Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

"Little Silk," Ryu called out and a beautiful butterfly appeared, sparkling with a crystalline rain of gorgeous blue ice.

Ryu, Isemeine, and Selheira stepped onto her back, and they shot off into the distance.

"Tell me about it," Ryu asked without turning to Selheira.

He knew that Selheira had some history with her family, but it must not be as bad as he assumed if she was willing to return like this. Though, it was possible that she was just doing it for him, he could sense a slight longing in her as well.

Honestly speaking, someone who had been and was as weak as Selheira-World Sea Realm back then and only Fragmented Sky God now-definitely could not have left such a powerful Clan on her own. Sneaking away was impossible...

Setting aside her cultivation, her overall talent had taken a huge hit as well due to the fact she abandoned her Dragon heritage.

It could be said that she was in the worst possible position to ever sneak away from such a powerful Clan.

It was also important to mention that while the Crystal Dragons had been "banished", it wasn't an act of war. They were a docile race of Dragons and left in silence without a single ounce of blood being shed. Effectively, they were still the second most powerful line of Dragons in the whole True Martial World.

Although raising their young and cultivating on the Eighth Heaven had, indeed, weakened some of their edge, it wasn't exaggerated to the point they were no longer cut from the same cloth. There was not a single power on the Eighth Heaven that dared to offend them.

"I..." Selheira's eyes dimmed. "I really hate the Fire Dragons. We did everything for them, we are the reason they're so powerful today, and we never asked for any credit. We were just the silent Clan in the background.

"Because of our nature, it's impossible to pull ourselves away from a subservient role. We were always designed to be subservient to someone, the only question was to who.

"As a result, in order to become the strongest of us, most have to chip away at their desires, at their pride, and cast it away in favor of a humble bearing. It isn't that we're all born this way, but that it's impossible to become stronger without following this particular path.

"This is the Fate of us all, and it's inescapable...

"But I wanted to escape it and now I'm here."

Ryu gave her a glance. "And that's all?"

"There's nothing else to it..." she said lightly. "They didn't even fight me, they just let me go and told me good luck, not in a condescending way, but in a sickeningly supportive way. Their brains are already too rotten to react strongly to one of their best talents abandoning their way of life."

Ryu and Isemeine sat in silence. They understood the path of beasts, but this was the first time that they had heard it in so many words.

Honestly, it could be said that Selheira had struggled a lot more with Fate and the Heavens than Ryu ever had.

Of course, Ryu would prefer to be capable of cultivating than not at all. At the very least, when there was a will, there was a way. But Selheira's plight was quite tragic.

It was very possible that she would never be able to accomplish what she wanted to.

She was born as a talent that should have been feared across the Ninth Heaven, but now she couldn't barely shine on the Eighth Heaven. She could only be considered a great talent on the Seventh Heaven.

That sort of drop off was drastic and terrible.

Ryu had been fighting to climb against that tide for the last several years, but Selheira had chosen to fall of her own accord.

She leaned her head against Ryu's shoulder in silence, her eyes a bit dim. She didn't even shed a tear, maybe she had already shed all she had left.

In a lot of ways, this path of beasts was even crueler than Ryu had thought.

You didn't start off born to follow their path. However, in order to follow said path, you had to slowly shed away anything that was unique to yourself, almost as though you were watching yourself die in exchange for power.

"... You can fly faster," Selheira said lightly. "With me here, no one and nothing will bother us..."

Ryu nodded without a word and pulled them all into the void. With Little Silk's speed, their pace of travel accelerated to an exaggerated extent.

Selheira was true to her word. It felt odd, but they were not bothered by anyone or anything. It was a peculiar feeling for Ryu was fairly certain he would have gotten into trouble by now. Traveling across the Eighth Heaven, especially toward a position at its very center with all this wilderness in between, should have been a death sentence. Let alone making it to the Ninth Heaven, he might have died in just this attempt alone.

But he hadn't, and in just a few days, he could see it in the distance.

It was a mountain range of crystals, so blinding beneath the sunlight that even he had to squint.

They stepped out of the void and the sight became clearer... until a long shadow was cast over the world.

Ryu looked up and his pupils constricted. It wasn't his first time seeing a Dragon, but for some reason, this felt...

Different.

It wasn't as large as the Dragons of Sacrum, but it was far more imposing. Stretching out a hundred meters from head to the beginning of its tail, and another 50 meters after that, its body glistened with radiant scales of light pink, pale violet, and gorgeous sky blue.

Even gliding barely a few hundred meters overhead, the wind pressure was near nonexistent, as though even its method of flight was gentle.

The dragon inclined its head and looked down. Then, Ryu could have sworn it smiled.