Maia was so angered at this moment that she didn't really understand why she was angry, she stared at the skies like she was about to tear the whole place apart , her aura kept rising and rising steadily, the inn that had already been half destroyed by the lightning bolt was once again shaking under the pressure of her aura. But it was at that moment she felt something under the rubbles below her , her eyes darted to the position real quick and there it was.
A dense and thickly condensed dark energy was giving out short bursts of pulses pushing away the first around it. She flew towards at speed of light and stretched her hand to pick it up, she could see that it was a spiritual core, atleast that was what her senses were telling her but her eyes was seeing something different. It was a heart that was formed of dense dark energy, there was no blood in it, she could see the veins and tendons connected to it, instead of blood thick dark energy was flowing through those veins. Her hand paused mid way, her instincts told her that if she touches the heart (core) then it was over.
She was confused, a core shouldn't be of any harm since the owner was dead , except…
"His not dead!! Yes!!". She exclaimed in joy and jumped back to her former position to continue watching.but her aura wasn't retracted one bit, she just stood silently with stars shining in her eyes but beneath those cute shiny eyes laid a cold glint of dense killing intent.
Ryu really didn't understand state he was in, he knew he was smitten by the heavens and he was sure the heavens rejected his existence completely, he believed he was going to die but he didn't know what happens next and he found himself here.
The skies were red in colour, the sun was a huge ball of magma, he could feel the energy around and he immediately concluded that maybe he had actually died.
"Oh..so this is hell, since I'm rejected by the heavens this is obviously were I belong…I should have known". After saying those words he froze. He looked down at himself, he was still whole like nothing happened to him, he looked around again to be sure.
"Is this my soul body?...no I'm sure this isn't it, but this isn't my real body either, I was destroyed, so what is this…"
He knew his soul didn't have a form, it was just a dense ball of evil energy, so he just didn't understand how he was here, but then a name rang in his ears. 'Spirit' .
Spirit… the mysterious part of a person that isn't linked to the body but also deeply linked to the body. Ryu immediately thought about the next realm of cultivation he was targeting, it was called the 'spirit enlightenment realm'. That was when it clicked.
"So I had to discover my spirit or my spirit body to reach this realm…not quite". Ryu still stood frowning, he was sure he could feel the gates of the heavens as of that time and the moment he strolled forward to push it open he was catapulted back into his body, obliterated by lightning and he woke up here.
"So if this is hell, then I have to comprehend this place so I can get back right?". With that thought he speed forward. His body felt lighter as he blitzed through the region of the nether realm with lightening speed. He didn't know which direction to go but this time he handed over the reins of control to instincts and moved forward.
After hours of running he finally came to a stop. The region he was at now had a very strong suction force that pulled everything down into pit that laid in front of him, he could hear wails and screams of agony and resentment coming from the pit.
"So those are souls that couldn't cross over to the afterlife, now I know what this place is, The nether realm, I remember the script say something like there are also several planes in the nether realm, the question now is which plane am I at? Hmm"
He walked forward with gentle pace as he stared down into the seemingly bottomless pit, he could see malevolent creatures flying about in the pit, souls of different creatures being tortured as they spew curses and wailed in terror.
It was a terrible sight to behold but Ryu was totally unfazed, he now had an inkling on what to do to get out of the place.
"I don't know how to comprehend this place to gain enlightenment from it, I'll just leave a mark here that will connect this spirit body to my main body. That should be easy"
Ryu thought to himself, but the naivety in his eyes made it clear to anyone watching that he was about to do something overly foolish.
With one more step Ryu descended into the bottomless pits, he could feel different gazes locked on him and immediately some creatures had already sped forward to welcome him.
Ryu just closed his eyes and tried to use his absorbtion ability, he wanted to leave a mark here to connect himself to the plane but what mark would he leave?
The normal cultivator just needed to gain acknowledgement of the heavens and their spirits will already get tethered to the heavens, then their cultivation forward will be nourished with the natural essence that was bestowed by the heavens.
Of course Ryu was clueless. His thoughts were very simple. In his opinion the heavens were more active than the nether realm, so since this realm is so passive and he couldn't tether to anything why not not do the opposite.
'Since I can't imprint on you or gain approval from anything in this dead realm, I'll just imprint you on myself' . It was that simple.
With this crazy idea in head, Ryu began to absorb like crazy, he felt like he was a bottomless well himself, all the energy he was absorbing were vanishing into him without a trace and he couldn't help but wonder if he was doing it right. He immediately increased his absorbtion rate, with that three black holes appeared on him. One on his forehead, one on his chest and another on his abdomen. He was totally unaware of this progress, he still even felt he was absorbing to slow and he felt like if it continues at this rate , it'll take him centuries to clear up this pit.
The black holes on his body spun at breakneck speed and expanded continuously, slowly but surely creeping towards each other, Ryu became a tornado that took along anything that was in his path. The demonic creatures flying towards him began to loose control of themselves when they got within a 3 kilometres from him, they were filled towards the black holes on his body, then it would seem like each black hole was fighting for a piece of them ,by the end they get shred to three halfs and fly towards each black hole only to be grinded to tiny particles and vanishing into the back holes.
If one stood at the mouth of the pit and looked in, they'll see that the already chaotic pit was now more chaotic than it can ever be. Ryu was like a tiny magnet floating in the air while all the metals in the surroundings were being pulled towards him.
Souls flew and vanished into his spirit body, demons were absorbed, the flames were absorbed, the lake of magma flowing beneath the pit was being pulled towards him.
In the mortal realm.
