Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu looked toward the Fire Giant indifferently. The rush of heat blew his hair back, but whereas another False Sky God would find their protective qi shattered and their skin scorched to ash, Ryu didn't even need to use his qi to stand unbothered.

The protections of his Rebirth Flames extended to the heat of flames as well. This Peak Perfect Realm Demon King was entirely unable to move him with flames alone.

Suddenly, Ryu smiled.

"You have three seconds to piss off, or else I'll bury your severed hand in this sand."

Ryu pointed downward.

The old Ryu would never even give him such an option. The problem he was facing now was that he was already an enemy of the Fire Giants. Right now, he managed to avoid that level of scrutiny, but if he became their enemy again, it was likely that his original identity would be exposed before he could even make it to Mae's side.

Of course, he had long since marked this Fire Giant for death. Whether he left right now or not, in the future, he'd have his head on a pike.

The difference was that it wasn't ideal to kill him now.

He had gotten away with killing freely in the Martial God Realm, but there were several variables to consider in a place like this one.

First off, the only reason why he didn't have to deal with the nonsense of life-saving treasures in the Martial God Clan was that they all felt like they were at home. Why would they have life-saving measures prepared when they were walking around their own Clan? And for those that had some in stock just in case, by the time they realized they needed to use them, it would have already been far too late.

In this situation, though, this Fire Giant had long left his Clan. He was in a fight-or-flight state constantly, and he was battle-hardened. Ryu expected him to have several such measures, and that made the calculation for his strength far more annoying.

Of course, there was a chance that the Fire Giants were much like the Martial Gods in that their culture allowed their geniuses to run free and die without support. However, Ryu wouldn't bet on it.

From an outsider's perspective, a Demon was unruly, and they shouldn't care about their offspring. But the reality was that it was precisely because they didn't care about anything that they would act as they pleased.

The Martial Gods looked like a loose handful of sand, but they were driven by a very particular culture. It was the Demons that were the true loose pile of sand. Some of them might truly not care if you killed their offspring, but there were just as many that would hunt you down to the ends of the earth.

Now, if Ryu was still as selfish about his habits as he usually was, he wouldn't give a damn. Let them come.

The problem was that if he was thrust into such a life-and-death situation immediately, then his odds of seeing Mae would plummet. Not only that, but even if he managed to make it to her, would the Dream Wraiths protect him just because he was her husband? Even as a man alone, such a thing would be hard to swallow, let alone if you took it from the Dream Wraith's perspective.

It could be said, then, that Ryu was giving this Fire Giant a little longer to live purely for the sake of his wife.

However, if he pushed him...

Ferouge laughed uproariously, his aura towering and still rising as though a volcano about to erupt.

Suddenly, he was frozen in place. The space around him was locked down, and even his laughter was caught in his throat. It felt like there was a tiny force pulling at the entire surface area of his body all at once. It was like trillions of tiny hooks had lodged themselves in his skin as fishermen reeled their lines back.

To an outsider's perspective, it looked like nothing at all had happened. Transcendents might be able to claim a faint inkling of what was happening. Other than that, only those with great Spatial Soul Natures could sense exactly what was happening.

'Oh?' Ryu quirked an eyebrow and then smiled. He knew that not only had Lu'card intervened, but he had used an exceptionally high-level application of [Horizon].

Lu'card was exhibiting [Horizon] thousands of times over on small sections of Ferouge's skin. All those forces were perfectly balanced such that the Fire Giant was completely frozen in place.

Ryu knew that Lu'card didn't have to go so far to stop the likes of Ferouge. Just one use of [Horizon] was a huge drain considering he had only unlocked just over 99 seals, let alone thousands-even though it required much less power to work on someone two cultivation Realms beneath him.

Clearly, Lu'card was just messing around, trying to understand the limits of his talents, and he felt that this was a convenient target.

Ferouge's body was instantly matted in cold sweat. He didn't know who had done this to him, but he had a pretty good idea.

BOOM!

Suddenly, the roof of the battle arena was blown off, and the entire city was plunged into a hellscape. The temperature skyrocketed.

But at the same instant, an otherworldly beauty appeared as well, plunging the other half of the city into a field of ice.

Ryu chuckled, realizing what was happening. Ferouge had a Death Guard following him much like Yaana had followed him in the past. But so did the Ice Queen young miss, Luna.

When Ferouge's Death Guard appeared, Luna's Death Guard felt that something was amiss and took action to protect her charge just in case. If she was a step late, a Death Guard's rampage could kill her young genius before they even got a chance to regret it.