Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu didn't feel any sort of pressure. After all the hard work that he had put in to finally reach this point, stepping into Godhood was far easier than he could have imagined. There was no tribulation like he was expecting, there was no sudden change that put his life on the line, it even felt like in one moment he was breathing in, preparing himself, and in the next, it was already done. And when he finally opened his eyes, it was like the world had begun to flourish with colors.

A gentle smile spread across Ryu's handsome features, his gaze quite calm as he watched the stream of colors around him.

[Ephemeral Tapestry.] It was back.

His Heavenly Pupils were finally back.

Ryu just sat in silence, observing the world with his own eyes for what felt like the first time. These eyes had been by his side for a thousand years in his first life, in his second life, it had followed him the moment he awakened his memories. These last years without it had felt like a part of him was missing.

He had expected a rush of strength, but instead, it was like a gentle, soothing stream. Everything was right in the world.

He looked down at the world around him and his gentleness finally moved from its baseline. What the hell happened to the Shrine Plane?

It wasn't that it was destroyed, but rather that it looked... almost too whole. After all the battles that took place here, battles that surpassed Sacrum's cap of power, the Shrine Plane had taken a real beating. It looked like crumbled porcelain. Ryu believed himself that the only reason it was still being held together was one, because of Shrine Mountain's presence, and two, because of the Shrines themselves.

But now, it truly looked whole. Although it had an odd stream of oddities like lands of lava right next to lands of ice and cold, it was truly whole, and it was beautiful in its own sense of the word.

It was like nature had come together in perfect harmony, while the stretch of land beneath Ryu directly was endlessly beautiful. Lush trees and grasslands, calming lakes, wide blue skies, a temperature that was neither too hot nor too cold. It was truly a paradise.

That was when Ryu realized that this stretch of perfection extended for what was easily tens of thousands of miles, while the lands of lava and cold that were side by side were millions of miles away. It was just that he could see them as though they were right before his face.

Ryu knew that it was in part so easy to do this because he was still in Sacrum, but the feeling was still intoxicating, as though the entire world was in the palm of his hands, as though he could finally control his own Fate once again.

Finally, Ryu looked inwardly and his gentle smile brightened.

The Lines of Fate within him, even though he had yet to strengthen his Dao, might as well have been written in plain English and laid out right before him. He almost laughed.

How could Lines of Fate fade away from him now that he had his eyes back? In fact...

["Lines of Fate..."]

Ryu whispered.

In that moment, the faint lines within his body strengthened, and then strengthened again. Then, he pulled them out one by one, laying them out in a tapestry of symbols that looked almost like a rolling scroll.

["Focus."]

Ryu slipped into a deep state of meditation without even trying. In fact, Breath of Quintessence, the highest State of Meditation there was, in a single bound.

Of course, this was also because this place was Sacrum. But even so, the strength of his Heavenly Pupils simply seemed to be on a whole other level, and why wouldn't it be?

He had not only unsealed all 999 seals, he had poured so many Black-Veined Spirit Seeking Lilies into his body. Black-Veined Spirit Seeking Lilies were designed precisely to mutate and evolve, it had even allowed Ryu to gain several trillions of years of cultivation in an instant, when his previous limit was just a few hundred years.

As though that wasn't enough, he then underwent a rebirth, and then he had to recultivate in the True Martial World all the way up to the Sky God Realm before they finally unsealed.

One thing that Ryu had learned in his relatively short life was that the more difficult something was to accomplish, not only was it all the more satisfying, but the rewards at the end of the figurative rainbow were likewise on a whole other level.

He had gone through blindness for years just to finally regain his eyes back, and now all that pain and grit was paying off.

This was what he deserved. This was what he had worked for.

He reached forward, running a hand through the Lines of Fate as though they were tangible.

"Fascinating..." he mumbled beneath his breath.

Reading through the progression path the Heavens expected for his body was truly enlightening.

Before, he could only see up to the Fragmented Realm, his current Realm. But now, he could see all the way up to the Omniscient Realm before things began to get somewhat blurry. In fact, he felt that he could read all the way up to the Dao God Realm if he wanted with just some time and patience.

His eyes were on an entirely different level, and so were these rewards.

Who could claim to know the path to the Dao God Realm with absolute assurance? Even a Dao God couldn't do such a thing for their disciple, and yet here it was.

Of course, this wasn't a guarantee to reach Dao God, it was just a roadmap. Whether Ryu could accomplish what the Heavens set out was one matter, and whether he wanted to follow it was another entirely.

For one, Ryu had already deviated from the path.

Taking his Bone Structure and his Soul, then fusing his Body Realm and Mental Realm cultivation into a new and oddly intertwined path that fed off one another, wasn't in the Heaven's plan for him.

In this regard, he had already stepped off the path of the Heavens, but he didn't want to take a step back either. He quite liked this path of his and he felt it had more potential than what was being shown to him here.

With this new path of his, not only had he succeeded in crafting a vessel that could finally take on his Founding Dao, he was able to make that feeling of oneness with the Heavens permanent.

Ryu took a breath and fluttering Silver Runes formed around him like migrating butterflies. It was a truly beautiful sight and one that left him at even more peace.

That said, that didn't mean that he would ignore the suggestion of the Heavens. There were great insights here, ones that he could use to help and refine his path further.

What was interesting, though, was that there was nothing in these Lines of Fate about his Taboo Paths or even the White Runes of the White Phoenix. But he understood this as well. Whether it was the Taboo Paths or the White Runes, both existed outside the purview of the Heavens, so the Heavens obviously couldn't give him advice on their use.

However, when it came to the true uses of his Spiritual Foundation, methods of maximizing the use of his Realm Heart and his Beyond Perfect Spiritual Foundation, or ways to implement and use his Chaos Qi and its own branching abilities...

This was all knowledge that Ryu would greedily consume.