Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1873 Meet

Ryu's gaze flashed. He could feel the world overturning all at once, and he couldn't help but feel that this sort of success was quite comfortable too. Outplaying someone who was so much more powerful than him was its own form of catharsis.

Ryu's method was probably something even the Feng Shui Master wouldn't have thought was possible. He had several other methods that he could use, but it was precisely because it relied on a method the Feng Shui Master could never detect… his Inner World.

Feng Shui gained its power from the balance of the world, taking on nature's energy and directing it toward your own ends. So what would happen when the world was forcefully changed by the existence of another world that you didn't account for?

The Beast Domain was in a fragile state where the countless cells it was separated into leaned on and relied on one another. When just one of them came crashing down, it was easy for all the rest to be destroyed at the same time.

If all Ryu wanted to do was destroy, that would be easy enough. After all, the moment there were clashing Orders and Chaoses, it was only a matter of time before the whole thing came crashing down. But what was the difference between this and just using any other method? It would still lead to the death of all of the creatures.

What Ryu needed to do was to give the beasts a way out. He needed to, in one part, remove the chains on their Dao Hearts, and by extension of that, allow them to live and exist in the real world.

Although they were born with an affinity for certain breeds of Chaos, they were ultimately still creatures of this world. The forms of Chaos and Order here were just snippets of the larger world. No matter how powerful the Feng Shui Master, it was impossible for them to create their own laws… This was the limitation of Feng Shui Masters; they had no choice but to rely on the laws of the world around them. In this particular case, they were inferior to Formation Masters.

All Ryu had to do was to break their connection, allow them to convene with the wider world, and then sever the rest.

Of course… he had also left a little something special behind at the same time. Since they had given him such an opportunity and set up such a large-scale Feng Shui Diagram that even he couldn't form with his current cultivation… wouldn't it be too inappropriate of him not to?

Ryu clasped his hands behind his back as his gaze flashed.

"Let's go."

"Where are we going this time?" Lu'card looked up, feeling that something odd had happened just now but still wasn't quite able to put his finger on it.

Ryu's lip curled into a sneer. "To meet some people."

---

Adlael and the Ruin Master group moved toward their destination and soon came to a stop. They stood before an open pit of sorts that had a hole so bottomless that it was impossible to see through its depths.

From time to time, Adlael would send glances toward the leader of this operation, sighing inwardly. He had managed to escape one master that was too powerful to defy, only to end up in the hands of another.

Was this what the world of cultivation was all about? Bowing and scraping at the feet of others until you could rise to their level yourself?

He didn't want to believe this at all.

But here he was.

When Adlael had succeeded in killing his master, he thought that he would have gained the greatest boon of his life. This much was mostly true… He had known that his master was part of a powerful organization, and he also knew that for whatever reason, his master hadn't been able to return to them for a long time.

What he didn't expect was that after he peeled off his master's mask, he would end up triggering something entirely unexpected.

It seemed that his master wasn't just a part of any old organization; this organization was the Ruin Master Guild. And even this wasn't necessarily a proper recollection of events… because his master was technically a traitor of the Ruin Master Guild.

The moment his mask was peeled back, Adlael saw that his master was a woman who had had her eyes gouged out and her tongue cut off. If her face had just been disfigured, that would be fine enough. But the moment the mask was removed, the suppressive seal being used to keep her hidden from the Ruin Master Guild was ruined at the same time.

What was truly fearsome about this organization was that despite the fact his master was already dead, they still managed to find her through the faintest wisp of aura that was left.

Adlael barely had the time to store away his master's things and take them for himself before a person appeared seconds later. There was no fluctuation to their aura, no sign that they were appearing; space and time didn't even ripple in the slightest. It was like existence itself had just randomly popped them into existence.

The moment Adlael saw this, he realized that he had no chance of ever doing anything against this person. Even if this person was taken off guard like he had his master, there was simply no chance of killing him… Not with Adlael's current strength, that was…

In the end, Adlael ended up in the clutches of another. But what left him confused was that he still didn't know what crime his master had committed, and the man never made any attempts to retrieve his master's things either.

This made Adlael think that it wasn't related to a stolen item; maybe some sort of taboo was crossed instead…

Until, that is, he managed to finally find the time to go through his master's things and found something that left him floored.

It was a sword, but the problem with this sword was that its blade edge was completely crystalline while the rest of it was solid. This crystalline edge was able to use Spiritual Quintessence directly to attack. It didn't require Runes, and one didn't even need to worry about backlash to the soul.

It was such a simple thing, but it shocked Adlael endlessly nonetheless. That was because while it didn't harm your own soul, someone else couldn't say the same.

In a battle between two people, if one suddenly used this ability while another was unaware, you could inflict lethal damage onto the soul of someone else before they were even prepared.

The soul always needed a medium of some sort to affect change. But this blade allowed you to ignore such things completely.

It was an invaluable treasure!

Of course, if Ryu heard about such a thing, his expression would become particularly weird.

Regardless, Adlael had been ushered into this new organization and even rewarded for killing his own master. None of his belongings had been searched, and he had access to resources and Dao insights at the tips of his fingers that he couldn't even begin to fathom.

He had been able to completely affirm and establish his foundation before breaking through to the Sky God Realm, and in just a few years since then, he was already at the Perfect Sky God Realm.

In the end, the boon had been beyond his expectations, but it left him feeling wary… especially now that after all these years, this man finally came to him again, and this time, he was asked to be an accompaniment on this mission.

Adlael had his guard up completely, wondering what this man could possibly want.

After so much time with the Guild, he had found out not much other than the name of this man. He was simply known as Iam. An impossibly simple name.

Other than that, no one in his particular branch knew anything other than the fact that he was unfathomable and mysterious in every other way. He had the respect of everyone, yet he didn't seem to do much.

The only thing that made Adlael feel a little calmer was the fact that several other youths were brought along with him, and they were all looking around with curious gazes and exuding auras extremely powerful for those of their rank.

However, even now, that curiosity in their eyes was dimming. That was because Iam had been standing at the edge of this pit for a long while, but he didn't seem prepared to do anything, almost as though he was waiting for something… But because he didn't explain, it was a bit annoying to have to wait for him like this as well.

Even so, none of them dared to say anything.

That was when Iam suddenly looked up, and they reacted in kind.

In the distance, a large silver dragon flapped its wings once and suddenly appeared before them.

On its back were two men, one of which Adlael would recognize even if he was burnt to ash…

Ryu Tatsuysa!

Rage burned in Adlael's heart.