Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu returned to the Seventh Heaven, a feat that wasn't actually all that difficult for him now. All he really had to do was take some time to draw out a large-scale formation. He didn't have the resources necessary to do it, but the black hole within him was all he needed, really.

It was still an impossible task to control those treasures within him. In fact, now that they had all banded together, they were even more unruly and difficult. Before, he could just barely manage to use the Infinity Mist at a great cost to himself. But now, just budging things made him feel like his body might explode.

It took him entering Breath of Heaven and focusing for about half a day before he could manage to take out a sliver of the force hidden within his black hole Natural Treasure. Luckily, that sliver was more than enough to power his formation and send him right back into the Seventh Heaven.

He took a breath and exhaled, feeling that the air was truly just a little bit sweeter up here. But this only lasted for a moment before he broke out into a sprint, blinking in and out of the void.

'Goddammit!'

Ryu took deep heaving breaths, barely managing to calm his beating heart. He made a mental note to himself to not randomly teleport into these higher Heavens anymore if he still wanted his life.

On the lower Heavens, from the First to the Sixth, humans still managed to control a large bulk of the land. Even if Ryu spent years adventuring, the odds he'd run into a God Beast were incredibly low. On the Seventh Heaven beyond, though, Nature began to fight back, and quite frankly, it was winning.

The vast majority of the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Heavens were wild lands filled with danger. Only a small portion actually managed to house civilization, and they were all built around the powerhouses of a Sect or Clan.

Just now, Ryu had randomly teleported into the Seventh Heaven, and unsurprisingly landed in a God Beast's territory. Luckily, it was just a True God Beast. However, beasts were still much more powerful than Sky Gods of the same level. So even if this beast had been from the Fifth Heaven, it would have still been far more dangerous than Elizaren, let alone the fact it was strong enough to have a territory in the Seventh Heaven. It was truly on a completely different level.

Ryu contemplated about using his Heavenly Pupils, but he eventually decided against it. For one, he wasn't entirely confident in killing this beast without using Heaven Gate, and he didn't know if the lack of cooldown for Earth Gate would transfer over to Heaven Gate as well. He wouldn't want to utilize it against a beast he was confident in running away from.

Second, God Beasts were just as intelligent as humans. If he used his Heavenly Pupils and they survived, it would be as good as exposing his Heavenly Pupils to the world. God Beasts couldn't utilize the Heavenly Pupils of humanoids, at least that was Ryu's understanding from Sacrum-he wasn't entirely sure if it changed here or not-but this information would be worth an arm and a leg to the right buyer. A God Beast wasn't above trading with humans if it benefited them. Most of them roared and didn't bother to communicate not because they were uncivilized or incapable of speech, but rather because they couldn't be bothered to. If it came down to it, they could most definitely take that step.

Finally, Ryu managed to appear at the edges of another beast's territory, causing the original God Beast to give up.

'Smart. I was going to see if I could pit you against each other, but I guess you're at the stage where you're too intelligent for that.'

Ryu shrouded himself in Void Spiritual Sense and ventured into the void. Now that no auras had locked onto him, it was a simple matter to escape detection. He should be safe now. In the past, entering the void of the Seventh Heaven would be hugely taxing to him, but now it was as simple as breathing.

"What do you think about Little Silk?" Ryu asked Hope.

The small guy had ventured into another cocoon for a while now. Ryu had asked his mother about it, but she had insisted on continuing to be mysterious.

What Ryu did know, though, was that the current Little Silk had undergone quite a massive number of changes, and his mother had been far more forceful with her methods this time, as though she was confident that Little Silk could take some more punishment.

Hope had always been quite bored in these years and had thus taken to taking care of Little Silk. Although she said that she was still busy and that's why she was staying by his side, Ryu knew that was all ridiculous.

The real reason Hope stayed by his side was likely because she was curious about where he would go. Her Fate was tied to his own due to the method of reincarnation that he had used, so when he had his near-death experience, she should have felt it as well.

Interestingly enough, she hadn't mentioned that matter a single time. This was a far cry from the Hope that almost collapsed when she learned that Ryu's Fate was chained.

"She'll wake up soon, and definitely be more powerful than a hooligan like you."

Ryu laughed. He found that he didn't mind this small woman's company all that much.

It took several weeks, but Ryu eventually made his way out of the wilderness and ventured into "civilization". Well, at the very least, the outer edges of it.

But sensing the qi in the air, he shook his head and sighed. His luck really wasn't all that good.

Considering the density of lightning qi, this was definitely the Azure Lightning Sect's territory. If they found out he was here, how many experts would they send to chase after him?