Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

What Ryu was talking about doing was ridiculous, even by his standards.

Using a proxy to refine a world was like creating something that could mimic the complexity of his mind and automate it. It was practically like creating an artificial intelligence through the use of formations.

Not only had Ryu never seen an example of such a thing before, this was the first time he had ever considered doing such a thing…

Or was it?

Technically speaking, his Internal Matrix was a high-level application of this same exact concept. It off-loaded much of the thoughts and processes his mind had to go through to figure things out, even to the point that it helped his Dao display strength far beyond itself.

But the trouble was that his Internal Matrix was directly connected to his soul. With his soul being the core, the more "human" aspects could be off-loaded onto it, and he could benefit from the plasticity of his own mind, while also harnessing the rigid computational prowess of a Matrix at the same time.

Obviously, if he just recreated his Internal Matrix in the outside world, there would be no soul to guide it, making it useless as a result.

'Unless I make the core of the Internal Matrix the soul of this world itself.'

If he could manage that, not only would it not be difficult, but it would be incredibly easy. But the problem was… how could he do that?

The "soul" of this world was its Heavens. But the problem was that these Heavens were just an extension of the Heavens of the world outside. That was why it had the strength to keep those above its Grade out. Otherwise, a Dao God would just be able to rip this world apart.

Due to this, connecting to it was significantly harder. There was no easy soul to just pluck out from the depths of this world.

Ryu stood in confused silence, his brow furrowing. As he stood there, he had his two cloned souls give up their deduction of his soul attack for a moment to focus on this problem along with him.

Their minds churned together and they came up with several ideas that they tossed away just as quickly.

Nothing seemed viable.

'Should I just make a more permanent clone of myself, then? Or, maybe I can split my attention... Or maybe I can create a remote communication array that can allow me to refine it from afar and hide at the same time…'

Every thought he had was stricken down for one reason or another.

Suddenly, Ryu froze.

'Am I just overthinking this?'

He was still measuring himself by his former yardstick. But with his current eyes and Dao, would it truly take him all that long to refine this world?

His eyes could see through the mysteries of this world with great ease to the point that he could predict things with near 100% accuracy. At the same time, his Founding Dao was a level beyond this world and had broken free of its constraints. Although his Internal Matrix didn't allow him to form the equivalent of a Lord Grade Dao with it, if he used Heaven's Gate, he just might get there.

Ryu's gaze flickered.

Why was he wasting his time with roundabout methods?

Sure, he couldn't face off against so many Dao Lords alone…

But if he could lure them away, he might only need a few minutes to succeed.

On top of that, this was exactly what he needed. The less time he gave those bastards outside to prepare, the higher chance he would have of getting out of here alive.

'In that case…'

Ryu took a step and vanished.

…

In the next few hours, carnage was unleashed. Ryu attacked city after city, rampaging about.

The Dao Lords couldn't seem to pin him down at all. The closest they got was when a few dozen came together to use their Lord Control to stop him from teleporting away.

Unfortunately for them, Ryu had a Spacetime Soul Nature, not a Space Soul Nature.

Even if they could lock down the aspects of space, their Lord Control wasn't yet strong enough to nail down time nearly as well.

In the end, Ryu walked by them without them even noticing. The small lag in their senses and what was actually happening left them completely disoriented.

The manhunt for Ryu grew larger and larger, especially as Ryu's actions began to dry their Faith Well up.

For some reason, Ryu's actions had a much larger effect on their Faith than it should have. They had no idea that he was manipulating the Lines of Fate of this world.

If another person's actions could give them one point of Faith, Ryu was forcing the world to give him ten by comparison.

He couldn't do this in the outside world because the Heavens were too powerful. But in this world…

He was King.

Soon, the changes were something that even Aria couldn't ignore. If things continued like this, it would only be a few months before Ryu conquered this Holy World through a Faith victory.

In just a few hours, he had caused more movement in their Faith than they had in the last several years.

In truth, the Fiends could have won this Holy World via a Faith victory long ago. The reason they hadn't was because it was the perfect place to protect their False Shrine.

But now Ryu was shockingly reversing that, making a Holy World they could have won at any time feel like it was slipping through their fingers.

…

Aria stood with a gloomy expression on her face. Taking personal action against a Transcended was so far beneath her that even after Reverend Dark Claw had tried to goad her into action, she still didn't move.

But now, it seemed that she would have to.

If the Faith dropped too far, it would affect the False Shrines. At that point, the rainbow wall might start to retreat and that would cause problems for their entire Race.

This couldn't be allowed to continue for even another minute.

Plus, even though Ryu was certainly dead even if he did succeed in taking this world over, it would be a humiliation to her if he did succeed in such a way.

She had been the pre-eminent genius of her generation ever since she was born. She wasn't about to let some newbie take that from her.

…

The moment Aria moved out, the skies seemed to shift as the world trembled. She was to this world what a Dao God would be outside, and it showed.

The weather twisted and turned, what little light there was waning.

However, mere minutes after she left, a hidden formation pulsed and Ryu stepped out of it. He looked around with a leisurely smile on his face, his actions casual.

No matter how powerful Aria was, her movements couldn't escape his notice. He had known exactly when she would leave this place and he could track her from anywhere in this world.

No one could escape his eyes.

He moved around the region like a ghost, assessing the situation.

'They left behind quite a few Dao Lords. But I knew this already… it would certainly be impossible for all of them to flee such an important region. But this still gives me some leeway.'

Ryu finished walking around the entire region until he fully understood it like the back of his hand.

'Time to start.'

Ryu shifted and vanished. When he appeared again, he was deep underground in a place so protected that even a breeze couldn't pass through without someone noticing.

And yet, here he was, strolling forward unhindered and unnoticed. Around him, a familiar irregular formation was pulsing, a treasure of the Unbalance Art Sect.

However, he knew the moment he started refining, everything would go south. This formation wouldn't be able to protect him for long.

And yet, the light in his eyes only grew brighter as he approached the center of the node, and what was effectively the center of this world.

Indeed… why had he been so worried?

Refining a world? Why did it have to take so much time? So much effort?

His Dao stood above this world.

His eyes stood above this world.

He, Ryu Tatsuya, stood above this world.

Suddenly, a pair of eight trigram diagrams appeared in each one of his eyes. Then, they reflected once more, one appearing beneath his feet and the other above.

The full brunt of his Founding Dao pressed its might onto the world.

"[Earth Gate]…. Open."

Ryu's hair fluttered wildly, his aura skyrocketing.

He didn't even wait until Aria was hours away, appearing barely a few minutes later.

That was the confidence he should have as the man who would reach the peak of all things one day.

One Above All.

…

In a distance not too far off, Aria had been flying as fast as she could toward where she thought Ryu would be only to come to a freezing halt.

Her eyes widened and she reversed directions immediately, tearing through the laws of the world as fast as she could.

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