Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu activated Shadowless Trace, expanding the formation within himself. The pressure on his Focus Qi was still very much there, but he didn't need to activate it to the same degree as he had to against the Raging Inferno Sect. Although the Eighth Heaven was far more dangerous, the situation here was only helping him. There was no easy method to sense things in this place, no with the volatility of the space.

As Ryu moved, he observed the world more, and as he did so, he came to realize that despite how "calm" it all looked, the Eighth Heaven was in complete chaos. There were no storms in the skies, or tornados of spatial tears. In fact, it looked like a normal day to most people... Until he looked at things with [Ephemeral Tapestry].

Ryu had pushed his eyes too far and the world looked mostly like a blur to him right now, but he could still see it. Colors clashed in the skies, ripping each other apart and canceling one another out. It felt like the qis were fighting for supremacy, vying for complete control of the Plane.

The problem was that they did so completely silently. When one portion of Real Qi met an equal portion of Ethereal Qi, they canceled one another out. It was like two objects of equal and opposite spins colliding together and coming to a complete stop.

The result of this situation was truly shocking. It felt like the qi itself was disappearing... and yet not at the same time. It couldn't possibly be so dangerous. Ryu had even absorbed some of this Ethereal Qi himself to see what would happen.

Although he had done so in incredibly small quantities, there wasn't a huge change at all. Instead, it just filled in the gaps naturally. How could the qis be so dangerous and yet so helpful at the same time? It didn't make any sort of sense.

Ryu thought about it for a while as he moved and thought that maybe his Chaos Qi might be to blame, potential? Chaos Qi should neither be Real Qi or Ethereal Qi. All of the Real and Ethereal Qi here was just a derivative of Essence. Technically speaking, Essence should probably be made up of both types, in which case Chaos Qi was unable to be affected by Ethereal Qi at all.

This must also be why he had never felt anything when entering the Ethereal Plane in the past. How could it even begin to affect him?

On the one hand, it was unfortunate because it likely meant that Ryu wouldn't be able to benefit from this like others could. But on the other hand, it should mean that he was immune from the potential drawbacks.

But therein lied another question.

How exactly was absorbing this opposing qi strengthening people and aiding them in their breakthroughs?

Breaking through in the Sky God Realm was almost entirely reliant on comprehension. If you were of old age and had lost some of your momentum, though, it was possible that you could run into a more "normal" bottleneck, one wherein absorbing more qi wasn't helping you to get over that hump. That would usually be a limit of the body and vitality.

Ascending through Sky God Realms was akin to elevating one's station, reaching a new realm of being. You would almost be like a completely different person. The old would have more trouble doing this.

This was more than likely the sort of bottleneck that Hope had run into, which was why she was able to enter the Omniscient Sky God Realm so quickly after her rebirth, and why she was already so close to the Dao Lord Realm. It was hard to tell how far beyond her Dao was in comparison to her Realm.

This sort of bottleneck was even more common in the True Martial World than it would be elsewhere due to the clear restrictions on lifespan.

You probably couldn't count on living millions of years until you became a Dao Lord in this world. Yet, in Sacrum, if you reached the Dao Pedestal Realm in a million years, you were considered to be a cream of the crop genius.

'Then could it be that there's something about Ethereal Qi that helps the old to get over that hump...?'

It didn't feel that simple.

Black Worm definitely didn't have a God Grade Dao. From what Ryu had vaguely sensed, he should also barely be at an Ancient Dao standard as well.

It was possible for someone with a Dao a level lower to make it to a higher Realm. In fact, most Dao Gods of the True Martial World only had Ancient Daos.

But the coincidences were starting to add up too much. He felt like he was missing something extraordinarily important...

And then, for some reason, his mind drifted to Life Partners.

His eyes widened.

Was it related to why Life Partners existed? Why was it that Faeries were born to be attached to some object of the Real Plane? What was the purpose?

His mind flickered with thoughts that rushed atop of one another. He was constantly trying to force his thinking outside of the box he had subconsciously placed it in, trying to free his mind from rigidity of thought.

However, there was only so much a change in thought process could do. He needed more information, and he would get a chance to do so soon.

Ryu quickly found the source he was looking for and he was immediately stunned. The spectacle was far more than anything he had been expecting. Could he even get close to such a battle?

High in the skies, there were three individuals, each one immaculately handsome or beautiful. Illusory crowns hung above their heads and they radiated out with an unbridled majesty.

Across from them there was a group of individuals wearing robes that fluttered with flames across its hems. It was a uniform Ryu recognized well.

But then he saw something else. An old man doing something just as stupid as his son.

"TITUS! YOU DARE APPEAR BEFORE ME?!"