Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

BANG! Ryu's feet hit a barrier, and he understood he had found what he was looking for. Although he didn't know exactly what form it would take before he found it, after running into the barrier, it all made sense.

The Rotten Sea had to be stratified. Since running from side to side was impossible, then it had to be the case that it was downward.

Now, it was a matter of how to make it past, and he had some thoughts about this as well.

This matter was concentrated on the Bloodline, which meant that the key to moving past these barriers was also inward.

There were probably a few methods.

The first was to take this Rotten water into your body and use the power of your Bloodline to purify it.

The second was to do the reverse of that, in a way. Imposing the will of your Bloodline onto the surroundings and purifying it that way. Since the barrier was almost certainly formed from the power of the Rotten Waters, then it was likely that doing so would shatter it as well.

And the third method was to meditate and comprehend something before being able to move past.

Others might not feel it, but that was because they weren't used to having multiple Bloodlines within them like Ryu was.

This Rotten Sea, an amalgamation of countless Bloodlines, distilled down and eventually left to rot... wasn't it just what would have happened to his own body had he not taken drastic measures?

In his first life, his body had atrophied and weakened because of his clashing Bloodlines. Before his Awaken Ceremony, he had a perfect bill of health and had a body that could crush children that had already Awakened. But after his Awakening Ceremony, there was a slow downward slope toward the point where his emotions couldn't become too agitated. The fear of what his Fire Dragon Bloodline might do, and how the others would respond to it, was too much to bear.

It could be said that this sort of Rotten Sea was the form of Bloodlines that Ryu was the absolute most familiar with.

However, Ryu didn't make a move immediately. He first observed his surroundings.

This problem wasn't as simple to solve as it seemed. He still felt that there were multiple facets to this test, otherwise suppressing his eyes would be impossible.

It was likely that the genuine test was actually a combination of the three possibilities he had mentioned.

For this world to restrict his eyes and somehow even his Inner World, the only explanation was that something had already seeped into his body. In all likelihood, there wasn't just a seal on the outside here, but one inside of his body as well.

As expected, after a moment of pause, Ryu found it.

It wasn't obvious earlier, but after he came into contact with this physical barrier, the one inside his body reared its ugly head.

"I was so worried about Selheira that I didn't even notice they messed with my body. How bold of them," Ryu sneered.

In truth, he knew there was no foul play at hand. The changes to his body were the same that everyone else had experienced. It was an immediate reaction catalyzed by stepping into this world alone.

It wasn't meant to become obvious in the first place until you reached this point.

"It's probably the case that almost everyone breached this barrier pretty much instantly. They've already gone to the second layer, and I wouldn't be surprised if the fastest are far beyond it.

"As expected, though, none of these seals respond to my Bloodlines. If I had access to my inner world, then I could make a few adjustments to trick it, but unless I get rid of the seals, it's unlikely that I would be able to."

Ryu dumped his mind of distracting thoughts, his focus reaching an unprecedented state.

At that moment, watching from the outside, many of the experts were watching with sneers on their faces. Despite being indifferent, the Dao Lords of the Dream Wraith couldn't help but have a flicker of disdain in the depths of their eyes.

The timing of Ryu's threats had perfectly coincided with the opening of the Rotten Sea Realm, and soon afterward he had been the first to enter. Because of that, no one had gotten the chance to tell him just how stupid he was for making such assumptions.

"At the very least, that Dragon girl had a Bloodline quite close in proximity to a Demon. Both because of the Bone Serpents, and because she was an anomaly herself, a beast who had embarked upon the path of a human.

"But Ryu was different. He had no ability to-"

CRACK.

The barrier shattered beneath Ryu's feet, but he still didn't move, standing there in silence as though he were trying to sense something deeper.

His breakthrough in understanding Nether Qi set him on a different sort of path. It made him realize just how many holes there were in his Dao and how many he had yet to fill.

His Dao had once had two halves, each one separated into four aspects. He had eventually fused them, forming them into a single entity, with two halves, each also with two halves.

He realized just how right he was about only breaking through in his Dao when he had found a meaningful path forward. But this breakthrough didn't seem like one that would increase the level of his Dao, but its grade.

And without his Inner World, it was impossible for him to break through the limit of Peak Founding Dao.

Ryu opened his eyes. "Not enough."

The first barrier wasn't enough to break the seal on his Inner World, but that didn't mean the next wouldn't be. And if the second wasn't enough, he would go to the third.

He didn't like people controlling him.

A sudden whipping tentacle lashed out at Ryu.