Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

The eyes of the man opened wide. There was nothing dignified about his current appearance. It was as though his facade had been peeled away, revealing the true weight of the shock in his heart. No matter how many times he checked, double checked, even triple checked what he was sensing, he still couldn't quite trust it.

Let alone him, the Seventh Heaven felt as though someone had gripped their throats, the breath of the entire plane being snatched away.

Not long ago, there had been a huge celebration of Litaor because he formed a mere Peak Hegemonic Dao. But what was this? A Founding Dao? A Mature Founding Dao?

The only one who felt that this was more manageable to accept was Aika. The moment she realized Ryu had the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils, the odds of such a person maintaining their Founding Dao through to the Sky God Realms was only a matter of fact.

Of course, she had no idea that all this while, Ryu's Heavenly Pupils had been sealed. In fact, because it was sealed, the true Grade of his Dao wasn't able to be sensed even by him. On top of that, his Dao was weaker than it should have been as a result.

If anything, his eyes had been holding him back.

But now that they were back, and the true weight of a Founding Dao could be felt...

They realized just how small and insignificant they were. It was like this was the only state a Dao should be in, this was a True Dao, a Dao that could overturn the skies and replace the Heavens if need be.

The man reached for his sword, ready to unsheath it, but Ryu had already moved.

"I already gave you one opportunity."

The man was swarmed by a formation, his movement slowing.

Ryu stepped through space as though it didn't exist as a concept to him. His eyes flashed and the world became black and white, filled with lines that looked like the puppet strings of the Heavens themselves.

[Lines of Fate].

With his Dao fully activated, Ryu didn't need to talk and goad the emotions of his targets. The fact he knew what would rock this man's soul was enough.

The more understanding and more connection he had to his target, and the longer the battle went on, the more accurate his predictions were.

In this case, he was an Inheritor Disciple of the Radiant Star Sect, a title granted to him by Aika herself.

On top of that, he knew of the fall of the Dual Radiance Sect, a fact that would rock this man's soul to the core.

These two things were more than enough. He didn't need time at all. He could see as far as several seconds into the future, his predictions locking in at over 99% accurate.

However, this was just his eyes alone. When his Dao was taken into account, it was a whole different ball game.

Not only could he see the future, he could understand it, comprehend it, manipulate it.

With his Dividing Order, he would see through the techniques of the man, seeing through their weaknesses, breaking them down into their smallest parts. He could comprehend the very instincts of the man, his muscle memory, his greatest tendencies.

With Dividing Chaos he could see through these things and slightly tweak them to his own desires. He could make the man want to react a subtle bit faster, a subtle bit slower, a subtle bit more fiercely or docilely.

It felt like the world was in the palm of his hands.

[Death Acupoint].

Ryu's hands blurred and the man was suddenly overwhelmed. He couldn't tell what was real and what was fake and had no choice but to rely on his instincts.

Unfortunately Ryu got there first.

A finger drove into his shoulder. In that moment, the scent of death overwhelmed the man. He just barely managed to dodge that Fate using his raw cultivation advantage. But the fear of death still pervaded his mind, a suffocating inadequacy taking control of him.

Ryu's Dividing Chaos latched onto it and the man seemed to lose more of his strength into a puff of air. The formation around them became more effective and he only became slower. At the same time, the sword in his hand that he had been ready to unsheath couldn't even make its way out to grace the world again.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Ryu's finger became a wild barrage of three quick strikes, his fists drizzling down in such quick succession that the man didn't even have the time to fly backward.

Runes of silver and dark-silver hovered around him, roaring with life. His fists seemed to hit the man's skin, but in reality the true impact entered the swordsman's body, directly assaulting his inner organs.

The more Ryu understood the man, the less his barriers meant to him. Normally, a cultivator's body was their own temple. Crossing the void within them was impossible.

But the man's body was no longer under his control.

It was under Ryu's.

A once mighty warrior of the Dual Radiance Sect was treated like a rag doll. The barrage of attacks came from all sides, streaking across the skies and assaulting the once presumptuous man.

Ryu's gaze was truly fierce and unrestrained.

Wasn't it only right that a Peak True Sky God would look down on a Higher Fragmented Sky God? It was the way of the world. But Ryu made them feel as though they weren't allowed even to do this.

Before him, Ryu Tatsuya, not a single soul had the right to be so arrogant.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

[Death Acupoint].

A finger seemed to become the center of the world. It was surrounded by a swirl of qi, a Birthed Phenomena in the skies pulsing with life mirroring Ryu's actions.

PCHU.

Ryu's finger drove through the center of the man's forehead, his eyes filled with indifference.

BANG.

The man's head burst just as he seemed to want to say something. He was left with nothing as his sheathed sword fell to the ground. He would have to regret never drawing it in the afterlife.

Ryu pulled back his finger, his annoyance fading something. There should only be

one opponent left anyway as the next would be the ninth. There was no need to linger on this vexatious person.

...

Silence.

It was an all too familiar reaction in these last few days. Everyone had great respect for the geniuses of the Ninth Heaven, but they had even more respect for the Sky God Realms.

To them, even if a genius of the Ninth Heaven came down now, would a Higher Fragmented Realm young man or woman be capable of blitzing a Peak True Sky God like that?

They could see that the man couldn't unleash even a small portion of his strength, he couldn't even pull out his sword. But... wasn't that because of Ryu? It wasn't as though the man was trying to go easy on him...

Founding Dao...

Aika sucked in a cold breath.

By this point, that was all anyone could think about. She had been wrong to worry about Ryu exposing himself. Although having a Founding Dao would definitely come with its own host of problems, technically speaking, while there was a quota on Hegemonic and Ancient Daos... there was none for Founding Daos.

The reason for that was obvious: they were too rare. What was the point of putting limitations on something no one could even touch?

Due to that, there weren't any legitimate reasons to target Ryu. It also helped that of the six pillars, one's comprehension and Dao were the only things that couldn't be stolen, so at the very least, greed wouldn't play a factor.

Plus, there were too few examples of Founding Daos. Everything that defied the odds that Ryu managed to accomplish from here on would be chalked up to his Dao, especially since, from Aika's observation, the lines between Ryu's Heavenly Pupils and his Dao actually blurred quite considerably.

But that was what made it all so scary...

Ryu was chasing after fusing his combat capability down a single path, not realizing that he had already fused maybe his two most important talents already.

His Dao was a Peak Founding Dao. When it unleashed its full strength, there was no doubt about it. It wasn't just a legendary Dao, but a legendary Dao that surpassed other legendary Daos...

And yet, when it was used together with his eyes, it became something even beyond that.

He was the most fearsome youth Aika had ever met.

...

Ryu cracked his neck. Looking at his fists, his only real wounds from that battle were hitting the man. He would definitely have to increase his durability somehow.

'Let's finish this.'

Ryu took a step and the starry skies warped again. But his eyes immediately narrowed when he saw what was across from him.

Because it wasn't one opponent...

It was two.

Both of them at the Half-Step Perfect Sky God Realm.