Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu sat high in a tree with a trunk so thick it rivaled a mountain. Like an ancient mother tree, it covered the skies with its canopy.

And yet, this tree was in the middle of a world that felt forged of brimstone and fire.

Despite that, it was extremely cool this high up, as though the tree itself was shading Ryu from even the heat despite being rooted in the endless pools of lava.

Ryu didn’t seem to be in a rush, just sitting there, swinging his legs. His mind was in an endless state of peace, and he wasn’t nearly as hurried as he had been before.

And then, he looked over toward a certain location.

His pupils trembled, and the sights before him seemed to zoom in. Soon, his sight had crossed millions of miles to land on a shadowy figure just crossing a Fate Barrier.

The moment his eyes landed on them, they looked up as though to meet his gaze from so far away at the very same time.

Although Ryu couldn’t see their face or expression, he knew at that moment that they frowned. This was a normal enough reaction. After all, Ryu hadn’t used the undetectable [Third Perspective]. Instead, he had used his normal sight, allowing the person to sense him. He had no intention of hiding himself.

So, it was only natural that someone capable of hiding themselves from the prying eyes of others would be able to sense such a blatant lock-on.

Then there was a flash of annoyance, and it was all too obvious to Ryu that he had, indeed, found her.

SHIIIIIING!

The sound came a fraction late. If Ryu had reacted to it instead of the beam of slicing light that appeared before him in an instant, he would have certainly been split in two.

But how could he make such a mistake?

His body flashed, appearing on another branch as the one beneath him was severed in two, lava spilling out from its innards.

Bark of glowing black pulsed with life as the tree tried to heal itself, but it seemed that Sarriel’s attack wasn’t so easily dealt with, even for this behemoth.

Ryu raised a finger and tapped at the air. The lava around the region where the shadow stood rippled and suddenly attacked her from all sides.

It was then Sarriel’s Corpse Puppets moved, acting to deflect the piercing lances of lava.

They all shattered on impact.

“RYU!”

Ryu chuckled. The voice definitely didn’t travel so far, but Ryu could feel the words she was speaking quite well.

Trying to use those weak Corpse Puppets against him was really nothing more than a joke. Sarriel should know better, but as cautious as she liked to pretend to be, when it came to him, she seemed to forget all of her rules… including that of caution.

She was more like a wild firecracker in his presence, and doing something like trying to prove to him that her Corpse Puppets alone were enough to deal with him was precisely something that would make her feel much better.

Unfortunately, this time, it didn’t work out. This wasn’t the same Sarriel by any stretch.

But so what?

Ryu pushed himself off the branch, taking a step into the air and crossing thousands of miles with a single bound. With a thought, he took out a bow—none other than his grandfather’s.

The spectators were shocked by this change, not only because they didn’t know why Ryu had wasted even more time waiting for what seemed to be an unknown existence, but because this was the first time they had seen him using a bow.

They were certain that he was the most proficient with those unconventional weapons of his, so why would he bring out a bow?

Although they assumed that it might be because Sarriel was too weak, why wouldn’t he just use his fists? He seemed quite proficient in close combat as well.

The oddest part was that they had a small understanding of Sarriel as well. Without her Corpse Puppets, she was nothing.

Or so they thought.

Ryu grinned, pulling back his bowstring.

The aura of a Bow God filled the skies, and countless hearts were shaken.

What these people didn’t know was that Ryu was quite close to opening up a new path entirely. Just because they didn’t feel a God Aura coming from his great swordstaffs, it was beyond any other God Aura he had.

But many who were spectating now assumed that all this time, Ryu had never used his true main weapon… until now.

SHU! SHU! SHU!

Three arrows cut through the air in quick succession, and Sarriel grit her teeth beneath her mask and cloak. She knew that Ryu was doing this on purpose, but there was little she could do to change things.

She could only respond with a flip of her palm. A sword that had moved too fast for even the crowd to notice earlier appeared once again, slashing out continuously.

A tempest of wind kicked up, and three sword strikes met each of the arrows. It was all seamless, and it made use of skill to counter power…

Or so it seemed.

BOOM!

An echo of Nine Revolution Skybreaker resonated and…

CHI.

Sarriel’s arm was blown back beneath the pressure, throwing her timing off. She was forced to take a heavy step back as the last arrow pierced right into her body.

Dead.

Her figure froze up, and then she fell over—a corpse.

Ryu shook his head. She actually managed to trick me. Just what level have her eyes reached?

…

In an unknown region, a pair of violet eyes snapped open, seething with rage.

“Ryu… Tatsuya…”

Sarriel was absolutely livid, but inwardly, she was also somewhat shocked.

That was a 20% clone, and Ryu still treated it like it was a joke, destroying it in a single volley of attacks.

Before, she could toy with him with even a 5% True Clone, but now… just what happened to him? What kind of breakthrough had he experienced?

There was obviously a large gap between 20% and 100%, but it wasn’t large enough that Sarriel felt any sort of ease. If anything, this made her increase the place Ryu held in her heart severalfold.

This matter was too shocking. How could one person increase in strength so quickly, and in such a short time?

Although she had had a shocking and vast improvement since the last time she fought Ryu, that was because she had been waiting and biding her time.

It had to be remembered that Ryu lost 999 years due to his mutated Rebirth Talent. Sarriel had already left for the True Martial World even before he experienced that, so her leg up on him was substantial.

It wasn’t just a matter of training time, but also accumulation. Sarriel had been suppressing herself for a long time in order to burst forth with everything she had in this moment… only to realize the man that had been by her side for so long just might have left her behind.

Ryu had not only managed to catch up in a few dozen years, but he was showing signs of firmly suppressing her.

Sarriel’s expression grew dark. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

He was also causing her problems.

Creating another True Clone was easy. Creating one in the perfect circumstances where someone wouldn’t be able to link them again would be far more troublesome now, especially since Ryu had already “killed” her.

Plus, before, she had just been planning on swapping her True Clone with her real body at the last moment. Because of that, her true body was still in one of the very first regions while her True Clone had gone on ahead.

That meant if she wanted to go again, she would have to restart from the very beginning.

She was so frustrated that she almost went insane. Luckily, her Dao Heart was incredibly firm.

She could do it—

“Oh hey, there you are.”

The familiar voice made Sarriel’s eyes almost pop out of their sockets.

At some unknown time, a handsome man with flowing white hair and silvery eyes had squatted down in front of her, so close it almost looked like he was trying to touch his nose to hers.

Sarriel struck out instinctively, only for the man to lean back and dodge with a natural flow to his actions. Her hand swung through nothing but air, missing entirely.

“That’s not very nice.”

“You insufferable bastard! You’ve ruined everything!”

Ryu grinned. “Is there a need to hide such a beautiful face? The Heavens would shed real tears if you keep hiding yourself. It’s just unacceptable.”

“I’m going to kill you!”

“Please do. Do you know how many boring fights I’ve had in here already? What happened to this being a great collection of geniuses?”

“DIE!”

A sword swung out in a mighty tempest. This was Sarriel’s true strength, carrying a power with it that could flatten mountains to ash just by carelessly flying overhead.

The wild grin on Ryu’s face only widened.