Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu would have laughed if the joke wasn't so very unfunny.

That was right, why was he trying to draw a line between what actions he triggered and the Heavens doing? The Heavens wouldn't actually physically do anything, it would just feel like a series of unlucky events that would stack together against him.

Something like all those treasures he gathered up being the impetus his current greatest enemy needed to rise to a step he would have otherwise had absolutely no chance at was exactly what the sort of bad luck his previous good luck had triggered.

Sovereign Black Worm was a much older Sovereign than Aika, although much less talented and less powerful, his foundation was solid and he had experienced a lot. If this so-called Ethereal Qi could really fill in the gaps like Eska said, this was a world changing matter. It was no wonder even the usually lazy Samson had made a move.

There was no doubt that those three had to go all out to stop Black Worm, if they failed everything the Radiant Star Sect was would be finished for good. There was simply no battling against a Dao God. Even if Black Worm failed and only became a Half-Step Dao God like Primus had been, his strength would soar to unimaginable levels.

This was a huge problem. There was no way that Aika and the others had disseminated this information, it would practically break the clearly fragile Sect. Instead, this should all be the product of Eska's deductions, and he didn't question them for even a moment.

Ryu fell into silence, his mind churning.

Fighting against Fate was something he never feared doing. Swimming against the tide and rising above the expectations of others was something he would never get tired of.

However, this felt different. It was as though he had been playing a game of Domain and was suddenly ripped out of his chair, forced to watch as someone else played his savegame for him.

It was agonizing.

"Ethereal Qi," Ryu suddenly asked. "What the hell is that?"

Ryu's Life Partner was a Faerie, he was far more understanding of the Ethereal Plane than most, he had even been to it before. Well... he had been to Sacrum's, not this True Ethereal Plane's. But he had never heard of this concept before and Ailsa had never mentioned it.

"I'm not sure either," Eska shook her head. "On the surface, it's impossible to tell the difference. It's only after you take that qi into your body that you'll feel a subtle hint of something different. Ethereal Qi is just a name I casually gave it."

Ryu's gaze sharpened and his pupils constricted. This wasn't because of shock, but rather because he was concentrating his vision.

[Ephemeral Tapestry] was amplified by several degrees. He had long since gotten used to seeing the world in a tapestry of swirling colors but now he was really paying attention to what was around him.

Eska said that others couldn't tell the difference until they took it into their bodies, but Ryu didn't believe that his eyes wouldn't be able to.

Eska seemed to have thought of the same thing, but she said nothing as she realized that Ryu had already thought of it as well.

And then Ryu saw it.

The difference was so subtle that it baffled him. He had to zoom right into their very atomic structures, he couldn't find a difference until he noted their spin on a quantum level.

Ryu never paid attention to qi on such a micro level. He knew a lot of languages, but it would take him a while to think of a word for "quantum", that sort of scientific approach to cultivation simply wasn't a common discipline and it was usually fringe.

But seeing this, he was completely astonished.

'Can Aika see this?' He thought.

Aika's Dao seemed to control qi on this "quantum" level as well, using the differing properties of particles and waves to accomplish things that would otherwise be impossible without them.

'This... spin, or orbit or rotation, maybe? It's actually so significant that it can elicit breakthroughs?'

He needed to go.

His jaw clenched.

Ryu wasn't a fool. What could he do in a battlefield where the weakest cultivators were Dao Lords?

His mind spun, going through countless thoughts. He needed to move, to think of something. He couldn't just allow himself to be screwed over like this for the crime of being too good at taking advantage of everyone around him.

Black Worm becoming a Dao God would mean the end of the Radiant Star Sect, and though he thought of his new master, something told him that those two simply didn't care. They probably had no intention of interfering. In fact, wasn't the Fading Star Sect technically a branch from his master's faction?

Ryu really thought long and hard. He wasn't used to doing this. Ever since he gained the ability to cultivate, he had preferred letting his blades and fists do the talking, but now he needed something else.

'The gateways,' he thought. 'Eska said that the phenomena is concentrated on the Eighth Heaven. The Eighth Heaven is already fiercely protective of their territory. Right now, it's even more so, there's no way that they'll allow Black Worm to return to the Eighth now. If they sense him, they'll directly kill him rather than letting a Dao God rise.

'That means that Black Worm's only chance is through those gateways, but if they're suddenly closed... wouldn't this Ethereal Qi vanish?'

A plan was quickly forming in Ryu's mind, but nothing would be solid until he could actually lay eyes on those gateways.

"Alright, I'm going," Ryu said, taking a step ready to vanish.

"Ryu!" Eska said somewhat sternly, not letting go of his hand.

Ryu looked back with some surprise. This woman rarely showed so much emotion, she had never refuted him either.

"It's much too dangerous, trust Aika." She said sternly.

Ryu blinked before he smiled. Before Eska could react, he gave her a kiss on the cheek and slipped his hand out of hers while she was in a daze.

"You're learning well," Ryu said with a grin. "My wives can indeed be as willful as they want."

Eska's eyes widened as Ryu vanished.

She pressed a hand to her cheek. "... Wife?"

The word sounded somehow both foreign and sweet on her tongue.