Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

A stunned silence fell over the starry skies. When had any of them ever witnessed a junior insulting a World Sea Realm expert so openly and without reserve?

But the truth of the matter was that Ryu was pissed off. Even if he hadn't kneeled personally, wasn't making his own summon kneel a slap to his own face? And this bastard actually dared to pressure Yaana at the same time? 

Regardless of what Yaana's feelings for him were, what Ryu knew without a shadow of a doubt was that he would protect her with his life. Even he didn't dare to make her suffer the slightest injustice, so who was this old bastard hiding in the skies right now who actually dared to do such a thing? 

If it wasn't for him maintaining a shred of reason, Ryu would have killed this man right where he hid. Since when was there anyone who could hide from his eyes? To Ryu, he might as well have been right in front of him. 

Ryu's gaze seemed to pierce through the void, landing on the World Sea Realm expert with the greatest of ease. It was clear that this sudden change to the situation had caught this expert off guard as well, or else they would have imploded under Ryu's provoking words long ago. How could he expect that an Immortal Ring Realm brat could possibly find him? 

However, his shock had nothing to do with Ryu. As far as Ryu was concerned, if he didn't make this man enraged to the point of coughing up blood, he wouldn't even deem to call himself a Tatsuya any longer. 

"What did you just say to me?!"

The voice came out in a sudden boom. There was silence initially, before there was an endless torrent of violent winds. It shot down through the crowd, forcing several to cough up mouthfuls of blood and retreat explosively. 

The Frost Thunder Giant's pale blue skin was immediately lacerated in several places, leaking thick purple blood as it tried to protect its face from the onslaught. However, having already been forced into a kneeling position, it was struggling with accumulating power to begin with. 

The fury in Ryu's gaze set before vanishing into a smoldering coldness. His playful demeanor vanished, his white hair dancing in the wind. 

With a step, Ryu vanished and appeared on the Frost Thunder Giant's shoulder. He stood amidst the billowing aura of the World Sea Realm expert, a sudden strong surge of Ice Inheritance blooming from his body as the call of a majestic Phoenix spread throughout the surroundings. 

In the blink of an eye, the Frost Thunder Giant had been encased in a cold and harsh wind. However, while this wind would have been unbearable to anyone else, to the Frost Thunder Giant, it was like a revitalizing tonic it couldn't get enough of. 

At that moment, its deep flesh wounds iced over, being mended together by beautiful crystalline ice structures coursing with gorgeous blue Ice Phoenix Heavenly Patterns. 

The moment these ice crystals burst apart into sparkling motes of cold light, the wounds of the Frost Thunder Giant had vanished. It stood to its feet, its roar piercing toward the veil of the skies above. 

Ryu realized now that the reason he had rarely used his Ice and Fire Inheritances in the past was because he subconsciously thought they were too weak. But, that was all a product of his Inheritances losing their levels. Even though his Ice Inheritance was only at the Ruler Realm currently, its power dwarfed many Monarch and even Dominion Realm Ice Inheritances. 

The World Sea Realm expert was immediately infuriated by this scene. He had purposely targeted the Frost Thunder Giant as a vague sign of taking a step back. He still hadn't received Yaana's answer, so he was still cautious by a measure. While the whole of the Armament Guild could afford to offend Lady Demuire, he personally could not. When it came to experts of that caliber, if you pissed them off, someone would have to pay, and if not the Armament Guild as a whole, he most definitely would personally. 

But, who would have thought that rather than taking his act of mercy on the chin, this little bastard would actually smack his face in front of so many people? How could he not be infuriated. 

What this World Sea Realm expert didn't know—an expert by the name of Vardus Hastam and yet another member of Godefriede's Hastam Clan—was that this was exactly what had pissed Ryu off. He was Ryu Tatsuya, since when did he eat losses at the hand of someone else? He had taken a step back? Well in Ryu's opinion, he hadn't taken it far back enough. 

Since this man wanted to be humiliated, he would thoroughly humiliate him. 

