Grand Ancestral Bloodlines Chapter 2204

[ … words ]

“You are quite fast,” Solara said lightly, her back still to him.

“You are faster.”

“I don’t think you mean that.”

“I don’t,” Ryu said, a grin spreading across his face.

Solara had almost certainly studied the Title Stele ahead of time. There was a vast gap between someone who had comprehended things on the fly and someone who had prepared a comprehension long ago.

Of course, the jury was still out on which of them was actually faster. The reality of the matter was that unless they started at the same time, it would be impossible to tell.

But the fact that Solara was able to prepare in advance also told of the gap between them, a chasm that existed between their foundation, their knowledge, their upgrading, maybe even their talent.

There were certain things that simply weren’t so easy to bridge no matter how talented you were.

Solara had grown up in a Martial God Clan that was prepping to raid against the Heavenly Court. Just how many resources had she received? How much knowledge had she benefited from?

To her, it was only natural that she grow so strong. If she couldn’t do this much, then she would simply be too pathetic.

Standing there, the winds blowing against her dress, hugging her curves, she looked quite at peace. She had calmed from her initial excitement, realizing these matters.

“I would advise that if you can… you should leave. I would prefer not to kill you now, it wouldn’t be fair. Not only are you not at the Lord Realm yet, but you also don’t have a foundation that matches mine. Go, train, bridge the gap that exists between our backgrounds, and then maybe one day we can fight again.

“In fact, if you so choose, you can join my Martial God Clan. You already have a wife and your child will be of our blood. We are willing to accept talents of all ilks—that has always been our creed. When our starting positions are the same, the day we reach Dao Godhood, we can fight again.”

“Usually when women propose this sort of matter to me, they offer their bodies at the very least. Where is the sincerity?” Ryu asked.

Solara’s head tilted back, looking at Ryu. There was an amusement hidden deep within her eyes.

“Handsome enough. Unfortunately for you, my body is promised to the Heavens.”

The sentence was light and airy, and almost plain in its simplicity. And yet, the clouds of rainbow beneath her feet rotated wildly.

Ryu laughed to the skies.

Handsome enough? Right this moment, he looked like a walking zombie. The pieces of his skin that weren’t a rotting mess were reddened beyond belief as though it were the flesh beneath.

His head had sparse strands of hair; he was completely naked, and what was left of his lower half was also its own charred mess.

All things considered, if one were to say he was the ugliest man in the world right now, he would have no way to refute them. He truly did look the part.

“Tell me, woman. Which of your ancestors chained my Fate Star so I know who I have to kill?”

“…”

Solara looked back at him, her neck still craned. Her small, slender hands were clasped behind her back as though she were a young maiden waiting for her boyfriend, her fingers just barely intertwining. She didn’t look like she was prepared for combat at all.

“… My grandfather,” she eventually said.

“And is that the same man Primus faced against? Or was that a different man?”

“A different man. My grandfather wouldn’t bother to act on such a thing twice.”

“Mm. Is that so? I guess that’s less disappointing. If your grandfather was defeated so easily by a Sovereign, I would have to question if you are as powerful as you say you are. But considering you come from a family of cowards, I guess I should be doing that anyway.”

Solara didn’t react with anger to these words, her expression remaining just the same. But Ryu could tell that she didn’t like them one bit.

When such a genius was enraged, it wouldn’t be their expression that showed it; the world itself would react. Somehow, even these bright clouds of violet, blue, and pink dimmed.

She stood there just the same way, her thoughts calm… and then she looked ahead.

“Do you recognize that name?”

“Should I care?”

Ryu hadn’t bothered to look at the obelisk a single time. While they could finally see the names here, he didn’t care in the slightest to do so. What did they have to do with him anyway? He would just overwrite them very soon.

But since Solara did mention it, he looked over.

It was a name engraved with the sharpest and boldest of lines. When Ryu was ignoring it, he had felt nothing at all. But the moment he looked at it, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body convulsing.

His soul waned and almost winked out.

In that moment, his body seemed to remind him what kind of state it was in. He was much too weak right now to be so arrogant.

But hadn’t he always been too weak to be so arrogant?

He heaved for breath, but he refused to look away. If he looked away now, then wouldn’t that mean that he had lost?

Unacceptable. He would rather die right here and right now than lose to a mere name on stone.

“It’s an interesting name, don’t you think? When I saw it, my reaction was much the same. He is quite overbearing, so much so that the only way to not be crushed like you’re being right now is to look away.

“I didn’t want to look away either. It was my grandfather that shuttled me away. I do not think I’ve ever been more enraged in my life. Now, when I stand here, it doesn’t react to me at all even when I look straight at it.

“Now you tell me. After such an experience, do you think that your words can make me feel the same rage?”

Ryu had completely tuned her out, his gaze on the name.

Except… it wasn’t a name at all.

‘You Don’t Qualify to Name Me.’