The skies over the capital city had being dark for over 10 years and each day it groaned and rumbled continuously, it looked like an apocalyptic scene just without the destruction of houses and the people being calm.
The major families in the country and sects were on hot plate this past few years, all the old monsters were out, noone dared to trigger a breakthrough for fear of calling on a tribulation, the could still remember that black bolt of lightning that struck about ten years ago.
In a certain castle, a place that wouldn't be approached by the normal citizens of the capital, Maia sat on a throne, looking forwards with an empty gaze. This was the castle of the Ash clan. This clan was the hidden clan that lorded over the other other 3 clans, the Brent clan, the Draco family and ironheart clan.
The Ash clan were a mysterious force they had clan branches in each of the five continents of the mortal plane. Although there were also different families and clans just like them , they all had their own jurisdiction and territories and in this southern continent, the Ash clan ruled over the western country. Of course all this were hidden, the public only knew them as a middle grade clan. It was only the other 3 families that had an idea about them but still all they knew was vague.
But on this mortal plane, Maia could as well be a goddess so how could something so mediocre hide from her sight, she had stormed their courtyard and claimed it for herself , anyone who opposed just had their head dangling at the gates of the clan.
She sent miss Liv and master young because she couldn't bother with those two, but the insisted on staying and now they were reduced to nothing but servants.
She placed Ryu's heart in a energy containing formation that she renewed each year .
She could feel that he was alive and was thriving to gain his consciousness but it was difficult. During the time of this 10 years she had recovered her power back to the peak of the transcendent realm, but still her memories was lost, all she knew was there was an upper plane that she could ascend to and regain all her powers but each time the thought formed, a dread seemingly wash over her that she never dared to take the last step.At this rate she also knew her memories were incomplete and the only one who might have a clue to help her was Ryu. Had she known dude was as clueless as she was , she might have crumbled.
Today she was in her throne room as usual just staring blankly at the open space before her when the skies abruptly rumbled , flashes of lightning appeared above the capital city just looming about as if looking for something.
Maia squinted her eyes trying to understand why the tribulation was being triggered again.
"Ryu…" her eyes widened immediately and she darted towards the formation room. She was stunned on spot to see what was going on.
Within this years, Ryu had been struggling to gain his consciousness but had never succeeded because there was no body part available to link that to but now it seemed like he was going to succeed soon. Around is heart a ribcage could be seen forming with a slow pace , the bones were so black that it looked like if one kept staring at it one might feel their souls being devoured.
Maia shook her head and looked up towards the roof, her gaze piercing forward like she could see beyond the roof of the castle.
"So that's it huh?? You've been waiting for his arrival since all this years so you could complete what you failed to do ten years ago right?". Maia asked with a cold glint in her eyes and as if to answer a deafening thunderclap echoed like the heavens were enraged at her questioning.
"But why though?? What is he that you're so agitated to erase this early? He's so weak yet you don't want to give a chance? What or who is he?"
She kept asking but the rumblings settled down a bit, and returned to how it had been , just laying in wait.
Meanwhile in the nether realm.
The seemingly bottomless pit had begun to finally show it's bottom, Ryu had been absorbed all the energy permitting the place and it remained some magma around the place. He didn't know how much time had past but all he knew was he had absorbed energy and lava and creatures that occupied a pit that was bigger than the whole mortal realm into his spirit body.
After sometime he finally stood at the bottom of the pit from which he couldn't see the top at all. It was dark and eerily quiet. He spread his wings and flew straight upwards. He still felt like he could keep on absorbing and he was clueless to the comotion he had caused in the nether realm.
A few weeks ago in the nether realm.
The whole plane began to tremble , the fiery sun in the red sky was beginning to turn black and every single demon clan was alerted of the commotion.
"Something's wrong with the inferno prison". An ancient and solemn voice echoed in a massive hall where ten demons could be seen sitting round a long table. This hall was a meeting room where the arch demons assigned to a nether plane would always come together if needed. It has already been billions of years since the demons used this room and once again they were summoned.
All of them had an incredulous look on their faces. 'what could possibly be happening to the inferno prison?'. This were the thoughts in their heads. Because the inferno prison was just as the name sounds, a prison, noone who enters there can come out except from the 3 demon gods that existed since time memorial.
The flames there wasnt something any demon is willing to come in contact with and right now they were hearing that something is wrong with the prison. They would have argued but the trembling of the plane told them that as absurd as it sounded it might as well be true.
They all came to an anonymous decision to prepare their troops and head for the inferno prison. This decision was made because of a statement.
"....if the inferno prison collapses, then this whole plane crumbles and once again we'll be pushed backwards from our goal…"
Once the ten arch demons heard this statement their breathes hitched and their heartbeats hasten, how could they forget that incident??...
Immediately they swung into action and sped up with the various processes, in no time all ten legions of demon armies were seen surrounding the massive mouth of the bottomless pit.
They had waited here for 3 weeks and finally the whole realm stopped trembling. They all became alert , staring vigilantly at the face of the pit.
The oblivious Ryu was speeding upwards, since sometime ago he suddenly felt that the gravity in going upwards had became somehow more heavier, but he didn't slow down he pierced through the air till he could finally see the red skies. He frowned slightly, last he could remember the skies always have a tinge of gold to it so why did it suddenly become more crimson ??.
With one more burst of speed he flew straight out of the pit and now he could see the surroundings.
" Damn well….I should have expected this"
A lot of powerful auras locked onto his position quickly giving him no chance to breath. But Ryu replied with a fiendish grin that didn't look less demonic.
A massive scythe that looked twice his body silently congealed in his hand as he prepared to dive into battle.
He was quite pumped up, so why not let loose a bit?.