Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-1968

News of a human boy with two Shrines in his possession and the legendary Chaotic Silk Meridians in his body spread like wildfire.

Most of the Fiends had already noticed the shuddering of the rainbow wall, but when they learned of this, the entire Race was shaken…

Even more so when they learned that Aria Moon was dead.

It wasn't long before the Moon Fiends came out to confirm that this wasn't the case. Aria Moon's soul flame was very much still active.

But that only made things worse.

That meant that the pride of their Race, and the genius that was most likely to be their next Dao God, had actually been captured alive…

By a Transcended Sky God.

News spread like wildfire and suddenly there was a Plane-wide manhunt for Ryu.

And yet, the man they were looking for was lying on the lap of a beauty. Well… maybe his situation was a little worse than that.

…

Ryu was, indeed, resting his head on Hope's lap as they soared across the skies on Little Silk's back.

The problem was that his body was filled with cracks that were exuding black fog. It looked like he would shatter like porcelain at any moment.

He was fiendishly circulating Embryonic Qi, but it was slow going.

If not for the fact his body had become so powerful, and the fact he had used the Blessings of the Holy World and the Shrine as a proxy, he would have already collapsed.

His Seed of Darkness was no longer at the pinnacle standard of the True Martial World. It was at the pinnacle of all Darkness across Existence itself. There wasn't a purer concentration of Darkness anywhere else.

And yet, Ryu had just used it with impunity.

On the one hand, it allowed him to kill a large number of Lords and Sovereigns.

And on the other…

It practically left him half dead.

'Dammit…'

Ryu coughed.

Hope seemed to be a flustered little wife doing her best to seem composed. But Ryu could see right through her.

Seeing her state, he couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"What are you laughing about?! Do you know how reckless you are?!"

Ryu smiled. "It won't matter. I'm not worried about them finding us now."

Before they entered the Chaos Plane, he told Hope not to appear unless she absolutely had to. The appearance of a new Dao God in the Chaos Plane, under usual circumstances, would definitely be sensed by the others.

However, now that he had a Fate and Karma Soul Nature, he wasn't worried anymore. He might not be able to use it as freely as he could in the Lord Realm, but there was no way even a Dao God could sense him or those he wanted to protect so easily.

He was sure that a manhunt was well on its way. But… did it matter.

"Don't underestimate Dao Gods, Ryu." Hope said seriously. "All of them are geniuses that could have given you problems at a cultivation realm or two ahead of you. Some of them, especially the Peak Dao Gods of this world, were geniuses that could have given you trouble at the same cultivation realm.

"The title of Dao God—"

Hope looked down to see that Ryu was looking at her with a casual smile on his black-vein, cracked lips.

He wasn't listening to what she was saying at all.

Hope sighed.

She realized that if she were someone else, Ryu's gaze would have already grown cold. But because she took her to be his woman now, he was listening with a smile.

But that didn't change what was in his heart.

Defeat him at the same cultivation realm?

He didn't believe there was anyone in Existence that could do that any longer.

He hadn't believed that before he entered the Lord Realm, and least of all now.

If he wasn't being chased by Dao Gods… how could he have any fun at all?

It made Hope feel both warm and contradictorily cold at the same time. On the one hand, she was happy he was willing to deal with her "nonsense." But on the other hand… she didn't think she was speaking nonsense at all.

Ryu might think that letting his women be so willful was a great thing. But sometimes… it was patronizing.

Ryu's gaze flickered. He always called Hope "little woman" for a reason. She was too easy to read and wore everything she felt on her sleeve. Now, he was even more sensitive to such things, so he could guess what she was thinking.

Taking a breath, Ryu sighed.

Indeed, his father was right. Having so many women was truly a headache… not because women in general were, but rather dealing with so many different personalities, thoughts, and feelings was like its own path of cultivation hardship.

Ironically, outside of Yaana and Elena, he had spent the most time with Hope, so he understood her quite well… and also well enough to know that she wasn't really upset by his casual listening to her words.

She was upset because he had found a casual reason to blow off her advances, and he hadn't made any moves on her since.

He called her his little wife without having actually consummated anything. It made her feel like she didn't have the same place in his heart even if he acted like she did.

She could tell that he was upset about Ailsa and didn't care to focus on anything but cultivation, so she wouldn't complain about such a thing even if she knew Ryu wouldn't blame her in the slightest for doing so.

But logic and emotions often existed on two different spectrums.

Even if she understood, it didn't stop her from feeling like Ailsa would always be more important to him.

And if Ryu was honest… was it even possible to love so many women equally?

Ryu looked at Hope for a long while, his gaze soft but his heart confused.

After a moment, he reached toward a hand Hope was using to stroke his hair absentmindedly. He held it tightly, pulling it to his chest.

"If you wanted me to make my divorce with Ailsa official right now, I would do it."

Hope froze when she heard such words, suddenly feeling flustered.