Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu grabbed his head and felt spikes of pain run through him. He had never experienced such a thing before, but before even understanding what was going on, he could faintly feel what it was.

It wasn't that someone had attacked him, but rather that this was some sort of protection… a protection on Karma itself.

Ryu had never seen such an advanced form of Karma manipulation in his entire life. It activated purely because he had stumbled onto their plan.

Even after several seconds of thought, Ryu couldn't fathom how this could be possible.

No, it had to be region locked. There was no way that they could cover the whole of Existence; Ryu didn't believe it.

It should be that there was a Karmic Lock on the region. This lock allowed them to keep a perfect seal on information. Not only could this information not be passed along, but it also couldn't be comprehended and deduced.

This was the most shocking display of power that Ryu had ever seen. If such a person had wanted to take him as a disciple, at least before he met Fading Star, Ryu would have likely accepted.

But by the same token, that meant that whoever had done this was also, likewise, far beyond Ryu.

The pain continued to grow greater because Ryu couldn't stop his brain from thinking. Even through the pain, he continued to deduce and flesh out the plot. In fact, because Karma was attacking him now, he could deduce the plot with more clarity because all it required for him to do was reverse-engineer the Karmic Strings that were attacking him.

If things continued like this, Ryu would certainly die. The only reason that he hadn't already was because he was probably the worst person that this curse could have possibly attacked.

Ryu was more in tune with Karma than most would be. Just by virtue of this, his strength in dealing with such things was on another level. But it was clear that whoever had set up this barrier was also a monster in their own right.

It was obvious to Ryu that whoever had done this, at the very least, had an affinity for such things comparable to his own. And even if they didn't, they had the experience and strength to make up for it.

It was inevitable that Ryu would eventually run into such a person. He might very well not be the only person in Existence with the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils right this moment. Who knew if this person had his same pair of eyes?

Ryu knew that he had to cut off this connection as quickly as possible, but when else was he going to get such an easy chance?

The person on the other end would certainly sense him no matter what. So if he didn't take advantage of the situation now, when was he going to?

Ryu grit his teeth hard, holding on for as long as possible.

It was only when he felt that he truly might not be able to hold on any longer that he took action.

His Perfect Blackbody Soul thrummed and was suddenly cut in half.

The pain was sharp and sudden, but then it vanished.

Ryu collapsed to the ground like a dead fish.

In the end, he had held out for too long and lost the opportunity to cut the Karma away by normal means. He had had no choice but to cut his soul's strength in half by doing this.

However… as he slowly regained his mind and gained the capability to think about other things once more, he also realized that maybe this wasn't the worst thing either.

Ryu took heaving breaths, ignoring the words of Isemeine for a while as he tried to refocus himself.

'Taking this approach isn't bad; it makes the person assume that I'm worse at manipulating Karma than I am, that could leave a way out for me in the future.

'At the same time, they might believe that I have completely crippled myself as well. After all, the Perfect Blackbody Soul and those like it are incredibly rare. The odds of coming across someone that could both deduce all of this and have such a thing is too much…

'Still, I'll need to be fast. This situation is getting tricky.'

Ryu didn't expect things to escalate so fast, but this also made this clearer to him.

Ailsa hadn't explained any of this to him maybe not because she was throwing a tantrum, but maybe because she quite literally couldn't. As for why, that much was obvious at this point.

"—Hey! Stop ignoring me!"

Ryu looked up with a face full of sweat to see an Isemeine that was half infuriated, half shaken. It seemed that she couldn't tell if Ryu was ignoring her or if he was truly crippled now.

Standing up weakly, Ryu gave her a smile.

"When'd you start worrying about me so much?"

"Worried about you?" Isemeine raised an eyebrow. "That Eska lady who calls herself an Ancestor is practically head over heels for you. You're her first love, you know. Trillions of years and she's never had eyes for anyone else, it's pathetic.

"If you actually died after she finally found love, I could forget about advancing even a single Realm more in cultivation for the rest of my life. You CANNOT die."

Ryu chuckled when he heard her words.

Isemeine wasn't just saying these things to save face. She meant them by at least half. Even if he didn't have his sharp insight, he would still be able to tell.

But that much was fine.

"How is your progress? Does it feel better in here?"

Isemeine's gaze flickered. In Ryu's Inner World, the suppression of their Taboo Inheritance was nill, so they were several times more powerful. But it was tricky to balance in the outside world. After all, it was Ryu's Inner World, not their own.

But… they seemed to have figured out a method.

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