Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-1934

Hope's soul situation right now could be said to be a complete mess. Because the inappropriate palm technique had been used, all of her souls had bits and pieces of it taken away.

It had to be remembered that Old Wan's initial target was Ryu, so he had used the Yang version of his palm. But because his target ended up being Hope instead, an unexpected variable, things went wrong.

Back then, Old Wan hadn't even known about Hope's existence because she was always hiding within Leonel's world. Otherwise, he would have certainly planned for such a potential outcome.

Regardless, this ended up being both a good and a bad thing.

The good was that since Old Wan had used the wrong palm, it was impossible for him to use Hope's soul like someone of this Taboo Path might have otherwise. As such, Hope wouldn't have to suffer the usual rounds of humiliation and Dual Cultivation she might have had to otherwise.

And the bad was already well described. Her souls were a scattered mess and she couldn't even gather her consciousness anymore. Had it not been for Ryu stabilizing her situation by feeding her the Yang Essence Pill she had prepared, she would have already died by now.

However, this "bad" was exactly what Ryu planned to use to overturn the situation.

Because her souls were a scattered mess, there were bits and pieces of every aspect within. Originally, Ryu had thought that she had completely lost her Primordial Yin, but this wasn't accurate because of one thing…

Impurities.

What he was looking for had been obscured by a concept he didn't understand in the past. But now he did.

If he used this properly, then he would be able to help Hope heal her soul right here and now without having to risk saving the other pieces.

That left an obvious question, then… what would happen to the other pieces of Hope's soul?

There were too many things that could be done with a piece of a soul, things that Old Wan was likely waiting for the right opportunity to use.

If Ryu wanted to ensure that this couldn't be done, then he had to get Hope's soul back no matter what, and that seemed to put him right back at square one…

Or so it seemed.

And that was precisely why he had just used [Third Perspective].

Years ago now, he had already figured out exactly how to maximize [Third Perspective]. He could use his control over Karma to see those he had the closest Karmic ties to, even speaking to them and understanding their situation.

Even Ailsa hadn't been able to contact him with any sort of ease because she had been stuck in a Holy World, but Ryu was able to cross that barrier without breaking a sweat.

Now, though, he was about to use the same concept across worlds.

That left a troublesome issue still. Even if he established such a connection, so what? All that would do was let Old Wan know that he understood his relationship with the Taboo and also knew he had Hope's soul in his possession. Until now, Old Wan was still in a bit of a limbo on that matter.

Giving such a cunning character too much information would be more detrimental than not.

Once again, Ryu seemed to be right back at square one… but this analysis was missing one very important thing.

Primordial Yins couldn't just be taken by normal means. The more powerful the woman and the more talented she was, the more control she could exert over it, stopping men from taking it from her.

Hope was so extremely talented that she had actually failed to progress beyond the Transcended Realm. Her talent was overwhelming to the point that it was difficult for her to progress at all.

But this matter wasn't as dry cut as it seemed. The truth was that if Hope had continued to cultivate in her world, rising to the top and becoming a Dao God would have only been a matter of a few centuries to millennia. She would have never come close to running out of life.

The only reason she had been stalled by her overwhelming talent was because her world had been destroyed by the Phoenix Sky God, the path to reincarnation had been cut off from her, and the True Martial World rejected her existence, making every step forward infinitely more difficult.

However, things were changing now for several reasons.

There were many, including the fact that she was carrying Ryu's essence. But the most important of all was that her Fate was now tied to Ryu's own. Meaning, the limitations of the past had been stripped away.

This was all to say that her control over her own Primordial Yin should be among the absolute greatest throughout all of Existence. If one combined that with the fact that Old Wan hadn't taken it through proper means in the first place…

It could be said that Ryu's plan had a basically 100% chance of succeeding.

The moment the pill completely dissolved into Hope's body, Ryu bent forward and gave her a kiss.

It seemed like he was just taking advantage of her, but this plan required an exchange of Yin and Yang Essence. The best way to do that would be to Dual Cultivate together, but Ryu didn't want to do that while Hope was unconscious. Unlike his opinion of Wobbling Fairy, he had the expected warm and tender feelings for Hope. So, he thought of something else.

The pill essence within Hope began to separate, part flowing into Ryu and the portion that remained becoming even more potent within Hope's body.

Ryu could feel a great drain on mental faculties as his [Third Perspective] shot across the cosmos, but he continued to push.

If the Dream Wraith could send him here so easily, and his master could send his soul across Existence to see his wife again, he didn't believe that he couldn't at least replicate it in a far easier manner.

Ryu grit his teeth, the softness of Hope's lips being the only calming sensation that he had. His fierce eyes more than ruined the moment, but he couldn't focus on such ridiculous things for now.

Veins popped up across his body, but he could already feel his momentum waning.

Just when it looked like he wasn't even going to make it close, the pill's essence stormed into his Mental Realm.

His soul broke through the True Sky God Realm and entered the Perfect Realm, and then from the Perfect Realm it continued to charge up.

There was a very specific reason Ryu was choosing to breakthrough in this way even though it seemed smarter to breakthrough first and then try.

Every time he broke through as his soul stretched across the cosmos, he was being acknowledged by another Heaven. These row of Heavens acted like an additional spark to his fire, boosting his forward progress and even accelerating him forward.

Every time he broke through a barrier with his Perfect Blackbody Soul, there was a rush of even more energy that poured through him.

His body was so powerful now that his soul didn't run into any bottlenecks at all. It just kept growing and growing, filling into the space that had long been excavated for it.

At the same time, deep within Hope's body, something began to stir. The Impurities within her were dispersed and the small kernels of what remained of her soul were slowly manifested and quickly continued to grow.

BADUM.

Her heart thrummed with life and her blood began to circulate normally. At the same time, a root of life, suppressed within her womb, was likewise beginning to stir.

Ryu sensed all of this, but he was completely focused. He had to establish the connection, that was the only way for all of this to succeed and not be in vain.

A roar came from his heart as he burst through the final barrier. His soul rocketed up to the Omniscient Realm as he tore into the world of his home… where his parents were located, his family, Sacrum…

BANG!

A rainbow road seemed to connect the two worlds and Hope's subconsciousness stirred. She could already feel her Primordial Yin and the other bits and pieces of her soul before Ryu did. This was an excellent sign.

Ryu pressed on, and in a flash.

SHOOOM!

He could see it.

…

Old Wan sat in silent meditation, alone. The atmosphere of the Sect seemed to be a bit off, and it was quite easy to explain.

Aika was devastated after Ryu's death, and the scene of his father's appearance after that only made things worse. The prestige of the Sect was being upheld by Jojo alone, but the spirit behind it seemed to have faded.

At the same time, Samson and Old Wan had had a rift open up between them after those matters. Clearly, Samson was holding onto the weight of a guilty conscience and couldn't even face Old Wan after what he had done… but he also still hadn't told Aika the truth.

It was in this situation that a pressure descended from the skies and a box within Old Wan's spatial ring rattled.

BANG!

Old Wan's spatial ring shattered apart, taking his whole hand with it.