Without his Rebirth Flame and access to his Yin Water, he could only rely on external qi. There was no doubt that his alchemy skill had taken a huge plunge downward as a result, but it couldn't be helped. The only way he had managed to fuse his Bloodlines was by sealing away his Talents and he wasn't quite in the right state just yet to unseal them.
However, even with this being the case, Ryu's confidence was still at an all time high. There was simply nothing that could stop him. Wielding a Founding Dao, even while restricted, made him feel like a god amongst men. And, though his Birthed Phenomena was only about 10% as strong as it would be in its peak while being forced to rely on his Cosmos Fog to manifest, compared to the last time he had used it... it wouldn't be an exaggeration that it was still hundreds of times more powerful.
It felt like all the qi in the surrounding 10 kilometers was all under Ryu's control. The Dream Mountains were, unsurprisingly, a very mountainous region. With the ground shaking and swaying beneath them, it felt as though an avalanche could be triggered at any time.
The concentration of qi grew so high that streams of icy blue and fiery red began to form two atmospheres, each with their own surging temperatures.
The little woman's expression couldn't help but change. She knew what Ryu was trying to do, but she hadn't been able to pay close attention to his earlier changes. In addition, she had just come to Ryu's side, so she wasn't very certain about his usual standard of concocting. Although she had seen the results of his alchemy and black smithing before, those were just results and she hadn't seen anything related to the actual process. She had no idea if this was how Ryu usually did things or not.
But what was certain was that she was in awe.
Ryu didn't know that his current choice had opened up an entirely new door for alchemy. He had only done this because he truly didn't have any other choices. With his Dao Heart shattered, much of his talents weren't working properly, and this was the only thing he could think of that would allow him to concoct. But...
He realized that what he could accomplish now felt far greater than anything he had experienced in the past. It wasn't in terms of quality, but rather quantity. He felt that if his cauldron was larger, it wouldn't be impossible to concoct pills made for giants and monsters amongst men even kilometers in size, or more appropriately for the current moment... concoct for millions of people at once.
The hands of Ryu's Birthed Phenomena rose. The two streams of qi were separated and suddenly supplemented by a third type that came out of nowhere. Ryu's Spiritual Qi surged, forming globules of golden qi that became like the stars of constellation maps. They quickly connected, forming one connection after another until several magnificent formations were created at once.
It looked as though the inner workings of a complex watch had been stripped clean, magnified, and then displayed to the world. Gears turned, springs sprung, and mechanisms clicked into place, becoming more and more complex the larger amounts of Spiritual Qi Ryu poured in.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Ryu made use of the Magus Sky God's inheritance. With his Embryonic Cauldron as a core of the formation, he expanded its abilities outward, creating an alchemy cauldron with his Spiritual Qi that matched the enormous size of his Birthed Phenomena.
The skies trembled and Ryu's gaze, rotating with twin eight trigram diagrams, one gold, the other dark gold, sharpened and resonated like the surface of a blazing star.
Large amounts of Spiritual Herbs suddenly flew from Ryu's spatial ring. Each one was relatively simple and even more World Sea Realm experts wouldn't blink twice upon seeing them, let alone Sky Gods. These type of herbs were the kinds that the Frost Clan had the absolute most of, and in the few minutes that Ryu had needed to prepare things to this stage, he had already watched the little woman take these to perfect maturity. In fact, over 50% of them were Crown Herbs.
"HA!"
Ryu unleashed a roar. It didn't seem like it had come from a human at all, it felt as though the cry of a Phoenix and the bellowing rage of a mighty Dragon were fused into one. Giving it both a sharp and resonating character, along with a deep, abyssal tone.
Those that heard it sensed their blood run cold, the scene of swirling masses of icy blue and fiery red forever imprinted into their hearts.
The Dream Asura Race had their fair share of alchemists, and they were quite powerful at that. The only unfortunate part was that they focused far more on alchemy and black smithing than they did formations, or else their Corps Formations would be far better than they were.
But this couldn't be helped. The Soul Fire Faction had both great talent in the soul and fire, these were both things that were needed for black smithing and alchemy, so few cared to become Formation Masters. However, right this moment, just after feeling that it was unfortunate that they had progressed down this lane, they felt thankful once more...
Because that was the only way they could fully appreciate the scene before them.
The skies above rumbled. Arcs of lightning flashing. The cauldron of golden gears and springs that Ryu had formed was struck before the process was even half completed, however before the bolt could land, his Birthed Phenomena opened its mouth, swallowing the lightning bolt whole and filtering it to Ryu's body.
Ryu's white hair fluttered wildly in the wind, suddenly gaining a hint of a silver-gold color. After fusing his Bloodlines, his hair had already begun to give off a delicate radiance of its own, but at that moment, it had become almost blinding. Even his skin itself began to glow.
The tattoos that had vanished from Ryu's body began to appear one after another again, swallowing the lightning like greedy, starved beasts.
The eight trigram diagrams in Ryu's eyes began to rotate faster and faster.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BOOM!
The bolts grew thicker and thicker.
Whether it was the oldest down to the youngest, the members of the garbage units looked into the skies, not believing what they were seeing.
As for the three Sky Gods who had forgotten to move, although none of them were alchemists, they hadn't breathed a single breath. They knew exactly what it meant for lightning to descend during an alchemist's concoction, but they had never seen lightning descend even before the concoction process was finished.
BOOM!
The self-created cauldron lid flew into the skies, shattering under the might of the thunder above. It had reached a point where even the rumbling thunder itself was a threat, vibrating with the ground below and shaking everything in its path.
Suddenly, it was as though a roaring lightning serpent king was descending from the skies along with its clan. Lightning covered the dark clouds, making it look more like the skies were covered in golden clouds rather than the dense, black cumulonimbus monstrosities there really were.
ραndαsΝοvεl ƈοm Ryu opened his arms and his Birthed Phenomena followed suit. His tattoos glowed a fiendish dark gold color. When his Birthed Phenomena opened its mouth this time, it didn't just passively accept the fall of lightning, it actively inhaled, taking everything that came.
It all surged into Ryu's body, tempering it and feeding his sealed Lightning Embryo.
And then, it all fell into silence.
Finally, with the lightning having vanished, the transparent innards of the self-created cauldron could be seen, and the result made people such in a cold breath.
Pills. Millions of them. Each one radiating a dense heat to the point of emitting a deep crimson color. However... This wasn't the most astounding part.
Each and every one of them was Runed, without fail. Although the Runes were only partial and not complete, most hadn't seen even a single Runed pill in their life, let alone over a million in a single setting.
Ryu took deep, gasping breaths. Sweat matted his forehead. However, a sharp wind suddenly passed by in the next moment, leaving him refreshed and without the slightest hint of fatigue.
"In the next half an hour, I will teach you all a formation. Those that succeed, will be allowed to have one of these pills. If you are too useless to learn it, I will leave you behind."
The garbage units suddenly sensed agitated. They had a opportunity to eat a Runed Pill? Even those noble geniuses that constantly suppressed them wouldn't receive such a chance, right?
The Soul Body Faction opened his mouth to say something. He sensed that this was truly too much of a waste, but when he thought about how Ryu had been treated in the Dream Asura Race since he had come, he was far too embarrassed to say anything. It was even to the point he didn't even look to them to provide such a large amount of materials, he directly supplied them himself.
They had no claim to his pills at all.
Those in the surroundings could only watch those pills floating in the skies, knowing they couldn't touch them. It sensed like Ryu was taunting them.
Even if Ryu was useless in every other aspect, just this alone was enough to prove that he belonged.