Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

"Piss off!" Ryu cursed, slapping out a palm.

It was almost immediately absorbed by the anglerfish as though he wasn't even there. Getting a gauge on the beast's actual strength was difficult as it didn't seem to conform with any sort of norms.

The antenna enlarged before his eyes, its teeth baring as it bit down toward his body.

This sort of attack, even if you managed to survive it, could only lead to bad things. Who knew what kind of terrible toxins and troublesome infections you'd have to deal with because of a small nick, let alone an all out bite.

Ryu clenched his teeth.

"The attack was fast, too fast. He was letting his frustration influence his judgment when that was the last thing he should be doing. He was better than that, far better."

Space warped around him and his expression changed again.

"His Spacetime Soul Nature was suppressed to this extent in this world? Why?"

BANG!

Ryu was sent flying, the faintest flickering images of an Immortal Sakura forming in the air for just a moment before the blow connected. Rather than biting down Ryu, the anglerfish found its antenna spiraling back and out of control.

Ryu coughed, feeling a spike of pain in his Spiritual Sea. The Immortal Sakura was ultimately still a Visualization and the harm done to it could reflect back on his soul if he wasn't careful.

"But at the same time, he realized something else. This mutated anglerfish was also far weaker than it should have been. Even an Omniscient Sky God from the Sixth Heaven should be stronger than this. Was it because of the state of its body?"

"The confusion just continued to pile up."

"He had suddenly run into an Omniscient God Beast when this trial should have been designed for juniors far weaker than this. His Spacetime Soul Nature was at a point where even the Ninth Heaven had no ability to suppress him, so how the hell could this world do so? And now the anglerfish's strength was fluctuating wildly in his senses."

"And that was just the most obvious stuff."

"Beyond that, what was going on with his eyes? Since when could the wool be pulled over his Pupils so easily? Why hadn't he seen through this already?"

Ryu realized that his frustration was getting to him again.

'Something is attacking my mind? No, it isn't that simple.'

"His frustration was real. His wife was likely in danger already, and his comprehension, his greatest reliance, seemed to be lagging behind when it was something it almost never did. Not only was it lagging, but it being slow for maybe the first time in his life was also exacerbating the first problem."

"It was a vicious cycle, and even if something external was taking advantage of it, Ryu couldn't say that he wouldn't have been frustrated one way or another."

Ryu took a breath, but he couldn't even enjoy that. The air was so foul that it made him want to gag. Everything about this world seemed set up to agitate him, to frustrate him...

'To make me act rashly?'

Ryu landed on the surface of the black Rotten Sea. The anglerfish had sent him flying away much further than it wanted, but it had also not come after Ryu either.

"Well, at first Ryu thought it would because it dived back into the sea. But even after several moments, it didn't return."

Ryu scanned the region, trying to pick up on any clues, but there was quite literally nothing.

"Now that he thought about it, there was nothing but a flat stretch of sea in all directions. With how powerful his eyes were, even if everyone was randomly teleported in, he should be able to spot him."

"If the world here was so large that he couldn't spot anyone even with his eyes, then didn't that mean they were never meant to run into one another? But that didn't make sense at all."

Ryu didn't move, he stood in place, his eyes continuing to shift as though he was trying to calculate something. Then, he looked beneath his feet.

"Did they want him to dive into this disgusting water?"

Ryu frowned and a flickering Qi skin appeared around him. He would have preferred to use space for something like this as his qi still felt like an extension of himself, but his Spacetime Soul Nature didn't want to cooperate with him.

"He stopped bobbing on the surface and allowed his body to sink into the water."

"The first thing he noticed was how restricted his Spiritual Sense was. He had long since stopped counting just how far it could go because there was never a point in actually looking so far. At this stage, most almost never used their Spiritual Sense to their maximum degree, not only would it be highly likely to offend the wrong person, but no one needed to actually see so far."

"However, when it was restricted to this extent, you couldn't help but notice."

"Ryu's own was a mere single kilometer now, and he had a feeling that for most of the others it was probably even worse."

"Luckily, he had [Third Perspective], but when he shifted to using it, it was once again a perfect single kilometer."

Ryu came to a full stop.

"Instead of descending further, he went back up to the surface."

"His expression was serious."

"If before he only had the vague feeling that someone was messing with him, right now he was absolutely certain that this was the case."

"Restricting even his Heavenly Pupils? It was absolute nonsense. There was something else going on here."

"Ryu looked around again and then unleashed his Dao."

"The full brunt of a Founding Dao rushed out in all directions and his eight trigram diagrams appeared in his irises. The water churned and rippled, the dark clouds above rolling in waves."

"Then it all came to a stop."

'Something is missing in my Dao.'