Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-1909

Ryu huffed for breath. His Birthed Phenomena slowly faded along with Shrine Mountain's projection. His body seemed to have lost half its weight, and his skin stuck to his bones. Every time he coughed, more evaporated blood came from his mouth, and his throat felt as though it had just been scorched.

To make matters worse, he couldn't see through his eyes again. He knew that every time he used such techniques to snip and cut Karma, the backlash would be tremendous, but this was even more exaggerated than usual. If he didn't have Embryonic Qi, it might very well lead to the permanent loss of his eyes.

The good news was that, once again, so long as he used a few dedicated days to circulate his Embryonic Qi, he would have access to his eyes again within the week. The bad news was that he didn't have a week to spare, and the Throne Challenge was still ongoing.

As though that wasn't bad enough, while he was casting the technique against Silent Quibus, he realized that he still didn't have the power to cast it. The technique was far too powerful, as though his Dao Heart was trying to urge him to hurry up and improve: just look at all the overpowered techniques we could create and use if we just hurried up.

So, in the end, Ryu had no choice but to use the Feng Shui of this arena to bolster and support his technique. But that had, unfortunately, led to him using up all the energy of this world. He would likely not be able to use Feng Shui in battle again, so all he had to rely on was his own qi.

And on that front… there was once again good news and bad news. The good news was that running out of qi would never be a problem for him. In fact, the fact that this world had been mostly stripped of its energy would make it more difficult for his enemies to act while he, himself, had access to the entire Chaos Plane. The bad news was that it was difficult for his body to even make use of that. He had a hard time moving without falling apart, his soul was completely drained, and even just standing here felt like the wind might blow him over.

...

Those on the outside were stunned into silence. Even Emerald Vine's smile was nowhere to be seen as she, too, was stunned. She couldn't fathom how a child two Realms beneath her projection could hold back that much and still win.

What she didn't understand was that Ryu's greatest strength had always been his comprehension. If he was willing to forego everything else, there were very few that could outmaneuver him. He had even managed to slip out of the control of his own great-grandfather back when Primus tried to stop him from entering the Heavenly Path.

However, all of that didn't seem to matter right now. It was already unfair that the likes of Silent Quibus had appeared so early. It was clearly a mistake given how powerful he was. He should have appeared last. But now, he had appeared second, and there were still seven more battles to go. There simply didn't seem to be a chance for Ryu at all. Was a genius going to die like this?

It wasn't possible to just abandon a Throne Challenge. You either made it through or you didn't. And the latter had an obvious conclusion.

...

Ryu's heaving breaths continued. He really didn't seem like he could fight anymore, but his own state didn't dictate what the Throne Challenge would do. The moment it sensed that Silent Quibus had died, the next challenger began to appear.

It was another young woman, almost dainty in appearance. It looked as though she might tip over from her own clumsiness at any moment… or that might have been because she was chugging what was clearly and obviously a jug of wine.

...

In the outside world, everyone looked toward a young girl with flushed cheeks. Well… "young girl" was pushing it, considering she was a Dao Lord.

She looked up with lazy eyes as though she could feel everyone's gazes on her. A little bit of alcohol drizzled down the corner of her lip, and for a moment, she almost looked like an adorable little vampire.

Her appearance was comparable to a woman in her early twenties who still had a little bit of baby fat on her cheeks… and her drinking habits were those of a man in his forties going through a midlife crisis.

They said that she was also drunk the day she chose her Dao Title, too, because now she went by Wobbling Fairy. It was truly too unsightly a name for a woman as talented as she was.

...

Ryu's breathing was the only thing that could be heard. It moved like a torrential storm, swaying what was left of the trees from side to side. He was still circulating his Embryonic Qi, ignoring his eyes for the moment to try and address the situation in the rest of his body, but he knew that it would still take some time. Time he didn't likely have.

He didn't look down on the dainty woman. In fact, there was something so carefree about her that it made his own Dao Heart tremble. This was just a projection of a Higher Transcended Realm version of her, yet her Dao Heart was actually so powerful. How powerful was it now?

The dainty Wobbling Fairy's little nose suddenly scrunched up. "I don't like you." Her words slurred, but they were still very blunt.

Ryu didn't respond. He didn't really care if this woman liked him or not. He didn't care if most people, in general, liked him or not. It was irrelevant to him.

"You're too arrogant."

"Are you going to fight? Or are you going to just keep talking?"

They were simple words. Words Ryu would have spoken to anyone. His pride was too great to take advantage of her stupidity to recover more.

But they were also words that suddenly turned the awe of the Rebirthing Cultus Sect into ire. How dare he say such things about the Sect's little sister? Even Star River felt inexplicably angry.

Wobbling Fairy's true body released a little burp. "Excuse me."

Her soft voice only made the contrast between Ryu's words worse.