Grand Ancestral Bloodlines Chapter 2053

[ … words ]

A red-gold lotus took shape on Ryu’s forehead, before it darkened considerably, becoming an ashen grey that carried the vicissitudes of life.

As Sovereign Grade Bone Structures, there weren’t world-shaking legends about the Ashen Flameheart Lotus and the Ninefold Frostbane Bone Structures. Ultimately, such legends were usually left to those with God Grade Bone Structures, individuals who stood and rose above all else.

However, there was a legend of a woman who had once been born with both the Ashen Flameheart Lotus and Ninefold Frostbane Bone Structure.

These two Bone Structures were opposing in a way that went beyond just their Fire and Ice abilities and delved deep into the very foundation of what they were meant to be.

The Ninefold Frostbane Bone Structure was a Talent steeped in restrictions and mystery. The so-called Frostbane was known as a banishment, a lock of sorts, one that was actually not too dissimilar from the Divine Chains of the Martial God.

It represented a restraint on the world that suffocated and opposed.

When one unlocked the first Frostbane, one would gain access to an ability that expelled all heat from a region, allowing ice to thrive and suffocate the world. Just the slightest touch could turn a land into one of ice, and even strong cultivators into

statues.

However, this sort of restraint wasn’t so simple.

Heat could be defined by the movement speed of particles. The reason it felt like heat was expelled from a region was because this was precisely what the Frostbane was forcing. It was restraining the very fundamental laws of the world itself.

As one progressed to the second Frostbane, and the third, and the fourth beyond… one would be delving deeper and deeper into such mysteries, exhibiting a level of Control that was rarely seen in the world until one reached the ninth and final. Upon reaching this stage, it would be where everything truly changed and the world overturned.

At this realm, even techniques and Daos could be frozen, communication with the Heavens could be severed, it was even possible to become the bane of the laws of reality themselves, causing freezes in time and space.

This was why Ryu had deduced long ago that most abilities, when taken to an extreme, could touch upon such laws. This was why he had to maximize his Spacetime affinity through complexity rather than simplicity. It was a rare instance where the former was far better than the latter.

But then there was the Ashen Flameheart Lotus…

The words made it sound as though it was an existence designed for destruction. However, the reality was the exact opposite.

The word Ashen in this case represented two main aspects. The first was despair and hopelessness, while the second meant dust.

This term embodied the end of the road and the helplessness one would feel when facing it.

By this point, it seemed that it was only natural that this Bone Structure be about unfettered disaster and destruction.

However, then one proceeded to Flameheart. This was a very unique word as it wasn’t usually used in normal language. Instead, it was a term often used in abstruse religious settings or monk temples.

It could be translated as one’s will, one’s inner emotions, even one’s Dao Heart in some respects.

At this point, it sounded like this Bone Structure existed for the sake of targeting an enemy’s Dao Heart and burning it to ash. However, that still wasn’t the full picture. The Lotus…

Purity, immortality…

These were things that the lotus usually represented, but there was another.

Enlightenment.

But even so, this wasn’t quite right. The Lotus referred to here wasn’t the entire plant, but rather a very specific moment in its life cycle…

Its blooming.

When these words were all put together, the Bone Structure here referred to not destruction, but rather the exact opposite. It embraced a rising from the ashes and a shedding of weakness from the heart… or in some cases, a willingness to face off against the world and bring your own brightness to it.

This Bone Structure was a lot like the Rage Flame in that it could be fueled by the emotions of its user. Namely, it could combine with one’s Sky God Control to increase one’s power and influence over the flames of the world, using your own

enlightenment to bring life.

When these two Bone Structures came together, they were very push and pull, very yin and yang. One suppressed the world while the other embraced it. One filled it with

a chilling death while the other pumped it full of a warm life.

When these two appeared together in the same body, it was akin to the end of the world. In many cases, a child would die long before they could be conceived in this

way.

Dual Bone Structures were extremely rare to begin with, easily as rare as Dual Meridians were, and only shy of as rare as Dual Spiritual Foundations were.

To not only be born with Dual Bone Structures but to also have the body composition capable of letting them thrive was a rarity amongst rarities.

But that was precisely what made it so powerful.

Violet hues danced around Ryu as the world fell into an eerie balance beneath his presence. There were spikes of cold and then abrupt shots of heat that could burn even mountains to ash.

They changed randomly and almost carelessly, entirely to the whims of a man who lorded over the world…

And then they would suddenly fuse into one, forming a gentle, warm energy that was neither too hot nor too cold…

And it was precisely this energy that destroyed everything in its path, grinding it to

ash.

Ryu could sense that this was going in precisely the direction he anticipated that it would. As such, he would only continue forward.

“Azure Cloud Vein… Come. Jadebound Clearheart… Come.”

Ryu only spoke lightly, but every intention caused the world to shake and quake.