Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

"The Ruin Master Guild of this world is just a single branch. Of course, it is a branch of great power, so do not assume I am saying that it is weak in relation to its true power. But what I am saying is the sheer depth of their existence is beyond your current understanding.

"As you probably know by now, the Title Stele vanishes after every appearance and no one knows where it goes. This is technically true, but in the strictest of senses, not so much.

"While it is true that I could not tell you exactly where the Title Stele goes, this does not mean that I do not have the faintest inkling."

The implied meanings were as clear as day to Ryu. Obviously, the Title Stele traveled through all those vast worlds he had seen, maybe even taking a stop in them all one by one.

But was Veridia mentioning this only to imply that the Ruin Master Guild had branches across all these worlds, or...

"Although I have no way of knowing for certain, many speculate that not only does the Title Stele have strong ties with the Ruin Master Guild, but it is also they who set the course it follows. It might even be the case that the Title Stele is not only guided by them and controlled by them, but was also created by them."

The implications of each one of these things was far more harrowing than the last.

To set the course for such an important treasure was shocking enough, to say that it was controlled implied an almost omnipotence over the treasure that was even more gripping, but to say that it was created by them...

Ryu had never seen the Title Stele before, as was the case with most people. Due to this, it was impossible to say for certain, but such a treasure had to be beyond the normal God Grade. It was capable of doing something even normal Dao Gods could not do, and it was entering Realms of existence that reminded him of the Phoenix Sky Gods gaze.

Dao God might be the highest Realm there was, but the striations between those who shared this title made it clear that this was only optically speaking.

The gap between some Dao Gods might even be as large as the gap between a Mortal and a Dao God...

These were all Ryu's speculations, but he had seen the Dragon Emperor with his own two eyes, he had felt his majesty...

And yet this mighty Dragon Emperor, in his opinion, was nothing more than an ant compared to the Phoenix Sky God.

'Is it related to Dao...?'

This thought made Ryu's gaze shine as bright as twin torches.

He had just thought of what it would mean to help his Dao break through the shackles of the Peak Founding Dao level... could it be he had already stumbled into the difference between these Dao Gods? Was he already staring down that endless chasm?

This was the Peak he was looking for...

The true Peak.

Ryu had met many experts in his life, all of whom could have killed him with just a wave of their finger, but none were able to make him crack with their aura alone.

The World Sea Realm experts of Sacrum couldn't do it when he had been a mere mortal unable to cultivate.

He had met the gazes of the True Sky Gods of Sacrum without feeling the slightest tremor, even admiring the body of one of them without a care.

They watched the Dragon Emperor of the Ninth Heaven unleash his belly full of rage on both his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and yet he was able to take it all in with a cool gaze, marking this mighty Emperor for death with just a fleeting thought.

Not a single one of them could shake his Dao Heart...

And yet a single glance from the Phoenix Sky God...

It no longer filled him with despair...

He had long since forgotten it, he forgot that childish excitement he had felt when his father handed him his first spear, that naïveté in his glowing silver eyes when he looked up at the man he respected most in the world and swore that he would reach the pinnacle of the world.

Since then, everything had been so boring, so bland, just another step that he could casually take with some time.

The Phoenix Sky God, however...

That was a peak even he couldn't say with any certainty that he could reach. For the first time, he had respect for someone as deep as his father, but rather than being built on love and childish adoration, it was built on their strength and the unfathomable gap between them.

In the past, he had just hated the Phoenix Sky God, feeling that they were just another unworthy existence who only suppressed him based on their age advantage.

But now, he didn't feel hatred, he didn't even feel unwillingness...

He just felt excitement...

His blood boiled and his gaze flickered back and forth between slits and not.

Selheira squeezed her legs shut, pulling at Ryu's sleeve in an attempt to get him to calm down. She really couldn't take it, or else she might pounce on him right in front of her mother.

His aura right now was too domineering. His Dao Heart shone with such a bright light that even looking at it might shatter one's own.

Learning about the Ruin Master Guild seemed to outline more of the mountain he had to climb, and that made the image of the Phoenix Sky God in his mind brighter.

If he couldn't crush them beneath his feet, what right did he have to face off against that existence for the truest peak of the world?

Ryu didn't seem to register Selheira's pleas, his fists clenching. He wanted battle, and who better to stoke his flames than Demons?

"We're going to the Nether Plane," Ryu suddenly said, more like a roar than a statement.

He wanted battle, and who better to stoke his flames than Demons?