Ryu looked up into the skies, feeling the pressure that seemed to want to obliterate his existence. His hair was pushed back, his gaze struggled to remain open and he could even feel the skin along his face and exposed torso peeling back as though to fly from his body.

Joints all across his skeleton creaked and whined, threatening to shatter. At the same time, the surges of World Sea Realm pressure in the surroundings only grew as they held on for all that they were worth. Things were very quickly spiraling out of their control and it was clear to everyone in attendance that this was all the fault of the young man with the head of white hair staring amidst it all.

Ryu clenched his fist, his aura surging. A momentum built up around him, anchoring on the confidence that he could obliterate everything in his path.

Within the Incubator, Ailsa sat with Yaana by her side and Ryu's beast companions around them. Worry marred their features but it seemed that there was a particular confusion on Ailsa's face. Not only was this because she couldn't quite understand or grasp what was going on, but it was also because she was having a hard time understanding what state Ryu was in currently.

Ryu had been at the threshold of comprehending a Natural Enlightenment for years already. The first time he had touched upon it was within that jail cell of the Loom Clan. The second time was when his cultivation was crippled. The third time was during the tournament of the Ember Clan Time and time again he seemed to delicately touch at the barrier, only to be ultimately turned away.

Right now, it felt like Ryu was right on the cusp once again. In fact, it almost felt like he was already using it and yet not using it at the same time. It was the sort of thing that no matter how many books and case studies Ailsa had read she could never even begin to fathom an explanation for.

It was hard to tell if Ryu was even aware of this at all. At least from what Ailsa could see in his thoughts, he wasn't. At the same time, she knew that this state of unknowing was the best state for comprehending something you were at just the tip of

But something felt off about it all, almost like something was purposely forcing Ryu to forget.

'A year A year of life How did he lose it? Was it really related to that trial world? Or was that just a convenient cover up?'

If Ailsa had to choose a time to target a young man with the first rated Heavenly Pupils and a Cultus Princess by his side, what time would she choose? Well, wasn't it precisely the time when said Cultus Princess was in a coma and while said young man's Pupils were confused by a warp in time and space?

The awakening of Ailsa's talent was enough to fulfill the first task. As for the second task, wasn't it fulfilled while Ryu was traveling to the Nether Plane replica world?

An uneasiness overwhelmed Ailsa. She felt like the answer was right before her and yet it was being covered by a haze. On the opposite side of this haze, a pair of eyes slowly observed with a cold calculation within them, watching them dance on their palm

Ryu's roar bellowed into the skies. It was so forceful that rings of compressed air and space ripped upward, his chest expanding to its extreme.

BANG!

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Ryu shot a fist forward, imperial robes appearing to hover around his wrists as he executed [Imperial Fist]. However, this singular blow disappeared into the momentum of the finger strike as though it was never there to begin with.

Completely unfazed, Ryu sent out a second punch, then a third. A furious light lit his gaze as golden red flames suddenly began to dance about him.

Every time he threw a punch, his kingly air grew by a leap and a bound. The force of his punches upward being so powerful that the ground beneath his feet sunk and depressed with every rebound.

And yet, despite the striking visual impact of Ryu's efforts, the finger's qi continued to descend. It wasn't slowed in the slightest nor was it harmed.

By this point, anyone else might have felt the inevitability of it all, the despair. But, Ryu's gaze only seemed to become more fiery. His lungs expanded, his veins bulged, his back flexed and his feet anchored themselves to the floor. It was as though he resolved himself to not move back even a single inch, as though a single movement backward would be an indelible stain on his very being.

At that moment, every World Sea Realm expert that had a view of Ryu back felt something click within their hearts.

This boy had to die.

BANG!

The finger pressed down onto Ryu's fist, tearing the skin that coated it apart.

BANG!

Ryu shot his second fist forward as though he couldn't sense a thing. His bones creaked and broke, yet Ryu pulled it back and sent yet another forward without an ounce of hesitation.

A bubbling within Ryu's blood began to take form. It had started off as a low rumble, his heart being covered in scales. However, Ryu hadn't taken any pride in this. In fact, at this moment, Ryu was thoroughly infuriated by his so-called talent.

