Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

The slit eyes of the dragons constricted, their gazes landing on Ryu one after another. There wasn't a single one of them who hadn't heard of Primus before. But what they didn't expect was that his descendants would appear here.

However, their gazes weren't that of respect or admiration. Lineages in Dragonkind meant almost nothing. If you tried to use your father or mother to get a leg up, you'd quickly find yourself being ridiculed.

Instead, their gazes were filled with battle intent as though they wanted to swallow Ryu whole.

They wanted to battle.

Ryu chuckled. "First of all, I'm human. Second of all, I don't have such a great grandfather. Third, I'm only in the False Sky God Realm, it can't be that you mighty Dragons all want to take advantage of your cultivation levels, right?"

Ryu blinked almost innocently, leaving Lu'card speechless. Was this really the same Ryu he knew? He had always had a sharp tongue, but shamelessness wasn't part of his repertoire.

"Oh no..." Lu'card mumbled to himself. If this man learned shamelessness, none of them were safe.

In the silence, Lu'card's mumble was clearly heard by everyone. Plus, it wasn't like Dragon's Tongue was good for whispering in the first place. It was hard to whisper when every tone resonated like an ancient bell.

Ryu smiled. "Don't be like, Lu'card. Tell you what. If you lower your cultivation level to the False God Beast Realm, I'll happily give you a spar. What? Are you scared?"

Lu'card's silvery eyes suddenly turned scarlet.

"Watch your mouth."

"Hoho," Ryu's gaze narrowed.

BANG!

The two suddenly disappeared at the same time, one Dragon towering at over 50 meters, and a human that was barely a fraction of his size. And yet, Ryu's fist met Lu'card's claw without the slightest hesitation.

A wild fluctuation of space rippled out in all directions.

Lu'card's expression changed. He thought that Ryu was a fool for trying to touch him when he had just heard that he had awakened his Universe's Guard.

If the Tribulation Seed was the strongest talent of the Lightning Qilin, the Universe's Guard was most definitely the strongest talent of the Spatial Dragons, and it was one that hadn't been awakened in countless generations. It could be said that this was part of the reason the Spatial Dragons had fallen so far.

Universe's Guard, or, rather Spatial Coat was a talent that granted a Spatial Dragon the ability to truly be one with space. This wasn't as simple as entering the void, it truly made one no different from the spatial laws themselves.

It was a concept most had a difficult time wrapping their heads around, let alone awakening. It was a talent that could both be the greatest offense and the greatest defense, a reality that was decided by no one other than the talent wielder themselves.

At the highest levels, each one of Lu'card's scales would carry within it a world. If he wanted to, he could weigh as much as thousands of stars or become as immovable as thousands of blackholes.

And, unlike Ryu who needed to use his soul stamina to tap into his Spacetime Soul Nature, Lu'card didn't need to do such a thing at all. In fact, it all happened so naturally that it was as easy as breathing.

Once again... he was space and space was him.

When a world appeared, it didn't need to consciously control the space around itself at all. Just by virtue of its existence, space would be warped around it. Stronger worlds had stronger spatial laws, and weaker ones had weaker spatial laws.

This was the reality of the world, and it was something that the Spatial Dragons were well aware of, which was why they were so shocked when Lu'card exposed the fact he had awakened such a talent.

He had originally come here to claim Rumill's territory, a territory that was ranked in the top 100 of the junior generation's territories. They had been shocked about this matter because Lu'card had only recently broken into the Omniscient God Beast Realm, he shouldn't have been a match for Rumill at all who many said was already only a few centuries away from becoming a Lord Beast.

It had to be known that environment was highly important to Dragons. Even Veridia had found a nice region of heavy volcanic activity to take her long rest. It was the same for Spatial Dragons.

Originally, Ryu hadn't come here to see Lu'card, he had no idea that he was here and it was nothing more than a coincidence. The real reason he had come was because this region had a high density of volatile spatial qi, and as a result there were many natural treasures here that could likely help him break into the Ninth Nether Plane with greater ease. In fact, there might even be a region here that made it easier to step into the other Planes as well, that wouldn't be too much of a surprise for a region with such high spatial fluctuations.

