Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu shook his head and sighed. 

'Father, if you're alive, I'll drag you up myself. If you're dead, I'll bury the nine Demon King Clans with you.'

Ryu looked up to the red skies above him, his eyes flickered between sapphire and ruby once again. He didn't know why, but his Fire Dragon Bloodline seemed to be growing more and more agitated in this recent day. He even felt that his Fire Spirit Body was about to naturally awaken, something that should have been impossible. 

Unfortunately, Ryu wasn't exactly sure of why this was. According to Ailsa, he shouldn't be able to awaken another great Talent so soon. At least for his Lightning Qilin Bloodline, he had to wait until the Path Extinction Realm to awaken his Storm Talent, something he was greatly looking forward to. As for his Fire Dragon Bloodline, it should still need some more time as well. 

Ryu only had two guesses. One was that his Fire Dragon Bloodline was now being suppressed and stimulated by his Lightning Qilin Bloodline, much like it had been the vice versa in the past. Or, the second reason… was the odd white flame in his Spiritual Sea. 

Ryu still didn't know much about that flame, but he felt like it had caused great changes to his body that day, changes that he still couldn't quite comprehend. Who knows, maybe it had a positive effect on other flames like his Origin Flame does, allowing his Fire Spirit Body to awaken earlier? 

'Or, I guess there's a third. It may be that completing the Vein Stage of master's technique helped? I should ask him when I have time…'

Ryu shook his head, taking his time to calm his emotions. 

He found all of this quite ironic. He had gone so far mostly for the sake of Nemesis and helping the big guy grow. Until now, Nemesis definitely didn't disappoint Ryu. In fact, not only did he look powerful and domineering with his new steel plate bones, but he was powerful. 

Nemesis was already able to match up to Eighth Order Beast thanks to his Adept Body Talent. Just the simple act of concentrating the strength of a Seventh Order Beast into such a compact body had an astronomical effect. But now, the big guy was even more of a problem. 

The irony of it all, though, was that… There were nine Demon King Clans, and one of them was the very Wrath Knight that Nemesis descended from. 

On one hand, Ryu's fingers were already itching to slaughter these Demon Kings down to their last man. But, on the other, he was relying on their descendants to bolster his strength in the future. 

'Wrath Knights…'

Stories of the headless horseman or the ghost rider both stemmed from this Demon King Clan. 

The Wrath Knights were quite a unique race. They were born as steeds and were raised much of their lives this way. However, upon birthing their Souls, it took the form of a human. 

It seemed that Wrath Knights were two different creatures coming together, but the truth was that Wrath Knights were both wraiths and steeds in one. 

In their most powerful form, a Wrath Knight was able to manifest their soul into a tangible form, making it look as though a horseman was riding them. This would coat their body in a powerfully corrosive fog and give them access to a whole host of powerful wraith abilities. 

At the same time, their main body, their steed form, was among the pinnacle of all physical attack Nether creatures. 

Having to face an enemy that was both explosively powerful in spirit and body was a headache the likes of which few could manage and even fewer Summoning Necromancers had ever succeeded in contracting one. 

As for those that did, not only could Ryu guarantee that they were Sky Gods, he could also guarantee that they were among the most powerful of Sky Gods as well. 

If Ryu ever wanted Nemesis to grow strong enough to withstand the backlash of his own Sin Talent, there would come a day where he would need to face the Wrath Knight Demon Kings no matter what. 

Ryu petted Nemesis' with a light touch. 

"~Nie!"

"That's right." Ryu nodded. "We'll succeed."

Ryu looked back toward the three choices before him. 

On the left, there was the skeleton humanoid. In the middle, there was the skeleton wolf. On the right, there was a wraith. 

He understood why these choices had come. The Canis were technically classified as humanoid despite their inverted limbs and head. The Rotting Wolf spoke for itself. As for the Falx, its petrification ability was actually very similar to the ability of some wraiths and spirits. 

Whether it was the skeleton humanoid, the skeleton wolf or the wraith, each represented the bottom of the totem pole in terms of summons. 

The Lower Skeleton Warrior was the weakest of the skeleton humanoid races. The Lower Skeleton Wolf was the weakest of the skeleton beast races, a title it shared with a few other creatures. And finally, the Lower Wraith was the weakest of the spirit races. 

Each of these three races could undergo two evolutions from Lower to Middle to Higher. This would allow them to go from barely battling in the Path Extinction Realm to the Peak Path Extinction Realm. 

This, though, would require their being allowed to swallow large amounts of their own race. And, should they evolve, it would require far more qi to summon them. In fact, the truth was that Ryu wasn't sure if he had enough qi to summon them even right now. 

Ryu really hadn't expected to find a way to dip his toes into Summoning Necromancy so soon. He had expected that he would be much further along in strength before he finally found a method. But, it seems that he had gotten 'lucky'. 

'My greatest strength is my comprehension and the Lower Skeleton Warrior would help me to bring this out with much more ease. But, the Lower Skeleton Wolf has the greatest raw physical strength of them all, something I can't deny would be helpful… Yet, at the same time, the Lower Wraith would be an excellent trump card, especially if I caught someone completely off guard…'

Ryu was having trouble choosing.