Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

The confusion weighed heavily on Adlael and it made him hesitant to take action. He had a feeling that if the others of the Eighth and Ninth Heavens had been aware that these huge changes were coming, they wouldn't wait for the Convergence to reach their Heavens before taking action, they would have sent their youths down as well despite usually disdaining the Lower Heavens.

Were both he and Ramon wrong? Had they been too casual up until this point? Should he throw caution to the wind and take this victory for himself?

Adlael's eyes narrowed slightly. He was a cautious person by nature, and he much preferred to lean back and plan diligently. This was a far cry from how the rest of his branch family members were, most of whom were crazed, battle hungry maniacs. But it was also because of this that they were constantly and unwittingly, often, the pawns of others.

He was tired of that kind of life, but clearly the pride of being a Heavenly Dew was ingrained into his veins. He had come to this Heaven, but he had still disdained it, still believed that there was nothing much it could do for him aside from a scant few things that he carefully decided upon.

I will wait until the next round. If things are still so... odd, it will mean that ! am correct in my presumptions and this Heavenly Path opening is far different than it ever has been before.

Adlael continued to stand in place, watching as the countless auras converged onto Ryu's position. He didn't have any intention of moving, but it seemed that Ramon wasn't the same, and it also didn't seem like this was out of any attempt to gain benefits, at least not the same benefits that Adlael was after.

Ryu's breathing was steady and even. His eyes were closed and his Spiritual Sense had already been torn to the point it couldn't maintain its state at all. It winked out of existence entirely and Ryu was left with nothing, and yet he didn't seem to have the intention of opening his eyes,

The first grounds that made it to his location were those of the Radiant Star Sect, but not long after the four Immortal Deities appeared. It seemed that the Radiant Star Sect had a combined movement technique that they used that pulled upon Star Qi to function, allowing them to outstrip the Immortal Deities who were only casually working together.

Group after group arrived to find Ryu standing in silence, seemingly sleeping on his feet.

Selheira frowned. She hadn't said much since the incident that took place just a few minutes ago, not that she said much usually. Jojo was still having the time of her life, and it could be said another reason why they were so slow was because of this.

They could all tell immediately that Ryu had somehow already defeated the spirit and it was now being absorbed into his body, but it wasn't immediate. And now he was clearly exposed to attack.

Selheira came to a pause and looked around. She had no ability to stop all of these people.

What was she thinking? Why did she even want to? She had never been embarrassed like Ryu had embarrassed her in her life, and her pride was bone deep, since Ryu was so confident, he could get himself out of the situation.

She bit her lip. Maybe if he asked for help she would. But if not, then...

Ryu didn't even look in her direction. To be fair, he couldn't even tell who was coming and who wasn't. Even if Selheira joined the attack, he wouldn't be able to tell one way or another. He was completely focused.

A sudden arrow came in from a long distance away. Even when everyone looked toward where it might have come from, they saw nothing. It was clear that whoever had attacked had done so with concealed intentions. They likely wanted to gather up all the benefits while hiding their identity. But their attempt was too stupid.

The moment kyu's spirits transferred to him, there would be a clear line to follow. In fact, he might be even worse off than Ryu, unable to assimilate the spirit and just directly die.

Selheira's heart lurched when she realized that Ryu's head was about to be pierced through. She had stubbornly come to a stop, but that slight pause made it so that she wouldn't be able to reach in time.

It was then, though, that Ryu suddenly took a step to the side. It was a precise six inches, just enough that the arrowhead and the arrow's aura missed him. His hair danced in the wind, but nothing else happened even as the ground behind him was torn to shreds.

Ryu's body might be in a sorry state, and his qi might not move to his command, but he had an upper hand that everyone else didn't. He was the only one to have absorbed a Diamond Protector Spirit, even if it was only in part.

Reykian suddenly cut forward like a blazing sun.

"Reykian, you dare?!" Selheira suddenly roared.

Reykian's flight stumbled for a moment, but his gaze only became a steely cold as he rushed forward. Not far behind him, Litaor moved as well, but lojo didn't do anything to stop him, she just looked on, quite amused by the situation. She had thought that Selheira would be infuriated to the point of maybe even attacking Ryu herself, but to think that she would actually say something to stop Reykian. This was all much more interesting than killing Ryu herself.

Selheira sent a gaze toward Jojo and then shot forward. Jojo didn't seem to have any intention of stopping her either, she just sat back and watched the show.

If it was just Reykian and Litaor, there would be no suspense. But she culd sense that there were many other participants at play here, and she wanted to see who would sink or swim. Who knew, maybe she could reap the benefits in the end?