Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu's pupils constricted.

This was the most layered and complex illusion formation he had ever heard of, let alone been in. For a man who had spent much of his first life adventuring in high level Ruins, this was an absolutely shocking realization for Ryu.

Even when his Pupils hadn't opened even a single seal, let alone the more than 50 he had opened now, he had never been so stumped by a formation. And yet, here he was.

At the last moment, he managed to realize that Yaana's grip slipping from his own was nothing but a trick of the mind. It wanted to use this feeling to make him grasp out at her, but that action alone would have only caused his grip to truly loosen. At that point, it would just be a matter of forcing him to deviate slightly from the path Yaana was running on. By then, they would be completely separated and it would be impossible to tell if he would ever manage to find Yaana again.

Ryu's gaze flickered with fury.

He pulled back on Yaana's hand, gripping her waist tightly.

'[Lines of Fate].'

If there was one thing that couldn't be tricked so easily, it was this fundamental ability of Ryu's pupils. As long as he focused on Karmic Strings, nothing could hide from him. Though it would drain his stamina, it was far better than losing Yaana.

There was no telling what kind of danger waited out there. The longer he spent in this Legacy World, the more he realized just how dangerous it was, or rather, potentially was. He had no intention of allowing Yaana to risk her life. He had just found her after so long and she had no intention of letting her go.

Yaana struggled and fought against Ryu's grasp. It was clear that she thought that she had been caught by some sort of beast. If things continued like this, Yaana might end up using her spatial arts and that would make things become far too complicated, far too quickly.

Ryu couldn't allow Yaana to enter the Incubator. If the experience with Sarriel had taught him anything, it was that this world didn't find it difficult to deal with its barriers. If he allowed Yaana to go in, she would still be affected by the illusion and the result would likely be her using her spatial arts to teleport out. By then, it would be too late for Ryu to regret anything.

Ryu thought of allowing Yaana to enter the crystalline jade. At the very least, this Legacy World didn't seem capable of impacting it. However, Yaana was only part Faerie, there was no telling if she could enter the Ethereal Realm with as much ease as Ailsa did or not.

Without a choice, Ryu could only knock Yaana out, something that was far more difficult than he thought it would be.

For one, Yaana was more powerful than he had assumed. And, secondly, he had a hard time hitting her. He didn't even want a single hair on her head to be harmed, but now he actually had to hit her with so much force.

If he found the bastard who laid this formation, they'd definitely have to pay for making him do such a thing.

Fuming, Ryu cradled Yaana in his arms, trudging forward through the formation.

Ryu could feel the snow pooling at his feet sapping away at his qi. The snow in this region was even more vicious than it had been in the crystal tree forest. The snow in the latter region had lost much of its qi sapping effects, but the snow in this region seemed to have a cumulative effect.

From the very beginning, Ryu had ignored much of this effect. Even now, it hardly affected him. All he wanted to do was make it to the peak of the mountain before him. But, it was clear that the so-called 100 kilometer distance was far more devastating than just this.

With [Lines of Fate] activated, Ryu could see even further than he could in the past. Even with the world invaded by an endless swirl of colors, it only felt clearer to him.

This had become a trial of endurance rather than fighting prowess. And Ryu had a feeling that it would only become more difficult from here on out.

What was fascinating about this snow was that Ryu could tell that if he activated his Immortal Rings in an attempt to use atmospheric qi and save his stamina, his situation would only become even worse. The cap of the Legacy World was the Immortal Ring Realm, so how could the snow not be designed with that in mind?

'There are others.'

Ryu's gaze continued to sweep through the surroundings. As expected, there were indeed others. They were thousands, sometimes even tens of thousands of kilometers away from Ryu, but they were there.

Most of them seemed to walk aimlessly like headless chicken. If they continued like this, there was no doubt that their stamina would be drained away by the snow before they could even make it to the mountain.

There were some among these individuals that seemed to be aware that they were stuck in an illusion and were trying their best to use methods to get away, some even stabbing near fatal wounds into themselves for a chance at survival. Unfortunately, these crude methods didn't work. Some even ended up being coerced by the formation into accidentally taking their own lives, decapitating themselves or piercing their own hearts.

Ryu's heart shuddered, not because of the gruesome scenes, but because he realized that this could very easily have been Yaana. What would have happened had he not found her in time?

Could it be that the members of the Necromancy Guild were already prepared for this? According to Yaana, that group that attacked her should have just been one of many. Wouldn't it be too ridiculous if they had gone all out to kill as many people as possible, only to have no chance at getting the treasure?

Ryu really couldn't see how one was meant to pass this trial even he was having so much difficulty with. Just what was this Ice Devil individual doing?!