Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

With a rush of qi, Ryu found himself being forcefully teleported out of his floating island.

When he reappeared, he was in the midst of a dense forest. Trees five to ten times as thick as the width of his waist were all around him. The grass beneath his feet was wild and untamed, sometimes being quite low, and at other times, as tall as Ryu's knees.

There didn't seem to be any sort of law or order to the forest at all, like it had very much been untouched by the machinations of humans and other intelligent creatures. Left to grow on its own, there was a sufficient wild smell in the air.

This place was very much not used to the appearance of humans and everything about this forest screamed danger lurking around the corner. The moment they caught a single whiff of Ryu, maybe everything in the surrounding 100 kilometers would suddenly be out to kill him.

Such a place already had its own delicate balance struck after countless years of evolution and infighting. The territories and resources had long since been carved out, just the appearance of one Ryu would be enough to wildly change this balance, let alone the fact that there were dozens of other participants.

Ryu's Void Spiritual Sense spread outward, immediately finding several threats in the near vicinity. The closest was only about 200 meters away, but the thick foliage made it so that there wasn't a clear line of sight to him. And, just within a kilometer radius, a distance that was absolutely nothing to cultivators of his and likely their level, there were almost a dozen such threats, each seemingly more dangerous than the last.

For now, Ryu hadn't been noticed. But…

As though on cue, the Chosen Rune above Ryu's forehead flashed. A ripple of qi spread outward and a pillar of light shot into the skies, persisting for half a second before vanishing. At the same time, two more such instances occurred around this wild world. Unfortunately, Ryu hadn't spread his Spiritual Sense far enough to see them and he obviously couldn't use his eyes like others could.

That said, this wasn't surprising to Ryu. Before he was forcefully teleported away, he was already told that this would happen. This was the burden he would have to carry as a chosen. By this point, Jenneless who was watching Ryu from a mountain peak like a hawk couldn't help but sneer.

Usually, she didn't display her inward thoughts so blatantly on her expression, but the more she thought about what happened that day, the more pissed she became. Something about Selheira really and truly irritated her, making her hatred of Ryu all the more potent.

A mere Immortal Ring Realm expert looking to participate in this selection? She was looking forward to Ryu's death.

Almost the instant the flash of qi went out, the beast that was 200 meters away from Ryu snapped a head in its direction. Its long, lanky arms reached up to the nearest branch, its speed almost impossible to track as it monkey-branched from tree to tree.

In no more than a half a second, a shadow flashed above Ryu's head, a fiery, orange furred monkey barely a meter and a half tall falling toward him with wide open jaws.

Despite its small and seemingly innocuous appearance, the pulsating strength of a Black Grade beast wafted from it, only made more prominent by its Eighth Order cultivation.

Jenneless watched this happen from above with the same expression. But inwardly, she was partially disappointed. She wanted to see Ryu suffer more, but such a beast wasn't known for playing with its prey and there probably weren't any beasts weaker than this on the floating island, this was the best she could have hoped for.

She shook her head and watched intently. She had to step in the moment that Ryu died so that this foolish beast couldn't take advantage of Ryu's corpse and so that she could make sure everything remained intact.

However, what actually happened left her completely speechless.

…

Ryu stood without moving. His Spiritual Sense watched as the orange monkey swung toward him, but his expression didn't seem to give away that he had noticed anything. Those that knew that Ryu was blind couldn't help but watch on with a hint of lament. All because of the actions of a Second Heaven genius, Ryu would die here.

It was right when the jaws of the orange monkey opened, ready to take a bite out of Ryu's skull that his hand suddenly clawed forward.

Those watching suddenly felt as though they were watching the massive looming figure of a dragon swipe down with a deadly momentum. Just watching Ryu alone, it felt like they could even hear the faint echo of a roar in their ears.

Ryu's claw was so large that the moment it grasped the face of the orange monkey, it forced its jaw shut.

BANG!

The momentum of the monkey was halted in an instant, and with just the slightest squeeze, its head exploded and a headless corpse fell to the ground.

Ryu watched this scene, frowning inwardly. Just a simple action had practically manifested his Dragon Soul, this could be troublesome.

By now, after recultivating in both Qi Realm and Body Realm, the former to the pinnacle of the Spiritual Severing Realm and the latter to the pinnacle of the Pulse Tempering Realm, his Bloodlines had left the Earth Grade and entered the Heaven Grade. In fact, right now, they sat at the Middle Heaven Grade.

What Ryu didn't expect was that with this change, the aura of his Bloodlines also became more difficult to hide.

The good news was that he had Void Spiritual Sense to mask much of it, but if dragon roars were going to manifest every time he attacked semi-similarly to a dragon, it could prove troublesome.

Just now, he had subconsciously used Dragon Claw. Dragon Claw was a talent of the dragons and one of their strongest methods of attack. The good news was that Ryu didn't employ its true nature and at most used about 5% of it, but that much was already enough to explosively increase the strength of his hands and even cause a small phenomena.

It seemed that he would have to be more careful or else even with Void Spiritual Sense, he would end up exposing himself.

'I'll stick with archery for now, close combat is dicey because my instincts will kick in. Archery is inherently a more controlled and deliberate discipline, so even if it's highly compatible with my Lightning Qilin Bloodline, it'll still be easier to hide.'

While Ryu was thinking about these matters, his grandfather's bow had already appeared in his left palm and he had already drawn.

A violent and wild lightning pulsed to light as his Glove of Order glowed, but it very quickly tightened up into a sleek blue steel arrow that pulsed with life and vitality.

This was none other than one of the few Bloodline Talents Ryu could use freely and get away with… Lightning God and lightning manipulation abilities. With this, even the most violent of lightning called forth by his Glove of Order and the Thunder Character in his eyes were as obedient as kittens.

By the time he had drawn, several more beasts had appeared but with a single relaxation of his forearm, they were spliced through by a lightning arrow.

A single release took the lives of three Eighth Order beasts, their bodies exploding with lightning and being charred nearly to ash a moment later.

Up above, the spectators watched in absolute silence, not quite being able to understand what they were seeing. It felt to them like a fairy tale.

An Immortal Ring Realm expert… was taking down Black Grade Eighth Order beasts as though they were nothing but trash by the roadside? How was that possible?!

Jenneless' eyes widened.

When she was in the Immortal Ring Realm, could she take down Eighth Order Black Grade beasts so easily?

The answer was yes, but she was also an absolute genius of the Second Heaven. It was rare, too rare, for such a genius to appear on the First Heaven. In fact, it was rare for them to appear on the Second Heaven as well! How could there be so many of her running around?

That physical strength… Those archery skills… That lightning control ability…

The last of the three in particular, it felt like it had to come from a Dao Charm technique, nothing less could provide such amazing control over such an unruly element! It was simply impossible!

…

Elder Aika's gaze sparkled. She turned a gaze toward Selheira, but the latter just seemed to be smiling gently like she always did, her demeanor as calm as always.

The Hidden Blade Sect elders really wanted to say something, but they no longer dared to, so they could only keep it in their hearts.

So what if he was strong for his strength? Those were still just Eighth Order beasts, if you could kill Ninth Order beasts just as easily and defeat your fellow competitors, you wouldn't survive regardless.

Plus, another, larger pulse of the Chosen Rune was coming soon.

…

Ryu didn't know or care about the thoughts of others. Right this moment, he only had one goal in mind: find and defeat his competitors. Since it was right here for the taking, he might as well claim this free ticket to the Second Heaven. 

The First Heaven was already feeling much too small for him. 

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