Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Isemeine jumped up and grabbed onto Ryu's ankle, trying her best to pull him down. She didn't seem aware of how ridiculous she looked in the slightest. Things only became worse when Ryu shook his foot, causing what she thought was a steady grip to falter.

She could do nothing as she fell down from the skies, landing heavily on her feet. She didn't feel just a little aggrieved as she stared up.

Isemeine's temper was horrible, everyone knew this. But, whether it was because Ryu had taken her virginity or maybe because he was even more of a madman than she was, she found herself being far more lenient with him.

On top of this, Isemeine still wanted to live. As much as Ryu wanted to become powerful, she too shared such goals and aspirations. It could be said that Isemeine was maybe the most like Ryu of anyone he had ever met… Well, if you ignored her sometimes ridiculous actions.

If Ryu was objective with himself, as ridiculous as Isemeine's temper flare ups were, hadn't he been just like this in the past? His fuse was short, his trigger was quick, and his actions were swift and without regard for consequences.

Even now, he realized that he still hadn't changed as much as he wanted to. He knew that standing up in the skies like this would bring trouble, but whenever he tried to control himself to descend, he felt an inward revulsion that almost made him wretch. It felt no different to him than lowering his head and bowing to another.

How long had he waited to be able to fly through the skies in the Shrine Plane like this? How long had he waited to be able to reach this peak under his own strength?

'But… You're still not strong enough,' Ryu thought to himself.

Ryu exhaled a light breath, descending from the skies at a leisurely pace and walking back into Isemeine's home. They had left from a back entrance to step outside originally. This time, Ryu headed for the front door.

Isemeine blinked when she saw Ryu suddenly descend. She had been very much ready for him to throw a tantrum and not do such a thing. Something about it felt very distinctly… Unlike Ryu. It was like he was overcorrecting, but it was hard to tell whether this was for the better or the worse just yet.

Isemeine's gaze flashed with a subtle seriousness for the first time.

Did she want to be controlled by others? Absolutely not. Her arrogance was no less than that of Ryu. In fact, only herself and Eska knew how many times she had already tried and failed to kill herself in just the last day.

A lot of her odd mood swings were rooted in exactly this. She felt like she was losing her mind, and even the recesses of her thoughts, which should have been reserved for herself and herself alone, were no longer sacred.

She resented Eska. She resented Ryu. She resented herself for being so weak…

It could be said that the only reason she was trying to protect Ryu's life now was because Eska had made a silent deal with her… If she could just reach that goal, then maybe she would have a chance at claiming her own body once again… Then she could have the revenge that she wanted.

Somewhere deep inside, she knew that this was a pipe dream. Ryu was only at the 2nd Immortal Ring Realm and yet he could crush her by hardly lifting a finger. Revenge? How would she ever get that?

But she was still stubborn to her core. She would rather die than admit that she couldn't do it. And since she could apparently no longer even do that, then there was only one chance left.

'Don't you dare die until it's at my hands, you punchable bastard.'

Eska, who could read Isemeine's thoughts as easily as skimming a book, said nothing as the young lady chased after Ryu.

…

Ryu stepped out from the home, his expression giving nothing away. He could still sense several auras converging, but all of them were forced to rush along the ground. It was clear that only someone with ice qi affinity as high as himself, or someone with World Sea Realm strength could fly here. And, with the strength of those at the World Sea Realm, how could they possibly be relegated to the task of an enforcement officer?

Though Ryu recognized none of these buildings, the structure of the Shrine Plane was exactly as he remembered…

One would think that the Shrine Plane would be the ultimate hub of cultivation, that abodes would always be one with nature, however this couldn't have been further from the truth.

There was just a single mountain on the Shrine Plane: Shrine Mountain itself. It towered at the very center of the Plane and could be seen from anywhere, even millions of miles away.

The rest of the Plane was completely flat, split into pockets that seemed like completely different worlds at times, but were nonetheless on flat ground.

These pockets of seemingly vastly different worlds were all built around the infamous Shrines that could hide themselves even in broad daylight.

One would think that Shrine would be hidden deep underground or within extremely dangerous places, and that was somewhat true, but the real reason they were so difficult to find wasn't because of this at all. With how long the Tatsuya Clan had ruled over the Shrine Plane, how could it possibly not have managed to scour every inch?

The key to their failure were these pocket realities.

The Shrine Plane seemed like a simple, single slab of land that extended to infinity, only interrupted by a single mountain peak and a few large bodies of both salted and fresh water. However, if one tried to travel, you would quickly find yourself lost in a maze of space.

If one started from the northern edge of the Shrine Plane and headed perfectly south, logic would say that you would reach the southern eventually. However, any Ruin Master worth their salt would tell you that you could just as easily end up right back at the northern edge even if you never turned left or right.

The Plane was an intertwining mesh of layer pockets of space. Crossing from one space to another wasn't difficult as there were no true barriers. Even a toddler wouldn't be obstructed. The issue came in the fact that two pockets that were side by side weren't guaranteed to be connected.

What did all of this mean?

It meant that the Shrine Plane couldn't be mapped out by normal means. Even if you made the assumption that all the pockets were connected in one way or another—something that wasn't guaranteed by any stretch of the imagination—it would be difficult to pinpoint your own location after crossing from one to another due to a myriad of factors.

The first choice one might make is to use star charts. As long as you circled the section of stars you were beneath as you traveled, it might be possible to pinpoint your location and mark how two pockets were connected.

The second choice would be to use sister treasures that could sense each other's locations. By doing so, you would be able to sense the location of the other after being teleported to a new pocket.

The third choice was to rely on an expert in spatial qi. The number of individuals that the Shrine Plane had that could fit this description were too numerous to count. They should be more than capable of feeling their movement through space and marking their location

There were any number of thoughts and ideas one could come up with. There were even earth qi specialists who tried to map things out through the ground rather than on the surface.

However, almost all of these things were useless before the maze of the Shrine Plane. And, even those that might work, had severe weaknesses and drawbacks of their own.

None of this even considered the worst part of it all: The fact that Shrines could hide in plain sight. It truly took an enormous amount of skill and luck to find a single one and most had been passed down for countless generations.

Regardless, these odd phenomena of the Shrine Plane was exactly the reason for the constructions seen here. Rather than building into nature, most of the Shrine Plane was built by the hands of humans so that they could draw very clear dividing lines between these small pocket worlds.

The result was vast, expansive cities, most of which only dared to be travelled between via the use of delicately structured and meticulously maintained teleportation formations.

So… What Ryu saw when he stepped out of Isemeine's home was an endless expanse of residential homes, each that connected and intertwined with one another to form a grandiose Palace in the shape of a city.

As a result… One could imagine the amount of commotion Ryu had caused. Despite not having made a sound since he came, the sudden eruption of auras toward this direction wouldn't be missed by anyone capable of calling this place home.

Isemeine rushed out not long after, her expression solemn. She could sense it quite clearly. One Dao Pedestal Realm existence and three within the Path Extinction Realm. Ryu really only knew how to cause trouble.

It didn't take very long at all for many to begin sweeping their Spiritual Sense over, trying to understand what was happening. They couldn't remember a time where anyone had dared to cause trouble here. Well... expect for...

Not long after that, the squadron of enforcers had made their way into view.

However, when they saw that the target was Isemeine's home, their expressions became unsightly to an extreme.