Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1772 Free Will

Ryu's eyes narrowed. "Yes."

The voices fell into silence once again.

"It seems we don't have a choice now."

This time, the voice was the very same one that had been scrambling for Ryu's death. But what was interesting was that he almost seemed resigned.

"Well, it shouldn't be a surprise. It was unlikely that someone normal would come here."

The statues began to glow and nine beams of light came from the foreheads of the statues. Before Ryu could dodge, they slammed into him, burrowing into his mind.

Ryu's mind was instantly overwhelmed and the entire world seemed to go white.

Memories flashed by in Ryu's mind one after another, but they were all memories that he couldn't recognize at all. It felt like he was watching the life of someone else… or several someones.

Often he was a mighty figure, just as frequently he was a beggar, and more often than both he was a normal man, unimportant and unadorned in every aspect.

His personality changed like the pages of a book, and watching the different iterations, Ryu couldn't help but be angry.

How could he be so pathetic?

Wait… when did he accept that these men were himself?

Soon, that feeling of anger became helplessness.

It was a feeling that was completely foreign to Ryu. The last time he had felt such a thing was the day he killed himself, but this time… it felt even more profound than that day.

Watching these men that were supposedly himself, he realized that there was simply no point in being angry.

Who was to say that if any one of them saw his current life that they too wouldn't be angry?

What about the version of him who had become a monk, a man without the slightest killing intent that died as a result of his pacifism? Wouldn't he be greatly disappointed by the current Ryu's complete disregard for life?

Or what about the version of him that had given everything to a single woman? Wouldn't he be disappointed that Ryu had more than one wife?

Or what of the version of him that hated booked and education? Wouldn't he feel that Ryu was wasting his life away by spending so much time in cultivation and libraries?

There were so many aspects of the current Ryu that his past Iterations would absolutely abhor, and it left him…

Somewhat broken.

It felt like there was nothing unique about his current self.

If his true soul could display so many different tendencies, so many different loves and hates, so many different personalities…

Who was Ryu Tatsuya?

Wasn't his personality too easily swayed by his talent?

Were the words he spoke to Patriarch Ember nothing more than the bluster of a man who could speak so freely because he already had such talent?

He could see the pattern quite clearly.

In lives where his talent was weak, he tended to have a more docile and even often lazy personality.

In lives where his talent was strong, he was more overbearing and arrogant.

There were exceptions, but they were a rare few in the sea of many.

Seeing this sort of thing truly made Ryu feel like he had no sense of self.

He was no different from anyone else. Arrogant when he had backing and spineless when he didn't.

It was the kind of thing that could shatter a Dao Heart tens of times over, and honestly, it seemed that Ryu was teetering on the edge.

His Dao Heart was incredibly strong, but it felt not strong enough for this.

And maybe that was precisely why the nine were so picky.

How many could withstand such a thing? Seeing how insignificant their lives were? How much control the Heavens and chance had over who they would be and what they could become?

It was demoralizing in a way that even attempting suicide without knowing what was on the other side.

It was without a doubt the worst thing that Ryu had ever experienced… and even that alone was a humbling thought and put a spotlight on just how selfish he was.

He hated this feeling even more than the death of his grandparents, and just the thought alone filled him with disgust.

Was this the kind of person he was?

He would rather lose those he loved than lose himself.

Maybe that was a natural human reaction, maybe it wasn't.

But regardless, it was his reality right now, and those thoughts were consuming him.

Seeing Ryu's dazed appearance and paled face, the nine statues watched on silently.

"It seems that his road of cultivation might die right here."

"This method had always been paradoxical. It's ironically those that have the highest opinion of themselves that will fall the hardest. But without the strongest of Dao Heart, you wouldn't even be worthy of stepping into this place."

"It's a cursed method, one that maybe shouldn't even exist."

A collective sigh rang out.

Why did they even do this? They had already lost count of the number of geniuses that had come here just to die. Of course, it wasn't they who killed them, but rather the geniuses themselves who often committed suicide after their Dao Hearts were shattered.

After feeling that they had no purpose left in life, they would prefer to restart and wipe their memories. At least then, hopefully, the next time they had such talent, they wouldn't have to run into such a situation again.

It was the coward's way out, but the irony was that they fully accepted themselves as such when they breathed their last.

After learning of these truths, most would feel that their lives were meaningless, and even for these nine… it was hard to refute.

It made the Heavens and everything under it feel like one large game…

If there was no connecting line between one's lives, what was even the point? It felt like the Heavens had a certain number of blank-slate souls to play with and just tossed them around as it pleased.

What was the point of life if there was never truly any free will?