Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-1831

1831 Ranking

The Fiend headquarters were shrouded in darkness and, even more so, silence.

By this point, Morven and Draken had long since vacated their seating arrangements, looking solemnly toward a figurehead who stood high above. But soon, they lowered their heads.

They didn't even dare to look at the few followers this person had brought along with them, let alone the person themselves.

There were four of them in total, and all of them exuded a solemn air of Darkness.

They were rare Dark Fiends, but they were on an entirely different level from Morven alone. In fact, they were on the Earth Rankings of the Dark Fiend Race.

The competition in the Fiend Races was violent, and not just anyone could rise to the cream of the crop. In this sort of situation, there were thus Black Rankings, Earth Rankings, and Heaven Rankings.

The Black Rankings were for World Sea Realm experts alone. The Earth Rankings were for those up to the True Sky God Ranks. And finally, the Heaven Rankings were for those up to the Omniscient Sky God Ranks.

As such, the Earth and Heaven Rankings were further divided into three sub-sections, corresponding to Fragmented, False, and True, or Perfect, Transcended, and Omniscient depending on the list.

The reason these six lists were combined into just two, though, was because of the Cumulative Rankings.

The dividing gap between the Omniscient Sky God Realm and the Lord Realm was well discussed and talked about. But what no one considered was that the gap between the True and Perfect Realms, while not as exaggerated, was very large as well.

This was to say that it was far more common for a False Sky God to challenge a True Sky God in this Realm than it was for a True Sky God to challenge a Perfect one.

Ryu had never cared about these things because, in the True Martial World, leaping even a single sub Realm to do battle was seen as impossible, let alone climbing so many.

However, in this world, where there was just a single Plane, all talents regardless of background were accumulated in a single place. As such, such legends didn't get passed on and there were plenty who could leap Realms to do battle.

There were exactly 100 spots on every list. So each one aside from the World Sea Rankings had 300 spots total, and the benefits one received even for being in the hundredth spot were enough to make eyes water.

And that was precisely why they had a hard time even looking up to meet the gaze of this young man…

Lichen. Ranking 96th on the Earth's List.

He sat there in silence, his scythe flickering in and out of existence at his back.

His body didn't seem to have shape or form outside of his head and neck. Whether it was the body below that or his hair, it all seemed to be formed of a dense, billowing fog.

His face was cold and handsome, but it was marked by what looked like veins of black stretching across it like a curse mark. It made him look sinister and unbothered by anything.

He was already ranked 96th on the list despite being of just the Higher True God Realm. It was said that when he broke through the pinnacle, he had good odds of even charging into the top 50.

Even many of the Earth Ranking feared him, let alone characters like them who had never been on the list to begin with.

That… was a folly they couldn't allow themselves to slip into.

Lichen slowly opened his eyes and a dense blackhole flickered within them. The moment he did so, his three followers kneeled at once, and the others bowed their heads even lower.

"Use the Faith Well. Leave only 10% of the Faith remaining. Convert as much of this world to Chaos Plane territory as possible. I will handle the rest."

His voice was surprisingly soothing and calm. It was difficult to not feel at peace when he spoke, but his power made it hard for anyone to truly relax.

Morven and Dracon looked toward one another when they heard this, feeling that these measures were truly drastic.

Could it be that Lichen felt that he couldn't win if he was at a disadvantage?

It made them shiver in realization. Could this Ryu Tatsuya be far more dangerous than they knew? Suddenly, they felt lucky that they had taken these steps.

At the same time, they felt more confident seeing that Lichen was taking things so seriously. After going so far, what they felt was a surefire win should be even more secured than they realized. This would be a huge boon for them if they could do it right.

Even if they took a step back with the Faith they used up this time, in the future, it would all the more be worth it.

"Right away!" they said humbly, then went to get to work.

Lichen didn't say anything else. He just slowly stood, his eyes narrow.

The feeling that Ryu got from his eyes was the very same feeling that Lichen got. But he didn't have the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils, or any Pupils for that matter.

Much like powerful cultivators tended to get a grasp over Time and Space the stronger they grew, they began to gain an understanding of Karma as well just the same.

While Ryu had to rely on his eyes to sense these things, Lichen could rely on his cultivation alone to know that this situation wasn't nearly as simple as it seemed.

But that also went to prove something else.

At least in terms of unearthing their pure potential in the True Sky God Realm, Lichen was much further along.

Without his Chaotic Silk Meridians, Ryu's cultivation was far more hollow than he had realized just yet.

And if it wasn't fixed soon, it could be said that it would ruin his future potential entirely.

Lichen grabbed out and his flickering scythe slapped into a palm that looked more like a demon's claw than anything else.

Deep in the abyss of his eyes, he felt a hint of excitement… a feeling only a true genius would experience.