Prince Na’Vi, High Priest Vi’Ta’En, and General Cao’Po’Li should be done fusing their essence back to their physical body in roughly a year. Since they were all at Deity Level in the past after going through two Rebirths, they should be able to shed more light on the dreadful news Ryu just learnt.

“There’s nothing I can do about it at the moment, I should just focus on completely refining the new Qi.” Ryu said resignation. This piece of news gave Ryu another reason to enter the mythical zone in Thousand Swords Graveyard.

Three hours passed and Ryu finished absorbing all the Qi from the items. The items, now out of Qi, dropped to the ground. Wu-Feng was scared out of his mind, an essence would require someone like him who’s also in the King Domain centuries to finish absorbing! What’s even more shocking to Wu-Feng is that after absorbing the pile of treasures he stole, Ryu only advanced to level 65! A full essence contains the Qi from an Emperor Domain beast or cultivator and should have been enough for anyone to reach Emperor Domain. Actually Ryu only finished refining half the Qi he just absorbed since the absorption rate was faster than his refining rate so he should climb a few more levels after refining it all.

Even Ryu’s mind couldn’t imagine this sort of feat possible beforehand. His Qi channels have miraculously enlarged but that doesn’t explain the tenfold increase in absorption speed. It’s as if both his Qi channels and Qi reservoirs altered somewhat. The Qi inside his reservoirs have formed a spiraling void that is acting as a vacuuming force and his Qi channels are acting as pumps, accelerating the process even more. This was something entirely new for him, he had never felt it before and he didn’t know what to make of it.

Ryu was careful not to move closer to Wu-Feng in part that he might accidentally absorb all his Qi as well. Right now his body was still slowly metamorphosing, his Qi channels were getting upgraded and if his instincts are right, an eighteenth Qi channel will emerge in the future. Just now when he was absorbing the Qi, a portion of it went back into his body to construct the new Qi channel. An extra Qi channel can increase your cultivating rate and offensive power greatly, some cultivators would even give up their own parents for an extra one. However, the price to pay for it is great. In Ryu’s case, he was helpless to stop it since this skill seemed to have been programmed into his body.

“Sigh, I’ll worry about this later.” Ryu said as he stared at Wu-Feng, he didn’t know what to do with him. Then he remembered something Wu-Feng said himself earlier.

“Do you feel regret for all the sins you have committed?” Ryu asked Wu-Feng and the latter quickly nodded truthfully. The people he had crossed and killed were in the thousands, indescribable dread filled his heart. He was dominated by the Absolute Agreement and lost control of his own body, obviously the first thing he was worried about was his life. “Earlier you mentioned that if you felt regret, you would go to Shaolin and repent. Now you have a chance to do so.” [Chapter 66 Wu-Feng mentioned repenting at Shaolin to his captives]

Not being able to reply, Wu-Feng got up and left. Ryu left him with enough gold to travel across the continent. He gave Wu-Feng the order to go to Shaolin and forget all about him once he reaches the place. Being the ambitious son of a thief guild master, Wu-Feng was too wicked for Ryu to release back into the world. Hopefully the authorities at Shaolin will be able to reform him.

“Whoever was in that piece of bone is definitely an expert no less than Prince Na’Vi but his methods are too cruel. I need to control this ability before I accidentally harm an innocent person.” Ryu decided in his mind that he wouldn’t move from this cave until he can control the Destiny Defiance skill. He would also absorb the rest of his Qi cultivating materials while he was at it. Ryu still had the essence from the spider beast that caused turmoil in the Raging Thunder Sect along with a few remaining items from Exoe.

The Destiny Defiance skill is all about cunning manipulations of Qi. There was no one more suitable to learn and utilize this skill since Ryu can make Qi dance to his rhythm and control it like the back of his own hand. The recorded text from the Infinity Tomes regarding this skill contains countless theories on Qi. There were things that he never heard of such as the composition of Qi, the building blocks that makes up Qi.