"I was only casually asking the question, but it seems that the Armament Guild really is so cowardly. Not only did you blockade the path, stopping those who wanted to challenge from doing so, but now you're actually sending the older generation to pressure the younger. What a good and decent Armament Guild you are."

Vardus nearly felt his head bursting from fury. The fact these words were coming from someone so much lower than himself almost made him burst at the seams. 

"What absolute horseshit!"

Ramir could no longer hold back his temper. 

"You clearly said that you had wanted to come here as a spectator! Why are you pretending like your goal was something else now?! Do you think that my Hastam Clan is filled with pushovers!? Speak another word of nonsense and I'll cut your head off where you stand!"

Ramir's infuriated roar didn't carry the same momentum as that of his clansman, but its result was no less violent. Obviously, the World Sea Realm expert had been holding back. But, this time, Ryu was more than prepared. 

Ryu's gaze shifted over, it still pervading with coldness. 

"How are my words contradictory in any way? I said from the very beginning that I wanted to visit every city, but ended up having my way blocked. I ended up having to burst my way through because I could only assume that it was the work of fools. After all, every power has its bad seedlings. It wasn't until I saw the state of this battle that I realized that I had given you all too great of a benefit of the doubt. 

"Not only are World Sea Realm experts involved, but they're even covering up this clown show."

"What did you say?!"

"I said this is a clown show. If this is the level of spearman that can challenge the Cosmic Seed Spear Armament, why should I bother going from city to city to prove myself? You're such a pathetic excuse for a spearman that I'm ashamed for all who call the weapon their own. For the likes of you to actually dare to challenge for this Armament, what else could I conclude but the fact the Armament Guild has fallen this far and is now doing their best to cover it up?"

Ramir was so infuriated that he began to laugh. "A mere insignificant junior dares to comment on what they have no understanding of. The barricade you burst through was surrounding a Staff City. Do you really take me to be a fool?!"

Ryu suddenly reached out a hand, glistening claws suddenly growing out from his once normal nails. In an instant, they were coated by delicate black Heavenly Patterns, swirling about with an air of death and destruction. 

The Frost Thunder Giant's enormous club flew up to Ryu as though it had a mind of its own. Despite the striking disparity in their size, Ryu clamped down on it and his claws tore through its outer casing. 

Before the eyes of everyone, an enormous club that must have weighed billions of jin cracked, suddenly falling into numerous tiny shards of a wood before them all. 

Ryu's Ice Inheritance surged. Violent cold wind blew about as the falling shards of wood suddenly began to grow ice shells of their own. 

In the blink of an eye, many of the shards had been fused together, forming a 20 meter tall spear, radiating with beautiful blue Heavenly Patterns… However, its shaft was a different story entirely, radiating with a menacing and jagged edge. Every so often, it would waft with the smell of death and a black fog, shaking those who saw it to their core. 

The Frost Thunder Giant grabbed its new weapon out of the air. Feeling the power that pumped through it, it roared a deafening roar, the Frost Thunder Qi around it billowing. 

"You talk far too much. I don't need to raise a single finger to show you just how inferior of a spearman you are."

Ryu's cold voice seemed to resound from the depths of hell, his smoldering rage practically reaching a palpable level. 

"Draw your blade."

**

At that moment, deep within the starry sky and out of the view of the most powerful worlds, an enormous void was suddenly split in two. 

The crackling of black lightning and the sound of space shattering like shards of glass resounded, but the tear only continued to get slowly, but surely larger. 

It was then that an enormous claw glistening with beautiful ruby scales latched onto one side of the tear and pulled. 

The sound was akin to reality itself being torn in two. The horrible noise was enough to force one's heart to stop beating completely. 

Like this, the claw stepped out. A strong qi blasted down as it firmly stepped into the air. The space for the surrounding several thousand kilometers immediately shattered, several smaller worlds getting caught in the whirlwind only to be obliterated without the hope of fighting back. 

Deep within the tear, a single, reptilian slit eye became ever brighter.