GRAND ANCESTRAL BLOODLINES

  

 Chapter 1: Shrine Mountain

On a cliff that stood above the world, a young man with skin as pale and pure as ice looked out and into the horizon.

The beautiful yellows, reds and oranges of the morning sky shone without hindrance, dancing over the pristine white clouds below his feet.

This place was known as Shrine Mountain, the highest peak of not just this Plane, but all of existence. It stood so tall that the sun called it friend and even the clouds could only hug its feet.

Throughout the lower planes, millions of geniuses were born everyday, each with the dream of standing at the pinnacle of the world… Each with the dream of sitting in this young man's very place.

However, this young man remained indifferent. His silver, sometimes pale blue, eyes seemed to pierce through all things. To call his brows sword-like was to sell them short, to describe his demeanor as being that of an Emperor was to insult him, to define him as handsome was to call him ugly.

The cool morning wind blew his long white hair gently, yet not a speck of dust could be found within it. Or, maybe nothing dared to blemish him in any way.

'One thousand years.' The young man thought to himself, devoid of emotion.

Today was his thousandth birthday, a happy occasion for lack of a better descriptor. Kings, Emperors, Queens and Empresses would all converge today, all to pay respects to him.

It wasn't very much of a surprise considering who his parents and grandparents were. However, such a truth wasn't enough to require such fanfare. Simply put, the importance of this young man himself warranted respect regardless of his lineage.

"Elena." The young man spoke this name abruptly. His voice was soothing and calm but held a hint of biting cold that made them contradictorily sharp. Yet, it was very clear by how his eyes softened that he cared for the woman holding this name.

"You always know…" A sound that seemed bestowed to the world by a Fairy Goddess filled the young man with a sense of comfort.

The beauty floated to his side, descending onto his lap. Her violet dress wafted a heavenly fragrance toward him with its every flutter, matching his black robes to perfection.

Holding onto her slim waist, the young man's nonchalant attitude toward the view rescinded as a light smile played his perfect features.

His hand reached upward, caressing the beautiful strands of diamond pink hair that cascaded from Elena's head.

She couldn't help but rest her ear to his chest in response, breathing in his scent.

"Ryu, what kind of gift would you like?"

A slight chuckle escaped from the lips of the young man. It was a laugh filled with warmth, but one he rarely showed anyone. Other than his parents and grandparents, Elena was the only other to have heard this laugh.

"This isn't proper etiquette, no?"

Elena pouted adorably, a sight that would have shocked the billions of subjects she ruled over. The heiress of the Holy Wing Clan, behaving like nothing more than a little girl.

"I have everything in the world, do I not?" Ryu sighed. "The Shrine Plane dances at the palm of my hand, my woman is an unrivalled beauty and genius, my parents love and dote upon me… What else could I ask for?"

Despite his words, the undertone of sadness would never be missed by Elena. She knew her fiancé too well, well enough to know that these words were nothing more than self-mockery.

In the martial world, there were three mortal planes and three immortal planes. Those below constantly fought to reach a higher level of existence, to have their names written into the fabric of history for trillions of years to come and for their bloodline to flourish into eternity.

Yet, Ryu had no such aspirations. It wasn't that he was lazy or without drive. In fact, if a fool spouted such nonsense about Ryu Tatsuya, even commoners would swarm you with whatever weapons they could find, all to protect his name.

The truth was that Ryu didn't have such aspirations because he already had it. The Shrine Plane wasn't just among the three immortal planes, it was the highest immortal plane. The Tatsuya Clan wasn't just powerful, it was the most powerful.

Ryu's life was comically easy. Still, he fought for it to have meaning.

He delved into the world of archeology, prying out secrets long since lost from ruins many clans had given up on. He studied botany with a passion few could match, even breathing life into long extinct species. He even mastered arts of feng shui, applying them to create some of the most beautiful works of art and architecture to ever appear in the martial world.

This was Ryu's life. He found meaning where there was none. When others would have resigned themselves to an existence of meaningless comfort, he sought for something more.

At this point, one might think Ryu ungrateful. To be saddened when everything in the world was given to you on not a silver, but gold plater.

However, there was a reason that despite having been betrothed to Elena for more than 600 years, they had never married.

Ryu, a man who had everything in the world, a man who could command the waves with one hand and the sunset with the other, couldn't cultivate.

His fiancée would live for billions, even trillions of years given her talent. But he, even with so many priceless treasures sustaining his life, would be lucky to live a thousand more.

           Chapter 2: Nuri

How could Elena be unaware of how Ryu was feeling? Although they hadn't completed the traditional ceremonies and melded their souls together as husband and wife, Elena still felt like she could read her fiancé's mind just by looking into his eyes.

