Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu had learned several bits of important information.

Firstly, Ragash was a True Sky God. This was a bit troublesome, but it also made sense. They wouldn't be sacrificing someone as talented as Jojo at the altar of politics if he wasn't at least this good.

Ragash was among the older guard of geniuses in the Seventh Heaven. If not for the matters of the Convergence and the fact he was born too early, he would be among the so-called Immortal Deities as well.

There were many geniuses just like Ragash and it reminded Ryu that he was just at the bottom of the Sky God barrel right now. The world was much deeper than a mere Litaor or Reykian; even Adlael wasn't enough to represent all that was truly out there.

Unfortunately, this made his initial plan difficult.

He knew how much Litaor loved Jojo. If he found out that Jojo was getting married to someone else right from under his nose, he might be impulsive enough, especially under Ryu's goading, to lay down a gauntlet even given the current circumstances.

But Litaor wasn't Ryu; he couldn't just challenge someone two God Realms above him. In fact, Litaor would already be considered to be at the absolute pinnacle of geniuses if he, as a Lower Fragmented Sky God, could battle evenly with a Middle Fragmented Sky God.

This unfortunate reality made this plan useless. It would have been nice to pit these two Sects at each other, though, especially since they were the two surrounding the Radiant Star Sect currently.

Even so, that didn't mean that Ryu was helpless.

The second thing Ryu learned was that Jojo was actually an orphan. The Omniscient Sky God wasn't her family member but was rather her in-name Master.

An in-name Master was a novel concept to Ryu as he hadn't heard of it before; usually, he heard of in-name disciples, but this reversed the situation. Still, it seemed to be common on the higher Heavens.

Essentially, Jojo was marked as someone with great talent, but a Dao Lord wouldn't take in just anyone as a disciple. Wouldn't it be a waste of time if they raised a child up from the Awakening Realm and then they were unable to step into Godhood?

Due to this, Dao Lords would usually set up an in-name Master for youths they felt had good potential. In fact, the fact that Jojo's in-name Master was already an Omniscient Sky God before she even became a Sky God just went to show the value they placed on her.

Then, once Jojo showed the same level of potential in the Sky God Realm and managed to become a True Sky God within a certain frame of time, she would be accepted as an in-name disciple to the Dao Lord.

If she managed to continue showing this potential and became a Perfect Sky God within a properly sufficient timeframe, then she would finally become a Direct Disciple and receive the full guidance of a Dao Lord.

After some bad news, this was actually good news for Ryu.

The trouble if Jojo had family in the Sect was that she would be likely to feel warmth even when all she received was cold in return. There would have been many times in her life that she was reminded that she was an orphan, even if a true blood bonded child would have been treated the same way.

This situation was the perfect example.

Even if Jojo had been the daughter of the Dao Lord, she might have been treated the same way anyway. After all, this Battle of Faith was far too important.

The eyes of the Raging Inferno Sect weren't just on the trouble the Radiant Star Sect could bring, but also their allies.

The world of cultivation worked on benefits. Only a naive person would believe that the Raging Inferno Sect would be shielded by their allies if their Faith suddenly took a huge hit. It was more likely that the Azure Lightning Sect, the Stalwart Sun Sect, and the Fading Star Sect, would divide them up between themselves instead.

This is why it was so important to the Raging Inferno Sect that Jojo get her act together. Everyone else of the Immortal Deities had already broken through, and Starlight had even though somewhat replaced her in the public eye. If she lagged behind any further, people would take notice.

In usual times, this could be ignored for a while. After all, cultivation was a marathon, not a sprint. But in a Battle of Faith, every little change could dictate millennia or even more worth of consequences.

That's what made this all the more perfect.

The plan was almost solid in Ryu's mind, but he yet needed to make sure he had covered all his bases. So he changed direction and began to make his way toward the Azure Lightning Sect as he slowly recovered his stamina.

He couldn't use Litaor in the manner he originally hoped, but that didn't mean that he was entirely useless. In fact, the fact he was so weak just may be an asset.

Days later, Ryu entered the Azure Lightning Sect and began to look around. He slowly gathered his information, though it was a bit harder.

Jojo had yet been near the outskirts of the Sect, but because Litaor had broken through in grand fashion, his status had only been elevated. One would have thought he was a Core Disciple.

But Ryu yet managed well. At the very least, there were no random Omniscient Sky Gods running around here.

'Perfect...' he thought to himself.

As Ryu was yet within the Azure Lightning Sect, the final bits of patience the Raging Inferno Sect had with Jojo seemed to have run out.

While Ryu was gone, she had indeed attempted to make an escape, but it was handily thwarted. Not only was the security around her unceremoniously tightened, but news of an announcement of marriage came down soon after.