Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Sacrum.

It felt odd to step back into this place after so long. Of course, this wasn't due to a suppression of sorts. Due to the fact he was born in Sacrum, no matter how powerful Ryu became, so long as he was careful not to collapse reality itself, he could always return.

Rather, it was because he could sense things now that he never could in the past. He could almost "see" Shrine Mountain's looming presence, infusing itself into the very vibrant life of the world. And it was precisely due to this that he could feel just how special Sacrum was.

Most of it was constructed of what one would expect from such a weak world. But, hidden within, there were tendrils of laws that reminded Ryu much more of the True Martial World.

One had to wonder why it was that a Clan like the Martial Gods would be so interested in a middle world. The answer to that was obviously the Shrines, but why?

Usually, treasures of Origin that appeared in this place were inferior. You would have to invest as much as Ryu did into them before they could display their true strength. By the time you went through all of that trouble, you might as well have just found your own Origin Grade treasure on the True Martial World itself. It wasn't worth it to farm lower level worlds for these enormous powerhouses.

Of course, a higher world might be different. Ryu wouldn't know, he had never been to one before. For all he knew, their existences were close enough to the True Martial World that the tradeoff would be worth it. Maybe you could find an Origin Grade treasure for cheap over there and only exchange the worth of a Chaos Grade treasure to raise it up to an adequate level.

If that was possible, higher worlds would definitely be overrun. Just thinking about it, even Ryu was tempted.

This was all to say that it didn't make sense that the Shrines were so valuable, and their insights so sharp. The more Ryu had learned about the True Martial World, the more he understood just how ridiculous their existence was.

That said, Ryu hadn't come here for the Shrines. What he was looking for was something very different, and he wasn't even sure it existed. And even in the case that it did...

He didn't know if he would be allowed to take it.

Ryu appeared within the Chaos Plane. It was still as beautiful as he remembered, in a dark sort of way. Well, it was far less so without his [Ephemeral Tapestry] to paint its true colors before his eyes, but even without it, it had its own charm.

He moved forward and closed in on his destination.

Then he saw it. That perpetual battle that was always raging, the one between Invaders and the Warriors of Heaven.

On one side, there was a motley crew of weak God level cultivators. They were the only existences that were allowed to step foot into here anyway. Of course, among them, there would be the occasional Sky God that made Leonel's heart skip a beat, but ironically, those powerful ones would never be let through. Only the weak could sometimes slip in.

Ryu wondered just how much of this was on purpose. Was it really that Heaven's Warriors were making a mistake? Or was it for another reason?

On his way here, he had wanted to stop by other lower worlds to see what all the fuss was about. However, he found something else that was quite curious when he attempted to do so: finding the entrances to these places was extremely difficult.

He changed tactics soon after that and tried to buy information, but to his surprise, even after paying exorbitant prices, the actual information that he gained was minimal and often vague.

Of course, these prices were nothing to Ryu, especially with the wealth of the Frost Clan at his beck and call. But the issue and his questions still stood. Why did it seem so much easier to find Temple compared to other worlds?

He pressed on previously and eventually found the entrance to one of these small worlds. He had thought that he would be able to enter with quite some ease as he was still in the World Sea Realm and hadn't even become a Sky God yet, only to find that he was sorely mistaken.

He couldn't even break the barrier to enter this world!

For context, Sacrum was ranked as a middle world. This world that Ryu targeted, because he was reluctant to invest for another middle world or take the time to find one, was a lower world.

One might argue that a lower world wouldn't block entry to the World Sea Realm just as Temple blocked entry to those above the Perfect Sky God Realm, but this wasn't the case.

Ryu had checked this as well. Such a world would only block those above the Fragmented Sky God Realm, a Realm Ryu obviously wasn't within.

So Sacrum, for some reason, was not only far easier to find for some godforsaken reason, it was also far easier to enter.

This all seemed to point to one explanation: the Martial Gods. Obviously, it was their actions that had caused all of this, right?

Well... Ryu wasn't actually so sure about that. Something felt off, like he was missing a large piece of the puzzle.

"Hey."

Ryu's voice boomed before he suddenly sent out a series of punches. Back in Sacrum, he had already been able to massacre Sky Gods like they were baby chicks despite barely having entered the Path Extinction Realm, and those were Sky Gods of the Martial Gods.

Even though they were suppressed, compared to many of these Sky Gods, they were wholly insignificant.

Single fists of Ryu, especially while in the Chaos Plane, were comparable to a concentration of armageddon for each one of these invaders.

Over 90% of them were wiped out in an instant.

The Heavenly Warriors rushed forward to eliminate the rest, but Ryu caught one securely by the shoulder.

"You all, isn't it about time you did me a favor?"