“There are different sizes of Qi fragments… within each fragment there is also different building blocks for each. For example the smallest particles of Qi form subatomic Qi particles which combined with Qi threads make a Qi building block. These Qi building blocks then bond and make Qi molecules. Many Qi molecules fuse which in turn make cells within an organism…” Ryu was now deciphering the Destiny Defiance skill. He was learning so much about Qi and how it relates to living organisms, non-living objects and the whole world in general. There were many lifetimes worth of research material in here.

Whoever wrote this skill had different approach and mindset when it comes to conventional cultivating and martial skill methods. It starts off questioning the phenomena of Qi and integrating all previous knowledge collected about Qi. It’s as if many researchers who can’t use Qi themselves wrote this skill. In fact Ryu was starting to understand why this skill take so much space in his Infinity Tomes. Everything there is to know about Qi was written down.

First they start off with a question such as what is Qi? Then they hypothesize and take a guess at the answer. Then they develop testable predictions which they was later tested. After a cycle of testing and refining and expanding their original hypothesis, more theories will emerge. This will in turn give birth to more questions and kick off the process all over again. There were innumerable trials and results recorded, more times than not they ended in failures. Still the results were priceless. The only thing troubling Ryu was the methods they used to carry out these experiments, Ryu couldn’t even begin to fathom how many lives were lost in the creation of this skill.

“The Destiny Defiance skill most likely came from the Pandemonium Pyramids… who made these mythical zones and what was their goal?” Ryu said after a few hours. The Infinity Tomes behind him just gave him a shrug. Each time Ryu levels up, the tomes get slightly more sentient. He wouldn’t be surprised if they started talking to him one day. These pyramids probably came from another continent.

Ryu still haven’t figured out a way to completely suppress the suction of Qi. Ryu could control and bend Qi like no one can but right now it seems like the ‘Qi building blocks’ in his body are the one doing the absorbing. According to the skill, when one wants to gather Qi besides regularly breathing methods there are four main components involved.

The first component is using the Qi reservoir itself. The Qi reservoir within oneself can be controlled to absorb Qi with enough knowledge. The Qi reservoir contain raw Qi in their most elementary form and it’s also where one can apply the most suction by forming a Qi vortex. None of the cultivating skills Ryu read before commented on using the reservoir itself to gather Qi because controlling one’s own reservoir to act like a Qi gathering instrument is nearly impossible. However, to Ryu this was a child’s play and he just didn’t know of it before. Right now the Qi inside his reservoirs are spinning and creating a mini hurricane that’s extracting Qi down the Qi channels strongly. This explains the increased velocity of Qi that he experienced earlier.

The second component is the Qi channels within a living body that facilitates the Qi gathering process. They are the pipes that guide Qi in and out of your body. Thus the wider your Qi channels are and the more you have, there will be more bandwidth for gathering and releasing Qi. Qi channels are limited to seventeen in a regular human’s body. Some rare beasts and people with special bodies might have more. This cunning skill have studied the Qi channels in depth and have figured out a way to upgrade and construct your own Qi channels! This was what his body was attempting at the moment!

The third and fourth components are not attainable through training, they are something you are born with. One is the innate endowment to will the Qi around you to move. Some people are able to sense Qi keenly while some people can’t feel it in their whole life. This was all due to the talent they were born with. Ryu realized that he must have extremely high innate talent since willing Qi to do his bidding has been something that came naturally as long as he could remember. It was his greatest asset in cultivation in the past since he only had one active Qi channel before he met Alexis. The last component is simply luck. In this mysterious world that can give birth to magical and supernatural items, those who have great luck will chance upon them and thread far on their path of cultivation. All living things have talent and luck that can be taken which surprises Ryu. According to this skill he could steal the talent and luck from absorbing essences as well!

Does that mean someone could steal my talent and luck as well? Ryu wondered. After one whole day, Ryu had gone through nearly one third of the text on the destiny defiance skill. Even with the increased mental capacity from the three Infinity Tomes, he couldn’t comprehend everything he had read. It would take an ordinary mind centuries if not millenniums to accomplish the same.

