ragginovel Chapter 2571: Greater Self-Understanding
Chapter 2571: Greater Self-Understanding
Chapter 2571: Greater Self-Understanding
He wasn't new to this game; he knew what was very close to happening. That was why he knocked her out just a moment before it happened.
It had been a long time since he had destroyed a Martial Path. The last time he did was before he broke into the Master Realm. Ever since he broke into the Master Realm, however, he discovered that he simply didn't have the power to break the path of a Martial Master.
It was too strong.
Too sturdy.
It wasn't just a matter of combat power, he didn't have enough adaptive evolution. Not even all his systems of thought-the Metabody System, the Hypnomatrix, and the Yggdrasil System-were enough to destroy a Martial Path of a Martial Master.
There was a reason that the Upper Realms were so different from the Lower Realms.
It was only after he created the Forge of Creation that his adaptive evolution had risen to a whole new level of power that was far beyond his reach prior. It had single-handedly redefined his Martial Path, destroying the solidity of his Martial Art and reducing it to liquid. Water.
His adaptive evolution had become so potent that even the invincible Martial Paths of the Upper Realms succumbed under the sheer weight of his.
He had mixed feelings about this, although he was generally leaning positive.
On one hand, he was extremely satisfied and pleased with the undeniable proof that his adaptive evolution had reached a whole new level of power far beyond anything it had prior to the Forge of Creation.
This meant that he had taken massive strides in the direction of fulfilling Project Water. On the other hand, it was annoying that he once more had to be careful not to destroy Paths. If he had destroyed her Path like he was about to. It would have had disastrous consequences for his negotiations and deliberations with the Sekigahara Confederate. He had been invited over as a guest and treated with hospitality. Provoking a fight and then crippling an important Martial Master of the Sekigahara Confederate would have becomea diplomatic crisis and fiasco of the highest order. It would be no different from an ambassador committing murder amidst a diplomatic visit to another nation.
"Thank god that didn't happen," Rui murmured as he gazed at her unconscious body, shaking his head lightly before glancing at the spectator stands. "Next."
Rui frowned. "What's the matter? Come on out. I'm relatively tired at this point so you might actually have a slim chance at winning."
They gritted their teeth with humiliation. "... You have defeated everybody."
"Oh..." Rui's expression fell with disappointment. "That's... dull."
He suddenly missed Ieyasu for some reason.
He was the only Martial Artist who made Rui feel ordinary and normal.
It was a profound realization.
Most of his life, he had been lightyears away from fulfilling the project.
Only now was he closer to the end goal than the starting point.
And thus, only now had he gained the power needed to illuminate parts of himself that he had
simply been too weak to see.
"Truly..." He gazed at his hands. "Power does reveal who one is after all."
It wasn't just that fulfillment of Project Water that he sought.
It was the journey to getting there that was equally important.
It might even have been even more important.
He truly loved the art and science of Adaptive Evolution.
He loved running into an insurmountable barrier and then figuring out a way to adaptively
evolve.
He loved discovering new dimensions of adaptive evolution he didn't know about before.
He loved exploring them.
He loved his Martial Art with all his heart.
He wished there were an infinite number of things for him to adaptively evolve to.
These realizations that he had gained only after crossing a certain threshold of power taught
him much about who he was as a being.
And now, he had taken one more step closer to the Sage Realm.