Order and Chaos
Finally, there was a path just above that of Ryu's but just below the greatest path, and that was to fuse with a Realm Heart that was just on the cusp of forming a new world, right when it was at the very peak-most of its potential.
Although it was a little bit disappointing that Ryu wasn't using the strongest of all the paths. The fact that he had stumbled into such a high class path for his Meridians without even knowing what he was doing was a blessing. If he had never failed in his Spiritual Severing, he would have been out of luck until he reached the Dao God Realms.
Unfortunately, the path to becoming a Dao God to unlock his Meridians was cut off from Ryu now that he had already stepped onto another path. He could no longer reach perfection with his Meridians by relying on his cultivation alone, but it was still fine.