Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-1965

Ryu looked at the brass halberd Aria had swung at him. Trapped on his finger, there wasn't much that she could do at all.

The power to control Fate in a world that was capped at the mere Lord Grade was too powerful. There were no powerful individuals here that could even begin to contend against this new Soul Nature to him. And worse than that, Ryu had a far higher natural affinity for Fate and Karma than he ever did for Space and Time.

Since his birth, he had been steeped in this comprehension thanks to his eyes. Every ability of his Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils manipulated Fate on some scale or another.

The simplest ability of his Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils, [Third Perspective], allowed him to view the world from a bird's eye view. But the reason most couldn't even begin to detect it was because it used Fate to observe things. Even Dao Gods had difficulty grasping such a thing, let alone normal cultivators.

For the most powerful abilities, even less needed to be explained as they were all obviously tied with space.

Back when Ryu got his Spacetime Soul Nature, it took a lot of time and adjusting. And though this would certainly require at least some of that… it wasn't nearly to the same extent.

With the foundation of his eyes, it was as though the world had just opened up to him.

While it was the case that it would be much harder to manipulate in the outside world, in a Holy World like this one, and maybe even a Sovereign Grade one… he was practically invincible.

However, as amazing as all of this was, both what he had already thought through and things that he realized he had yet to think through… it didn't change how shocked he was internally.

The good news?

At least in one timeline or iteration, he had managed to become as strong as he had always dreamed, somehow breaking the fundamental laws of Time itself and going backward.

Ryu remembered how he felt when he first learned about the Zu Ancestor. He had been floored about the fact someone could go back in time in the first place; it just didn't make any sense whatsoever.

Honestly speaking, it still didn't make any sense, and that was despite having gained both Time affinity and Fate affinity beyond.

But, it did start to make a little bit more sense.

Theoretically speaking, if he had such great control over Space, Time, Fate, and Karma, then it was possible for him to step outside of Fate and Karma for a moment and reverse the stream of time.

However, while Ryu understood how to do step one, the rest of it… Well, it was a complete mess.

If he just wanted to go back in time to personally observe something, that would still be fine. But changing the occurrence of events or even tweaking the timeline seemed impossible.

After all, if he stepped outside the stream of Fate, then obviously, manipulating Fate was impossible.

And going through all that effort just to witness something with his own eyes was a complete waste of time.

Back in Sacrum, Ryu had already been able to use his eyes to read Fate and reconstruct past events to some extent. Now, he was even more capable of doing exactly that.

If he wanted, he could wave a hand and experience the last 100 years of a particular location in the blink of an eye. And that was without trying particularly hard.

That was the power of having gained a Fate and Karma affinity to match his Time affinity. It was highly unlikely that anyone would be able to hide anything from him these days. His ability to comprehend and deduce had touched upon entirely new levels.

So…

Why would he need to physically go back in time?

The obvious answer was that there had to be a reason… but that wasn't much of an answer at all.

'Clearly, my future self wanted me to have this Spacetime affinity earlier. By extension, it's also possible that the person who left my Perfect Blackbody in the Death Shrine was also myself, maybe to escape from the Fate of having it stolen by the Martial Gods… or potentially controlled by the Phoenix Sky God…'

Ryu thought of the possibility that he was the Phoenix Sky God as well. Someone who could return back in time to muddy the waters of history would be the perfect person to leave behind the messy tales that were the Phoenix Sky God's life.

It had to be remembered that even Ryu didn't know the true backstory of the Phoenix Sky God. He had just managed to cobble together countless folklores and tales to maybe piece together who to awaken their Spiritual Foundation.

However, now that he thought about it, it would have made perfect sense if the Phoenix Sky God could return back in time to obscure the truths of their life so that others couldn't scribe their Fate.

But he dismissed the idea although he could potentially become a Phoenix Sky God in another timeline… after all, he did have the Bloodlines necessary.

The real issue with him being the Phoenix Sky God was that he had seen the Phoenix Sky God in this timeline. No matter what kind of voodoo and tricks he could pull, there was simply no way that two of him could exist at the same time.

And on a deeper level than that… his new Fate Soul Nature made him even more sensitive…

The Phoenix Sky God was someone with strong ties to him—obviously, since he had their Spiritual Foundation in his body.

But he was 100% certain that they weren't him.

So the question was… why? What did he deem was so important that he had to return like this?

Was he just trying to reach a higher realm of cultivation?

Or was it something else?

And what did the Zu Clan have to do with it?