Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

The cherry blossoms froze over one after another, gaining shields of a transparent, pale blue. Then, upon each one, Ice Phoenix Heavenly Patterns took shape.

They were sharp lines at perfect 90-degree angles, looking as though an artist had meticulously met a downstroke with several cross strokes. They shone with a bright sky blue color and the world seemed to slow.

In that moment, the lock that Valerius had managed to place on Ryu's Spacetime control loosened considerably. All this time, Ryu had focused his attention on Valerius' beast skin spatial pouch, the only thing he could do under such restriction. But now...

[Absolute Domain] took shape once again, Star Qi falling from the skies in a beautiful wash of silver.

The scene could only be described as gorgeous. A man adorned by white scales, standing beneath an Immortal Sakura with blossoms of pink and blue, allowing the rain of the stars to fall down upon him.

ROAR!

Ryu's mouth parted and a mighty Dragon Roar tore a vortex through the clouds above.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The wyrm constructs ran into the seemingly delicate and fluttering cherry blossoms, only to be iced over in shards of blue and shattered into countless sparkling pieces that only added to the ambiance.

The Incarnation tried to close in on Ryu again, throwing out a fist, but Ryu didn't even pay attention to it as it collided with another blossoming petal. Its arm was suddenly encased by ice, and though it quickly shrugged it off, Ryu's fist had already found its way to its chest.

Ryu unleashed a relentless barrage, his fists smoothly flowing into his kicks, which just as smoothly paved a wide path for his palms and claws.

He changed his battle stance so frequently that it was entirely impossible to track, and even when one thought they found an opening, a fluttering blossom would find its way to block it.

The SHIING of blades and the swinging tempest of staffs and weapons of bludgeoning horrors echoed. When one's eyes lost focus, it looked more like Ryu had become an arsenal of weapons rather than a man fighting with his own body.

And every time they caused just the faintest inkling of one of these weapons... it would feel entirely blinding, almost as though a God amongst men was standing before them.

Ryu's speed suddenly accelerated, layering time in a way Valerius simply couldn't see through.

In that moment, Ryu seemed to have truly transcended. Everything came together and it was all due to just a simple thought...

This gorgeous scene... shouldn't it be painted?

In that moment, the onlookers felt as though they were trapped. They couldn't take their eyes off of it. It felt like nothing had changed, and yet somehow everything had.

Trapped in the flow of time, the Immortal Sakura was no longer just a Visualization of Ryu, it rather became a Visualization of the world, encompassing a time long gone and a glimpse into what might be.

Ryu felt a pull and control over time that he had never experienced before, a pull that finally seemed to rival his control over space, albeit just barely.

And it was that control that the Incarnation was entirely unable to keep up with.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Ryu erupted with three fists. They didn't seem to hit lethal areas at all, one to the shoulder, one to the chin, and the last to the gut. And yet, the moment they landed, the Incarnation froze before shattering into a rain of blood and energy.

Flames erupted across Ryu's body, dancing with black and dark red hues. In this environment, one adorned by beauty, delicateness and even a hint of bashfulness, he seemed to be the only stain.

And yet, that just made the pull of his Visualization all the more powerful.

There could be no peace without war, no contentment without malcontent, no happiness without rage.

When Ryu suddenly struck that balance, and those in the surroundings were forced to contend with the fact that something so beautiful could be created by someone with the capacity for such evil, the skies seemed to split, a resounding holy blessing falling down upon them...

A holy blessing that Ryu swiped away with a hand, shattering it into pieces.

His horns glistened even beneath his dark flames, his white hair fluttering as the only contrast of brightness upon him. Even his scales were buried beneath the inferno.

Valerius stood in the distance, beads of sweat falling down from his brow not out of fear, but rather hints of fatigue and the billowing heat suddenly coming from Ryu.

He looked at Ryu deeply, his breathing even and the depths of his eyes quickly birthing a maturity he hadn't had just moments ago.

This was the gap between a true genius and the dregs.

There were, indeed, two paths that one could take after being humiliated, and he had taken the one that was only available to those with Dao Hearts as resplendent as his own.

It was a Dao Heart that the people of the Ninth Heaven called the Heart of a Hero. And looking down at Ryu's chest, Valerius could see that he, too, had one.

Slowly, Valerius began to take out a bone whip. It came from his spatial ring, so Ryu was unable to stop it. But he could also tell that it was too inferior a weapon for a genius of Valerius' caliber. It was likely that his favorite weapon was stored in the beast skin, but Ryu had stopped him from taking it out.

Even after several seconds, the bone whip had yet to fully manifest itself and it quickly became obvious why Valerius hadn't taken it out until now, and also why he chose to store his main weapon in the much more complex spatial device...

It simply took too long to pull out!

BANG!

Despite the fact they were standing over a hundred meters in the sky, the bone whip slapped against the ground, forming a crater that rippled with cracks into the surroundings.

However, just before the two could begin another round, a voice called out.

"I believe that's enough."