Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1767 Perfect Place

Ryu stood in silence, watching as Empana unleashed a raging chaos. It was clear to him that Empana wasn't used to his new body just yet, and yet he also had such overwhelming strength that it didn't seem to matter.

He had never seen Empana use a weapon before, but this only seemed to be an advantage right now. What was interesting about his current body was that its mass was so dense that it felt like he was swinging around a world every time he took action.

Ryu realized why this was quickly. It seemed that the benefit of the World Devouring wasn't just swallowing all things, but carrying it around in one's stomach made it so that this world's weight likewise became your own.

Looking at these principles, Ryu couldn't help but think of incorporating some of these concepts into himself. But he wasn't exactly eager to do so.

The reason the World Serpents were so large should precisely be because they were carrying around so much weight. If they weren't so large, they'd probably collapse beneath their own mass.

Their size also helped to disperse the density they were forced to deal with somewhat.

Plus, Ryu had a much easier method of increasing his own weight in a much more manageable way. That way was, of course, his Bone Structure.

He was making quite large strides with all his other talents. He had had enormous breakthroughs with his Spiritual Foundation, his Bloodline and even his soul, but his Bone Structure was still lagging behind.

Just anatomy wise, Bloodlines and bones should be very well connected. But in the cultivation world, things weren't always so simple.

What made things worse was that what he often relied on his Bone Structure for—separating from the Heavens and creating his own space—was now done even more perfectly by his Inner World.

As things stood now, Ryu's Bone Structure even felt somewhat… useless.

Was this actually true? Of course not. At least Ryu didn't believe so.

Even though this ability had become useless, there were still many other ways for him to use him Bone Structure. It was just that none of them were as impressive as this ability.

However, this wasn't the fault of his Bone Structure, but rather Ryu himself.

Ryu actually considered for a moment I he should trigger the close combat breakthrough he had had back in the Radiant Star Sect and replace his Bone Structure once more.

That Bone Structure was no less potent than his current Bone Structure, and it would definitely synergize with his current style of combat.

Though Ryu was thinking about it, he didn't act on it.

If he was being objective, his Boundless Cosmos Bone Structure might be just as potent as the mysterious close combat Bone Structure, but it also had far more flexibility and paths for growth.

Once again, if its potential couldn't be pulled out, it was no one's fault but his own.

'… Who's to say that my Bone Structure cannot synergize with my Inner World? I should have gone down this path long ago. As for exactly how…'

Many thoughts flickered through Ryu's mind as he watched Empana's battle. By the time Empana was soaked in blood and further bloodlust, Ryu still hadn't quite awoken from his thoughts. But he shook himself out of it, nonetheless.

Ryu looked around at the carnage and nodded.

"Let's go."

At this point, the trio began to breakthrough the eighth layer. Ryu still watched, but this time he didn't give Selheira and Empana a blood crystal. He wanted them to breakthrough on their own.

So long as they could do this, the benefits would be far greater.

As one might expect, it took much more time, but Ryu was patient. He continued to think as they made their way through.

The issue was that he had so many thoughts that it was difficult to pick just one.

It was the same problem he faced with his Dao. The issue wasn't having thoughts; it was that he had too many. His comprehension was so high that it was almost too easy to breakthrough. As such, he had to strip away what was useless and only breakthrough with the best thoughts he had.

In just a few hours, Ryu had lost count of the number of methods.

The first was separating his Inner World from the bounds of the Heavens entirely. Like this, he could stop wasting time trying to accumulate Fate and simply strip away what he needed from the Heavens and forge his own Heaven.

This path was obviously even more exaggerated and difficult than just creating a new world, and Ryu wasn't sure if he wanted to take this path.

He had gone through a great deal of path to change his mentality. He didn't believe that leaving the Heavens behind was the right path to take anymore. Instead, he believed that cultivation required a balance between the two.

Trying to leave the Heavens behind now, at least at his current level of understanding and experience, was far too arrogant.

The second thought he had was using his Cosmos Fog to stratify his Inner World, separating it into several sections, each one perfect for a path of cultivation he was taking.

Like this, he only had to sustain one Inner World, yet gain many benefits from it as well.

With the natural treasures of his Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation, he might truly be able to take this path far.

The third idea Ryu had was similar to the second, but far more complex. And that was stratifying his Inner World into Planes. That being a Real Plane, an Ethereal Plane and a Nether Plane.

After seeing the oddities brought to his soul after incorporating Nether Qi, Ryu began to feel extremely curious about how these three forms of qi might fuse together.

If he formed his own Planes, and then had access to the Chaos Plane to balance them, what would the result be?

He could name hundreds of ideas just like this. There were so many he didn't even know what direction to go, and it also wasn't obvious that any of these were good.

The first's problem was obvious, and he had already mentioned it.

But the second's problem was that it would be a similar issue to what he faced with his Boundless Cosmos Bone Structure. What was the point of stratifying his Inner World to have so many different aspects when his Spiritual Foundation could already perform that function? With his Realm Heart added on top of that, it would be like he was nurturing two completely identical worlds.

As for the Nether and Ethereal Plane additions, it was the most viable idea, but it was still one that Ryu wasn't sure if he should take. He had yet to thoroughly test the aspects of this path.

If Ryu was honest, he felt that he should lean far more into the time aspects of his Bone Structure.

Even in comparison to his Bone Structure, the Time aspects of his Spacetime Soul Nature had received the least pampering.

It was because time was too difficult to use. Yet, he had a Bone Structure closely tied with time, but could only seem to use it to slow down his own internal clock and speed up his cultivation pace.

Sure, this was potent, but it was still lacking as well.

Ryu looked up as Selheira and Empana suddenly broke through the layer. He acted quickly, moving through and into the eighth layer along with them.

It seemed that he would have to shelve this matter for now. At least in the Rotten Sea, the greatest benefit that he would receive would come to his Bloodlines.

Everything had to be perfected step by step. It took him a great deal of effort just to reach this step. Being impatient would only harm him.

After he gained the understanding that not all Dao breakthroughs were created equal, he also understood that rushing as he usually did would only harm his foundation.

When Ryu entered the eighth layer, he was prepared. The astonishing pressure didn't faze him and he instead began to comprehend it immediately.

Selheira struggled more, having a weak cultivation and far less understanding of Bloodline Resonance than Ryu did. Even so, as she sat down in meditation, the progress she made earlier, that had likewise begun to slow down, picked back up once more.

Empana also seemed to be sensing something, but he had far less room to improve as Selheira. His body was easily able to withstand the pressure.

Ryu nodded toward Empana. This would probably be his limit of improvement. Even if he made it to the ninth layer, there wouldn't be much else to gain.

Well… if his master wasn't Ryu, that is.

But Ryu didn't do much for now, waiting for Selheira to adjust herself. He could sense her other Bloodlines even more clearly now and the faint crystal scales on her cheeks began to radiate various coloured lights.

As they waited, Ryu's lip curled.

This eight layer was indeed quite small.

It was the perfect place to kill.

In just a few moments, he had already sensed Wunikai. He wouldn't let her escape this time.