Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Chapter 2190 Unprecedented.

Chapter 2190  Unprecedented.

Ryu looked at the skies as the golden door opened.

He knew that this would happen. After Sarriel crossed over a certain threshold, she wouldn't be allowed to stay.

He, himself, had been given a mere hundred years to remain here. Honestly speaking, maybe it was a good thing that he had yet to well and truly break into the Lord Realm. If he had, maybe they would have moved up the timeline once again.

But there was no doubt that Sarriel had soared by whatever that threshold was.

Golden light spilled down as the doors began to creak open further and further. Once again, there was just the sliver of a crack before a golden-wreathed young man walked out once more.

Sarriel's eyes were still tightly closed, her body curled into Ryu's arms like some sort of kitten. She was already awake, but she found herself liking the feeling quite a bit.

The time extended in her mind, and she sank into the feeling, trying to feel it for as long as possible.

After a while, she finally realized that she had no choice but to open her eyes. She looked up and her heart shuddered when she saw Ryu's state.

He didn't look like a living man at all. His handsome countenance was nowhere to be seen, his face becoming a half-melted, half-peeling mess.

He stood there as though he didn't feel any pain whatsoever, but she could feel the shuddering in his very soul. It was the one place he couldn't hide it at all.

Sarriel had been alone all her life. She couldn't remember ever experiencing this sort of protection from someone. It was always she who had to take the extra step, put in the extra effort, for no other reason than to protect herself.

It was that very thing that caused the rift between her and Ryu in the first place. She had no choice but to be fiercely protective of herself, otherwise how would she fulfill her wish to revive her Clan?

There were just certain sacrifices that she had to make in order to aim for something much larger than herself.

And maybe that was precisely why Ryu's actions hit her so hard.

Her hand trembled as it moved up to his cheek. She seemed to see right past the ugly state of his face to the very depths of his eyes and the soul beyond.

Ryu's head shifted, looking down at her.

Then he flashed a bright smile.

Sarriel grimaced. "You look terrible."

"What? You want to divorce me now? I didn't expect that you would have married me for my looks alone. That hurts a little bit."

"I don't remember ever getting married. I do remember someone pressing me down in the middle of a forest, though. It wasn't very romantic at all."

"I didn't take you for the type."

"I'm not. But you should at least give me the chance to reject it first."

Ryu burst into a fit of laughter. As the saying went, women were indeed complicated creatures.

"Tell you what. I'll forge your wedding ring out of the Heavenly Court's Gates."

The young man in the skies narrowed his eyes.

"I would advise you to watch your tone. There are certain things—."

"That's a promise." Sarriel replied, cutting the young man off. "If you ever lie to me, it's over. I'll find someone else to give me a gang of children."

"I don't break promises to my women. I'm more than happy to lie to anyone else, though. Like right now—." Ryu looked up to the young man. "—Don't worry, I really have no intention of sticking my foot up your ass at some point. Rest easy."

Sarriel giggled beside herself.

It was the first time Ryu had seen her laugh like this, at least with her true personality. And for some reason, he couldn't help but feel warm.

It was the sort of feeling he had with all his women. His words weren't empty when he said he wanted them to be as willful and carefree as they wanted. He wanted them all to live lives where they could laugh in happiness just like this.

Their burdens… he wanted to carry them all on his shoulders.

Sarriel seemed to feel what was radiating from Ryu's soul and gently pressed her head against his chest.

"… I'll go for a little bit. They won't be able to hold me for long, anyway," she said softly. "He doesn't even feel all that strong. I could probably kill him with a finger. But then they'd send more of them."

The lips of the young man twitched, but this time he didn't dare to refute. He could feel an oppressive aura coming from Sarriel the likes of which only the fewest handful of geniuses could match in the Lord Realm… even in the whole Heavenly Court.

"You won't have to wait for long because after I'm done here, I will come." Ryu said calmly.

His voice wasn't somber at all, he was only casually speaking a fact. Standing there, half-dead, with who seemingly made up the entirety of Existence wanting nothing more than to see him dead, he was still so completely and utterly confident in his abilities.

It wasn't that he had the strength to accomplish these things right now, but rather that he knew that once he made it through this crucible…

He would fear no man.

Dao God or not.

He was Ryu Tatsuya, and the confidence he had in himself was unmatched.

Sarriel felt her heart flutter and she recalled why it was her real self had fallen for this man. She really… really did like arrogant men. But she liked it even more so when they knew how to back up their words.

And that was all Ryu ever seemed to do.

She should have known that the moment she saw Ryu again after all those years, seeing how far he came, she definitely couldn't escape this man for the rest of her life.

Even if he hadn't wanted her anymore, she would have probably been completely unable to forget him.

"… I hate you." She eventually said.

Ryu's laughter filled the skies as Sarriel stood from his arms.

She began to walk away, floating to the heights above. But after a moment, she paused and looked back.

"Don't die."

"For saying that, I guess I'll have to teach you lesson three when I see you next."

Sarriel smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

Ryu felt a burning in his chest.

Maybe this was why he loved arrogant women so much. Just how much sweeter was it when a woman with all the pride in the world looked at you like that?

The gazes of his wives flashed by in his head, and even as Sarriel disappeared, and Ryu stood in the depths of space, blackness all around him, he felt akin to the last burning light of a flaming star.

Like he had said… this wouldn't be the place he fell.

Not by a long shot.

Standing there, his silvery eyes as bright as the stars and his white grin the only uncharred part of him remaining, he faced off against the world with a blazing Dao Heart.

"Maybe you all might stand a chance now. I look forward to it."

A towering pillar of will came from Ryu, his Dao Heart practically manifesting into a tangible star all on its own.

His great swordstaffs appeared in his hands, the movement causing flakes of blackened skin to fall off of him in an ashy rain.

They danced off into the wind, falling as though peeling from the fabric of clothes rather than the flesh and blood of a real, living being.

But Ryu himself didn't seem to notice it at all. His eyes were focused on the Heavenly Court's doors as they slowly closed, his words reverberating through the air.

As the sliver of the door closed, and the blinding golden light also faded, leaving Ryu alone, there seemed to be another blinding light that replaced it.

Ryu had already made his decision. Until the very end of the Title Stele, he wouldn't be returning to his pillar.

He would either die here in a blaze of glory, or he would stand at the peak.

And he had no plans on dying in the slightest.

The Title Stele shook. As though provoked, it released a furious tempest.

Looking at it, Ryu realized that there was something truly peculiar. It had felt suppressed by the Heavenly Court Doors, but something made Ryu feel as though that had been nothing more than a… facade, as though the Title Stele was playing a game of cat and mouse with the world itself.

But now, it was displaying just the slightest portion of its truest self.

The skies churned as a new Title began to appear. But when everyone finally saw what it was, they couldn't help but tremble.

Had the Title Stele ever given out a Title of this caliber before? What was it trying to do?

Godblade.