Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1814 Useless Trash

What Thalyn couldn't have imagined was that after a casual glance around, Ryu would no longer be at their headquarters.

At that moment, Ryu sat on the edge of a city wall, looking out into the distance.

'They really thought through everything, huh?'

The world around him was shrouded in snow, but not quite snow. As it fell from the skies, it looked more like ash was raining down, as if a volcano had erupted in the distance and shrouded the clouds.

But the biting cold was clear all on its own. This was most definitely not as simple as ash, but it likely wasn't as simple as snow, either.

The reason Ryu felt that they had "thought" of everything was because, according to his understanding, all Holy Worlds had their own unique quirks. In addition, it had to be remembered that they were Holy Worlds, and part Holy Battlefield. That meant there were insights to be gained in the world based on its attributes.

With the skills Ryu had shown off, he should have certainly been sent to a world of fire or lightning, even if he was sent to such a weak one.

But not only did they send him to such a pitifully weak world, but they sent him to one that clashed with his strengths and attributes. Or, at the very least, the strengths and attributes that he had shown.

Ryu truly didn't know what to say about this level of pettiness. Were they truly so much more interested in fighting for benefits than actually winning this war? With the head start that the Fey had, were they really so scared of the rise of others?

If the Real Plane was on equal footing with the Chaos Plane, it would still be foolish, but it would at least be more understandable.

But they were so ridiculous, even with their backs against the wall. It made one wonder if this was truly just incompetence, or if there was something more sinister going on.

They were very lucky that he only had 100 years to work with. Less, even, as he had the intention to leave in tto participate in the Title Stele battle that was just over 90 years from now…

Or else he would definitely dedicate himself to wiping them from existence.

'Why am I so surprised?'

Ryu looked out into the world and chuckled. In the past, this would have enraged him beyond the point of reason. But now, he just found it…

Pathetic.

Hadn't he seen these things before? What were the limitations on the True Martial World's Daos if not a different flavor of the sthing?

Would the True Martial World still be so weak if not for these artificial limitations?

Well, calling the True Martial World weak was a bridge too far, but he still felt that it was too unfortunate.

'It's too bad that they're still fools.'

Ryu's gaze flashed with a blue light.

His affinity for Yin was no less than the fierce Yang of his flames and lightning.

This world had no ability to restrict him and would only help him.

He had heard that there was a great reward for clearing Holy Worlds. If he did it alone, the reward was substantial enough to move even himself.

He couldn't use his Chaotic Silk Meridians to cultivate in this world any longer, so his speed of cultivation had plummeted. In addition, because of the Qi Realm cap of this world, he couldn't use his eyes to increase his Realm, either. As such, both Earth and Heaven Gate were useless here as well.

However… did he need Earth and Heaven Gates to face off against cultivators at his own Realm?

In fact, he was looking forward to it. He wanted to know just how powerful the geniuses of this world could get.

A fighting intent bloomed in his heart and shook the surrounding air.

Ryu stood.

He hadn't been sitting here, wasting time. Instead, he had been scouting out the city.

This city was colloquially known as the headquarters, officially known as Ashen Ice City, sharing the snas this particular Holy World.

The city was enormous.

By now, Ryu had seen many things, but even he still felt that it was so. For such a small world to have such a grand city, one could imagine the effort that the Real and Chaos Planes put into all Holy Worlds, regardless of status.

There were four gates in Ashen Ice City, each one embroidered with a silver wolf howling into the skies.

This silver wolf was the symbol of the Luminara Clan. It was majestic, and almost holy in its own right.

But in Ryu's eyes, it was just another blatant sign of corruption.

Why would the Holy Worlds, that should be the product of the efforts of all the Real Plane, have a headquarters with the symbol of just a single Clan? They weren't even trying to hide it.

Other than this, the city was quite low profile. The buildings were simple, but filled with profundities. These were the few signs of propriety that the Real Plane still had. At the very least, the majority of the wealth had been invested into the protective formations of this Ashen Ice City, and that was because this city protected the Faith Well of the Real Plane.

Faith Wells were usually existences that only appeared in Sects and Clans, but here it was attached to a city.

This was because winning a Holy World was just as much about a battle of Faith as anything else.

These worlds were cornered off from the rest of existence, and as such, almost had their own independent laws. It could be said that, in a way, those fighting on the side of one or another would technically be forming their own temporary Sects.

In that case, the Faith Well was a huge part of their combat prowess.

'It's too bad that they could only let True Sky Gods set up these formations, and it shows.'

Ryu shook his head as he reflected on the memorized formation. It was far too shoddy in his opinion, but that was good. That meant he probably didn't have to worry much about the large-scale formations of the enemy either.

He realized now that it was rare he cacross formations designed for those at his cultivation Realm. He was so used to deciphering formations far above his level.

'It seems I've becoverly cautious.'

Ryu reflected on his own heart once again.

In the past, he would have long since set out and gone on a killing spree, letting his arrogance and heart guide his actions.

But now…

The matters with the Dream Wraith and those nine figures seemed to have ended abruptly, but only Ryu knew that it was still affecting his mind even now. It consumed his thoughts and warped his perception of the world.

Why else would he be being so cautious if not for the fact he was now more keenly aware than ever that this was the last life he would have?

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the snow wrapping around him.

"THERE!"

The sudden voice broke Ryu's tranquility, and his eyes opened up with a cold light.

A group of youths led by Thalyn marched over.

Ryu had never hidden his tracks, so it was all too easy for them to find him. In reality, he had run into strouble climbing up to this place as well. After all, not just anyone could casually stand on the city wall. But he had already tossed that matter away long ago.

Soon enough, Thalyn and the others were right behind him, but Ryu couldn't even be bothered to turn around.

He was interested in the geniuses of this world, but these few were only slightly better than the trash on the front lines. Ryu couldn't be bothered to take them very seriously.

Their barks and jabs fell on deaf ears. Ryu was still trying to figure out his next step.

Should he just bulldoze his way through?

No. It would be difficult even for him. There would certainly be real geniuses on the other side, and suppressing them would be difficult if they cin droves since he didn't have Earth and Heaven Gates.

Well, the main problem wasn't that he was afraid of being unable to suppress them. He could certainly do that.

But if the Fiends started sending in endless reinforcements, wouldn't he end up stuck in a forever war? It wasn't like he could rely on these fools.

This was one of the reasons that decisive victory was so difficult in Holy Worlds. The moment one side showed signs of weakness, they would send help. It kept most of these Holy Worlds in a perpetual state of stalemate.

'It seems I probably still need more information, then. Hm…'

Suddenly, Ryu's gaze turned frighteningly cold as a fist shot toward his back.

Ryu didn't even turn around as his aura almost carelessly flared up.

BANG!

Thalyn let out a scream, his arm shattering.

He fell to the ground, grabbing onto his shoulder stump as he shrieked.

Ryu was left speechless once again. Was this really a True Sky God? Screaming at this volume… probably as much as half the Holy World could hear him.

With this sort of commotion, there would certainly be a large number alerted.

Ryu was annoyed.

He kicked out, his foot smashing against Thalyn's mouth and shattering all his teeth. The shards shredded his tongue to minced meat and sent him flying off the wall.

Since he was going to get in trouble anyway, he might as well vent.

"Useless trash."

Leaving these cold words behind, he fluttered down the city wall, slowly walking into the distance and toward Fiend Race territory.