Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Their formation had fallen... in a single strike? How was that even impossible? He was certain that there were no Perfect Sky Gods present, let alone the Omniscient Sky Gdo it would take to shatter the formation with such ease.

The only explanation was that Ryu had targeted the Formation\'s weakness, but it had only just been displayed, how could he see through it with such speed? No, even beyond that, Ryu was far too weak to see through such a thing. Although it was difficult to see Ryu\'s strength through the volatile energies, and especially the strength of the Nine Pillar Flame Sect\'s shroud, the City Lord was still sharp enough to be certain that he wasn\'t in the Sky God Realm\'s just yet.

"They must have scouted out the region beforehand! There are spies!\'

The City Lord was suddenly standing on tenterhooks. He didn\'t know who to trust around him, but Ryu\'s army wasn\'t going to let him have the chance.

Ryu closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. The nine pillars within his body resonated with a golden light that shone through even his skin. His tattoos appeared once again, the light of the pillars refracting through their complex structures and making them shine even brighter than they had in the past.

Ryu hadn\'t expected earlier that he would be able to channel the strength of the formation into himself like this, it was only after the formation was deployed for the first time that he had sensed the distinct possibility.

What was shocking about this matter was that according to the original formation of the Corps Formation, this shouldn\'t have been possible. Corps Formations were already complex enough, the idea of filtering all of that accumulated strength into the body of a single person without them being crippled or destroyed was ridiculous.

However, Ryu was able to, and that wasn\'t because he had some unique understanding that no one else did. Rather, it was because of his Bone Structure and its synergy with the Nine Pillars that called his body home. The final splash that allowed it all to come together was the path of his Dao.

Ryu realized that when the formation was activated, it was akin to being the center of the universe. The ground below became the representation of Earth while the skies above became the representation of the Heavens.

The Pillars would suppress the Earth below and the Heavens above, drawing power from both.

However, with his Bone Structure, Ryu could become the center of his own universe, his Cosmos Fog allowed him to disassociate from the world, becoming an existence separated from the Earth and Heavens that the formation had come to know.

This matter sounded confusing. If that was the case, and Ryu acted as the center of the formation, didn\'t it mean that Ryu was essentially asking the formation to draw its power from himself? In that case, wouldn\'t the formation plummet in strength instead?

But this was an incorrect assumption. Rather than saying that the formation was drawing upon the Heaven and Earth for power, it was more accurate to say that it was using it to stabilize the power that was coming from the members of the formation.

Essentially, the power drawn from the Earth below and the Heavens above were what allowed the Corps Formation to use such a high percentage of the individual strength of the soldiers that made up its formation.

So, what if Ryu took a step and became the middleman of this operation?

For one, his body would be under a great deal of pressure, but the more important fact would be that the power of the formation was stabilized not just one time, but two times over. The brunt of the power was weakened by the Heaven and Earth of the Nether Realm\'s Fifth Plane, then it was filtered through Ryu\'s body once again.

Ryu was obviously much weaker than the Nether Plane, but even so he still managed to increase the percentage by 2%

This proportion was shocking, but it was less important than the second matter Ryu gained, and that was his access to the excess energy.

The formation was boosted from 63% to 65%, while Ryu gained entry to the remaining 35%. Of this 35%, Ryu could once again only use 2% for himself, but this was only part of the picture. If instead of allowing the strength to enter his body, he used his comprehension of the Nine Pillars to wield and control it, he could use all 35%! In fact, he could stop the first 65% from returning to the army below, taking on all 100% for himself!

There was no doubt that this was a huge drain on Ryu\'s Focus Qi. Controlling so much power, most of which wasn\'t his own. However, this was exactly what Ryu wanted.

The being of the Prayer Mat exposed one very important thing: it was feasible to enhance Fcous Qi and even target it directly, he just didn\'t know how.

At first, he was blind to how to do this, but with his discovery of the secrets of the souls in his body, he realized that the answer might very well be hiding within his body. And, just like he had used his shattered Dao Heart to find the position of where it resided, he would use the drainage of his Focus Qi to find where it truly lay.

Once he succeeded in comprehending this, he would create a pill that could replenish Focus Qi. In fact, if he took it a step further, he might even find a technique of cultivating it directly so he would never have to rely on outside sources again.

Ryu\'s stare glowed and his hands grasped at the air. He gripped them tightly and the Birthed Phenomena to his back roared. Even with its eyes closed, it still seemed to look down upon the whole world.

And then... Ryu punched.

The aura of a Fist God descended, but never in his life had Ryu thought that this aura could be so powerful.

BANG!