Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Selheira's eyes were red and puffy, so much so that even Jojo didn't dare to make fun of her at the moment. Even so, meeting her gaze, Eska's smile remained calm and relaxed.

At that moment, Eska didn't look like a woman who rarely smiled. Instead, she looked to be completely in her element. For a moment, the former Matriarch of the Zu Clan returned in all her regal glory.

"Was I wrong, Eska?"

Selheira didn't respond to Eska's words, it looked as though she hadn't even truly registered them. Her heart was shaken and she seemed to need to find comfort in something.

Eska knew what she meant. During this last year, the three of them hadn't talked about Ryu a single time, focusing on other things and improving themselves as much as possible. Eska took the role of escort and Dao Protector, while Selheira and Jojo tried to improve as quickly as they could.

Although Selheira had never said it in so many words, Eska knew what she was striving for. She wanted to get strong enough to challenge the Throne on her own so that Ryu couldn't.

She had her own streak of defiance. Even when she tried to show her love, she did it in the most destructive and counterproductive ways. She was truly a gentle woman hiding a fierce woman deep on the inside.

In the end, she hadn't talked to Ryu a single time in these last several years, but the absence only seemed to make the fondness grow stronger.

Unfortunately for Selheira, she had spent too many years meandering. She was already over 50 years old, and without entering the Perfect Sky God Realm at the very least, she wouldn't have a chance at challenging the Throne.

She knew that she could rush her cultivation if she stopped being stubborn and allowed her talent to properly flourish. The Crystal Dragons were born with Ninth Heaven talent, so how could she not have been holding back this entire time?

But the main problem was still the same thing... She was too stubborn.

Eska's gaze sparkled. "Do you understand what he would say if he saw you now?"

Selheira blinked, not quite sure how to respond.

"There are two responses, both equally Ryu.

"The first response is that he would both look down on you and take it as a slight. How dare you look down on him? Who do you think you are?"

Jojo snorted, crossing her arms unhappily.

Selheira, however, shuddered, biting her lip hard, so hard that she drew blood. It was too hard to tell which was tougher, her dragon's teeth, or her dragon's skin.

"If you were his woman, however..." Eska's gaze turned a hint misty as though she was reminiscing about something. "... he would be hurt, and even with that hurt, he would take you into his arms and grin down at you until you were comforted.

"Because as he always says... his wives have the right to be as unyielding as they please."

Selheira's eyes widened. And for some reason, these words made her cry harder.

...

Ryu appeared around with a casual sweep of his gaze. According to what he knew, all Throne challenges were just a little bit different from others, but they ultimately had just a single goal: to test one's battle prowess compared to others your age.

This challenge, though, at least for now, appeared quite similar to the one he had faced in Sacrum. Just one enemy across from him. Kill them and move on. Simple.

The difference was that back in Sacrum, it wasn't until the last challenge that he got such a life-like enemy to face.

In the Awoken Moon Sect, the first several challengers were all deadpan puppets that hardly had a physical form. The fact this one was so... alive meant that the challenge would be more serious right from the very beginning.

As for the person's cultivation, who cared?

"Are you going to start the battle, or are you just going to keep staring at me?" Ryu asked with a smile.

The man across from Ryu met his eyes, then it calmly landed on the Throne that hovered behind him.

"You have a Throne, but you've come to challenge my Dual Radiance Sect?"

Ryu's lip curled. "I think you mean your Radiant Star Sect."

The man's pupils constricted before he calmed down.

"You have a Dao that attacks the psyche. The Radiant Star Faction is just that, a faction."

Ryu's grin deepened. "Why don't you look around and take a gander at the Faith you have access to."

The core of the challenger trembled. He already knew that Ryu was telling the truth.

"It's a shame," Ryu chuckled. "Such a valiant Sect, reduced to having its Throne challenged by a 26-year-old Fragmented Sky God like me. You must be quite mad."

"Have you ever heard of subtlety?"

"Subtlety is only needed when you're manipulating someone. I'm not manipulating you, I'm just telling you the truth. Your Sect is finished, their two halves devoured one another, and now I'm standing before you, carelessly slandering your Sect, not worried in the least about what they might do to me once I step out of here.

"That should paint the picture quite well for you, don't you think?"

The man's expression appeared calm, but it was obvious to Ryu's eyes that his breathing pace had increased by at least 5%.

"So what's it going to be? Are you going to attack? Or not?" Ryu smiled.

"... You've succeeded in enraging me."

"Oh! Good." Ryu's grin became a wild grin as the man blurred.

BANG.

Ryu's fist ripped right through the man's chest. In his final moments, before he faded into darkness, his eyes were wide open. He hadn't expected that Ryu's attack on his mind would have taken so much of his attack strength away. How was that possible?!

Ryu pulled back his fist, loosening his wrists.

The Seventh Heaven fell into silence.