Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1751 Cancerous Growth

Ryu gave them all a glance, and then directly turned his back to them. He approached the barrier and closed his eyes. 

His tranquil appearance painted an image most who saw it would never forget. Then, mere seconds later, he fazed through the barrier. 

There was no commotion, no fanfare. He didn't even use a blood crystal. He seemed completely at peace. 

Looking at this scene now, one would have thought that he was among the Demon Kings with the purest and most tyrannical bloodlines… 

When in reality he was just a human. 

… 

Ryu appeared on the other side and the first thing he did was sense for Selheira. But the surrounding changes caught his attention first and caused him to frown. 

The pressure here was multiplied several times over. It was to the point that he felt like his body might collapse. 

He had yet to raise his body to a True Sky God standard, and that was suddenly showing. 

In a gang of contestants that were at the Lower Perfect Sky God Realm at worst, he stuck out like a sore thumb. 

That wasn't the only problem, but as a human that didn't have a Bone Structure like his father's, for example, his body was naturally weaker. Comparatively speaking, Selheira or the Demons would all have powerful flesh and bone from birth. 

It could be said that he was at a disadvantage two fold. 

Ryu felt that his bones were about to fracture. If it wasn't for the fact the methods of the Nine Pillar Flame Sect were taboo and allowed his False God Body to be equivalent to a True God Body, he would have already been crushed. 

This wasn't the only problem Ryu was facing. 

The reason his Nine Pillar Flame Sect method had begun to exhibit its real power was because he managed to disassociate it from the Fate of the True Martial World and anchor it to his Inner World instead. 

In the past, this Taboo Method had only allowed his False God Body to match up to the True God Body of a Seventh Heaven Sky God. 

After the change, his False God Body could match up to the True God Body of a normal Ninth Heaven Sky God. 

The difference was enormous, and it was a large part of Ryu's current battle prowess. 

But without his Inner World, how could this still be true? Without its support, the Taboo method was once again restricted by these Heavens and his bodily strength had plummeted from a Ninth Heaven Sky God to a Seventh Heaven's Sky God. 

Ryu reacted quickly enough and used some Bloodline Resonance to alleviate the pressure. But this was quickly draining his Vital Qi. If he didn't do anything to change the current status quo, he would eventually run out of both Vital Qi and Embryonic Qi. 

The worst part about all of this to him, though, was the fact that Selheira felt impossibly far away. 

It was a feeling almost identical to what he had faced on the surface. She felt here and yet not here at the same time. 

Could she had progressed to the eighth layer already? 

Ryu had belief in Selheira, but not that much belief. 

Although he didn't know this, the seventh layer was very often the cap in most years. Over 90% of the time, no one would manage to enter the eighth layer, let alone do so with such speed. 

This meant that it was a quirk of the seventh layer. It seemed to be making it more difficult for everyone to team up. 

'If I can dial in my Bloodline resonance, I don't believe it can stop me from finding her.'

Since senses were so dull in this place, Ryu wasn't worried about people finding Selheira. The main issue was rather the beasts that spawned from thin air. 

Thinking to this point, Ryu quickly entered a State of Meditation. His eyes were still heavily suppressed, to the point of almost being useless. But at least this method still seemed open to him. 

He allowed his Embryonic Qi to rush through his body, trying to combat the rapid loss of his Vital Qi. 

Cracks that appeared along his skin were rapidly healing, but the frown on his face was only quickly deepening. 

He wondered, was he wasting his time? Had he pushed himself too far? 

This test was all related to Vital Qi. It could be said that the only part of Ryu's body that wasn't suppressed was his body… 

It was unfortunate, though, that without his Inner World, his Bloodlines might as well have become useless again in the fact of these geniuses. 

He had neglected this before because he had had a powerful Bloodline for too short a time. It was easy for him to sink back into the state of just shrugging when his Bloodlines didn't cooperate with him. 

But when he realized this, it put something into perspective. 

What if the bare minimum requirement was having a strong body? What if even with Bloodline Resonance, it was impossible to progress without one? 

Even if you could rely on Bloodline Resonance, wasn't the fact his Vital Qi kept running out while using it another problem? And didn't his Vital Qi keep running out so quickly because his Bloodlines were too weak in this state to hold any more of it? 

Ryu's frown deepened, and he opened his eyes. 

Where were these thoughts coming from? Since when did he doubt himself so much? 

He looked around, but found nothing but an endless blackness. Wisps of aura came off of him, alleviating the pressure, but his face was already pale from the constant drain on his Vital Qi. 

'Should I do it?' Ryu suddenly thought. 

In reality, he had another method of using Bloodline Resonance that he had thought of long ago. It would be far more efficient than what he was doing now and its synergy with his Bloodmancy would be on another level entirely. 

But he had been hesitant. 

This world could even suppress his Heavenly Pupils and his Inner World. Even his Soul Nature wasn't safe, and that led to a whole host of downstream effects like his Embryonic Qi reverting back to its previous state. 

That made Ryu feel like the person or persons who created this world were practically all-powerful. If he used a Taboo method in a place like this, what would happen? Did the Demon Kings even have the same visceral reaction to the Taboo Powers? It wasn't like it was their battle, right? 

But what if information spread from here? At that point, would it even matter? 

Ryu stood up. 

His thoughts were in disarray and he was almost certain that it wasn't because of himself. 

He hurriedly checked his body, trying to spot something, but even after a long while, there was absolutely nothing. 

'What…?'

It wasn't that Ryu hadn't thought that it could be the world around him, but it was completely antithetical to everything it had been testing until this point. 

Why attack the mind when it was trying to get him to refine his Bloodlines? How was Vital Qi related to the soul at all? 

Ryu was strong in his conviction and he kept check his body again and again, but it was difficult to do so when his senses were all so widely suppressed. 

However, he didn't move. 

When he sensed the odd doubt in his heart, questioning his every move, it was only further assurance to press forward. 

He was Ryu Tatsuya. He didn't doubt himself, he never doubted himself. 

Although Ryu was worried about Selheira, he forced everything down. He had to find the problem as quickly as possible. If he left in this state and began to battle, who knew when his judgment would be affected next? If he slipped up in battle, wouldn't he die? What if he put her in even more danger? 

It took Ryu three hours, three entire hours, before he found the cancerous growth in his Magus Lock. 

He had skipped over it so many times before that it didn't even quite register. However, his persistence proved fruitful. 

'Dream Wraith…'

Ryu's gaze flashed with a deadly killing intent. 

It seemed that he hadn't managed to stop Vense from sending out a mental attack after all. It was so clever and expertly controlled that he hadn't even noticed. In fact, if not for the change in his temperament, he would have never noticed. 

If it wasn't for the fact his Dao Heart and self-assurance were so strong, on top of the fact he had been meditating on Temperament and the differences between people recently, he would have never stumbled onto it so fast. 

And yet, even knowing something was wrong, it had still taken him so long. 

His heart trembled. Vense wasn't even the strongest of the Dream Wraiths. What were the others capable of? He hadn't even detected this attack land. 

And worse than that… 

How was he going to get rid of it?