Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

"Are you going to take my payment, or not?" Ryu asked, turning back to the attendant without a word toward Shitu and the others.

Ryu was in quite a good mood. He had just left secluded training, he had had quite a good time with his wife, his mind was clear and his purpose was even clearer. In practically any other state, he would have already attacked, but he had food on his mind currently, something that would only elevate his mood further in his estimation, so he preferred not having to deal with this at all.

Unfortunately, it seemed that he wouldn't have such a choice.

The attendant seemed to freeze, not quite knowing what to do. Anyone who could take out so many God Crystals was no normal person, however she had an innate fear of the two big Sects ingrained in her over many decades, this wasn't something so easy to shake. In addition, in her mind, if they were making things difficult for Ryu, it meant they knew who he was and thus understood their limits. If that was the case, then it only seemed to make sense to offend Ryu for their sake.

Even so, the attendant couldn't help but begin to sweat bullets. The pressure of Ryu's indifferent gaze was like a mountain pressing down on her shoulders. She was already in the World Sea Realm, but this Dao Pedestal Realm junior felt like the scariest opponent she had ever come across.

Her lips trembled and her hands practically vibrated, the sweat falling down her brows quickly accumulating around her collarbone and down her robes. Her heart beat so loudly that she couldn't seem to see or even hear anything around her, all of her sensory perception being overwhelmed by a nearly audible thumping.

Shitu's sneer deepened. As if the people of Fourth Heaven City would ever side with an outsider.

"Trying to run? I can't say that I'm surprised, the disciples of the Radiant Star Sect are all cowardly trash."

It was only now that the gathering spectators noted the badge on Ryu's waist, their gazes sparkling with understanding. However, what they didn't expect was for Ryu to suddenly flicker and vanish. Shitu was entirely caught off guard, but Zed, who was more than familiar with Ryu's temper, reacted first.

Zed's gaze blazed, his bronze rod appearing in his hands. Its heft was so great that its appearance alone caused the paved roads to quake and splinter. As he swung it, the harsh whistling sound and loud boom of collapsing air was suffocating.

Ryu appeared before him, his figure towering and his gaze ice cold. His aura suddenly flourished, a cloak of crimson shrouding him, rising, and forming the head of a roaring dragon as he raised his hand into a claw.

He activated Dragon Soul and Dragon Claw at once, his lips opening to release a devastating roar.

"KNEEL."

Ryu's voice shattered Zed's momentum, suffocating the sound of his momentum and even his momentum itself. His claw descended, flecks of Bronze Resonance Qi appearing and sliding between the ruby scales of Ryu's Dragon Soul.

The heaviness of his blow magnified and the speed suddenly accelerated, crashing onto Zed's rod and driving it back with such force that it landed on the latter's head. The force was so great that Zed's head nearly exploded on contact, the only thing protecting him being a radiant bronze halo that suddenly formed.

Even so, this bronze halo could do nothing as he was driven into the ground, his rod crushing his nose and teeth, and his knees being driven into the ground.

A single explosive exchange had ended with a winner that couldn't have been more obvious, and yet Ryu didn't seem to be satisfied in the slightest, raising his leg into the air and driving Zed's face into the cracking ground below.

BANG!

Zed shuddered, his eyes nearly rolling into the back of his head and his teeth flying out with a cough of dense red blood.

A harsh silence fell over the region as the boom continued to echo, but Ryu didn't move for the sake of spectators, nor did he feel a need to let the moment have breathing room. The moment he drove Zed into the ground, his figure had already flickered and vanished, crossing a large distance in just the blink of an eye.

Ryu had already deduced that Zed was probably at least 50% stronger here than he was on the Heavenly Path, and that wasn't because of the increase in cultivation, but rather purely due to the change in location. He could use his full talents now.

That change was far higher than even Ryu had expected, it seemed that the suppression was not small. If not for this, Ryu wouldn't even need two supreme talents of the Dragon Race to deal with him, not to mention his Bronze Resonance Qi, his body alone would have been enough.

Even so, he neared the Cosmic Seed Realm Shuti without the slightest fluctuation in his gaze, his indifference palpable and his momentum only steadily rising.

"Take Form and Conquer the World."

This time, Ryu's voice was soft, and yet it caused the skies to rumble and the earth to quake.

Ryu's Meridians rocked and swayed within his body, his Spiritual Foundations lighting up as one of his great swordstaffs shot from his back and into his palm.

The cry of a phoenix tore through the city, a pair of glorious white wings appearing to Ryu's back that eventually separated into a soaring White Phoenix that shrouded the city in its pressure.

Shuti's pupils constricted into pinholes. Ryu was simply too fast, Shuti hadn't expected the attack to begin with, and even after being slowed by his clash with Zed, he only seemed to have accelerated faster, not giving Shuti enough time to put up solid defenses.

Shuti hurriedly took out his rod, entering the best defensive stance he could.

BOOM!

The surrounding Resonance Bo Sect disciples were sent flying.

Shuti was forced into a retreat, what he wanted to just be a single step back became two, then three, then four, by the time he looked up, he had already been forced out of the plaza, his arms trembling and faint fractures running up and down his arm.

He had done everything he could to not be sent flying, but his pride had cost him more than he gained. Especially since Ryu only landed on the ground for a moment before he flashed forward, appearing above his head, the cry of a Phoenix echoing as Bronze Resonance Force surged forward from all directions.