Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu realized that he had vaguely understood this before, but it was only after Elena laid it out that it snapped into place.

So it seemed the talent tier structure of the Martial Gods was far more complicated than he realized. You had to not just consider the raw potential of the Bloodline, but also what the structures around them were.

It reminded him just how important techniques were to the strength of a cultivator. It wasn't just cultivation methods that were important, but battle methods as well.

'I need to put more effort into creating my own Dao Charm techniques. I have my Dao Vessel now, I just need applications for it. That should be far easier.'

"And what about the other woman you brought in? The unconscious one?" Elena asked.

Ryu briefly explained his history with Hope.

Elena frowned, a look of sympathy lighting in her eyes. She never cared about how many women Ryu had, there was a point where she encouraged him to take on more. In fact, after their recent bout of bed-sharing, she wanted it even more. How was she going to handle this rampaging bull?

When she heard that Hope would likely be rearing Ryu's child in the future, she was even more protective of her. But more importantly than that, the palm attack that Ryu mentioned...

Wasn't that the same one that had targeted her?

"You're right," Ryu nodded. "There's some odd undercurrents going on here that we should be cognoscente of. I don't think it's a coincidence that Janus knew of such a palm technique, especially not when I didn't find anything of the sort hidden on his person or in his home."

"You checked?"

"Mm," Ryu nodded. "It's either he was even more cautious and hid it elsewhere, or someone gave him such a method to practice."

...

The couple chatted for a long while before Elena was finally ready to go. Then, she went off to prepare herself.

She giggled like a little girl, talking about how she didn't get to dress up at all these days. It was something she loved to do, but who was she trying to impress in this Clan?

But now she was going out with her husband, how could she not want to look her best.

The two stepped out of Ryu's Inner World and Elena scurried off. Hours later, she came back in a flowing violet dress, giving Ryu a little spin.

"What do you think?"

Her smile was bright, the small tips of her toes gracing the ground as she spun.

A fragrance danced in the air, her pink diamond hand fluttering.

Ryu was in a bit of a daze for a moment. He had seen many beautiful women in his life, but there was a burgeoning feeling in his chest now that was unlike those other moments.

It wasn't just that she was beautiful, it was that he loved her, and she was his wife, and that she had gone out of her way to look good for him. Those feelings stacked atop of one another until, at that moment... he could truly say she was the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen, and he would mean every word of it.

Elena didn't need to hear Ryu's words, and even without their souls being connected, she could see it in his eyes.

She smiled so brightly that tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"Nono! Hubby, don't make me cry, you're going to ruin my face!"

Elena rushed up, grabbing Ryu's arm and pulling him out of the house before she could make her anymore sentimental.

Ryu was still in a bit of daze, but he let his wife carry him.

By now, Elena had already gone from the Higher Transcendent Realm to the Peak Transcendent Realm. She was just a step away from the Omniscient Sky God Realm, so pulling Ryu along wasn't very difficult at all.

Soon, Ryu settled down and smiled.

He chuckled. "Do you even know where we're going?"

Elena blinked, scurrying to a stop. Indeed, she hadn't asked Ryu, she was just excited to go out with him.

"Let's go to your technique pavilion. I forgot to ask, how do you trade for things in this place?"

"Ah, right, I almost forgot," Elena's eyes brightened. "I was participating in the Dreg tournament, I think I technically won. I should have enough to trade for any technique at the True Grade. Well, three. One Body, one Mental, one Qi."

"Okay, that works. It should be enough. I just need a reference for you, I'll make the technique for you afterward."

"Okay!"

Elena did an about-face and pulled Ryu in the complete other direction, causing him to laugh again. She had been going the wrong way after all.

It took them quite a while to make it to the technique pavilion. Rather than being a tower, it was a hole built deep into the ground, and what was shocking about this hollowed out hole was that it was a hundred kilometers wide and thousands of kilometers deep.

There were countless levels within them, the outer ring of the massive hole lines with curved bookshelves and pillars.

There seemed to be an odd force of qi in the air around it, one that allowed those entering to fly within. However, Ryu didn't think it was that simple.

As expected, just in the few seconds he was here, he saw one person fall to their deaths after trying to descend too far.

'Huh... interesting...'

Falling from a height of even thousands of kilometers shouldn't harm even a Fragmented Sky God, so how'd that man die?

"I've finally found you!" A roar came from Ryu's back that made him frown. He turned to find a man with raging red hair looking at him like some sort of enraged lion.

'Who the hell are you?' Ryu thought to himself, looking at the man as though he was an idiot.

Seeing that look in Ryu's eyes, Elena covered her lips to obscure her giggle.