Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

It wasn't exactly the same, it was more subtly the same. He could feel the laws of the world twisting around the little phoenix's claw, echoing across the planes and breaking their rules one after another. But the main difference was that the Unbalance Mantra passed the laws of the universe through a filter, distorting them as though one was observing them through a puddle of water, the more proficient you were, the thicker you could make that layer of water and the more you could distort those laws.

These White Phoenix Heavenly Patterns, though...

It didn't feel like it was distorting laws, rather it felt like it was creating new ones, layering them atop of existing ones and twisting reality around its own small region.

This was a subtle difference, but the implication was enormous and almost difficult to put into words.

With the Unbalance Sutra, there was only so much you could distort laws. In addition, distorting these laws didn't break them down or reform them. Essentially, it was only allowing you to access things that you couldn't just yet ahead of time. If you were to take the most unflattering summary of the Unbalance Mantra, that would definitely be it.

This was probably something the creators were aware of as well, which was why the Art Mantra was created alongside it, only by putting these two together was it worthy of being the legacy of an extraordinarily powerful Sect as the power of Unbalance alone wasn't enough.

However, the White Phoenix Heavenly Patterns were entirely different. It was creating its own.

While it was far weaker than the Unbalance Mantra as of now, by a large margin at that, its future potential couldn't even be properly seen. When the Unbalance Mantra hit its limit, these white Heavenly Patterns would only just be hitting their stride.

Ryu carefully reached out a palm, trying to touch the beautiful Heavenly Patterns. They seemed to have characters from all four Pattern systems that Ryu was familiar with, the Fire, Ice, Dark and Emperor Phoenix Patterns...

The Fire and Emperor Phoenix Patterns were very similar, the latter just being a hint more golden than red. They were drawn like the vein patterns of gorgeous feathers, weaving in and out of one another and exuding nearly unmatched magnificence.

The Ice Phoenix Heavenly Patterns moved only straight up and down and were the simplest of them all, forming nothing but perfect 90 degree angles while radiating a delicate white-blue color.

The Dark Phoenix Heavenly Patterns were the most sinister of them all, forming swirling black patterns that looked almost like warped tornados prepared to shred everything in their path. It was the most difficult to absorb directly without being sucked into the darkness, but it also carried beauty in its own right.

The only way Ryu could describe these White Phoenix Heavenly Patterns was as a combination of all three. It was more free flowing, more unrestrained, all while radiating a purity that the Unbalance Mantra simply didn't have.

When Ryu used the Unbalance Mantra, he could almost feel the Heavens fighting back against it. This was why there was so much danger involved, one could damage their souls and even end up as a completely different person, and that was only if you had the talent in the first place, if you lacked the talent even trying would likely end in death.

Somehow, though, this little one seemed to avoid all of that. As though the Heavens couldn't bear to harm it either, it helped it act as it pleased, even moving to the side to accommodate it.

Ryu's palm touched the patterns and they dispersed into the wind. They were incredibly fragile and held almost no power, but this was inevitable. Not only had he already been aware that these patterns would be far weaker than the Unbalance Mantra in the start, this little one was still an infant.

It was unlikely that this pattern would be able to display any real strength until he entered the Sky God Realm, but this honestly could have been far worse. After all, usually he wouldn't awaken this little one until he was in the World Sea Realm, giving him even less time to help it mature.

Now, he had an additional three Realms to help its growth, and his Embryonic Qi was a cheat code of sorts toward this end. If he was diligent with it, he might be able to make real use of this before the Sky God Realm.

After some thought, Ryu sent two thirds of his Embryonic Qi forward.

The little phoenix greedily opened its beak, swallowing every one with undying vigor. It released another cry that echoed out of Ryu's body and caused the Radiant Star Sect to tremble. Luckily, the little one seemed to have its lesson from last time and restrained itself somewhat, allowing Mae's breakthrough to suffocate it somewhat.

Radiating a blinding white light, the little phoenix actually grew double in size, its wings now covering a span of just over eight meters. Such changes had only taken 20 or so drops, which was quite astonishing. That amount would take Ryu about a day to produce, but if he wanted the little phoenix to show such growth through normal cultivation, it would have taken almost a year at least.

A year worth of progress in a single day, that was game changing.

What was most shocking, though, was that when the little phoenix grew, Ryu's Spiritual Foundation grew as well. He had already taken a large step toward the Middle Dao Pedestal Realm in just this one session.

'At this pace, I'll reach the Middle Dao Pedestal Realm in less than two weeks. I'll be at the entrance of the Cosmic Seed Realm within half a year...

Ryu's gaze glowed.

His Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation was already at a step beyond the extreme of the extreme, so he didn't need to cultivate it within the Dao Pedestal Realm at all. If not for the fact he had two Spiritual Foundations, the moment he entered the Dao Pedestal Realm, he would have already been at the entrance of the Cosmic Seed Realm.

Even so, Ryu knew that he had to go to it. It was this Spiritual Foundation that had made all of this possible, he wanted to personally see it in a way he had neer been able to before.

After taking a glance toward the White Phoenix who was happily flying around, Ryu vanished and appeared above a Spiritual Foundation of silver and blue.