Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1769 Two Things

Ryu took slow, even breaths. As he sunk his mind into the layer, his breathing remained so.

A light smile spread across his face.

When Ryu stepped into this world, he actually hadn't expected much. He had only come here for his wife, and after a few dared to have designs on her, he conveniently decided to also kill them.

However, after entering this sea, he realized just how special it was and he also saw an opportunity to allow his Dao to break free of the constraints of these Heavens.

As Ryu had deduced in the past, the Rotten Sea was akin to a proxy for the Heavens. It was using the main weakness of Demons—that being that they could be used as Summons—and turning it into a strength.

Everyone that entered was forced into suppression with this Seal, and by breaking through the layers of the Rotten Sea one after another, one could use that Seal as a proxy to strengthen themselves, or more accurately, their Bloodlines.

Ryu, obviously, couldn't take advantage of this. He was a human, so he didn't have the necessary connection or reliance on the Heavens to improve his Bloodline in this way.

But what he had noticed were two interesting things that he could take advantage of.

The first was the seal itself. As a proxy for the Heavens, it was even able to suppress his Heavenly Pupils. What Ryu had realized was that this seal was more mental than anything else. It was like a form of suggestion.

If he wanted to simplify it, it would be more accurate to say that he was suppressing himself than that this world was suppressing him.

Ryu realized that if he could break this suggestion on his own, he would actually be able to break free of other things…

Like the artificial cap on his Dao.

From the beginning, this was the main goal of his progress, and also the thing that he was striving for.

He felt that the ninth layer had the secret to breaking past the Peak Founding Dao level. Or, at the very least, it was the secret to breaking free of the level the True Martial World named as such.

But as Ryu spent more time in the Rotten Sea, he also realized something else that was curious.

Why was Selheira able to take advantage of it but he couldn't?

The reason Selheira was able to use the Rotten Sea like a demon was because she was a beast who was now following the path of a human.

Due to the fact Demons were considered to be an amalgamation of beast and human, this technically meant that she was more demon now than either of the two races.

This made perfect sense.

But why was it that Ryu couldn't accomplish the reverse?

He was a human, yes. But didn't he have beast blood flowing through him? Why was it that he could be registered as a Demon in this place as well?

When Ryu thought about it, the answer was obvious. So obvious, in fact, that its existence was the reason he hadn't thought about it much. He just directly dismissed it and shrugged his shoulders.

However, it was that very same simple answer that shook him awake and gave him another idea.

The reason was simple.

Selheira was following the path of a human despite being born a beast, but Ryu wasn't following the path of a beast. At most, his Bloodlines were just proxies for his strength, not paths that he followed.

There was a fundamental difference between the two.

Selheira was changing fundamental aspects of herself, reforming her Pillars, even reshaping her Dao. Most importantly, she was changing the way to communicate with and interacted with the Heavens.

Ryu had never done any of that.

He was human, would always be human, and had no interest in trying out the path of a beast.

In fact, every time his parents-in-law called him a Fire Dragon, he all but told them to piss off.

However… if he was going to try to break free of the Heaven's restraints in one part by surpassing its cap on the Dao, then why not do the same in this regard?

Who said he had to truly follow the path of a beast? Why couldn't he just simulate doing so? Why couldn't his Bloodmancy play such a role? Even further than that, why not use his Inner World to help?

All of this relied on the premise that he could completely undo the seal, and that, of course, required breaking through the ninth layer on his own without relying on Bloodmancy.

But the question went right back to the first problem he had faced in this world.

He was a human. If he didn't cheat, how could he resonate with this barrier and shatter his way through?

But Ryu was ultimately still Ryu.

He had broken through eight layers by now. How could it not be the case that he had already made great progress in this feat?

By now, he could already feel the seal inside of him so clearly that he could practically touch it.

A formation was looping through his Seven Corporeal Spirits, latching onto his inner organs, and forcing a suggestion on them that forced them to act in certain ways.

Not only was Ryu studying this formation to learn how to break it, but the Demons were practically giving him an open lesson on how to create the strongest Seals ever formed.

He might have brought three Summons under his wing, but Ryu had yet to actually seal any one of them. That was because he lacked a Summoner Necromancer Inheritance that could work against this level of existences. Everything he knew came from Sacrum and he had yet to have time to research.

But now the situation was entirely different.

Ryu's gaze suddenly flashed open and his aura sky rocketed, his white hair fluttering wildly in the waters.