Chapter 8 – The Path of Formlessness
The journey from Vast Sea City to Heaven Dou City took a full month.
Ryuga spent most of the trip quietly cultivating or observing his surroundings, while Eliza fussed over him and Granvill pretended he wasn't doing the exact same thing.
When they finally reached the capital, they settled into the manor Eliza would stay in, and Ryuga started attending the academy the very next morning.
He entered Class One of the primary division.
The Heaven Dou Royal Academy separated its system into six years of primary education and six years of intermediate training.
Primary classes focused on basic soul master knowledge, combat theory, and fundamental understanding of soul beasts.
Intermediate studies were much harsher, filled with advanced soul master combat, elemental theory, martial spirit development, and tournament preparation.
Genius students were scouted early, sometimes even before they turned ten, and prepared step by step for the Continental Elite Young Soul Master Tournament.
At this stage, only nobles were allowed into the primary division.
Commoner soul masters would join only in the intermediate division, and only if they proved themselves with impressive talent.
A commoner needed to reach level twenty-one by the age of twelve to even be considered.
The academy preserved noble hierarchy fiercely.
Ryuga attended morning classes diligently.
Afternoons were spent meditating and cultivating in the academy's simulation chambers, testing the interaction between his Shadow Armour and soul power.
Evenings belonged to the academy library, a place where he lost himself among scrolls and books until the staff politely chased him out.
Every other day, he visited Eliza at the manor.
On weekends, he spent the whole day with her, exploring markets and restaurants across the capital.
His rapid physical growth after absorbing his first ring made Eliza cling even tighter to him, proud and emotional at every change.
Granvill returned to Vast Sea City after Ryuga's first day at the academy.
He contacted them every weekend through a communication soul tool, checking on Eliza and tossing fatherly advice at Ryuga.
Though soul tools of this era were undeveloped compared to later generations, nobles still treasured storage tools and simple communication devices.
Ryuga had received a storage soul tool for his sixth birthday, a ten-cubic-meter treasure he used constantly.
The communication devices were rarer, reserved for nobles and royal families, important for strategic and emergency use.
With such tools, Granvill stayed closer than distance allowed.
Two months passed quietly.
Ryuga woke one morning to the subtle shift in his soul power and realized he had finally reached level twenty.
He immediately contacted his class teacher, who then approached the dean.
In those three months, including the month-long journey to the capital, Ryuga achieved something far more significant.
He comprehended the prototype of a cultivation method of his own creation.
He named it the Formless Cultivation Method — a technique born from observing his own meridians and the pathways of soul skills he copied.
He also formed a soul core inside his abdominal region.
It was small, barely the size of a grain, yet it pulsed with unimaginable importance.
It coordinated perfectly with the soul skills he used, strengthening his foundation dramatically.
Once he gained his first soul skill, he created the soul core immediately, knowing its value for future cultivation and every long-term project he envisioned.
The quality of his soul power rose sharply after that, reaching a density comparable to Soul Masters in the forties or even fifties.
The core was young, but its potential was immeasurable.
He wouldn't have reached level twenty so soon without it.
The refined soul power required more energy to advance, slowing normal progression, but the efficiency of the soul core made up for much of the loss.
Everything Ryuga built was preparing him for eventual ascension to the God Realm.
The Formless Cultivation Method was simple in concept but terrifyingly difficult to perform.
It required absorbing soul power directly into the soul core, letting the core rotate, and sending the refined energy through every meridian before looping back.
It was an infinite cycle, constantly cleansing and reinforcing the body.
Ryuga discovered this because Transparent World allowed him to observe something most people never noticed.
When Soul Masters used soul skills, their energy left the body through a specific anchor point of their martial spirit — like Granvill's sword or shield.
That meant absorbing through meridians was inefficient, creating unnecessary delays.
So Ryuga bypassed the meridians entirely.
He absorbed straight into the soul core, and his soul skills activated faster than he believed possible.
The process made his body feel lighter, sharper, and more responsive after only a week.
The method exhausted his mind heavily.
He completed only twenty or thirty cycles per day before his mind throbbed with strain.
This was still only a prototype — he needed to manually control every step.
But he believed that as his spirit and body grew stronger, Formless Cultivation would eventually become instinctual, running quietly in the background without conscious effort.
When that happened, he would surpass all natural limits.
His future would unfold on an entirely different level.
His class teacher, Fu Soi, almost fainted when Ryuga informed him he reached level twenty.
Two months of academy life and the boy already advanced again.
Only when he tested Ryuga with a crystal ball and learned about his innate full soul power did he finally believe it.
Soon after, Ryuga stood in the education board office.
Meng Shenji, Bai Baoshan, and Zhi Lin stood before him — three Spirit Douluo, pillars of the academy.
Their presence filled the room with calm pressure.
"So, Ryuga, I heard you reached level twenty," Meng Shenji said.
"And you wish to acquire your second spirit ring?"
Ryuga nodded, meeting the elder's gaze without hesitation.
"Yes, Principal Meng Shenji. I am ready for my second ring."
He paused, his expression turning serious.
"However, if the academy is going to assist me, then there are conditions. And… a secret I must share."
The three elders exchanged glances.
Ryuga continued calmly, "You must swear an oath upon your martial spirits that you will not reveal what I show you."
He let the weight of the words settle.
"In return, I will guarantee the academy's victory in the next Continental Elite Young Soul Master Tournament."
He did not want to reveal the truth about his first ring's age, his cultivation, or his soul core structure.
But relying only on Granvill would slow down his development.
He needed the full resources of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
He had briefly considered contacting Qian Renxue.
But she had not yet infiltrated the royal family as Xue Qinghe, and making contact at this stage would be dangerous.
Bibi Dong was completely out of the question — she was too unstable and too deeply entangled with the Rakshasa God's influence.
He thought about the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan but decided the time was not right.
He also considered Dugu Bo but held back for now since he had not yet found a guaranteed method to cure Dugu Yan's poison.
Only recently, after forming his soul core, did Ryuga discover a possible solution — but even then, he wasn't sure if it could bridge the gap between his power and Dugu Bo's.
With these thoughts simmering beneath his calm expression, Ryuga waited.
The three elders stood before him in silence, evaluating his request, his confidence, and the strange certainty in his voice.
Everything depended on the oath they would swear — and what Ryuga would reveal afterward.
Written by: Ashborn_
Edited by: Chat GPT