Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu didn't move immediately, his senses firing at extremely high rates. Subconsciously, though, he felt like he understood something, and that was that he was nowhere near the limits of the World Sea Realm. He didn't believe that the Heavenly Path was artificially inflating the strength of this Eleventh Order Beast, nor could he sense that there was nothing artificial about its strength at all. In fact, it was far more corporeal and real than the other spirits had been.

Rather than being an illusory construct, the creature was very much real, or it at least felt that way. The only sign that it was a Golden Protector Spirit was the aura around it. It was like the Heavenly Path was trying to display the truth right before his face, boldly presenting it and daring him to see through the reality.

It was a harsh reality. Even with the boost of 999 Bronze and Silver Protector Spirits, he still couldn't defeat a spirit within the normal bounds of the Realms below God Beast. And it made sense.

Until now, the strength of the Taboo Powers that he had come across were absolutely overwhelming. The Unbalance Art Sect had given him the ability to enter the Void even before the Transcendent Sky God Realm. The Nine Pillar Flame Sect had allowed him the ability to have the bodily strength of a pseudo Sky God of the Body Realm without even touching the dividing line between mortal and Godhood.

On top of that, it had to be remembered that the Unbalance Art Sect's Inheritance had still not been quite successfully fused by Ryu. At the same time, he had only just completed his first Life Destruction, he still had eight more to go before he even thought about crossing into the Sky God Body Realm.

Just how much more room was there for him to grow stronger? None of that even considered the fact that he was still at the Lower World Sea Realm, though this matter was less important for this deduction for one very simple reason...

If the Taboo Powers were so powerful, how had they lost? There was only one explanation, and that was that the Nine Powers, including the Martial Gods and those of their ilk, were more powerful than even these explanations would suggest.

Clinging onto the legacies of what were ultimately failed and destroyed Clans and Sects like they could possibly bring him to the pinnacle was likewise the pinnacle of foolishness. This wasn't even the Diamond Protector Spirit, and he still felt like there was such a huge gap.

Ryu took a breath, exhaling slowly, He even did this consciously, on guard against providing an opening for the Golden Protector Spirit to attack 'Bronze represents the limits of the Sixth Heaven. Silver, the limits of the Seventh. And Gold..."

These were just guesses on Ryu's part. He even felt that he was being too nice to himself. These weren't "limits". These were probably just what the Heavens felt should be average for a genius of such a Heaven, and that was something that stimulated him all the more.

He raised his hands and his great swordstaffs slapped into his palms. He unleashed everything he had, his White Phoenix, his Bloodlines, his Chaos Qi, his Founding Dao, his Birthed Phenomena, he even kept a tight circulation on his Infinity Mist, ready and willing to deploy it if he got the chance.

Did he think he could win? His calculations said absolutely not.

But he wanted to fight anyway.

Selheira gazed up at the skies with a hint of worry in her eyes. She was a far cry from her usual self, and she looked quite defeated and haggard. Though, her veil was still perfectly in place, as though it was the one thing that would always be unblemished by her battles.

Unlike Ryu, she was in the depths of a desert, even the sand beneath her feet felt like scorching hot coals, and if one looked closely, it was possible to see that many bits and pieces of the land had melted into shards of glass.

Up ahead, an Earth Dragon with various injuries lay with its head low, but the more time passed, the swifter those injuries healed. In another minute or two, it would be fully healed, while Selheira herself would be far from it.

It seemed that she might truly have to form a team. She had been too prideful to do so, a seemingly misplaced feeling for a woman of such grace and gentleness, but Ryu wouldn't be too surprised had he known. After all those games of Domain, he had long since discovered Selheira's true side. She was a gentle woman who wouldn't even mind sitting by his side as he ate and wiping his mouth from time to time, but when it came to things she took keen interest in... she was highly competitive.

'I'm still so far away?' she looked up toward the scorching skies, the reflection of crystals bouncing from her blue irises. Her white hair shifted in the wind, though this wind was stale and far too dry, providing no sort of relief or relief from the wind at all.

She seemed to be very disappointed in herself, but if one looked closely... she didn't have the aura of even a single Protector Spirit. She hadn't absorbed even a single one, and yet she had beaten this Earth Dragon Spirit Beast to this point.

Selheira suddenly looked up, her gaze narrowed.

In the distance, a glowing golden armor became akin to a second sun. Selheira would recognize that armor anywhere, who else would it be if not

Jojo?

She didn't seem to be alone though, followed by Litaor and Reykian both. As

they approached, Selheira could already tell what their intention was.

Jojo gave a look to the Earth Dragon as she circled around its territory, her expression indifferent. The same though, couldn't be said of the two young men. When they saw the lack of energy field around Selheira, their hearts jumped another beat.