Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu didn't have to cast in the direction of the one who spoke to see who it was. There were probably only very few people who could hide from his [Third Perspective], and there was also the fact that this man wasn't trying to hide himself in the slightest.

In Sacrum, he dared to say that nothing could escape his [Third Perspective], but he had learned enough about the True Martial World to conclude that there was nothing truly infallible in this world... At least not while his eyes were yet to return to their former number one ranking.

The man who flew upon a flying disk had a mature sort of charm about him. His hair was greying, but perfectly slicked back, his face was clean-shaven and his robes were both simple, but noble, fluttering in the wind with colors of azure and gold.

Sashi's heart skipped a beat when she saw this man. She put a hand on her chest and gave a small bow. She didn't bend her waist very much because her status was high enough to not need to do so, but the same wasn't the case for most everyone else. In fact, even the woman of the Beast Mimicry Sect gave him a bow.

The only two that didn't were Ryu and Valerius. Not wanting to stir more trouble than she had to, even Elena bowed. She felt that she had gotten Ryu into more than enough trouble, and now she was worried.

"Warden," Sashi greeted politely.

The Warden title of the Martial Gods held a great amount of weight. Though the man was "only" of the Omniscient Sky God Realm, it could be said that he had enough strength in a single palm to suppress both Sashi and her friend both with a great deal of ease.

The minimum requirement of a Warden was to reach the Omniscient Sky God Realm while staying on the genius path. Many of them had a great chance of reaching the Dao Lord Realm, but even without doing so, their ability to suppress those of the same Realm stood near the top of the Martial God Clan as a whole.

The Warden position wasn't just bluster and talk. It was one that could only be claimed by walking through a mountain of corpses. Challenges were constantly open and anyone who met the minimum requirement could challenge this man at any time...

Warden Mordecai wasn't even from a High Tier Bloodline. He had a Middle Tier Bloodline of the Martial Gods, one that placed him below the status of Sashi and certainly the Beast Mimicry Sect woman. And yet, when he came forward, they felt a trembling fear in their hearts.

This was the power of someone who wasn't born with everything, but instead took it.

Mordecai swept a gaze over the bowing people. When he saw that Ryu and Valerius hadn't moved, he didn't seem enraged. Instead, he chuckled, finding it amusing.

"Your battle was quite exhilarating, it reminded me of my youth. But you're destroying my Ward. If you would like to battle, please do so in designated areas. My pockets are too shallow to deal with this cost."

Ryu looked at the man deeply. He constantly felt his mind pinging him at a great deal of danger.

This wasn't the first time this had happened, but rather the second after Valerius himself. It was an extremely subtle feeling, one that could easily slip through his grasp. But now that it had happened again... he felt that it wasn't a coincidence.

He dismissed it before because if this was a new ability, then why hadn't it activated when Old Wan was about to take action? He should have been alerted then...

But if he was correct, it was likely that Old Wan was either too far beyond him, or his cultivation was too low to grasp the warning in time.

Since then, he had broken into the False Sky God Realm, and right now, he was technically in the True Sky God Realm and had grasped Transcendent Control.

Even with all its seals unlocked, his Heavenly Pupils still scaled with his individual strength, that would never cease to be.

'Is this a mutation of [Intuition]...?'

[Intuition] was something he was only supposed to be able to use three times in a lifetime, and he had already used them all... or so he thought.

Maybe, his eyes had swapped out three large, life-changing uses of [Intuition], for smaller, more manageable spurts.

Ryu turned back and frowned when he confirmed that Elena was bowing.

He didn't say a word, but a strong wind straightened her back. She was a bit taken aback, but when she saw Ryu's gaze, her lips curled into a sheepish smile, a hint of worry twinkling in her eyes.

Warden Mordecai's gaze didn't waver when he saw this. In fact, his smile remained the same.

"The road of cultivation is a lonely path, young one. You cannot give your talent nor your backbone to everyone around you, they will have to raise themselves up or you will one day have to watch them die regardless of the heights you reach. And by then, their death will be the anchor that drags you down."

Mordecai spoke lightly as though he was advising a junior.

Ryu gazed at him for a long while, not sensing any mal-intent in his words, but he still didn't like it in the slightest.

"There've been plenty of people who've reached the Dao God Realm, plenty who've formed Founding Daos, plenty who've had great talents or formed powerful backbones, as you say...

"But where is the challenge in doing what everyone else has already done? I will not only reach the pinnacle of the world, I will take those I love with me. If they need a backbone, I will be their backbone. If they lack talent, I will give them talent. If anyone stands in their way, I'll cut them down."