Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

A man strolled into the bloodied sand of an arena, if you could even call him a man. He didn't have a head. Or, rather, he didn't have a head on his neck. Instead, he held it beneath the crook of his arm, his other hand holding onto a long black blade that dragged along the ground and exuded a corrosive aura. The man's face was actually quite handsome, although his overall appearance was weakened by his obviously glaring fault.

"Jijiji," he laughed oddly, and when his red lips parted, a row of sharp teeth that shattered what remaining illusions a woman might have had appeared.

This man was a ghoul, and from Ryu's estimates, he was actually quite powerful... for a False Sky God.

Ryu didn't want to be too eye-catching just yet. The matters of the Fifth Plane had certainly not blown over just yet, and his face had been projected across the True Nether Plane. Right now, he was even wearing a mask.

Of course, it was a simple mask that only hid his face, not his aura or even his cultivation. Using one that was too invasive would actually have the opposite effect.

Even so, it would be hard for people to connect him to that image. There were probably many that assumed him to be some sort of Dao God. Only the upper echelon who had been there back then would know, along with those they had no choice but to report to.

In truth, Ryu had been under a pseudo umbrella of protection as well due to the fact he was Mae's wife. It could be said that the Dream Wraith's name had protected him from being hunted down even back to the True Martial World. Well, that and the fact encroaching on the territory of another was a huge taboo too.

Crossing from one Plane to the other was fine, but a systematic mission to target a genius of another Plane was a huge no-go.

The combination of the two had been a thin shield for Ryu.

Now that he was here, though, the situation might be different. Which was why he had to be cautious. Even so, that was only in some facets. In fact, their assumptions that he was a genius of the Human Race was only beneficial to him.

As such, he used his eyes without hesitation.

'Is this a plot?' Ryu chuckled.

On the outside, the ghoul seemed to be a Peak False Sky God just like him, but in practice he was clearly a Lower True Sky God.

Ryu wasn't surprised. Betting houses like this would be foolish to not tip the balances in their favor. There was too much money to be made and one rising start could ruin everything.

Ryu had only earned one Lower Nether God Crystal after his first bout. According to the rules, each subsequent victory increased the payout by a factor of ten.

From 1 to 10 to 100, and so on. Once one got to a thousand, it would increase by increments of a thousand, but winning four consecutive battles was almost impossible. Most would lose their first or second bout, while the majority who won their third bout would fall in the fourth. This was why most who reached this point would take their payout and leave. 100 Lower Nether Crystals, as most called it because there was no point in attaching the God title, was already a decent enough sum.

One Lower Nether Crystal could already buy you a good meal. 10 was enough to buy a decent weapon, and 100 was the monthly salary of many True Sky Gods.

It could be said that this was why most would quit while they were ahead, especially since most who would come here did so out of desperation.

However, in the eyes of everyone else, Ryu had won the other battles so easily that it would be foolish of him to not try for the fourth. In fact, it would be cowardly.

Ryu saw through the scheme of the betting house immediately. They wanted him to be complacent and then suddenly die.

But why?

If they did this every time someone came, no one would come. Or, everyone would directly give up after the third bout and they would make nothing. No one would pay to come watch these sort of boring battles as well, so they'd lose on both fronts.

So there had to be a reason they were targeting him in specific.

Ryu thought of many possibilities, but he wasn't actually sure which one it was.

His lip curled into a smile. If he hated to be tested so much, one could imagine how he felt about being toyed with.

In that case, he would make them bleed. But slowly.

The headless ghoul shot forward, swinging his long black blade in a wide arc.

"He's restricting his strength to the False Sky God Realm. Interesting... do they want to make the fight seem close first and then kill me? I don't believe that they'd send a True Sky God to die just like that..."

The strongest existences of this city should be in the Lord Realm, and they didn't seem to be connected to some higher power. This establishment would be far weaker than the best power in this city as well. It was unlikely that they would treat the life of a True Sky God so casually, especially since they were a loyal warrior of the betting house.

Ryu stepped out of the way of the blade, allowing it to just barely pass by his throat. The corrosive aura latched onto his protective qi, trying to eat at it.

'Interesting...' Ryu thought.

He didn't dismiss the qi just yet.

In the world of cultivation, it wasn't just your cultivation that mattered, but the grade of qi you cultivated as well. The qi this man used was decent, but he wouldn't be able to use it to break into the Perfect Sky God realm as it was only a True level Qi, also known as a True Qi. Ryu could use his Chaos Qi to shatter it a million times over.

Their exchange quickly grew chaotic.