Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Wynhorn's Dao was very special. Rather than relying on just her blacksmithing like Supreme Blacksmith Okie had, or just her Sword Dao like others of the swords faction, she instead relied on both in a sort of feedback loop.

This sort of path gave her a great amount of flexibility. When her Sword Dao reached a bottleneck, she could turn to Blacksmithing. When her Blacksmithing reached a bottleneck, she could turn to her Sword Dao. And, regardless of which progressed, both would benefit.

However, there's no such thing as a perfect path. As Wynhorn had said, she was a swordswoman before she was a Blacksmith. In this sort of situation, her sword would always take precedence over her craft. As such, there were certain things that she wouldn't be able to do.

For example, just because Ryu gave her such a perfect blueprint didn't mean that she could just jump at it. She still had her pride as a swordswoman to consider. In fact, it was even more important. Even if the blueprint was for the greatest sword ever forged in the history of the martial world, if she was forging it for an incompetent fool, she would rather let it rot untouched.

Somehow, though, outside of all of her expectations, Ryu's Sword Dao actually surpassed anything she thought of the blueprint. She stared out in awe, finding it difficult to believe that it had come from a boy a fraction of her age.

For a moment, she completely forgot that she should be enraged. In fact, even if she remembered, would she choose her fury over a chance to become stronger?

Why was it that Sky Gods or any strong cultivator, for that matter, looked down on those beneath them? Wasn't it because they had no ability to do anything for them? Not only were you weak, but you were only an annoyance not worth much of a anything, you brought absolutely no value to their life. So, how could you not be looked down upon?

However, this changed everything. Not only could Ryu do something for her, it was weighed so heavily that she should probably be thanking this boy for coming to her.

While Wynhorn had very suddenly become excited, Ryu's gaze instead narrowed, a bit of a frown touching his brows. This was because at that moment, in Wynhorn's excitement, he too had sensed the shift in her Godhood.

When he grasped the change, he suddenly realized that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to allow Wynhorn to do this. He was taking on too much of a loss.

"Forging Sword, Shaping Dao."

The pair of twin words suddenly caused the world to come to a grinding halt. The wind stopped blowing, the leaves stopped rustling, even the sparce wild life Wynhorn had allowed into her abode stopped breathing.

Hearing these words, Ryza uncomfortably shifted and Wynhorn snapped out of her daze, her expression turning serious once more.

Those words… They were none other than Wynhorn's title. Forging Sword, Shaping Dao True Sky God. These were the exact pairing of words she had chosen that fateful day she finally stepped through from the Peak World Sea Realm to the True Sky God Realm in a single step.

"Now I understand why it is there was such scum right beneath your nose but you never noticed. The Holy Battle Ground isn't very useful to you, now is it?"

Though Ryu spoke out her title, Wynhorn wasn't enraged. Her title wasn't exactly a secret, it was just that few people truly knew of it. In fact, for a Sky God, the spread of their name was a good thing, which was why the secrecy of Yaana's master was so odd.

Instead, Wynhorn wanted to understand why it was Ryu had suddenly spoken out her name in this way. What was he to gain by doing this?

When she heard him mention 'scum', though, her brows couldn't help but furrow. Unfortunately, Ryu didn't seem to care to explain.

"It all makes sense. You said that you're a swordswoman first and a blacksmith second, but this isn't exactly true, is it? Though in practice it's true, technically speaking, there's either hardly any difference, or you could argue that your blacksmithing is even more important.

"Whenever you forge a sword, the reason you must choose someone worthy is because your Dao allows you to gather Faith toward yourself beneath the deeds of those who commission you. At the same time, you can use their Daos to fill in holes that your own might be missing."

"Boy. Are you truly so eager to die?"

Wynhorn had had her patience tested by Ryu time and time again. No matter how amiable she was, even she would have a tipping point.

At this moment, she couldn't help but stand. Despite being more than a full head shorter than Ryu, with the momentum of her cultivation, she might as well have been a giant.

Knowing her name was one thing, however, breaking down how her Dao worked was a different matter entirely. In fact, such knowledge could put her at great danger, especially if her enemies were to come to know of it.

Ryu matched Wynhorn's gaze, his own mood unwavering.

"I must say, your Dao is among the most complex I've ever heard of. It will inevitably reach a bottleneck that can't be overcome as there are only so many swordsmen you can leach from… But my issue is that if you also latch onto my Dao, you'll be guaranteed to reach the pinnacle of all that is.

"I can tell you right now that this Dao of mine is incomplete and can only be considered to be half of a whole. I can also tell you that within the next year, I will have completed it and it will be more than tenfold stronger than it is now.

"When this transaction began, I was willing to give you equivalent compensation for your work. But, if I allow you to forge a sword for me now, you'll be gaining more wealth than any Blacksmith in history ever has.

"Do you think that it's still an equivalent exchange in that case? Why would I give you such a chance?"