But after he met Lu'card, he had a better idea.

Why waste his time looking for such resources and potentially offending Elder Dragons who could kill him with a look? Any of the resources or regions that could allow him to step into the Nether Plane from here would almost certainly be under the control of Lord Beasts or stronger.

However, Lu'card was his gateway.

Because he had awakened Spatial Cloak, it should be far easier for Lu'card to travel between Planes. In fact, even if he hadn't, his Blackhole Pupils were likely to have such abilities as well.

Ryu had learned a lot about the cultivation world in recent years, so he knew how ridiculous it was for a Beast to awaken Heavenly Pupils. Lu'card was a cheat code in the flesh, and Ryu happened to like his character very much.

He had given up on taking him as a mount once, he certainly wouldn't do it again.

Ryu laughed, his voice echoing through the skies. As expected, Lu'card restricted his strength to the False Sky God Realm. He wasn't surprised in the slightest.

Lu'card quickly hid his surprised expression.

"You're too arrogant." Lu'card's gaze flickered, a swirling blackhole appearing for an instant before he suppressed it.

Ryu grinned. "Hiding your strength still? You don't need to, with your master here, who can touch you?"

A malevolent aura spread from Lu'card as his wings spread wide. A single flap sent a storm of wind and spatial scythes spiraling through the surroundings. Everyone, regardless of if it was Rumill or the others, were forced into a retreat.

"If you keep testing my bottom line, I'm not afraid to kill you regardless of our former relationship."

Ryu's grin didn't fade. He stood in the skies, his own wings suddenly spreading from his back. Somehow, he was both far smaller than Lu'card and yet just as large in all of their eyes.

"Follow me and you'll become the next Dragon Emperor."

The skies clapped and thunder rolled. The pupils of the surrounding Dragons constricted.

Ryu spoke these words without hesitation, causing all of their hearts to stop beating.

In the Dragon Clan, there was no abdication. A Dragon Emperor position only passed down from one to another through combat, and without a doubt, one would always die. Even if the losing party was spared, they would never have the face to continue living.

Ryu saying these words was as good as telling everyone he planned to help Lu'card kill the current Dragon Emperor...

Pyrothos the Undefeated.

Lu'card's expression flickered before his laughter boomed as well. It was far louder, his voice even more grating and unlike Ryu who had to rely on the thunder high above, it seemed that Lu'card had become the thunder himself.

"I will become the next Dragon Emperor myself. Since when did I need the help of others to achieve my goals? Congratulations, you've sufficiently enraged me."

Lu'card no longer held back. While his cultivation remained at the Omniscient God Beast Realm, his Heavenly Pupils flourished.

Two enormous blackholes appeared behind his wings, an even larger one taking shape behind his head.

His scales shimmered so brightly that the Dao Bones beneath became to echo with the hymns of the Heavens.

Ryu raised a fist to the skies, a streaking bolt of lightning descending in a flash.

He was enveloped in the light, and when he appeared once again, he was enveloped in a silvery blue armor, from his horns to his feet and wings.

The skies rolled and rumbled with rage. The Heavens had immediately detected Ryu's blasphemy and struck down with an even more violent momentum.

If there were any Dao Gods observing, they would have seen that what Ryu was wearing was no normal armor... it was armor that was a perfect replica of the Heavenly Knights that descended on Sacrum. The aura they exuded was on an entirely different level.

Ryu smashed his twin pair of gauntlets together, the rain of lightning above only adding to his valiance as a twin pair of eight trigram diagrams appeared, one above and the other below him.

His Birthed Phenomena rose into the skies and his Silver Star manifested itself.

At that moment, his momentum thoroughly suppressed Lu'card's.

"Bring everything you have. It's been a very long time since I've had a good battle, and my fists are itching."

Every word Ryu spoke seemed to either enrage the Heavens or were perfectly in line with their Heavenly Dao.

His Childe of Order and Childe of Chaos Constitutions struck an eerie balance and solidified the space. In that moment, he looked entirely untouchable.

BANG!

The two vanished at once.