Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-1837

1837 Ego

Ryu's body, under the control of his Dao Heart, thrummed with undying momentum. Its gaze flashed and its body split into countless clones.

It began to roll through the rest of the Fiend army as though they were nothing more than weeds on the ground.

The more Ryu watched this, the calmer he seemed to become. But this calmness felt like the greatest danger.

It was numbness.

Numbness to his situation. Numbness to the understanding that even now, he wasn't all that special. Numbness to the realization that in the end, he was a slave to his emotions.

Why was his Dao Heart reacting like this? It boiled down to two reasons.

First, his Incorporeal Souls had matured independently of each other. It could be said that there was more than one Ryu in this life. The problem was that only one of them carried his "Ego".

This Ego was not his pride, but rather his consciousness.

On the other hand, his Dao Heart didn't have an Ego; it was instead an amalgamation of his Temperament. It had tendencies and instincts, but it did not have consciousness in the usual sense. This was why Ryu hadn't sensed it in the past.

Second… it was because he had crafted a sense of self that was beyond who he actually was. His opinion of himself was too high. In the end, the moment he began to doubt that version of himself, it all came crumbling down like a house of cards.

His own soul had betrayed him because, in the end, it no longer recognized him. It felt that he was too weak… it felt that he was no longer Ryu Tatsuya.

Only Ryu knew what was in his heart. Only he knew how important it was that he didn't lose his sense of self. But it was too late.

That Trial had truly been more sinister than he could have imagined. Its impact was delayed, but it had eventually come to collect. And worst of all, it had actually been triggered by someone so insignificant.

That fact alone was the most important. It proved just how fragile his mental state had been.

The last of the Fiend Race army was cut down. Seeing that there was nothing left, "Ryu" turned toward the city.

Looking at this from above, Ryu knew exactly what his Dao Heart was thinking. He had swallowed too many insults from the moment he had stepped into this world. Obviously, that wasn't something that his Dao Heart was willing to take lying down.

He was Ryu Tatsuya. How could he possibly be insulted to such an extent? And to let those that had insulted him live? What had happened to his sharpness? His edge?

Ryu understood himself better than anyone else. He had tried to suppress himself, to become a different person after he had seen his incarnations, but the irony was that that was precisely what had brought him to this step.

Escaping the Karma of your own life was the most difficult. His Dao Heart now was the culmination of all the experiences he had had, all the humiliation of his first life, all the anger of his second. That was everything that had come together to form who he, Ryu Tatsuya, was.

Trying to deviate from that was easier said than done.

If someone had trouble controlling their temper, could you just tell them to be better?

If someone was addicted to a substance, could you just tell them to stop using it?

If someone was in love with someone, could you just tell them to stop loving them?

Deeply ingrained tendencies, reinforced through life experiences, couldn't be easily erased. And when you had a strong willpower like Ryu's, and tried to do so forcefully…

This just might be the result.

The calmer Ryu became, the more his thoughts seemed to slip away from him, and the vaguer his feelings became. It felt like soon, his Ego would fade away and all that would be left was the Temperament he had formed in this life.

In all likelihood, he would be far stronger. Without these petty feelings, and the tethers of who the Heavens thought he was meant to be, he would become a true monster of cultivation. Maybe he would even instantly gain the strength to slaughter Dao Lords.

He could still remember his first life, how cheery he had been before his Awakening Ceremony.

The Tatsuya Clan had such a powerful Bloodline that children were too rare. It could be said that the day he was born, he had gained thousands of mothers and fathers, all of whom doted on him as though he was their own child.

And by extension, he had become the light of the Clan as well, the only brightness in a family otherwise ruled by their fury and rage.

In this True Grade Realm, he could see far into the future. Projecting the man he would have become with that kind of start, he could see a smile that shone on the world, a charisma that made the masses feel at ease, a heart big enough to encompass the Heavens themselves.

Maybe he would have led Sacrum into a new era, charging forth with a spear and taking them to become the new True Martial World, or maybe the Tenth Heaven.

He would have grown quickly, under the wings of his parents and grandparents. The Martial Gods simply wouldn't have had enough time to suppress him.

Was that the real Ryu Tatsuya? Or was it the one rampaging down below?

Or were they both him?

And if they were both him… was there really a him at all? Or did he blow in the wind, changing with the shift in the tides just like all his reincarnations before him…?

"Ryu" shattered the city's formation in a single blow and kicked down the gates. He roared into the skies, and all the existences in the Holy World prostrated to the ground.

What Ryu couldn't shake off as he grew calmer… was the distaste in his mouth.

He really… really hated this feeling.