Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-1979

Ryu felt odd.

This was the first time he had been truly unconscious since he began using his Dao Heart and Perfect Blackbody Soul as clones of his thoughts. But that ironically made being unconscious odd.

His real ego took a back seat, and his Dao Heart and Perfect Blackbody Soul seemed to take over. There was a shift in the way he thought about things as a result.

A push and pull, a tug of war of sorts, was erupting between the two powerful aspects of his body, and it felt like they were fighting for supremacy over his body.

By comparison, his ego was lost in a weird dream-like state where he could observe, but he couldn't do much at all.

It was a feeling that should have left him feeling a bit helpless, but honestly, he didn't really feel that way at all.

He saw his Dao Heart and Perfect Blackbody as extensions of himself. Even if his Ego one day died by mysterious means, they would still be him regardless.

However, it also made him realize just how odd the situation he was in was.

No one's Dao Heart or talent Soul should be like this. They were almost too independent.

Now that he knew it was likely a future version of himself that had allowed this to happen, he couldn't help but wonder why that was.

Ryu had already successfully created [One Above All], but that was ultimately just a cloning technique with extra steps. In some ways, it lived up to its name. But was that really all a technique with such a grandiose name should have?

Ryu suddenly saw a light at the end of the tunnel, and his eyes snapped open.

The first thing he saw was the dreary sky of the Chaos Plane above him. Then he saw Hope's blood-drained and soaked face.

Ile frowned. Not liking the sight at all. When had Hope gotten so injured?

His mind raced back to action and soon he had pieced together many things. When he understood his situation, he realized that after he fell unconscious, the battle against the Coldfang Warden must have gotten several times more difficult.

After analyzing things, the odds that he had escaped were probably high.

His [Third Perspective] flared out and he found that Hope wasn't the only one here. Well, she was the only one nearby, but "nearby" to cultivators, and especially Dao Gods, was all relative.

In the distance of what must have been thousands of kilometers away, Star River and the Human Emperor were taking up the rear, fighting back against rains of techniques.

He had to admit that the silly woman was better than he thought. Not in terms of power, he had already assumed that anyone personally taught by Ailsa would be quite decent at the very least. Instead, it was her character.

Although she didn't agree with his decision and hated it, even, she had still come.

In the end, she had turned out to be mostly right. Of course, if the Human Emperor hadn't interfered in their teleportation, Ryu and Hope would have gotten off scot-free. But the aftermath and fallout would have still been in line with Star River's thoughts...

It was just that Ryu had never given a damn about this. In fact, he wanted to force the hand of the

Real Plane so that he could personally see who stood on which side.

This, however, wasn't something that she had ever planned for. Now he was being cradled in the arms of his own woman, and he couldn't help but shake his head.

A pathetic state, indeed.

'One day...'

He had lost count of the number of times he had had this exact thought, but he had never given up on it, and would never.

Ile took a breath and his negative thoughts and emotions vanished.

Ryu's gaze flickered. That wasn't as natural as it seemed.

His Dao Heart had swallowed them all up on its own.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to mind the phenomenon. He knew that emotions weren't so intangible. For example, his Rage Flame literally fed off of a type of negative emotion. They could be used, manipulated, and changed. Even the Seven Corporeal Souls were built on types of emotions as well.

His [One Above All] should have undergone a mutation while he was unconscious, or more accurately, it seemed to have completed its foundation in ways that he had to be unconscious to accomplish.

He didn't quite understand it yet despite the fact he was the one to have created it. But... He realized that after his Dao Heart swallowed his negative emotions, his mind became clearer.

His sleep had already made him feel a great deal refreshed and his mental stamina had already returned to around 60% or so. But now, it was back to over 80%.

It was like he had never failed the teleportation at all. If he and Hope had some time now, they could even do it again.

Ryu's gaze flickered as he began to calculate something.

Ilope realized that Ryu was awake, but she was so focused on running and protecting him from the speed of a Dao God that she didn't have the mind to say anything.

She also realized that. Ryu didn't say anything either, and that could only mean one thing...

He was thinking of a solution.

For some reason, she relaxed when she saw this. Maybe it was a bit unseemly of her as a Dao God to place things in the hands of a Transcended. But...

Ryu had a way of leaving her feeling comforted.

"Let's do it again, Hope.'

Hope's expression changed. He couldn't want to leave Star River and the Human Emperor behind, could he?

She knew that Ryu was stone-hearted enough to do it. But she was not.

But at the same time, she didn't want to place her husband's life at risk for their sake either.