Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-716

Ryu's experience with Isemeine was the first time he truly learned of the mindset of Martial Gods. They didn't view themselves as fellow humans, they truly saw themselves to be above every and anything. They were existences that ruled over all others, while everybody else was trash to be swept beneath their feet.

Those words Isemeine had spoken back then, at the height of her rage, were the emotions she stored deep within her heart and soul, the truest and most thoughtful expression of who she and her race of people were.

Did this piss Ryu off?

The reality was… not really. At least not in the way one might expect.

What Ryu cared about wasn't the disregard for human lives, or the overblown superiority complex. It wasn't the fact they treated those beneath them like weeds to be cut or the fact they took their title as 'Martial Gods' far too seriously.

What pissed him off was that in those they dared to look down upon, they actually included him, Ryu Tatsuya.

Now, he was faced with such trash once again. He could feel an enlightenment that would breathe life into him within arm's reach. And yet, this unknown individual had actually chosen to stand in his way at every step.

To Ryu, blocking his path to getting stronger wasn't even just about slapping his own face. It was akin to disrespecting the memories of his grandparents, of his Clan, of everything they represented. It was no different to attempting to sentence his parents and himself to death…

Without strength, there was nothing that Ryu would be able to accomplish in this world. Without strength, he would never be able to seek out his revenge. Without strength, he would never be able to bring his family back together again.

Ryu's aura continued to blaze, a raging killing intent wafting off of him in waves.

The woman hovering before him had a wild change in expression. She retreated explosively, his gaze flickering.

"Stop immediately! What are you doing?!"

A bit of the momentum of a Sky God leaked outward. It was clear that this woman was not weak by any stretch of the imagination, but she didn't dare to do anything more.

'Dammit!'

The woman found herself hovering above the chasm below. This was one of the most dangerous places to be on the battlefield. She had subconsciously taken this action, but she realized that it was foolish just moments later.

Luckily, all of the sword qi was focused on Ryu and she escaped scrutiny for the moment. Taking advantage, she flashed away even as the Holy Battle Ground only became more and more volatile.

It wasn't just the woman who realized that something was definitely wrong. The entire Holy Battle Ground was beginning to shake and quake, blinding sword lights rising up into the skies, taking the form of all sorts of shapes and colors.

Ryu continued to stare into the abyss, his killing intent wildly fluctuating around him. He couldn't even form sword qi of his own, he had no comprehension of a Sword Inheritance and his contemplative state kept getting ruined by this 'assassin' existence.

Since that was the case, he would just get rid of all of it at once.

The wild and explosively result the woman was expecting never came. Somehow, every time a sword qi seemed primed to charge for Ryu, it would pause as though it had lost its target.

The woman watched on in shock as seconds became minutes and minutes became hours, and eventually days.

The commotion spread across the swords faction, but with the woman there and only a rare few being capable of entering the Holy Battle Ground in this state, or so it seemed, no one was able to get to the bottom of exactly what was happening.

The only person who could observe was the woman herself, yet even she didn't believe what she was seeing. No, it was more accurate to say that she couldn't comprehend it at all.

How could she know that Ryu saw the world in shades of qi thanks to his <Ephemeral Tapestry> mutation? And how could she know that due to this mutation, his <Lines of Fate> had likewise mutated, resulting in what was once his world of white, black and grey lines of Karma becoming flourishing with colors themselves?

Back when Ryu 'traded' in his Tatsuya Saintly Weapon Inheritance for the sake of taking the path of the Great Swordstaff, he had used <Lines of Fate> to grasp the core of his Inheritance and rebuild it anew. This was when he learned that his <Lines of Fate> ability could now see much more than it had in the past.

Fundamentally, a Holy Battle Ground was a phenomenon of Fate. It wouldn't' exist without Fate and one couldn't form unless the Fate tied to it was strong enough.

This 'assassin' was using their Sword Dao to mess with and ruin the core essence of the Holy Battle Ground, destroying everything that was worth observing. If Ryu had to battle him in terms of Sword Dao, he would lose 10 out of 10 times. Not to mention the fact he had never picked up a sword in his life, this assassin themselves was blocking Ryu's ability to learn about it in the first place.

However… In a Battle of Fate, there wasn't a single existence in the martial world, Sky God or not, that could possibly match up to him.

Ryu's killing intent continued to surge, his gaze glowing brighter and brighter.

The days turned to weeks. And the weeks became months.

Everyday, the sharp call of the sword qi only seemed to grow. Their trembling grew fiercer and their auras became so prominent that even the weakest of sword masters could sense them.

At the moment, the fear that everyone had felt for the Holy Battle Ground completely reversed. After one brave soul traveled in and realized that it was safer than it seemed, a second followed, then a third. One after another, even the mediocre began to experience continuous breakthroughs.

Ryu accidentally started a revolution and a renaissance in the swords faction… All because some old bastard pissed him off.