Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Lu'card was left behind, standing proudly on the mountain peak without a single utterance. He stared down the Bone Serpents as though he was giddy for them to attack.

Unlike Ryu, he knew the full story. Well... at least the full story with respect to Sacrum. But he had a feeling that overall, the situation wasn't much different elsewhere.

"What was more interesting to him was how the same thing could happen again and again, across different worlds. It spoke to something more... sinister almost, even if that underlying current was actually helping out his Dragon Race instead of the scale-less lizards."

Lu'card grinned, a toothy spread of sharp canines glistened in the darkness.

"Then, with a step, he launched himself into the air, vanishing into the clouds above."

"The Dao Lord and Sovereigns that remained suddenly felt itchy, wanting to go after Lu'card, but not being able to justify it just yet. They were supposed to stay behind and wait for this to play out, but..."

"The youths of the various Demon Races rushed into the portal after Ryu, many of them trembling with murderous intent. It felt like Ryu had humiliated most of them, and even those he hadn't pointed out wanted his head on a platter."

"The elders could only wait patiently."

"What no one noticed was that deep within the crowd, a familiar pair was standing."

"One was Ianjor and the other was Empana. It seemed as though the latter was going to participate."

"He really does nothing by half measures, huh? It's a good thing he didn't notice us, or else I'm not sure how he'd react. Would he pull you into this mess?"

Ianjor sneered. "He definitely noticed us, that bastard is just acting like a saint for once. I think between now and when I saw him last, he got dropped on his head. He might have a few things loose up there."

"What should I do?" Empana asked.

"You're already over-levelled for this. You'll definitely be suppressed when it's your turn to go. Just do the bare minimum and cross that threshold. There's no need to waste time thinking about anything else."

"And you?"

"Me? I'm going to sit back and enjoy the show. I already set my betting odds, I'm coming out on top!" Ianjor laughed uproariously. "Watching that idiot flail is going to be hilarious, I just know he was too arrogant to ask anyone for the rules, and that chick he brought along has no idea what's going on."

"Empana's lip twitched. He really didn't understand this relationship."

"On the one hand, he had personally seen Ianjor argue to the point of blows with the odds setter to add Ryu's name. He had also seen him personally place down a ridiculous amount of Nether Crystals."

"But on the other hand, he seemed to be waiting for Ryu to suffer."

"So which one was it?"

"Ryu appeared in a world no less dreary than the one he had just been in, but rather than being on solid ground, there was a dense black liquid beneath his feet that almost reminded him of his Spiritual Sea ever since he awakened to his Perfect Blackbody Soul."

"However, unlike his Spiritual Sea, this one was emitting a perpetual foul odor, one that almost made him gag."

"It looked as though this sea wasn't naturally black, but rather had been tainted by rotting flesh and blood. In fact, maybe there had never been a normal sea at all and what remained was a liquified vat of gag-worthy organic matter."

"Ryu shook his head. His instinct was to shut off his nose, stop circulating blood and qi to the region and mute the effects, but he couldn't do that for now. Not until he was certain that it wouldn't be useful."

"Ianjor was right. He really hadn't asked about any of the details, but that was mostly out of circumstance rather than negligence or arrogance, and Ianjor certainly knew that."

"The main issue was that Elise knew too little, and even she didn't dare to use her information network to find out information about such an important thing. Even the geniuses that were participating only found out the official rules just a day ago."

"Ryu didn't really mind it, though. As far as he was concerned, so long as it was something reliant on fighting, killing and comprehending, even if he didn't know what was going on he'd come out on top eventually."

"If he didn't give those fools at least this much handicap, where would the fun come from?"

"That said, while Elise didn't know much, that didn't mean that she knew nothing. There were, at the very least, historical records about this place."

"This world was aptly known as the Rotten Sea. It was just as Ryu had speculated, and it was formed from the liquified remains of all those that had entered. It could be said that this Black Sea was an amalgamation of all the bloodlines to ever exist on the Ninth Plane, and some felt even beyond as well."

"It was just that they were in a completely unrecognizable and indigestible form."

"Not only were they mixed with dozens of other bloodlines, within those dozens there were millions of variations within, some amplifying one another and some entirely canceling one another out."

"On top of that, there was an odd Dao in this region that seemed to force this Bloodlines to enter a rotten state. Just breathing in the fumes for too long could make you sick and disrupt your qi, let alone trying to ingest it."

"If anyone had such a stupid idea, they would be poisoning their bodies in the worst of ways."

"According to Elise, although the details seemed to change over the years, the main point of all of this was the same: Supremacy."

"The Rotten Sea could be suppressed and the goal was to reach the end of it."

"Simple enough."

"Ryu looked over toward a certain direction. First, his wife."