Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1835 Whetstone

Ryu exuded an air that made Lichen feel suffocated. It wasn't a matter of power. Even now, Lichen felt that he was more than a match for Ryu, despite having been outplayed until now.

The difference lay in Dao Heart and Temperament.

Facing off against Ryu, even though his momentum wasn't as great, it felt like Lichen was staring right into the jaws of the top 10 geniuses on the Earth Rankings. That truly left him shaken and, at the stime, confused.

Which of those monsters hadn't built their confidence from crumbling piles upon piles of geniuses?

He had heard about sof Ryu's feats, but seeing him in person now… Lichen actually felt that he was lacking something.

When he sensed Ryu's Dao Heart, it felt like he was sinking into an abyss of no return. The more he looked, the more unfathomable it felt. Soon, the feeling of facing off against the geniuses of the Earth Rankings faded and was replaced by something else entirely—the momentum of the Heaven Ranking.

How could Lichen know just how much Ryu was holding back? His momentum wasn't the sas those geniuses because he wasn't using his Chaotic Silk Meridians.

However, Ryu didn't mind it. In fact, he had begun to think that it was precisely because he had his Chaotic Silk Meridians that he had such a poor foundation. When you controlled one of the three strongest QIs in all of existence, was there a point in solidifying your foundation?

Even before, the last the had to hide it, he had rushed to grow powerful enough that he would no longer need to.

Now, though, he realized just how weak he was when he couldn't rely on this talent of his. It opened him up to understanding his own weaknesses.

He didn't feel pride in killing the higher-level Sky Gods he had on the battlefield because he realized that those weaklings represented the dregs of this world. If it was on the True Martial World, they would be lucky to be Fourth Heaven Talents.

What he needed to do was carve out a new path for himself. One where he could crush these geniuses even without the support of such broken energy.

And when the day cthat he could use it once more…

He would be on an entirely new level.

BANG!

Ryu didn't wait for Lichen to give him an answer. In an instant, he had already moved, the almost illusory great swordstaffs in his hands swinging. The world split into countless pieces, and a whirlwind of violence and shocking air shattered space.

Lichen gritted his teeth, a spark of determination flaring in his eyes. This battle was an opportunity for him as well.

What he was missing in comparison to those geniuses wasn't just talent but also Heart. Facing off against Ryu and forcing himself to withstand its pressure was exactly what he needed. There was no better whetstone than Ryu.

Against those top 10 geniuses, he wouldn't last even a single strike. But against Ryu, he could exchange several blows. The longer he held on, the more his own Dao Heart would be tempered. In the entire world, it was likely that only Ryu could allow him this opportunity, as the top 10 geniuses would never care to hold back so much.

BOOM!

Scythe and great swordstaffs met. Lichen felt a trembling, quaking power fill his body, and it seemed as though the ground beneath him could shatter at any time.

Ryu's gaze was calm and unassuming. He could see through Lichen's thoughts in an instant, and it filled him with a fury that nearly made him erupt. However, rather than allowing that fury to conshim and make him do something rash, he tempered it. He used it to make his attacks swifter, sharper.

When he moved, the world couldn't seem to withstand his blows. As he battled, he seemed to gain strength by leaps and bounds.

He had no idea about Lichen's ranking. If he knew that this man was merely ranked 96th and yet still dared to be so arrogant, it was hard to tell just how infuriated he would be.

Lichen shook and coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body growing agitated as he took a step back.

"Again!" he roared.

A blazing light was coming from his body, and his own momentum was quickly increasing. The brighter his Dao Heart became, the more the Darkness seemed to listen to his call, and the stronger he became.

He had coughed up a mouthful of blood not just because he had been injured; it was minor at best. But he had also just expelled several impurities from his body that had been hammered out by Ryu himself.

Ryu's silver eyes glowed with a light of indifference. He was actually being used as a whetstone.

He basked in the moment for a second. No, the humiliation. Maybe someone else wouldn't see it this way, but he had a hard tthinking of it as anything else.

His great swordstaffs danced, and the curve of Lichen's scythe was parried away in one swift motion.

Ryu's blades crossed, and he slashed, digging into Lichen's chest and almost splitting him into four parts. But in the last moment, the latter managed to use his Dark Qi to dispel sof the impact and make his body formless.

Ryu took a step forward, his intent blazing.

It was his fault. He was always in a rush, always looking for the next breakthrough, and quite frankly, even when he was still on the First Heaven, looking toward the Ninth Heaven above, he had never taken anyone in the scultivation Realm seriously.

With all that arrogance, why would he ever truly try to dig out his greatest potential?

He seemed to be winning this battle, and in overwhelming fashion at that…

And, he felt like he was back in Loom City where a mighty expert had almost forced him to kneel.

Until this point, that moment was the greatest humiliation of his life.

And now there was another.

And it pissed him off.

BANG!

A smoldering black fog billowed out from Ryu in waves and formed fissures of black ice in the surroundings.