Grand Ancestral Bloodlines - Chapter 2257 - 2257: Odd
Hope did her best to hold back her screams of agony, but at some point, fading in and out of a dark unconsciousness, she had lost the ability to stop.
She wasn’t even sure if she was speaking coherent words, but there were certainly screams. Hoarse and visceral, they came from the depths of her soul.
She shook her head and tears fell from her eyes, but she held on nonetheless. She didn’t want her child to die, and she knew that if she couldn’t push through, that was exactly what would happen.
A birth shouldn’t have been so difficult for a Dao God. The problem she was facing wasn’t the normal pain a mortal woman might go through, but instead the heavy weight of the Fate that came with it.
It was her Seven Corporeal Souls and Three Incorporeal Spirits that couldn’t withstand the birth of this child, as that of her and Ryu’s son had to pass through her to make it to the world.
Her Path of Reincarnation had been severed, but now she was trying to give birth to a child with one that was fully intact.
No matter how you looked at the problem, the Heavens were entirely opposed to such a success… because just the act itself would forcefully pull Hope back onto a new Path of Reincarnation.
Because of this, she wasn’t just experiencing pain in a normal sense right now. Her soul itself was being torn to shreds and reconstructed.
Ryu’s wives, including a very pregnant Ailsa, were rushing around following the latter’s orders to the greatest accuracy possible.
One would think that with a literal river of Embryonic Qi at their disposal, this would be easy, given the strongest Cultus Faerie in Existence being by their side, but only when they were in the thick of things did they realize that the birth of this child was something no less daunting and shocking than any one of Ryu’s other feats…
It should be impossible for Hope to give birth at all.
And yet, every few moments, something seemed to revive her, causing her to fight harder.
**
Ryu moved through the battlefield like a spectator. The aura of a Childe of Order hung around him, and it was as though he and the Heavenly Knights were choreographing a dance of death, one where only they died and Ryu survived.
Zercius didn’t know how to react to this. The Childe of Order constitution was something that basically never appeared at all. But to use it to such a shocking level that it could read and predict the attacks of Heavenly Knights themselves…
This was well and truly on another level entirely.
Logically, it made sense. The Childe of Order could sense Order, and their body moved naturally to follow it. Translating that to using it to deal with Heavenly Knights that were formed from Heaven’s might itself only seemed natural.
But that required a Childe of Order state that was absolutely perfect, one that mirrored the Heavens, the world you were mimicking without the slightest hint of a flaw.
Even a Dao God shouldn’t be capable of that… how could a Sovereign be?
Zercius could feel it. Ryu could kill him whenever he wanted. But he wasn’t.
He was toying with him. And it wasn’t just for revenge either.
Every moment, he could sense a subtle pulse of something coming from Ryu’s soul. He was communicating with something.
At first, he didn’t understand… and then it all settled in.
Ryu was putting on a show. Not for him, nor the Martial Gods, but for his wife. He was showing her that he was sweeping aside his enemies with ease, that he would hold up the skies for her.
All she had to do was focus on what she could control. He wouldn’t allow anyone to interfere, and he wouldn’t shed a single drop of his own blood doing it.
Rage settled into Zercius’ heart again. Ryu’s control was at a point that if he didn’t want him to sense this, he could have easily hidden it.
But he hadn’t.
It was once again another taunt.
Who cared if he was angry? What could he do about it?
At that moment, though, there was finally a slight change to Ryu’s expression. It wasn’t surprise, or fear, but instead a slight narrowing of his eyes.
Something in Fate had just shifted a considerable amount, and his Fate Star had also slowed unexpectedly, its rotation taking a hit.
What happened?
Ryu looked back, and the Shrines seemed to be just fine. But there was a sigh that echoed through his ears, one filled with reluctance and sadness.
For some reason, he couldn’t recognize the voice as male or female. It was a vague pulse of something that itched at the back of his soul, reaching deep inside of him.
The last time he had heard this voice…
The Phoenix Sky God.
Ryu’s pupils trembled and his head snapped back.
‘Another army?’
He hadn’t sensed this at all, but it wasn’t like he wasn’t expecting it. But this army… it wasn’t the one he was waiting for.
‘This is…’
Ryu understood quickly. The reason he hadn’t been able to sense these people was because they, too, had been severed from the Path of Reincarnation. They were the victims of the Phoenix Sky God…
Hope’s Clan, her Race, and his master.
Ryu’s pupils concentrated into pinholes, looking into the far-off distance until his eyes landed on the woman that had helped him a great deal.
He had only acknowledged two masters in this lifetime, both of whom had had a profound impact on him. His first master he had a much closer relationship with, but he had always been grateful to Fading Star for helping him find Ailsa.
But why were they here? And why…?
This army should have been coming to deal with him? Or was it the Phoenix Sky God? Was the Phoenix Sky God here?
But that wasn’t the main issue here at all. Why did they look like… slaves?
Ryu’s head slowly tilted up until he saw the man he probably hated even more than Zercius.
Primus.
