptoe around cultivation for fear that his next step could knock him off the path to keeping its true abilities.

Now, however, things were different. Not only was he no longer worried about losing the abilities of his Meridians, he was no longer in those foundation laying Realms.

He was a Sky God.

To progress as a Sky God, you only needed two things: to progress your Dao and an obscene amount of energy.

Just by virtue of having the Chaotic Silk Meridians, the latter requirement had long since been a box checked off of Ryu's list, he just didn't dare to use it because it would mean exposing himself.

In truth, he could have been utilizing this method ever since he stepped into the Dao Pedestal Realm, but his hands had been tied.

As the Chaos Aura around him thickened, the reason for this was as clear as day.

Ryu's body had become a gate to the Chaos Plane.

On the one hand, he was communicating with the Chaos Plane in order to siphon Chaos Qi of a level that he could control into himself, but on the other, he needed the Order of the Real Plane to anchor his cultivation in reality.

He flooded the Chaos Qi into his Spiritual Foundations, evolving the God Qi in both toward the next level and nourishing his Godhood.

Seeing the sheer amount Ryu was taking in, it suddenly also became obvious why it took him so long to break into the False Sky God Realm. His breakthrough had lasted days, and it was precisely because he wasn't using this method.

Due to the bridge he needed to form between Order and Chaos to cultivate in this way, the world around him had practically become an incarnation of the Chaos Plane layered onto the Real Plane.

And as a consequence of Ryu no longer giving a damn...

His cultivation reacted as though it had been strapped to a rocket.

In just a single week, he reached the Middle False Sky God Realm. In another, he reached the Higher. In yet another, he reached the Peak.

His cultivation seemed willing to spill into the ranks of True Sky God, but without the progression of his Dao, he couldn't take that step...

Or so it seemed.

As Ryu's thoughts wandered, he realized that he could ignore the cultivation system of this world entirely and step into his own, anchoring himself completely in his Inner World's Laws... if he did that, he could break past these limits and the need for his Dao to act as the impetus for a breakthrough.

But the drawbacks would also be immediate. If his cultivation was no longer anchored in this world, then his potential would also be limited as well. So what if his qi said he should be a Dao God if his strength didn't?

Until his world was comparable to a Tenth Heaven, he couldn't abandon this world just yet.

Nor did he need to.

His Origin Flame allowed him to perfectly recall the feeling of a Dao of a higher level. Technically speaking, with a few months of meditation, he should be able to grasp it and shoot through.

Of course, what was limiting him here was the very same concept that had limited Yaana. He had already comprehended it once, so because of the Origin Flame, doing it again was a taller mountain to climb. In fact, every time he used Heaven or Earth Gate on his Dao, this would happen.

However, this was actually exactly what Ryu wanted to happen.

He had thought of two methods to improve his Inner World, but there was an even more obvious method.

The True Martial World had a limit on how many Daos it could sustain. Why was that?

It was the answer to this question that made Ryu realize something even more profound.

Was there an artificial cap on the strength of a Dao? In that case, what if he created a world and used up its limit himself? Not with many Daos... but with just one?