Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Jojo stopped five or so meters from the boulder Selheira was seated upon. Her nose was turned up in one part frustration, and another part reluctance. It was a look that made Selheira amused for a moment, before she realized what kind of response she would have to give for the coming question. The thought made her very unhappy, but she knew that it would be foolish to turn down a good thing.

"Well come on, then. Do I need to spell it out for you? Did all the meat in your head go to your chest?"

Selheira raised an eyebrow and then sent a glance toward Jojo's chest. No one knew clearly what kind of figure Jojo had aside from herself, that was because she was quite notorious for her armor. She never took it off, with the only exception being when she had absolute privacy. However, that only made it more amusing.

Whenever Jojo changed her armor to a new one, the most obvious change wouldn't be the color, or the design, but rather the two, rounded metal plates that would have to make space for her chest. Without fail, they grew larger and larger every time. At this point, they bulked as much as that enormous heavy sword on her back to the point that it felt more comical than anything else, and if not for her gorgeous face, would have made many laugh at her.

Women didn't usually wear such bulky armor, but because Jojo insisted on doing so, it was like she was always wearing two steel balls on her chest.

Selheira had never heard of an already large chested woman making fun of another large chested woman. Wasn't she making fun of herself at this point?

Of course, Selheira had thought of something else that was quite amusing, and that was the possibility that it was all a façade. It would be quite funny if Jojo's armor breast insertions were filled with nothing air. She wouldn't have enough tears for her laughter.

Even with the veil, Jojo could tell that Selheira's lip was twitching. She knew this woman too well, and feeling her gaze, she was starting to get annoyed. "Let's go already, this event won't go on forever."

Selheira slowly stood to her feet and brushed the dust from her flowing white gown. "Might I suggest a course of action, then? I have yet to absorb a spirit, but I feel that we can only gain the benefits of one if we absorb one whole. In that case, how about we each find Golden Protector Spirits that suit us, and the rest of us will allow whomever to have the final blow while the rest retreat from the spirit's territory?"

Jojo's gaze flickered. It was dangerous to put your trust in others like that, especially when absorbing a whole Golden Protector Spirit would give a person a huge boost in strength immediately. What if the first person who succeeded decided to turn on the rest of them? In fact, in the worst case scenario, they might hide their initial intentions until the second spirit was defeated, and then turn on them all, booting them out and gaining a second spirit all to themselves, but then they would be basically impossible to defeat even if they combined strengths.

Though Selheira was suggesting this to everyone, she really only looked for Jojo's answer. The two men would fall in line quite easily and there was no need to consider them much.

"We'll swear oaths," Jojo finally said. "This is too important to leave to one's word alone."

The two young men had been going with the flow until they heard this, whereupon the expressions changed slightly. This wasn't because they had plans of betraying these two women, what a joke, they were courting them, not trying to kill them. But it was rather that oaths in the True Martial World were especially binding and could affect one's future.

But in the end, they took a breath and nodded. It was the best way forward. The benefits from the Golden Protector Spirits were too great to pass up, and they still had their eyes on the Diamond Protector Spirits although that seemed like a far off world.

Ryu coughed up a mouthful of blood as he landed heavily in the snow outside.

How long had that been? Three hours? And he felt like he had gotten nowhere. That beast was so strong, so sturdy, so fast, so agile, it felt like it had no weaknesses at all. It hadn't even used any techniques, from the very beginning it had always been nothing other than its body.

And that was when it clicked for Ryu. Indeed, these Protector Spirits didn't just represent the Eighth Heaven average for those that could be called geniuses among their ranks, but it represented their raw strength, devoid of free of technique.

He coughed up another mouthful of blood.

Unfortunately, he had exhausted all of his Embryonic Qi in the last three hours, so he would need another few minutes to recover. He spit at the fresh snow and slowly pulled himself up, breathing haggard breaths.

If not for his Chaos Qi and his Birthed Phenomena, that battle would have been more of a joke than it already was. His Infinity Mist couldn't even land because his control over it was so poor, he realized that the idea of using it in battle any time soon was a fool's dream.

He had also grown too used to thinking of each cultivation Realm like a single block, as though the only dividing lines that mattered were the ones between Realms, and not the sub-Realms within. But he could very clearly feel the weight of the fact he was still in the Lower World Sea Realm now, facing off against Peak World Sea Realm spirits.

Was it time to collaborate with others, then?

Ryu grinned a bloody grin.

Of course not. If his unrefined power wasn't enough, then he would have to use his other skills.

After his rebirth, he had drifted away from his various skills. These were things he only ever began to study because he didn't want to be useless, and practicing them in this life made him remember that helplessness.

Now, however...

He grinned wider.

He just felt that they were a component of his strength.