Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

The location was the Pedestal Plane.

Yaana stood not far from Ryu whose body still wasn't quite corporeal, flickering in and out as though it couldn't decide whether it was lightning, fire or human. She felt that she had been lucky to get Ryu out of there… Or, maybe it was just that the citizens of Gold Leaf City had been lucky. If she hadn't taken Ryu away, the entire city would have been razed to the ground.

It could be said that for a moment Ryu had stopped caring about the consequences. But, luckily, Yaana had kept a level head and ended things in a way that gave Ryu some plausible deniability, at least for now.

She could feel how enraged Ryu was. Even while he sat in meditation, he didn't place any of his attention on her at all. Even though she had only been back with Ryu for a short time, even when he hadn't shown her any affection at all he would never ignore her like this. It was clear that he was doing his utmost to rein in his emotions again.

Yaana stopped pacing about and sat in front of Ryu, gazing at his face. She reached a hand forward, the heat coming off of him making her uncomfortable.

It was only now that she realized that Ryu was actually still naked, something that made her blush profusely. She had been so worried about him previously that she hadn't even noticed. Had they actually touched like that?

Yaana shook her head. She was no longer a little girl, why was she blushing about something like this? This was her future husband, she would have to see it eventually. After all, who would help him to bathe and dress every morning if not her?

Yaana winced as Ryu's energy coursed out of control. She could tell that if Ryu wasn't doing everything he could to hold it back, she might have been burnt to ash as well, but she refused to let go.

Ryu could feel Yaana's hand on his own and even feel as she flinched in pain. Though Yaana couldn't see it, his gaze was completely red. Even the whites of his eyes had been invaded by something that could only be classified as demonic.

Luckily, he had managed to stop his Storm Talent from spiraling out of control or else lightning strikes as thick as mountains and pillars of flames would have already erupted. Considering how fragile the Pedestal Plane was in comparison to the other, this wouldn't have been a good thing at all.

'This is my talent and my body. Silence!'

A suffocating pressure pressed down with Ryu as its center.

The moment he had awakened his Storm Talent, his Lightning Inheritance had sky rocketed to the Dominion Realm and the resulting Essence had brought him to the 5th Immortal Ring Realm. However, for the first time, Ryu had truly lost control of his strength. The vastness of his Storm Talent was far beyond anything he could have anticipated.

Ryu slowly opened his eyes, the red barely receding. He looked down at Yaana's small hand which was still gripped to his own.

"I'm sorry." He said lightly.

Yaana shook her head vigorously but her voice was too hoarse to speak. She felt like she had lost something too even though she had no idea what Ryu had just gone through.

Ryu sighed.

There were two topics his grandmother had avoided like the plague during her final moments. The first was Elena and the second was Nuri.

From this alone, Ryu could infer that Nuri had most definitely died. If not for this, his grandmother would have mentioned her. She likely didn't want him to suffer even more than he was already.

As for Elena… His grandmother always had a habit of calling Elena a little vixen and insulting her in some benign ways. This time, though his grandmother had mentioned Elena once, she hadn't added any of her usual commentary.

Some might say that his grandmother was cruel for doing this, but sometimes there were jokes one would understand if you were part of a friend group or family. But… Once one didn't deem it necessary to use these jokes anymore… It felt like drawing a clearer line than being enraged would.

As for what happened, Ryu had no idea. And, quite frankly, at the moment, he didn't have the mental capacity to care or even think about it. If it wasn't for the fact Yaana was here, he wouldn't have even been able to calm himself. Even now, he felt like lashing out at any and everything. The only thing holding him back was the worry in her eye.

For her sake, he tried his best to maintain a somewhat normal appearance. But, the red of his eyes didn't seem to want to go away any time soon.

"Did you get some good resources?" Yaana tried to change the subject.

Of course, she had no idea that these resources Ryu had gained were actually the final pieces that remained of his Ice Phoenix Clan. But, seeing the innocent look in her eye, how could Ryu possibly lash out at her for something like this?

The young girl before him now, even if she would resent him thinking of her as such, was just as much a member of his family as his grandmother was. She wasn't an outsider, nor would he treat her as such.

"Mm." Ryu nodded before looking down at himself. "Oh."

With a wave of his hand, Ryu had already covered his body in black robes. But, these seemed to carry a particular sinister air, the scent of judgment and tribulation wafting from them. Just being in their presence made one feel oppressed.

The Ice Phoenix Clan had left behind many treasures. The Wind attribute treasures were just the tip of the iceberg. The Clan would have mostly gathered soul and ice attribute treasures. With the ban, they probably would have leaned even more into ice attribute treasures in recent years. But, likewise, that would mean they would have stored away a lot of soul attribute treasures that might have been extinct and only managed to survive to now due to the ban.

These soul attribute treasures would be greatly beneficial for a part sprite like Yaana.

As for Ryu, he wasn't quite interested in these treasures just yet. It was about time he used the Golden Vein Spirit Seeking Lilies. Now that his soul have been birthed, this was the perfect time for explosive growth.

But first he needed to awaken Ailsa.

There was a reason he hadn't bothered to speak to his grandmother about Ailsa's situation. Compared to the treasures of the Ice Phoenix Clan, a mere Mystical Grade yin attribute treasure was like a pebble by the side of the rode.

Let alone a single flower of Night Shade Dew, the spatial ring his grandmother had left him probably had thousands of stocks.