Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Under some odd sort of forced coercion, the Overseers vanished from their locations, finding themselves a large distance away from their representatives. Even if they wanted to take action to protect them, they would no longer dare to.

The banquet fell into an uneasy silence for a moment, a tension slowly building.

Ryu stood amidst it all indifferently. His gaze scanned the arena, the banquet and the podium. But, he only confirmed what he had already guessed long ago. Elena wasn't here. Or, more accurately, she wasn't here yet. It was clear by the fact that there was a only a single existence at the level of King Adonis here made that obvious. For such an important event, there was no way most of them wouldn't be present.

BANG!

As Ryu's mind was on other things, a blazing aura suddenly tore a path toward him. The result was the shock of most that were here.

The banquet table Moxi and the others sat at was tacitly accepted to be untouchable. When King Adonis said to cut down the numbers, his words had obviously implied it weed out those were unworthy. Even if no one from that table moved a single inch, no one would say or do a thing to them.

And yet, at that moment, a streak of dark crimson cut through the air, appearing before Ryu in the blink of an eye. By the time Ryu turned his head in that particular direction, a fist had already threatened to tear a hole through his chest, the aura of the Middle Dao Pedestal Realm shaking the castle to its core.

It was then that a string of protective arrays activated, stabilizing the castle as though nothing had happened. In fact, it all became so sturdy that it was difficult to say if even a normal World Sea Realm expert would be able to cause damage.

Who else could this person be if not Arteur? Not only was his rage bubbling over, but he had even broken through from the Lower Dao Pedestal Realm to the Middle Realm.

Such a breakthrough wasn't as simple as it was in another Realm. Even great talents would spend tens of millions of years in a single stage at this Realm. The fact that Arteur had stepped up a sub stage was enough to cause a wild change in the demeanor of the crowd. On top of that, it seemed to light a spark that lit the entire castle ablaze.

"Hm?" King Adonis was surprised that someone from this table had actually chosen to move as well, not that he particularly cared. But, the dense killing intent that pervaded the air was still palpable. Even if he wanted to ignore it, he couldn't.

Ryu's gaze calmly met Arteur's furious charge. Just when it seemed that his chest would truly gain an extra bloody hole, his blood rolling in reverse throughout his body, Ryu's suddenly flickered, appearing just half a meter to the side. It almost felt as though he hadn't moved a single inch.

Arteur shot by him in a trailing blaze.

Within the stands, Eudo sighed a breath of relief. He had originally thought that Ryu could beat Arteur easily once again. But, after seeing that Arteur had broken through, his confidence had plummeted. Every step forward one takes in cultivation so deep into the Immortal Realms would result in a qualitative upgrade in power the likes of which could be likened to a caterpillar shedding their cocoon. So, even though Ryu had beaten Arteur easily before, with this breakthrough, it was unlikely that he would be able to repeat the same feat.

But, the results spoke for themselves.

With a single shift, Ryu slipped out of Arteur's trajectory, his arm reaching out.

In a flash, several Ice Phoenix Heavenly Patterns coated Ryu's skin beneath his black robes as he clawed toward Arteur's neck with an indifferent expression on his face.

Just when it seemed like Ryu would end this battle in just a single move, Arteur's neck became incorporeal and Ryu clawed at air, his fingers slipping through sparks of crimson flames.

'Spirit Body?'

Ryu calmly thought of this possibility. Last time he fought Arteur, he most definitely didn't have this ability. That meant that he had awakened it in just the last few weeks. In fact, this awakening might even be the reason he was able to step into the Middle Dao Pedestal Realm.

The Scarlet Sparrow's Spirit Body was quite unique. Whereas Ryu's size remained about the same when he used his Spirit Body, the Scarlet Sparrow Bloodline came from a creature of innately small size, this allowed them to shrink almost instantly when they entered this form.

At the same time, it gave them access to Blood Cleansing abilities as well as more hidden abilities of their Blood Flame.

Still, Ryu didn't react much to this change. He expected that the higher his cultivation became, the more people with special Bloodlines and abilities he would meet. At a certain level of cultivation, it was impossible for those without certain innate talents to make it so far to begin with.

Arteur wasn't a fool. Since he was willing to attack Ryu now, it wasn't a surprise that he had had such an enormous breakthrough.

