Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Elena stood in her courtyard, her gaze firm. Her pink-diamond hair danced in the wind, sparkling like gems, and yet only seemed to be on par with the glow on her skin. The afterglow Ryu had left her with threatened to put a smile on her face, but the level of seriousness she felt to the depths of her soul was on another level.

She was visualizing a path to the future, one that would allow her to shine as a woman capable of standing by his side.

He had only appeared for a few months, and yet in that time she had soared from the True Sky God Realm to the Transcendent Realm. And somehow, as a False Sky God, he had slaughtered not just one Omniscient Sky God, but had also had the chance to slaughter three others and just, seemingly on a whim, decided to spare them.

She knew why he had despite his words. Sure, his new inner world required him to accumulate a large amount of Faith so that he could begin displaying some of its truest strength, but the real reason was a deterrence.

There was a reason he had targeted Sashi but not those three. Logically speaking, they were more dangerous than Sashi and should also have just as deep a grudge.

So why hadn't he?

The reason was clear. He had broken their spirits, and he was 100% certain of it. Let alone targeting his wife, they wouldn't even be able to raise their heads in front of her.

Elena looked up.

At some unknown time, a woman had appeared. She was truly as gorgeous as a painting, her pink-diamond hair the only other of Elena's kind that she had ever seen. Although there were other Holy Wings with their hair color, the diamond-like glint, one that made their hair look three-dimensional rather than a single flat color, was something only this pair of mother and daughter had.

Aurelia slowly descended from the skies, landing before her daughter without the slightest change in expression. If before she looked like a painting because of her beauty, now she looked like one because she was the picture of stillness, unmoved by the changes in the world and exuding an aura that could cause the skies to tremble.

Elena had no idea what level her mother had reached. Her information network in the Martial Gods was so limited that she hadn't even heard about the appearance of Ryu's master. That was why she had been so surprised when he suddenly appeared before her. If she had heard about it earlier, maybe she would have been anticipating his return to her side.

However, this was less a product of her being in the dark, though. Sometimes Elena wondered if anyone knew much about her mother. Even though her father, Xalvador, seemed to have the "upper hand" in their relationship, at least in terms of status... Elena had always gotten the feeling that her mother was the one truly controlling things.

It was a feeling based on more intuition than fact, and it was also objectively true that Aurelia didn't have any backers in the Martial Gods, so how could she possibly have a deeper foundation than a once in a generation genius like Xalvador?

But it was a feeling she had nonetheless.

Aurelia looked into Elena's eyes for a long while. Usually, by now, her daughter would have looked away. But now she could sense that Elena not only hadn't, she didn't have any intention of doing so because she was actively making the choice not to.

Without saying as much, Aurelia adjusted some things. She had always felt that it was a pity for her daughter to have spent so much of her life in a small world, but that wasn't because of the small world itself... but rather because she never took advantage of it.

Xalvador had lived trillions of years, but how was that possible? He had only just entered the Dao Lord Realm, shouldn't he long since be dead?

The reason for this was obvious. Ryu himself had already seen so many of the benefits that came from training in smaller worlds, not for himself, but rather for those around him. He had spent too short a time as a cultivator in Sacrum to benefit as much as others. But he had seen it on Elena, he had also seen it from Isemeine and Eska, not to mention his parents as well.

They had all entered the True Martial World for a relatively short time, but each one of them, after a small lull period as they adjusted their foundation, skyrocketed upward.

Elena, herself, the moment she found a method of adjusting her foundation to its optimal state, she had gone up by leaps and bounds in her sleep alone.

Why was it that Ryu hadn't seen any of the truest geniuses? It was, in one part, because the Martial Gods were hiding something, sure... but another large part of the reason was because the truest geniuses weren't even here.

They were coming up on 90 years remaining to the Title Stele's appearance. Those geniuses were all either on small words soaking in the last few benefits they could, or they were already in seclusion, fixing their "ruined" foundations.

The difference was that while Ryu's his wives and his parents had struggled to reforge their foundations, these youths had the backing of an enormous behemoth like the Martial Gods. It would take at most a handful of years for them to return to their peak.

And by that point... they would be monsters.

Aurelia had always felt that any daughter of hers should have a great deal of potential, but Elena never cared to use it. Even now that her foundation had been fixed by mysterious means even she was curious about, how much better would Elena have been had she taken her training in Sacrum seriously?

The objective truth was that geniuses who weathered the storm of smaller worlds and rose up to the True Martial World were on an entirely different level.

It could be said that there was a good reason Ryu's feats, while impressive, didn't break the bounds of reason-especially when his Heavenly Pupils were factored into the equation. Heavenly Pupils never aligned with proper logic, their very existence necessitated the ability to kill several levels above your own.

Due to this, people didn't register a False Sky God killing an Omniscient Sky God, what they saw was a Perfect Sky God killing an Omniscient Sky God, which was a far more acceptable reality, and one that was only natural due to his Heavenly Pupils.

This shouldn't be misunderstood. Ryu was, without a doubt, a sky sundering genius in the eyes of all now. The difference was whether they felt he had transcended above all others just yet...

And the public was still withholding their opinion on that front.

"The Peak of the Transcendent Realm..." Aurelia spoke softly, her voice as gentle as a passing breeze.

She looked her daughter up and down and nodded.

"In the past, you haven't been worthy of my help. As I've told you many times, you're lazy and don't have the heart of a cultivator. I'm not sure what's changed, but I do find it unfortunate that it took the murderer of your grandmother to make such a difference in you."

Elena didn't reply. It wasn't the first time her mother had called Ryu that, but so long as she didn't make a personal move against him, she couldn't be bothered to care.

So what if he killed her grandmother? She was already prepared for the future where he would kill her father as well, and maybe even Aurelia herself.

She had no love lost for her family. She had grown tired of their methods long ago and it could be said that she was probably the furthest from being a Martial God that you could be.

"You may use my wealth now. Use it, or don't, the choice is yours. That, of course, includes the training facilities, and you can also enter the Holy Wing Clan. The techniques might not be of use to you, but you can use them as reference.

"If anyone dares to stop you from accumulating the usual quota for an official Holy Wing disciple, feel free to let me know. If you can break into the Omniscient Sky God Realm within three years, I will give you a Divine Wing quota instead and you can enter the Hegemonic Clan."

"Is that all?" Elena spoke for the first time, mostly speaking to shoo her mother away.

Aurelia looked at Elena, but she didn't seem to mind the tone. It was hard to tell if she'd ever really care. Even if Elena was screaming at her, it might not even make the slightest difference. She hadn't even shown any emotion after Mistress Holy Wing's death.

"No. I came here to tell you that I am pregnant. Soon, I will be going into a time warped zone so that I might give birth as quickly as possible.

"It will be difficult for your younger brother to make an impact when the Title Stele appears with just about 100 years of cultivation alone, but I believe that all of my children have tremendous potential."

Aurelia turned to leave. "You may come to the birth if you desire. I will send you a message when it is time. It will likely be a day or two from now."

Elena watched as her mother left, saying nothing even after she disappeared over the horizon.