Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1876 Light

If others knew what Ryu was worried about, they would surely be infuriated to an extreme. But Ryu was only doing this for his wife, and he didn't give a damn about anything else. In fact, the only reason he was on this world in the first place was because of another one of his wives. If not for this leverage, the Dream Wraith wouldn't have been able to force him to do anything. After all, technically speaking, it was the Dream Wraith that owed Ryu, and not the other way around. Ryu had even managed to decipher the Inheritance of the Dream Wraith on his own without accepting it.

Regardless, he was still dead set on keeping his promise and finishing within 10 days.

Technically, he had already accomplished what Ailsa wanted in just three, but he didn't want a technical victory. He wanted a true victory.

He was perfectly fine with his wives being willful… but there was something quite profound hidden within that.

The reason he didn't mind how willful his wives were was because the process of becoming the wife of Ryu Tatsuya wasn't a simple one. He didn't just fall head over heels for any beautiful woman he saw, and he had killed more than his fair share during his cultivation journey.

They had earned the right only because they had earned his affection, and with that underlying affection they had earned came a baseline of respect that they had for him.

But in this situation… Ailsa had been away from him for too long, and the reality of that was settling in for her.

If he wanted his wife to remain his wife, he couldn't show weakness.

He had already failed at that once before, he wouldn't allow it to happen again.

Ryu's gaze became cold.

Seven days were left. He wouldn't accept anything other than a flawless victory.

BANG.

Ryu landed on the ground.

The laws around him were a mixed bag of chaos. No matter where you looked, it felt difficult to see through anything clearly.

It was an odd feeling. Ryu was certain that the structure of the world had already been formed. Everything from the blades of grass to the tall mountains should have already taken shape. And yet, it was difficult to see or feel anything, as though a foggy mirror was hovering in front of anything.

But what was particularly annoying was the fact that this problem extended beyond just the normal senses. His balance was thrown off, when he tried to turn left it felt like he was going right, and there was a woozy feeling in between his ears that reminded him of the white room of the Heavenly Path.

Unfortunately, unlike the white room that had allowed him to form his Childe of Order constitution, there was no benefit for this world. In fact, Ryu could tell that if he really put in the effort toward analyzing and adjusting to this world, let alone the fact that the laws were constantly changing and that effort might become useless in a few seconds, when he finally stepped into the outside world once again, he would find himself disoriented.

Ryu took a breath and forced these things out of his mind. But what actually happened left him speechless.

Though he was trying to inhale, he ended up exhaling. And because there was no air left in his lungs, they began to push with great strength. His mind registered the event as though he was gasping for air and couldn't get enough of it.

Had he been a mortal, he might have instantly fallen into a cycle of panic. He was only able to realize what was going on a full three seconds later.

'No, this can't continue.'

Ryu made a decision and summoned his Inner World.

Instantly, all the weird laws cleared up and everything became as clear as day to him. Or, more accurately, they vanished, replaced by his own laws.

Finally, Ryu could see some of the world around him and the discomfort vanished.

The moment he did, he dodged to the side.

A streak of golden light passed by, as sharp as a blade. It caught faint wisps of his white hair, causing three strands to float aimlessly through the skies.

It was only now that Ryu realized that he was in the middle of a sea of golden light. No, it wasn't a sea, but rather a large plain of golden grass. Rather, it was that the golden light reflected so much that the endless gold seemed to be the surface of rippling water rather than solid land.

'Light qi?'

Ryu's eyes narrowed.

It wasn't that he assumed every Holy World he entered would have a perfect affinity for him, but given how many affinities he had, the likelihood that he would land in a world that he wouldn't at least have some advantage in was practically nil.

Unfortunately, practically nil didn't mean entirely nil. And in this case, it seemed that he was screwed in more ways than one.

'Well…'

Ryu's eyes narrowed. It wasn't exactly true that he had no light affinity. It just happened to be among the affinities that he ignored.

Plus, he had Seed of Light, so even if he had had no affinity at all, he would still have it.

It seemed that maybe he would need to lean on his Spiritual Foundation entirely for this battle.

But that left him with another question.

How could he conquer this world?

The last Holy World was straightforward: just defeat all the Fiends. But this time, this world was in its infantile state and there was no established Fate. And it was also extremely difficult to gather Faith if there was a pitifully small number of people to deal with.

Ryu didn't move. One part of his intention was focused on the world around him so that he wasn't suddenly run through with a blade, while the other tried to think of a plan.