Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu's eyes opened, a ring of gold surrounding their silver irises. It felt like one was looking into the gaze of an archangel just to look at him. 

The veins bulging across Ryu's body seemed to run with golden blood. It was very difficult to equate his appearance to that of a normal human. He seemed to exist on a plane entirely above. 

Ryu flipped his palm over, causing a flame of pitch black to appear. It was none other than a fire condensed from Primordial Chaos Flame Qi. In the past, despite his Rebirth Flame, it would still burn him and would be difficult to use. But now, it felt like a gentle spring breeze on his palm despite the fact Isemeine was force to retreat as quickly as her legs would allow. 

Ryu realized at that moment that he had become completely immune to fire. Before, his Rebirth Flame only allowed him to be immune to flames of a certain level depending on his comprehension, but now it seemed that these limiters had been removed entirely. 

But, this only felt like the tip of the iceberg. 

Ryu's palm suddenly squeezed shut. In what looked like something straight out of a horror film, his arm shattered. However, there was no sign of a hint of blood. 

If one looked again, it would be possible to see that Ryu's arm had become motes of light, flickering like miniature golden flames. Soon, these small flames all rapidly came toward, reforming into a large claw that seemed ten times too big for Ryu's body. 

With a single flex, this claw became covered in scales, radiating out with a golden light. Each one of these 'scales' was formed of a Heavenly Pattern. No… They were formed of Emperor Phoenix Heavenly Patterns. 

Ryu slowly racked his claw across the air. Sparks flew as the sturdy space resisted against his strength. Despite there not being a single ounce of heat coming from the current Ryu, his destructive abilities were mind numbing. He could easily see now why the Fire Phoenix ruled its race… Its ability to internalize and use Heavenly Patterns was on a completely different level. 

Ryu shook his arm, causing it to shatter once again and reform into his true form. He felt that if he wanted to turn into a Phoenix right now, he could do so with absolute ease. In fact, he could tell that his power would reach an all new level if he entered a complete beast form. 

But… he had no interest in doing such a thing. He was a human and would always be one. 

Ryu ignored everything around him and began to experiment with his new strength, eventually even spreading his thoughts toward Heavenly Patterns in general. He felt that there was far more power at his finger tips than he ever imagined there to be. It was to the point he regretted ignoring his Phoenix Bloodlines up until this point, though it truly couldn't' be considered his fault. Without the complete [Phoenix Heavenly Body], he would have never made it so far. 

After making it quite far, Ryu realized that his efficiency could be increased. He was slowly becoming limited by his Heavenly Pupils, but he had the means to change this. 

He decided that using the Essence from his awakened Dominion on his soul was no longer worth it. His soul had undergone such an enormous qualitative change after becoming golden that it was already no weaker than any normal Soul Refinement stage soul, and that wasn't even considering the addition of 9999 Heavenly Patterns. 

In that case, Ryu decided that the best used for his Essence now were his Pupils. The amount allowed him to increase his undone seals from around 50 to a complete 99, reaching the very pinnacle of the Immortal Realms. As for breaching 99 and reaching 100, Ryu felt that he needed another qualitative change in energy, energy that just might be within the store of treasures his grandmother had left to him. 

From 0 to 9 seals were the Mortal Realm. From 10 to 99 were the Immortal. From 100 to 999 were the Cosmic Realms. 

Much like Mortal Qi couldn't be compared to Immortal Qi, Immortal Qi was nothing in the face of Cosmic Qi. It was the main dividing line between the Dao Pedestal and Cosmic Seed Realm. 

Ryu took out a peculiar flower with petals shaped into silver bells. If Isemeine's mother had still been here, she would have been shocked silly. 

This flower was known as the Silver Cosmic Bell. It was a Higher Mystical Grade Spiritual Herb capable of helping a Dao Pedestal Realm expert to form their first Cosmic Seed and thus break through from the Dao Pedestal Realm to the Cosmic Seed Realm. It rose the chances of success by more than 100%. 

However, this was just the tip of the iceberg. 

Silver Cosmic Bell Spiritual Herbs were notorious for the fact that one could only consume from a single stock. This was to say that one could only consume the flowers from a single stem. Any attempt to consume from another stem would end in failure. 

This was where the true shock lay. Because the stem Ryu had just taken out had 12 silver bell flowers on it. This flower alone was worth as much as an Ancestral Grade Herb. It might even be worth an Origin Grade Herb to the right person. It was this exaggerated. 

12 attempts at forming a Cosmic Seed was obscene. Even if one failed multiple times per attempt, it would still give one an excellent chance at forming two, three maybe even four Cosmic Seeds at once! And yet… Ryu didn't plan to use this to break into the Cosmic Seed Realm. It could almost be considered a waste of Heaven's treasures… No, that was exactly what it was. Maybe even Ryu's grandmother would strangle him to death for this. 

However, Ryu no longer had to need for money, so he didn't need to sell this Herb. In addition, he had every intention of forming his Cosmic Seeds on his own, relying on outside resources would only make him weaker. 

In that case… He might as well use it on his Heavenly Pupils. 

"Stop! Stop! STOP!"

Hearing this voice, Ryu's shoulders trembled.