Fork in the Road
While the second option was more dangerous for most, for Ryu, it was basically the only option he had. In his current state, the only thing protecting him from dying right this moment was the uncollapsed space. If he stepped outside, his current cultivation and strength level wouldn't be able to hold up at all.
Even so, Ryu wasn't worried.
Strength was created on the edge of danger, and if there was one thing Ryu didn't lack, it was guts. Plus, he didn't feel that he was throwing his life away at all.
At that moment, Ryu's aura changed. Twin eight trigram diagrams appeared in his irises and a dense sense of ancientness began to exude from him. The Time Qi deep within Ryu began to rumble and roll. At the same time, his Chaos Qi rumbled.