Tip of the Iceberg
There were things that had to be compromised.
Ryu wasn't a fool, he knew exactly how dangerous his mentality was and he knew that one day it might very well get him killed. As arrogant as he was, one thing that Ryu had never done was guarantee that he would reach the top of the world, all he had ever said was that was something he would strive for with all his being. In fact, he had never even claimed that he would certainly defeat all the geniuses with far greater talent than his own, he only ever said that he really wanted to meet them.
Of course, inwardly, Ryu did want to reach the pinnacle and he did want to defeat all of those geniuses in his way, but for the first time, he also had to acknowledge that his starting point wasn't as good as others. In such a situation, he had to make a choice…
And that choice was between his cultivation path and his Dao Heart. Between these two, he chose the latter.