In her mind, she would rather a few hundred years of bliss with her love than a few billion years of emptiness.

Elena was a very pragmatic woman. While Ryu only reached his thousandth birthday today, it wouldn't be very long until her millionth year of existence. Unlike Ryu, she was very much aware of how rare it was for her heart to be swayed.

'So what if you can only be by my side for a fraction of my life? These are moments I'll never forget…' Elena thought to herself.

Matching her thoughts, Elena didn't dwell on sadness. Today was meant to be a day of celebration!

"How about I allow you to take a concubine? Aren't I magnanimous?" Elena said with a naughty grin.

Ryu nearly choked on his breath, shattering his elegant demeanor. He had known Elena since he was born, yet he still couldn't combine her public persona with her private one.

To the world, Elena was a holy princess, lofty and beyond mortal impurities. But, to Ryu, she was a lewd prankster and bonafide pervert. Ryu often found himself having to protect his chastity from her, it was almost depressing.

Ryu could still remember the day Elena decided that she fancied him. She infiltrated his room at night and stripped down naked. Without any cultivation to speak of, how could Ryu have stopped her?

Then, standing proudly without a hint of shyness on her face she said: "You're the first man to see my everything, now you have no choice but to take responsibility. Come, put a child in me!"

Cold sweat matted Ryu's back when he recalled the memory. He still had no idea how he managed to weasel out of that situation. Still, in the end he took her as his fiancée. It had already been six hundred years since then.

"There are many beauties comparable to me in the Shrine Planes. In fact, there are many with outstanding potential that we could pluck from the lower realms as well." Elena continued to rattle on as though Ryu's opinion didn't matter.

"My Holy Shrine alone has three subordinate clans and sects within the Blossom Plane who each have eight or so more extensions within the Pedestal Plane. If I recall correctly, there are nine Holy Winged Saintesses born to them within the last hundred thousand or so years, they have great potential!"

Ryu frowned. "Nine? That many?"

"Now that you mention it, nine is quite a lot. Usually, even one in ten times that span would be pretty good…" After acknowledging Ryu's point, Elena continued to ramble on about what must have been hundreds of viable candidates.

While Elena spoke, Ryu looked up at the receding night sky, the faint flicker of stars just barely visible.

His eyes flashed with a fierce light. Their silver hue waned, giving way to what could have been confused with the very depths of space itself.

The stars became reflected within Ryu's eyes as he held his fiancée's delicate frame to his body.

Fate. It was something even the greatest masters of karma struggled to understand. However, in the martial world, those who could read the alignment of the stars were all highly respected.

It was this fate that gave Ryu almost unrivaled intelligence and constitution, yet also an inability to cultivate. Ryu found that the heavens had quite the sense of humor due to this. That said, it didn't mean he took the alignment of the stars any less seriously than anyone else.

The moment he heard Elena's words, something fierce stirred within him. A normal individual might not understand what it meant to be a Holy Winged Saintess, but he did.

Within the martial world, the pinnacle of cultivation was found on the Shrine Plane. This namesake was earned due to the various hundreds of Shrines that graced these vast lands, together representing the vicissitudes of life and death.

Elena's Holy Wing Clan presided over the Shrine of Light. To be named a Saintess of any clan required acknowledgement of at least one such shrine. One could imagine just how rare it was for the representation of all Light to choose you as an arbiter of its will. Yet, this happened nine times in a hundred thousand years? It was too ridiculous.

Ryu didn't like looking at the alignment of the stars. In fact, despite being born with the first-ranked heavenly pupils: Mysteries of Heaven and Earth, he had only used its ability to read the lines of karma two times before. Once when they were awakened and once when his meridian awakening ceremony failed.

The moment Ryu sunk into this state, the first star he saw was his own. It was larger than all those in its near vicinity, blazing with mercury-like fires and beautiful silver hues.

Ryu sighed when he saw it. His Fate Star looked dazzling, but he knew what it represented. It would burn brighter and larger than the rest, but also dim and die sooner as well.

Shifting his attention away, Ryu's view expanded, widening his scope.

'This…' Ryu's breath hitched in his throat.

"Ryu? Is something wrong? I just remembered that we don't need to go concubine hunting in the lower planes, I know of one lady here that would die of happiness if you took her into our bedchambers." Elena's sparkling pink eyes flashed with a hint of deviousness. Bringing up this lady was clearly her plot all along. "Don't you remember your Death Guard? Nuri, I believe her name was."

Hearing this name, Ryu was stunned out of his thoughts. In fact, he wasn't the only one. A shadow hidden in the void choked on air as well despite the fact there was no such thing to speak of within the void!

Chapter 3: Father