Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Sarriel had every reason to think Ryu to be a madman. She had explained clearly how dangerous the Chaos Plane was, how could he just jump in without regard. Did he really think himself to be better than her Ancestors?!

Ryu, though, didn't seem to hear Sarriel's shout. His robes fluttered, his gaze sharpening as he seemed to fall through reality itself. For a moment, he found it difficult to tell which way was up and which way was down, even left and right became impossible to decipher.

For Ryu of all people to undergo a moment of disorientation to that level, it could only be said that the travel across planes was not a simple one by any measure of the imagination.

By the time Ryu's vision cleared, he found himself in a world completely inverted to his views. It was as though he had <Rob the World of its Color>, but he was certain that he hadn't. If he had on such a scale, he would have most definitely felt the drain.

To eliminate the qi in an area was like bending the will of the Heavens. To do so on such a large scale would require having strength comparable to the vastness of the Heavens, a level that Ryu was nowhere near as of yet.

Since this was the case, there was only one real explanation: this world was entirely like this naturally. It had nothing to do with anything Ryu had done, the Chaos Plane was just colorless.

At that moment, Sarriel fell to Ryu's side, her expression warped and a violent cough leaving her body for a moment until she flipped her palm and slapped her own chest, causing a skin tight flexible armor separated into hexagonal plates to cover her body.

Then, she reached out and grabbed Ryu's forearm firmly as though fully prepared to pull him out.

"This son of a bitch. Until I kill you personally, I'm not letting anything else kill you yet."

Sarriel was furious. Her undefeatable spirit was a core part of who she was. It was fine if she lost, but it couldn't be allowed to remain that way. Ryu dying here would annoy her to no end and stall her cultivation path. She refused to allow something like this to happen because he was too stupid to understand the danger he was in.

But, before she could succeed in ripping Ryu away from this world, she suddenly found herself frozen in place, looking at Ryu as though he wasn't a real person anymore.

"… You can let go now." Ryu raised an eyebrow, looking at her hand on his wrist.

Sarriel slowly let go, still observing Ryu from head to toe as though to try and find an explanation. At the same time, Ryu observed her as well. This was his first time seeing Sarriel's figure not hidden behind several elaborate robe layers and he had to admit it was more than just a little excellent.

Her chest was easily a size larger than he had originally thought, her hips were wide, though not as wide as a certain Sky God Wynhorn, but she made up for it in spades with how long her legs were. There wasn't a single part of her body that wasn't clung onto by this armor. Even if for just a moment, Ryu felt the need to take a step back and appreciate it.

"Keep looking at me like that and I'll dig your eyes out."

"You could find a better way to admit my Heavenly Pupils are better than yours."

"How is that what you got out of what I said? Can you be less insufferable?"

"I'm not the one who designed your armor, I'm just appreciating the result. Blame the smith that made it for you. Or, in the case you made it yourself, wouldn't you want me to look?"

"For someone who claims to be so intelligent, you know nothing. The armor needs to be designed like this because any air gaps between my skin and it becomes a potential failure point."

"Then why is your face exposed?"

"It's not." The moment Sarriel finished, the flexible armor ran up her neck and over her nose and forehead, even covering her long ears by the end of it all. The only thing that remained exposed were her twinkling violet irises, but it wouldn't' be a surprise if Heavenly Pupils had immunity to such regions.

Ryu nodded, still staring at Sarriel's figure up and down as though he hadn't heard her previous demands. He hadn't cared to hide his gaze even from a Sky God, why would hide it from a woman he had already defeated once before?

BANG!

Ryu's head tilted back, the toes of Sarriel's feet just barely missing his nose as the air pressure caused the air to explode.

His pupils flickered, his gaze sliding down the length of her long leg to the voluptuous muscle that connected it to the rest of her body.

Seeing Ryu's subtle action, Sarriel grit her teeth. Her combat prowess wasn't what she would like it to be in this region and it seemed that, for better or worse, that Ryu was actually just fine. That meant that he was at least as powerful, or…

Ryu chuckled and finally stopped teasing Sarriel, mostly because there were much better things to do in this new environment. This world was fascinating. Though it seemed to have been robbed of its qi at first glance, this qi had actually been replaced by something completely different. Ryu was fascinated by just the thought of what kind of Spiritual Herbs could grow in this place.

With a step, he flickered and vanished, landing on a planet that had been right beneath his feet. The gravity threatened to force him to his knees, but with a crack of his bones, he seemed to adjust quickly. He could even feel the compressive effects subtly strengthening him.

However, Ryu was entirely focused on a tree he had placed his hands on the bark of.