Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

"Haha! Moxi! Pay up, that knife of yours is mine!" 

A young man with a head of silver hair laughed boisterously. 

The young man of the Nourishing Soul branch that had jeered at Ryu was sitting at one of many of the banquet tables. With how things were designed, those crossing the barrier had practically become the entertainment of those waiting for the real festivities to begin as they could see the whole process from start to finish. 

Clearly, then, they knew that Ryu had taken a long time not because he struggled, but rather because he was comprehending something. In fact, they had even begun taking bets on just what Realm he was comprehending. 

This young man, known as Moxi by his friends and family. Maybe because he felt some solidarity with Ryu's white hair matching his own, but he bet that Ryu must have been entering the Dominion Realm. Obviously, when this wasn't the case, he was greatly disappointed and even had to fork over a knife he was a bit fond of. 

He had thought that he had this in the bag. After all, who here wasn't in the Ruler Realm? 

To be here, one had to have the strength of the Dao Pedestal Realm at the very least. It also had to be remembered that just to step onto the Shrine Plane, most had to be within the Path Extinction Realm or else the cold would freeze you to ice over time and cause permanent damage to your inner organs. 

Knowing this, Moxi had not only proposed the bet, he had even put forward a Heaven Grade short sword this idiot insisted on calling a knife just to annoy him. 

Being annoyed, of course Moxi said a few words to take a jab at Ryu and also prove that he should have been correct. However, he instantly felt weird when a World Sea Realm expert rushed up to Ryu and when he saw that Ryu hadn't even reacted to him. 

"Hey, hey. Moxi, stop stalling. My knife, now! I feel like I got a piece of meat lodged in my teeth, that's about all that things good for."

Moxi's aura sank, his palm flipping over to reveal a short sword with exquisite workmanship. 

It had a silver blade that was about a foot and a half long. Its tip was cut at an angle, catching the light that reflected off of it and rebounding it back as though each ray was a new strand of sword qi. It had a handle and wood that fit perfectly in the palm and radiated a rosy aroma while the flat of its blade had a vine dotted with flower etched onto its surface that radiated a blue light. 

In every way, shape and form, it was a beautiful piece of art. And yet, the young man with silver hair—Thephine, a member of the Silver Touch branch—simply snatched it away from Moxi and truly began to pick at his teeth with the blade. 

A boisterous laughter filled the banquet table. Each and every one of them was a youth of great standing and were, without a doubt, ranked upon the Heir Rankings. There were only very few exceptions to this rule… One of which being a familiar young man with blazing red hair, Arteur Scarlet. 

Moxi's brow twitched with rage as he saw Thephine's actions. If he could kill this son of a bitch right here, he really would. 

Moxi had always preferred short swords, but Thephine was a man who loved enormous pole arm weapons. They had clashed about this very topic too many times to count but this was probably the worse it had ever gotten. 

Objectively, Moxi could only blame himself for proposing the bet to begin with. However, he was infuriated when he saw Thephine's face. He wanted to bash this bastard in the nose. Or, at least he did until he suddenly realized that there was a killing intent thicker than his own at the table. 

If there were two branches of the Martial Gods who clashed heads the most, it was definitely the Silver Touch and Nourishing Soul Branch. Of the four Branches, both were very much adept at using the soul so it was inevitable that they would clash for similar resources, thus creating a sort of healthy competition between the two. 

This was to say that Moxi was quite sensitive to most things thanks to his powerful soul so he instantly felt the killing intent that surpassed his own and his gaze locked onto Arteur. However, Arteur didn't seem to notice Moxi's gaze at all as he was still staring daggers at Ryu as though to try to rip him limb from limb just with his gaze alone. 

"Hm?"

Moxi looked between Ryu and Arteur, about to say something. But, it was at that moment that another figure cross the wind barrier. 

By now, several had come in after Ryu. However, this individual garnered the most intention because he was the very popular Tybalt. Everyone was aware that his appearance meant something completely different in comparison to the others who had come before and they were very quickly proven correct. 

At that moment, a mighty aura descended, a flash of light blinding many to what was happening on the podium before it all slowly dispersed. 

The crowd held their breaths, feeling the oppressive might weighing on their chests. They could tell that this was the aura of a World Sea Realm expert, but it wasn't just any World Sea Realm expert, it was a King. More specifically, it was King Adonis, a Peak World Sea Realm expert with the features of a middle aged man and a head of flowing golden hair. It felt like he just might step into the Sky God Realm at any moment… But who knew how many millions had been stuck at this step? 

King Adonis swept a gaze over the crowd, many respectfully standing in his presence. Ryu was among this number, but the reality was that he had already been standing to begin with as he had yet to find a proper seat. 

"The number of you is too large. Weed them out."

His cold voice swept forward like a gale.