Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu looked up, finding that his father was still high in the skies while that woman was buried actually not too far from him. Well, "not far" in a Sky God's sense. She was still thousands of kilometers away and would find it impossible to spot him.

Titus held a halberd that was redder than red, it felt. It was almost fluorescent in color and reminded one of the depths of hell.

Then, he struck down.

'You can do that?'

Ryu's eyes widened. It felt like Titus had just taken Dragon's Claw and Dragon's Breath, and fused it into his halberd. It took the doctrine of splitting the skies in five and two, and incorporated them both into a single strike.

Doing this was obviously extremely difficult. As much as weapons were pulled in all directions by the previous masters that wielded them, Bloodline Talents were even more so. There were very specific ways to use them and there were very specific methods of evoking their greatest strength.

Pulling a claw attack and a breath attack and compressing it down into a weapon attack was like fighting against three pulls of Faith at the same time, two of which were exceptionally strong themselves.

Ryu hadn't been able to balance all of that. Or, rather, he simply didn't have the time to. He had too many talents, and his life was too short. At the same time, he was continuously pressed from all sides by challenges he had to overcome.

First he had abandoned his path of dual polearm wielded, then he abandoned the Great Swordstaff, and now he had compressed his understanding of things down to just his own body...

In truth, he was very satisfied with that. He had accomplished something most couldn't even imagine and every inch of him had become a lethal, nigh untouchable weapon.

But seeing his father's strike, he wondered. How much potential had he left on the table?

Ryu shook his head. He really did believe that his current combat style was exceptionally strong and it was definitely the best for him. His father had had millions of years to refine this combat style to this point.

Those that came from smaller worlds to the True Martial World after years of successful cultivation had a grasp over their combat styles and techniques that those born here could hardly fathom even at the Dao Sovereign Realm.

And now it seemed he was finally seeing the truth of that.

Titus' head turned toward the Faeries who were still in the skies, their crowns floating above their heads. There seemed to be a stalemate as Titus had completely taken over the side of the battlefield the unknown Eighth Heaven Sect was meant to.

The gazes of the Faeries seemed somewhat apprehensive.

The Faeries were the "humans" of the Ethereal Plane. To them, the Dragons and Phoenixes were on another level, a level only the Fey were on. Although they took up the Eighth Ethereal Plane, they were still a level below the Fey ultimately and their wariness seemed warranted.

However, they were also intelligent people as well.

A Dragon and a Phoenix? Any two beasts that dared to birth such a child would be hunted down by their respective Clans. Such a union would never be allowed under normal circumstances.

In fact, even if such a union was allowed, the odds that a Dragon could have a child with a Phoenix was so infinitesimally small that it was hard to peg it with an accurate number in the first place.

Even worse, Titus didn't seem to have the aura of a beast. Rather, he felt... human.

This was an even more shocking realization for them, but it also made them relax even more. Compared to a pair of beasts that had caused such a thing, a human that had two such Bloodlines within them would bring down the wrath of two Clans upon them.

"You are not qualified to negotiate with us," the female Faerie spoke again. "You are clearly not of a Sect as none would dare to take you in-"

Titus sneered.

These people clearly didn't understand the dynamics of the Real Plane and they were just making guesses, trying to seem more assertive than they were.

Not a single Dragon had come after Titus for a clear and obvious reason.

"It seems you understand nothing. Do you understand where my Fire Dragon Bloodline comes from? If you did, you wouldn't be saying something so stupid."

Ryu raised an eyebrow. Then, he vaguely remembered something the Wind Dragon who had appeared at the Armament Guild had said about Primus in specific.

The woman seemed a bit flustered after Titus directly called out her bluff, but she hid it well.

"Do you take me for a fool?" She replied. "Even if your Fire Dragon Bloodline is special, do you think I didn't sense your Phoenix Bloodline?"

"Did you? Where?" Titus asked.

The lady was stunned when she realized that Titus was actually toying with her. But when her senses focused on Titus, she really didn't sense a Phoenix. In fact, she didn't sense anything. It was as though he wasn't even standing before her.

"Enough." An older Faerie spoke. Even with his age, the handsome lines of his face had yet to fade and he looked toward Titus sharply. "What Aeliana says is correct. You aren't qualified because you control no Sect. Once they realize what has happened here, they will send more powerhouses, and this time, there won't be convenient bolts of lightning for you to take note of.

"I would suggest that you simply leave."

Watching them trying to convince his father to go away like this made a smile tug at the corner of Ryu's lips. The strong didn't ask or "suggest" anything, they took.

But this was also interesting for another reason. They seemed to be very eager to have this space all to themselves.

Why was that? What were they hiding, exactly?