Ryu had completely refined his Qi at this point and advanced to level 67. This was definitely a shocker. With the small mountain of cultivating treasures he received from the Infernal Fist founder Exoe and the son of a thief guild master Wu-Feng, it was enough to propel ten people into the Emperor Domain from entry King Domain given enough time. The only thing left from the whole pile was Exoe’s pearl that was covered in countless Enchanting symbols that made it black. From Exoe’s memories, it was a sentient talking orb that had a crimson red color. Every other items had floated into the air the moment they were near Ryu’s proximity and had their Qi sucked dry.

“What is this thing?” Ryu asked as he picked it up. The Enchantment on this was in the Blue Tier, this tier was reserved for people who had gone through their first Rebirth. This made Ryu worry a bit for the Drunken Master Du-Bai since the headmaster of the Eternal Phoenix was the one who performed this Enchantment. Knowing that the Eternal Phoenix School was attempting to sow enmity between the rest of the Seven Ancient Beast Schools to collect a sacred pendant they are each guarding, Ryu needs to find the Drunken Master before his death match in a few months.

As Ryu held this pearl, he attempted to peer inside with his second vision but sadly it was blocked by the Qi from the Enchantments. Just as he was about to put it away, the pearl became extremely hot and actually burnt Ryu’s hand. The only thing Ryu could do was drop it. However, it didn’t land on the ground but levitated in front of him. A tiny spec of light escaped from it and shot directly into Ryu. There was no time for him to react at all. [Chapter 55: Ryu took this pearl from Exoe. Inferno Fist Chapter 4: Same pearl that awoken Exoe’s bloodline]

Once again Ryu found himself in an unknown place where he was without his corporeal body was nowhere to be found. It was the same experience he had when he touched that piece of bone and met the insane crimson warrior. Like last time, Ryu only has a ghost-like apparition in this foreign place. The only difference is that this time the place was extremely dark. As Ryu wandered around, he pondered if the tomes would come to his rescue again.

“It’s you again!” A guttural voice rang out. Ryu turned around and noticed an orange blazing figure in the distance. It was the strange crimson warrior that the tomes got the Anti-Heaven Tribe skills from! This time the crimson warrior wasted no time talking and shot towards Ryu in a dazzling beam. The air around him trembled from his horrifying strength, it’s as if the world around him is getting distorted.

“Impudence!” A sudden convulsion that shook the whole area boomed out.

The crimson warrior that charged at Ryu with an unstoppable might suddenly faltered in mid-air and slammed straight down into the ground, flattened like a pancake. Ryu slowly looked up and noticed a pair of gigantic amber colored eyes that looked like the sun staring down at him. It turns out this area that was filled with white space was simply overshadowed by an unbelievably large beast. The beast was incredibly far away but due to its implausibly enormous size, it dwarfed everything with its shadow.

“Consider us even. Without your little disturbance on the Qi flow of my seal, I would not have been able to escape. On this sad continent that had fallen on such hard times, I didn’t think there was anyone I can impart my soul to. How should I thank you?” Although the words were not threatening, they were said in a menacing tone that shocked Ryu to his very core. Ryu doesn’t have a solid body in this dimension and couldn’t reply back At all. All he could do was listen on.

“I am the Guardian of the Gods! I can give you ‘real power’ to conquer all. You are a Chosen one, destined to rule over all creatures. Living or dead, no one can oppose you!” A dreadful rainbow-colored triangular prism descended towards Ryu. Even a commoner with no experience in Qi could feel the earth-shattering power emitted from it.

“With this power, you will become God of this world and no one will be able to oppose you! You’ll never have to suffer. There’s so many things wrong with this world that you could fix with this power.”

Ryu instantly shook his head. He ignored the source of endless power presented in front of him.

“No? You are saying no? What are you? A fool?” The beast’s voice became exponentially more terrifying all of the sudden, an all-consuming killing intent caused the insane crimson warrior to crawl into a ball.