Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1762 Tired of Calm

Ryu smiled, looking at this scene with satisfaction. This was about barely enough to be worthy of being his Summon. Empana with this strength and his Dao Heart was bound to be a true monster. It was likely that even now, there were very few left in the Rotten Sea that could match up to him.

If Ryu was correct, it was likely only that Black Thunder Wraith, Wunikai and one other he had a memory of that could do so.

This still wasn't enough, in Ryu's opinion. These three were excellent talents, but they still weren't considered to be the true monsters of the Demon Kings. Those would be existences like his wife and others who didn't even show up today.

But it was a decent start.

As for what would make Ryu satisfied?

Well, he had not a single care in the world for the standards of the True Martial World.

If he wanted to reach the pinnacle of the world, to soar across Existence and find his wife, to protect his loved ones from any and all things, his goals had to be beyond this.

And by extension, those that he wanted to make a part of his power likewise had to be beyond.

Until Empana could crush Dao Gods and look down on them with impunity, he wouldn't be satisfied. And it was likely that even then, he would be looking toward an even taller peak.

"Let's go," Ryu said. "I'm sure that now you can move around on your own."

Empana blinked, still in a stunned state of shock. But eventually, he nodded as well, following Ryu, who had already shot off into the distance.

Empana was slowly beginning to recall his memories of what had happened. As he did so, he realized that if not for Ryu's timely appearance, this would have been the place he died.

He hadn't expected that his family core talent would awaken in his to begin with. His talent was far too low. But for it to have such a shocking resonance with the Rotten Sea was even more shocking to him.

The sad part was that even if he returned home and told his people of this, what difference would it make?

Most couldn't even survive on the Seventh Plane without being crushed by the pressure, let alone the Ninth Plane, or even further the seventh layer of this Rotten Sea.

And even if they could, how many of them had awakened this talent? Most would never.

And even further than that, his family had disappointed him a great many times, the last of which was when they took the side of his stepmother instead of himself.

Those blind fools chose her simply because she had a purer bloodline. How much more did he need to prove to them? Was making it into an Eighth Plane Sect not enough?

Grievances began to bubble up in Empana's heart, but he forced them down.

Ryu came to a stop, and the trio stood before the eighth layer's barrier. Selheira had lazily shifted to Ryu's back, having awakened a few times in the last few days, but also having gone to sleep soon afterward pretty much like clockwork.

Ryu had always read stories of how much Dragons liked to sleep, and after seeing his mother-in-law sleep to the point of becoming a mountain, and now his wife, he realized that these stories were true.

Selheira would often vanish for months at a time when he was in the Radiant Star Sect. He hadn't actually thought much about it because he, too, disappeared a lot. But he wondered if that was because she was busy sleeping all the time.

He chuckled to himself at the thought when Selheira suddenly bit his earlobe.

Her little temper tantrum made him laugh harder.

"I'll give you the opportunity to vent, Empana," Ryu suddenly said.

"Hm?"

Ryu didn't explain. Instead, he took out yet another blood crystal.

This time, the entire seventh layer was illuminated. It shimmered so brightly that it was impossible that those around didn't spot it.

And just like clockwork, several powerful existences zoomed over, striding over large distances.

This time, no one cared about the danger. They had been stuck in the seventh layer for too long, their bodies were tired and many were giving up hope on ever entering the eighth.

Back when Ryu's golden pillar descended, there were far fewer existences in this layer, and the risk also wasn't worth it, especially not for something they weren't sure of the origin of. For all they knew, a powerful creature had just spawned.

But this time, there was no mistaking what it was. It was clearly a blood crystal. Not only did they know exactly what it was, they were also aware that this was their only chance to make it to the eighth layer.

Succeeding in such a thing could change their entire lives. Maybe they, too, would be named among the truly monstrous geniuses.

"There you have it, Empana. How about you show the world the new you?"

Empana trembled and clenched his fists. In the crowd of surging geniuses, he spotted a Shadow moving through the waters. He practically didn't hear Ryu's words at all.

All he remembered was this supposed genius sneaking up on him and then slowly torturing him to death for hours on end.

He remembered every cut, every fracture, every sadistic chuckle and laugh.

As his fury rose, so too did the water's temperature.

Empana suddenly unleashed a furious roar that echoed across the blackened water. His rage froze several individuals, but that didn't mean that he came to a stop at all.

His tail suddenly lashed out more by instinct than anything else, and three of the Demon King geniuses shattered into a rain of blood and gore that was quickly soaked up by the Rotten Seas.

Empana grabbed at the air and flamed, seemed to head his call.

He didn't need Ryu's urging.

He was tired of being calm. He truly wanted to kill.