Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

"Oh?" Ryu chuckled.

Ryu had never forgotten about Guiot. He could still remember how determined he had been to come with Ryu back then, even knowing that there was a good chance that he might very well die.

All those years ago, though Ryu had been able to appreciate Guiot's attitude, he hadn't had the time nor the patience to nurture it. In fact, even now, he felt the same way. It was simply impossible for him to divert his time to help anyone buy himself grow. He felt that he had already done enough for Guiot, and if the latter couldn't find his path even given his talent, then there was nothing Ryu could do for him.

It had to be remembered that Guiot had a Spear Soul Nature. This allowed his bodily alignment to be greatly suited to Spear Inheritances and Spear techniques. Essentially, while others might struggle, when it came to his path of the spear, he would experience no bottlenecks whatsoever. So long as he built his Dao on his comprehension of the Spear, he would go very far along the path of cultivation. Even in comparison to Ryu, his raw talent in the spear was several steps beyond.

In the blink of an eye, in some form quite literally for Ryu, hundreds of years had passed and Guiot had blossomed into a warrior in his own right. Although he was still far weaker than Ryu himself, something that he could tell at a single glance, his progress in that time was still enough for Ryu to raise an eyebrow and smile a warm smile.

Guiot was somehow already in the Immortal Ring Realm, making him five times faster than a usual absolute genius. The only explanation for this is that he had had quite the fortuitous encounter in Ryu's absence, something that made sense considering the state Ryu had left the Fate in this world in.

Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal. But, because Guiot had a rare Soul Nature talent, something that was maybe only a tick below Heavenly Pupils in rarity, entering the Immortal Ring Realm had a completely different contextualization for him.

Entering the Immortal Ring Realm allowed Guiot to finally enter the Soul Birth Realm. And, it was upon entering the Soul Birth Realm that the true prowess of one's Soul Nature would flourish.

As a person in the Immortal Ring Realm, the best Guiot should have been able to do was reach the Ruler Realm in comprehension. In fact, it had to be remembered that even for geniuses, the comprehension of their Inheritances usually lagged behind their cultivation level. There were countless Immortal Ring Realm experts who still had Impose Realm Comprehension, and many more who were still stuck in the Heir Realm. Comprehension of Natural Orders was extremely difficult.

And yet, Guiot had not only comprehended to the Ruler Realm, he had shot by it! Ryu could tell that Guiot was already on the verge of grasping a Dominion and he was firmly entrenched into the Monarch Realm, having already formed himself a Small Realm!

To take a few hundred years to reach this point sounded unimpressive, especially considering what Ryu had accomplished. Well… considering what Ryu had accomplished in the past since his Inheritances kept regressing. However, through the lens of any normal individual, Guiot's progress was blazing.

It wasn't just this, either. Guiot's every step was incomparably solid. In addition, he had comprehended multiple intertwining and diverging Inheritances based on the spear. While it seemed like he only ahd one spear comprehension, in just the few seconds Ryu had spent observing, he had already picked out dozens of variations, each with a unique approach and danger to them.

What did this mean…? It meant that Guiot had comprehended DOZENS of Spear Inheritances to the Small Realm level!

Just with a glance, Ryu could tell that Guiot raw weapon mastery was well beyond him. If Ryu had to redo the challenge he fought against Godefride's cousin, but instead against Guiot. He felt that it was likely he would lose if he didn't rely on his Heavenly Pupils or his Dao.

That might sound like Ryu was purposely handicapping himself, but according to the rules of the duel, he wasn't supposed to be allowed to use anything not strictly related to the discipline of the spear. And, his eyes and Dao were hardly related at all.

Despite this realization, though, Ryu didn't feel inferior. Instead, he felt a fire light up within him as he grinned. He almost wanted to jump down and join the battle right this moment despite the fact that he had just been in a battle not long ago.

However, Ryu managed to rein himself in. Though several had already noticed and noted his presence, embroiled in battle as they were, no one had been able to come to bother him. He knew that he should take this opportunity to observe some more. In doing so, his gaze landed on a familiar little girl.

Sephare seemed to have grown well as well. Ryu could still remember that little girl trying her best to learn what she could from him about alchemy. He hadn't actually known much about the subject at all, but he still guided her in what he did understand. And now, she was a grown woman, also standing upon a battlefield in a fluttering blue dress.

'This battlefield, though…'

Ryu's gaze narrowed. He realized then that it wasn't just the Awoken Moon Sect that was here alongside the Three Pupii Eclipse Sect. The Moonlight Blossom Sect, the Black Winds Kingdom and the Nightingale Mansion, they were all here as well!

On top of that, there were a whole host of smaller Sects and Clans that had been brought here as well, each of whom was defending or fighting for control on one of these floating islands. It was as though all the powers of the Moon World had gathered here.

Ryu had been wondering why it was it seemed that everywhere else was so quiet while on the Pedestal Plane it had felt like there was a battle occurring across every square inch. Now he understood that it was because anything worth fighting for seems to have been concentrated here… But why?

These floating islands, they hadn't been here before, at least not back during his first life.

Ryu's gaze shifted down to the ground. Large swaths of earth had been dug up, the bottoms of which couldn't be easily spotted even with his gaze. However, what was shocking was that at the bottoms of these vast depths, there wasn't more earth like one might expect, but there actually seemed to be an odd shimmering object.

These objects weren't released blinding lights. Rather, they looked like one might expect if dull colors of grey, silver and black, along with deep, dark purples, came together to form a swirling gaseous nebula.

Ryu's gaze narrowed, his vision sharpening. He seemed to be transported forward several thousand miles, his eyesight becoming so sharp that it seemed as though he was standing right before the odd swirling nebula.

Ryu felt a jolt in his heart. '… This… Those are entrances to the Chaos Plane.'

The moment Ryu reached this conclusion, his vision became a steely cold and all his amusement vanished into a puff of thin air.

Ryu had learned several months ago that the Martial Gods had calculated that a fourth Plane of Existence existed. However, they hadn't been able to find the location quite yet. And, obviously, neither could Ryu.

Ryu had also known that the Martial Gods had a hand in controlling the Three Pupil Eclipse Sect. Or, more accurately, the Three Pupil Clan. However, from Ryu's understanding, they had believed that they could evolve their natural born Pupils into a new pair of Heavenly Pupils. This was something that had shocked Ryu for a moment, but nothing more than that. He had much more to worry about than just this alone.

What Ryu hadn't expected, though, was for this to be a cover up, a cover up that had even fooled the likes of Isemeine.

Maybe the Martial Gods had dabbled in trying to help the Three Pupil Clan evolve so that they could be a more useful pawn to them, but Ryu had no doubt that their main goal here had always been to find the entrance to this Plane.

It all suddenly clicked for Ryu.

Why would the Martial Gods have cared to touch something as unknown and unfamous as the Tri Palace? Of all the Clans they could choose to invest in, why the weak Three Pupil Clan? Why would Sarriel have chosen to come here of all places, a location that only stifled her growth? And now why were so many fighting over this one area with everything they had?

The answer was right in front of him, practically smacking him in the face.

From the very beginning, the goal had been the Chaos Plane.