After just a single exchange, it was clear to both of them that they had greatly improved. The battle Arteur had sparked was raging about them, but the two didn't seem to notice in the slightest, their gazes meeting the moment Arteur's body reformed.

With a flip of his palm, Arteur's sword appeared, his aura blazing. Without a single word, he swung.

Ryu sidestepped once again, his fist shooting outward. His knuckles sparkled with radiant light blue patterns.

Sensing the danger, Arteur could only switch the grip of his sword, altering its flight path and blocking with the flat of his blade.

The sound of metal clashing against metal made his pupils constrict. Just what level of strength did Ryu's body have to reach to achieve such an affect? To make matters worse, why did he feel such pressure from a mere simple straight?

[Fist Basic Stances] came with the same basic movements that Ryu's spear basics had come with. [Advance], [Retreat], [Side Step], [Lunge] and [Steady]. As for its attacks [Jab], [Cross], [Hook] and [Uppercut]. Finally, its defensive techniques were [Block], [Parry], [Roll], and [Slip].

Its variations were far more flexible than [Spear Basic Stances] were and they flowed from one to the next with far more flexibility.

The instant Ryu's [Jab] straight was blocked, he instantly combo'd an [Advance] and a [Cross], his movement fluid and his steps not faltering for even a moment.

The clang of his fists and Arteur's blade reverberated throughout the battlefield. Even amidst the raging chaos around them their clashes were like a metronome, upkeeping the pace of the violence.

Arteur couldn't understand why it was that Ryu had suddenly become a close combat expert. He had sworn that Ryu was using an odd polearm weapon previously. In fact, he was certain that Ryu had even reached the Monarch Realm with them. So why was he suddenly using fists that only seemed to have Heir Realm qi behind them?

The only conclusion that Arteur could come to was that Ryu was actually looking down on him, something that lit the fire in his belly even more fiercely.

Their exchange became more violent, wings of deep rouge spreading out from Arteur's back. And yet even as he poured on, Ryu's counters only came with a hint more swiftness and a touch more skill. It became difficult to tell whether Ryu was simply improving so quickly or if it was that he was incrementally raising himself toward his true level of skill.

Moxi and Thephine watched this scene with a hint of surprise in their eyes.

"Oh. It seems he actually wasn't that bad after all. Seems I got lucky." Thephine laughed boisterously, still picking at his teeth.

At that moment, somehow having waded through all the chaos, Tybalt found himself a seat at the helm of the table, chuckling lightly to himself.

"He's very interesting, indeed."

"You know him, Tybalt?" Moxi asked, still not taking his eyes away from the battle.

"Not really. But he and Arteur have fought before."

"And the result?"

"Well…" Tybalt took a sip of a drink that seemed to have been waiting just for him. "… If not for an Overseer, Arteur would be dead already."

Moxi and the others sucked in a cold breath.

"Handsome and powerful? This big sister wants a taste."

Moxi rolled his eyes when he heard these words, not even bothering to look over. Thephine, though, looked over with greed in his eyes.

"You're going to let him into your bed before me, Syriah? Where's the justice?"

Moxi felt himself throw up a little in his mouth. As… fierce as Thephine's taste in weapons were, so too was his taste in women.

Syriah was a jet black hair and red eyed member of the Berserk branch. It was just that she was over two meters tall and far too wide for a woman. It would be one thing if she was just fat, but this wasn't the case at all. She had boulders for shoulders and abs so cut that every time she breathed, the definition of her torso would show through her flexible armor.

Rather than sticking with burly men like Thephine, though, Syriah was obsessed with handsome boy toys and had no qualms about snatching them off the streets and into her bed. However, she wouldn't take just any pretty face. She wanted to feel the satisfaction of conquering him so he also had to be strong. This was why she had completely ignored Ryu until this very moment.

"Shut up. You're too ugly." Syriah snorted.

As these elites talked, several 'geniuses' had already fallen to despair, never to rise up again. The dichotomy was enough to strike fear into the soul.

Arteur, however, didn't care. His mind kept screaming: 'Die! DIE! DIE!', his lungs having expanded to twice their original size as he bore down upon Ryu.

However, just when he was getting into a rhythm, an indifferent voice sounded.

"That's enough."

King Adonis' words doused all their killing intent with cold waters.