Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

2018  One by One

Falling Snow's body flickered and vanished. At such a point, it was about which of them was the sharper and faster existence. And from what it seemed, Falling Snow's explosive speed was much greater, so he made it to Ryu first. Young Master Moon, realizing what would happen, frowned and came to a stop. He refused to fight Ryu together with someone else; his pride wouldn't allow it. His jaw set, and he watched on coldly. The moment Falling Snow showed signs of losing, he would kill him first, then deal with Ryu. At that moment, there was a clash of fluttering blossoms and snow. The battlefield was divided into two halves, one formed by Ryu's Heavenly Dao Tree and another by Falling Snow's blizzard-like aura. Ryu's peaceful expression didn't change as he continued to fire his arrows. The snow formed blades around Falling Snow, shattering the arrows one after another in a violent tempest of momentum. He continued to close the distance before his hands flashed, a pair of thin sabers formed of rosy gold and an edge of icy blue appeared in his hands. His aura skyrocketed when they appeared, and his rate of parrying Ryu's bow only accelerated. The skies overturned, and a swirl of blue, black, and gold swirled around them. They took the shape of slashes, fluttering petals, and sharpened snow, creating a whirlwind that seemed to want to destroy the world itself. Ryu's hands became faster, leaving blurring afterimages in the air as he suddenly began to move. Every time he did, he would cross what seemed to be impossible distance, his Heavenly Dao Tree flashing along with him. Slowly, [Heavenly Dao Tree] and [Tatsuya Constellation] seemed to become one, the unpredictability of the first stacked together with the Space and Time control of the latter. And soon, they came together under the umbrella of Fate, a power the likes of which the world had rarely seen, throwing Falling Snow for a loop. An arrow suddenly slipped through this defense and struck him on the shoulder. A flickering blue barrier appeared that stopped the arrow from piercing through him, but he was still forced to take a step back, his gaze flickering with astonishment. Ryu had managed to make it through his defenses… well, at least his first layer of defenses. This had never happened to him before, not by someone a cultivation realm beneath him… even people at his cultivation realm shouldn't be capable of such a thing. The astonishment didn't stop the speed of the second arrow from flashing before him, and then a third, and a fourth. Ryu wasn't surprised in the slightest. To him, Falling Snow was nothing more than a whetstone. He practically shut off his thoughts, his movements only becoming faster and swifter. His words continued to echo in Falling Snow's ears as the arrows rapidly approached, tearing through the air as though they would split space apart themselves. And yet, Ryu's Lord Control suppressed them. Lord Control… how could an Omniscient have Lord Control… Falling Snow seemed to still be in a bit of a daze, not reacting at all as the arrows approached. But then he suddenly growled. His tail grew in size along with his body, and his once slender sabers became much longer and thicker, growing to over a meter and a half long and just shy of a meter thick. The edges of the sabers seemed to only grow sharper, and Falling Snow slashed out just a single time. His aura skyrocketed, and in an instant, he seemed dozens of times stronger. In the skies, even Young Master Moon's pupils couldn't help but constrict before he calmed soon after. Falling Snow was clearly an existence who suppressed himself on most occasions. It wasn't just a matter of trying to be mysterious, but rather a form of training. Control was only more important the higher your cultivation realm, and having the ability to control it to this extent said a great deal about a person. But now… he was ready to unleash a bit. He took a step forward, and his aura alone shattered Ryu's arrows. Seeing this, Ryu slowly lowered his grandfather's bow. Honestly speaking, he had only taken it out on a whim. Of the techniques his Dao Heart had created and his Perfect Blackbody Soul had refined to a form he could actually use, none of them were Bow God techniques. With a calm expression, he put his bow away, and the Heavenly Dao Tree rustled above him. In that moment, a silver star began to shimmer into existence, nestling itself above the Heavenly Dao Tree. Ryu's aura underwent a qualitative change as well; it was just that it was far more reserved and calm. He reached out a hand, and a single great swordstaff appeared. It was a gorgeous weapon. Its blade was gold, and its polearm carried the same color with embroidery of shining white layered atop. However, the edge of its blade was a heart-shuddering crimson, one that seemed to come from the depths of the Nether Plane itself. Ryu placed two hands on the long polearm and took a step forward. He and Falling Snow vanished at the same time. BANG! Twin sabers and great swordstaff met. The former crisscrossed as the polearm of the latter bent into a wide arc, pressing down with greater and greater might. Falling Snow's expression flickered when he realized that Ryu's body was extremely powerful, no worse than his by any stretch. The two separated and unleashed into a flurry of strikes. The skies split, and meteors falling all around were shattered by their auras alone. Ryu's great swordstaff spun in his hands, an illusory arc taking shape. Falling Snow moved to block it, only for the silent Heavenly Dao Tree to suddenly act. Forced to change his tactics halfway, he separated his sabers, blocking from both directions at once. But the force was too great. He was sent three steps back, his wrists shaking and rattling. Ryu calmly took a step forward, his intent blazing. If they insisted on working alone, he would simply kill them one by one, then.