Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu gazed down at his severed arm. His blood drizzled down for a moment, but it came to a stop just a moment later.

Ryu's gaze narrowed as he stared, watching his skin, bone and flesh wiggle about, already in the process of reforming.

With a thought, Ryu moved a drop of Embryonic Qi toward his arm.

Suddenly....

SHUUU! PCHU!

Ryu was nearly forced a step back by the speed of his arm's regrowth. It had returned in no more than a split second, and though it had cost one drop, the convenience was entirely unmatched. Regrowing a limb should have been nearly impossible, it was almost impossible under the suppression of the True Martial World as well.

Yet, Ryu had just done it in a split second.

What was more curious, though...

Ryu bent down and picked up his severed arm. As his blood dripped, he watched as the grass beneath him began to grow at explosive rates, his very blood itself had a revitalizing effect on the plants around him, to the point that their changes could be observed with the naked eye.

There was another thing that Ryu had neglected until now. The tattoos that had covered him had disappeared. He had only had them for a short time to begin with, so he had realized it immediately. He was used to having fair and smooth skin, so after a year of sleep, he hadn't really noticed the change. But now, looking at his own arm, he was only more aware of it now.

'Little Silk...'

When Ryu had this thought, a beautiful little butterfly appeared from seemingly nowhere, almost catching him off guard. Ryu was actually surprised by Little Silk's speed.

'Hm? This is...'

Ryu's gaze narrowed. Little Silk hadn't just returned to the Sovereign Grade like she should have. Instead, this little one was in the Ancestral Grade. Actually, it looked like she was at the very extremes of the Ancestral Grade.

Ryu kept feeling that his mother had done something to Little Silk, but he still couldn't tell what it was.

Shaking his head, he tossed his arm to her.

"Devour it."

Little Silk reacted quickly, wrapping the arm in silky filaments with a great amount of speed. Soon, the arm was entirely swallowed.

BANG!

Little Silk suddenly broke through, her body being wrapped in a light as yet another cocoon form.

Ryu shook his head, it seemed that she would go dormant for another period of time. He hadn't expected that using his body parts for this purpose would be so effective, it was both a bit amusing and troubling.

Ryu took a breath and exhaled. 'I've wasted a year here already, there's no telling what's happened to the Favor Alchemy Sky God's Realm, I need to hurry.'

Ryu rolled his neck, feeling it crack several times. He was somewhat eager to stretch out his legs, he wanted to see what these Heavens had in store for him.

Shaking his head, Ryu realized that he had to calm down. He had yet to consolidate anything and understand his own power. In addition, while he had a lot of knowledge about the Dao Pedestal Realm, he had yet to experience it personally, so he had to familiarize himself with this new Realm and its abilities as well, especially since his current circumstances were much different from what one would expect from the usual Dao Pedestal Realm.

Ryu sat down and looked internally. Namely, he was focused on his Spiritual Foundation. As curious as he was about the Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation, he was actually even more so for the Phoenix Sky God's Spiritual Foundation, this was especially after he found out that it might limit his future.

Ryu's consciousness descended into the bed of white flames. Having entered the Dao Pedestal Realm, he could sense it more clearly than he ever had before, even directly establishing a connection with it. Ryu could even vaguely feel the ability to move these white flames whereas in the past he could only rely on the fumes they emitted.

Ryu pushed, descending further and further before he suddenly froze, coming to a grinding halt.

Up ahead, just before the white flames gave way to a solid platform of pearly white marble, something was there...

It was wrapped up tight, not by qi or energy, nor by the flames, but rather by a pristine pair of white wings that seemed to have feathers individually crafted by a master artisan. The beauty of these wings alone was difficult to describe, they looked both carved of stone and yet soft to the touch, both as amorphous as flickering flames and as delicately sculpted as precious leaf metals.

Even with Ryu's consciousness's appearance, it didn't move, remaining completely still.

Ryu slowly moved toward it, circling around it, freezing when he made it to its side.

Right there, the curved and long neck of a majestic bird. The plumes that covered this majestic neck were just as perfectly crafted and almost somewhat looked like the scales of a dragon, so immaculately polished that it reflected the flickering flames around it.

The head of this creature was wrapped up by its wings, making it impossible to see, even its tail was beautifully tucked within. If not for its neck and wings, it would have been difficult to tell that it was a bird creature of some sort, and if Ryu was a betting man, there was only one bird creature it could have been.

Ryu's heartbeat accelerated.

Living Spiritual Foundations weren't unheard of, it was just that they were exceptionally rare, so rare that they were entirely ungraded. However, this wasn't the only reason they were ungraded, the other problem was that they were far too difficult to grade because they had the ability to grow and evolve.

However, there was also a large problem with Living Spiritual Foundations, and that was that depending on the creature it was, the path you could take with it was exceptionally narrow, exceptionally. You had to manage not only a cultivation path that was ideal for yourself, but also the creature, and for obvious reasons, abandoning the creature was not an option.

The worst part was that because one couldn't even begin to unearth the secrets of their Spiritual Foundation until the Dao Pedestal Realm, by then you could very well be following a path that was entirely unsuited for your Living Spiritual Foundation.

As though that wasn't bad enough, the creature of your Living Spiritual Foundation could not be found in real life. These creatures were always unique, and while they might resemble some ancient creatures, or even some common creatures, using them as a template would end just as badly.

Ryu took a breath. This was troublesome.

The good news was that because it was a Living Spiritual Foundation, the influence of the Phoenix Sky God was entirely irrelevant. Passing on a Living Spiritual Foundation was like passing on a newborn, it was a blank slate no matter how the Phoenix Sky God had used it in the past.

The bad news was that this blank slate would still only respond to one path the best, and that path may very well not be Ryu's own, adding further blockages and variables to his future cultivation.

Ryu exhaled, shaking his head.

Regardless, a sleeping Living Spiritual Foundation wouldn't be able to awaken until it was fully released at the World Sea Realm. While that was part of what would make things even more difficult, Ryu didn't believe that he couldn't figure it out.

Ryu rose, prepared to go and observe his own Beyond Perfect Extreme Spiritual Foundation.

But right at that moment, the sleeping bird creature suddenly trembled.

Ryu's gaze sharpened. It was awakening now? That was impossible.