Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

~Moments ago.

Ryu entered the Legacy World with a sharp look in his eyes. He knew that he didn't have much time, and that elusive countdown began to tick the instant he stepped into this place. Worst part was that he knew even if he managed to succeed, that timer would start up again.

From now, until the moment he gathered up his last treasure, he was on a pressured time run, one where he had to evade Primus to the best of his ability. He couldn't afford to make a mistake, a false deduction, or take a misstep... at least not without putting a considerable lead between himself and Primus first.

This Legacy World he had decided to begin with was probably the best on the list to take this step. For one, it was relatively close by. Secondly, it was the one the least likely to have any unwanted variables. It was a nice and easy lob for a Ruin Master with his skill, at least it was considering the information that the Heavens had given him.

Legacy Worlds were the magnum opus of the cultivators that had left them behind, but they were formed with the aid of the Heavens as well. While much of it was reliant on the strength of the cultivator, to allow a world to exist in a plane of its own for so long after one's death wasn't something a normal individual could do.

Thus, Legacy Worlds were located on a very Plane of Existence, one that Ryu had quite some intimate familiarity with: the Abyssal Plane. They were then anchored down to specific locations and left for future generations to find.

These worlds though, were prone to collapsing. They couldn't exist indefinitely, and usually, after the treasure or legacy was claimed, the world wouldn't last long afterward. This was what happened with Ryu's grandmother's world. Many had ended up dying because they were stuck in the world long after Ryu had already claimed his Inheritance.

This also made Legacy Worlds easy to use for one particular matter: entering the Abyssal Plane.

It was sheer madness, honestly. Entering the Abyssal Plane as a World Sea Realm expert, the True Abyssal Plane at that, was truly putting one's life on the line.

The last time Ryu had stepped into the Abyssal Plane, it was just with his consciousness, but he had his Realm Heart guiding him. Before that, he had done something similar, but he had Ailsa to rely on, and that was back when he first claimed his Realm Heart for himself.

Now, Ryu didn't just want to send his consciousness in, he wanted to send his real body in.

According to the information the Heavens had given him, the spatial laws of Abyssal Plane were off and hard to manage. This was why back when Ryu had the idea of soaring through the Abyssal Plane with his Realm Heart as a surfboard, looking for other Realm Hearts to consume to strengthen it, he had been more foolish than not.

His Realm Heart had felt like it could cover impossibly large distances, and he felt like he was making progress, but how much progress was he really making in the end?

If Reality could be described in Folds, then the Abyssal Plane was akin to those Folds being smoothed out and expanded. The Abyssal Plane was thousands of times larger than the Real Plane, and even that might not quite do it justice.

Even so, it had some unique advantages that Ryu could take advantage of.

For one, moving through the Abyssal Plane, as long as you had a proper vehicle, was a lot like moving through the void. It was quick. But it also had another advantage one top of that.

If you stepped into the Abyssal Plane, no one could sense you like they could in the void, and it was also impossible for attacks from the outside to harm you until you stepped out and returned to the Real Plane.

It had to be understood that the only reason the void hadn't collapsed upon Ryu when he was in the Infinity Mist wasn't because the Infinity Mist couldn't penetrate the void, it was rather because of the special properties of Infinity Mist.

Usually, treasures of that level weren't nearly so docile. Just their presence alone would cause countless twists, bends and tears in space.

This was why space was both seen as extremely powerful, and yet capable of being used by practically every powerhouse in existence. Of course, this was a conclusion that Ryu had already reached in the Heavenly Path.

Ryu's Spacetime Soul Nature wasn't yet strong enough to cross into the Abyssal Plane on his own, and it could be until he was at least a Dao Lord judging by some things. However, if he used the close connection of a Legacy World to the Abyssal Plane, stepped into it, then used his Realm Heart to move across it and exit from his next destination...

Of course, this would only work once. Once he stepped out from the Abyssal Plane, not only would he be assaulted by whatever danger was on the outside, but there wouldn't be another convenient legacy realm to use to re-enter the Abyssal Plane.

Even so, that was a problem he would have to deal with when he got there. For now...

Ryu blazed through the Legacy World. It was one designed for World Sea Realm experts just like him, though he didn't think that this would stop Primus at all. Sure, the Heavens helped the Legacy World holder to maintain control over its rules, but the point of cultivation was to defy the Heavens. That alone proved that the Heavens weren't infallible.

In truth, Primus' attempted break-in was exactly what he needed, and the moment he sensed a rumble, his heart thumped and his gaze sharpened.

This was it.

He reached the end of the Legacy World, treating the trials as though they were air. Up ahead, there was a reward that remained. From what he could tell, it was a treasure that was a copy of the Western Heavenly Wind, the Wind of Sharpness.

It was a nice little treasure, but it was ultimately not the real thing.

What Ryu was interested in wasn't the treasure itself, but rather...

He snatched it and the Legacy World began to fall even faster. He stepped into a tear and into the Abyssal Plane.