Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1225 Am I...?

Ryu's gaze flashed like lightning, his steps coming to a stop.

This was indeed game changing. Not only did he manage to maintain the mysteriousness of the [Absolute Domain] movement technique, he had also added the unpredictability and speed of spatial manipulation. If he ever met an opponent he struggled against, he could even add the variable of time to his steps as well, making his steps even more mysterious and impossible to fathom.

While the foundational layer of the technique would still be useless against those at and above the World Sea Realm, Ryu actually felt that if things were like this, then...

Ryu sent a glance toward the Ancestral Grade version of the technique, his gaze narrowing.

The main difference between the techniques were the complexities of the calculations. The best analogy was like imagining the enemies this technique would be used against like planetary bodies with strong gravitational pulls, while the technique itself was an attempt to escape orbit.

When Daos and cultivations reached a certain level, the gravitational pull was too strong for the technique to reach escape velocity and thus its calculations became useless.

In order to counter this, the technique would add another layer of complexity, extending the range of the stars that entered the scope of the technique and adding additional variables to the foundational calculations. And, of course, the final piece was adding more force to the escape attempt, or more accurately, using stronger qi.

This last piece of the puzzle wasn't something that Ryu could change no matter what he did. His cultivation level was his cultivation level, even his Essence and Chaos Qi were capped at a certain standard, he couldn't just start using Cosmic Grade qi just because.

However, what would happen if he raised the standards of every other aspect of the technique except this one?

Ryu's gaze narrowed.

...

On the outside, Zovaes, Iroh and Juno stood to their feet, their frowns deep. After being kicked out, they once again found themselves trapped in the formation. They stood in place, realizing there was no point in moving.

They exchanged a look and began speaking about their experiences. Soon they realized that although their approaches were all different, they had ultimately all fallen in the same way. Their only conclusion was that they weren't fated with this Legacy World.

When they had entered, they felt faint traces of a fortune telling or Dao Seer type aura, as well as some instances of alchemy. They knew from the start that they weren't truly fated with this inheritance, but since they had entered, it was inevitable that they would try their best.

But the question was... who had set up this formation? And since they weren't here, did that mean they had succeeded? Had they been kicked out by this person?

The hours continued to tick by. Half-Step World Sea Realm experts of Sacrum, a few hours might as well have been a few seconds. However, to these young men of the True Martial World, their patience was already being tested after the first few minutes.

At that moment, they suddenly sensed two changes. First it was the invasion of a powerful aura from the distance that caused the formation to tremble, allowing the three to see faint inklings of paths of escape. However, the second caught them off guard enough that they didn't take these chances immediately. A white-haired Dao Pedestal Realm junior suddenly fell from the portal, landing not far from them.

The expressions of these three sharpened almost immediately, but when they saw Ryu's cultivation level, they frowned. For three geniuses like this, how could they just casually accept the idea that Ryu was the one who not only trapped them, but also claimed an inheritance they couldn't?

Their best guess was that Ryu had stumbled into Legacy World after they had entered, that should explain why he had lasted longer than them. They had spent quite a long time in there, so it wasn't outside the realms of possibility.

Their gazes shifted to the badge on Ryu's waist, their gazes flickering. Radiant Star Sect? They had heard something about them recently, a big commotion actually. But this was the first time they had actually come across one of their disciples.

For some reason, their elders had refused to tell them about the truth behind the Radiant Star Sect and that made them see it as some sort of mysterious existence. Of course, that was just for important disciples like them, for lesser disciples like the one Ryu had run into earlier, or the Fragmented Sky God with little talent that he had run away from, they were fairly in the dark about the happenings.

Could it be that this event would be the first instance of the Radiant Star Sect stepping into the Middle Heavens? If that was true, then this disciple before them should probably be one of their best, right? Though... His cultivation was a bit low given the importance of the coming event.

Juno's gaze suddenly flashed as he thought of something. Didn't the Radiant Star Sect's Matriarch kill Saint Rinushka? If he remembered correctly, that person should be in attendance... That should be an interesting interaction.

Suddenly, the powerful aura that was in the distance appeared before them just as the portal winked out of existence.

A woman wearing robes of white, gold and red flashed before them, her afterimages making their heads spin. Even so, her gaze narrowed as she looked toward the closing portal. She realized immediately that there was no point in making a move, whatever had been in there had likely already been claimed, or the Sky God who had left it behind hadn't found anyone acceptable and decided to close up shop for another few generations.

Unfortunately, when the woman scanned the four before, she realized that three of them were from Sects she couldn't casually choose to offend. When her gaze landed on Ryu, her frown deepened. It seemed that she had heard of the Radiant Star Sect as well, but she hadn't thought that she would suddenly meet one of their disciples here.

'Could it be...? This is unexpected, we weren't really prepared for this... not that preparation is possible.'

Suddenly, Zovaes, Iroh and Juno stepped forward, cupping their fists and bowing deeply. Although this woman was on the ground, they knew who she was. This was Fairy Claire, a genius of the Heavenly Dew Pavilion that had once trained on the Seventh Heaven before returning.

There were very few who had Hegemonic Daos on the Sixth Heaven.

Extremely few. Fairy Claire was one of the few who existed outside of the quota due to having stepped foot on the Seventh Heaven and having gained their acknowledgement. Her performance the last time the Complete Heavenly Path had opened had been excellent and she had entered the top three despite being an alchemist.

She and the number two of that generation had long since returned. However, the whereabouts of first place were completely unknown.

Ryu didn't know who this woman was, but he didn't have a habit of bowing. He simply gave the young woman a faint nod of acknowledgment, but otherwise, his face was expressionless.

Fairy Claire's hadn't been paying much attention to them, having already turned her attention to the closed portal and the surrounding shattered formation. Of course, what she didn't know was that Ryu had purposely allowed her aura to shatter the formation, otherwise she would have been trapped for a time as well. However, after realizing that Ryu wasn't showing the same respect she felt should have been a given, her gaze narrowed.

She swept a cold gaze over Ryu before asking the four a question.

"What are you doing here?" She asked coldly.

"Fairy Claire, we are here for the Heavenly Dew Pavilion's tag team event. However, when we were on our way, we sensed a commotion and came here to investigate. We found a Legacy World here and entered. Unfortunately, we didn't seem to have succeeded," Zovaes explained.

"Then what about this formation?" Fairy Claire asked skeptically.

"We... Do not know, it was here when we got here."

Hearing this, Fairy Claire's pupils immediately dilated and her eyes flashed as she looked around.

For the first time, Ryu's heart skipped a beat and he looked at Fairy Claire seriously for the first time. Those eyes... They weren't quite Heavenly Pupils, but they were very close to his current eyes. In fact, they honestly surpassed his current eyes in terms of sheer ability.

Fairy Claire frowned after a moment. She couldn't find any traces of escape, the only fluctuations were from the portal or the shattered formation. Logically... That meant that whoever set up this formation was among the four of them here.

With her pupils still dilated, she looked at them one by one.

Seeing this, Ryu didn't hesitate and activated the Unbalance Mantra. If he let this woman scan him freely with eyes like those, it was impossible to tell what she would see. At this point, he didn't care that he was giving off an aura similar to the destroyed formation, protecting his secrets was more important.

Fairy Claire's gaze caused the three geniuses to shudder beneath her gaze, their spines tingling with an uncomfortable feeling. But when she looked toward Ryu, she suddenly gained a bout of vertigo that made her head spin.

She grabbed her forehead and took a step back, blinking several times as she shook her head.

"Scanning people with such eyes is rude, don't you think?" Ryu asked coldly. "Am I very familiar with you? What gives you such a right?"