Right from the moment the Heavens descended from the skies, they had retreated with their tails between their legs. His overbearing Dragon Blood was nowhere to be seen, his domineering Qilin Blood had vanished, even his imperious Emperor Phoenix Blood had run, retreating to the deepest recesses of his heart.

Why was it that his heart was covered in scales? That was because it was the only place the cowards dared to show their faces.

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Right this moment, the only strength Ryu had was strength he had snatched all on his own. It was nothing more than his pain, suffering and will that granted him this 13th Rite.

The Heavens wanted to strip away the talent it had given him? Fine.

However, if it wanted to erase his existence, to force him to his knees, to force him to lower his head and eradicate what he was from the deepest depths of his soul

That was something he would never accept.

BANG!

Ryu's back was forced into an arc toward the ground. His torso flexed with all its might in an attempt to keep him upright, but the pressure seemed to be far too great.

Ryu's fists flew forward like an endless torrent. It was as though he didn't know fatigue, like he didn't know pain. It wasn't a matter of resolve nor was it a matter of will, it had transcended beyond that. This wasn't the place he could fall because if he was gone, there would be no one left. He was the last line of defense, he was the final remnant of what remained.

His father's life and death was unknown. His mother's life hung by a thread and it was impossible to tell if her breath still remained. This wasn't Little Yaana's burden to carry nor did she have the memories left to do so. And, even if she did in this life, it would be he who protected her, this was the vow he had made to himself.

Nothing would block his path. No mountain, no sky, no Heaven.

Ryu roared, his arms splintering.

Every time his fist collided with the finger, ripples of qi would spread outward. With every passing moment, Ryu's strikes only seemed to be getting more and more powerful, an entire world weighing down on his back.

This wasn't where he would fall.

A violent qi tore through Ryu's body, his gaze glowing with a violent light. Even if the skies were to collapse, he would be there to hold it up. On that day, his mark on the world would be left for countless generations after him.

Fate swirled about him at a maddening pace. His blood and flesh flew through the air and yet he hardly seemed to notice. This back of his, these fists of his, this will of his, they would take it all.

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Ryu's foot heavily stamped onto the ground, causing the castle to sink by another two meters. Cracks spread about wildly, pillars collapsed and wild surges of typhonic air left grating tears in space.

It was just a small gap, a gap that was meaningless to a battle on this level. And yet, it was just enough.

[Reflective Counter] suddenly shook Ryu to his core. The energy he had stored up was so massive that his body threatened to tear apart at the seams. But, if this was enough to force Ryu to collapse, he would have long ago.

Ryu's hips sunk, his torso flexing just as his fist shot out like a rocket. His hair fluttered wildly, his roar engulfing all sound for hundreds of kilometers. The void quaked and for the first time, the finger came to a grinding halt.

However Just because it stopped, didn't mean that Ryu would.

In a lifetime, it was impossible to remember everything. There would always be memories that slipped through the cracks, some of which might even be meaningful. That said There would always be those snippets in time that would leave a mark never to be erased on your very soul

Ryu's fist versus a finger that could dwarf a world was something they would never forget.

For a moment, the world fell into complete silence. In in the next, it was as though everything had been wiped out.

A line was torn from Ryu's body to the skies above. A rippling tornado of fist qi backed by a will that wouldn't be denied shot into the finger, only to rip it apart from the inside out.

The explosion was like a rippling tidal wave of twisting qi, bulging energies, and flashes of blinding dark gold and a hidden brightness that dwarfed it all

Right then, it was like something within Ryu snapped into place, his Bloodlines roaring back to life as though they had always been there.

Waves of dark gold flooded Ryu's body, filling him as though he was a bottomless well. However much came is however much he swallowed, his gaze sparkling with a sort of enigmatic charm that existed on a plane most couldn't grasp.

A clap of thunder rang through the skies.

And at that moment The World Sea Realm experts could no longer hold on.

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With Ryu standing at the center of it all, his body beaten and bloodied and his breathing calm and steady, shards of broken space erupted all around as the seal shattered.