Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

It was very rare for an Ice Queen to smile... if you could even call it that. Ryu could tell at a glance that this Luna wasn't used to doing such a thing. Her smile felt sweet to herself, but was greatly forced and it even looked like she was trying to push something out of the wrong hole.

However, Ryu found it a bit adorable only because of how funny it was.

She blushed with a hint of shame, seemingly realizing that there was a problem with her smile. She cleared her throat and went back to her usual demeanor, the frost around her intensifying as those that were nearby were forced to scurry away.

The hint of rouge on her cheeks on a canvas of otherwise stark white was almost too obvious. One would have thought that they had cut her open and let blood drip.

Luna's Death Guard had been paying attention to her charge this entire time, and she was quite speechless.

Ice Queens were gender-specific for a reason, they couldn't even have children like other species and races could. They were all women and each one of them was born from a kernel of extreme yin. There was no other way. She didn't even have the lady bit to copulate even if she wanted to.

Well, there was something down there, it was just that she didn't have a uterus or ovaries.

To make matters worse, the touch of a man for an Ice Queen was a huge taboo. They were strong centers of Yin, the introduction of Yang could truly ruin their cultivation. It could be said that they were the women who suffered the absolute most from lying with a man. In some instances in history, they would even lose their lives after doing so.

A flash of killing intent rippled in the Death Guard's blue irises for just a moment before vanishing. However, with Ryu's sensitivity, he could still pick it up.

In the end, he sneered.

With a step, Ryu vanished through the void and appeared by Luna's side, seemingly not caring about the frigid cold.

Luna was shocked by the sudden change and slid away.

"Hello," Ryu said with a smile, "I had a question, if you don't mind answering."

Flirting with women wasn't Ryu's strong suit, so he just got straight to the point. He was really curious about something.

"Oh?"

Her voice was just as cold as her appearance. She had actually tried to add a hint of warmth to it, but no matter how hard she tried, it came out much the same way.

"Why were they in so much of a rush?" Ryu asked, pointing toward where the Lord Fire Giant had disappeared.

Luna blinked, not understanding for a moment until it clicked.

"... Oh. There is a gathering. He is very injured and won't be able to participate like this. There isn't much time to heal him."

She spoke in short, succinct sentences.

"A gathering of? And for?" Ryu asked again.

"The Title Stele will appear soon. It is very important. This gathering is the first step in choosing those that will be nurtured."

'Nurtured, huh?' Ryu's gaze flickered in thought. He didn't know exactly what it meant to Nurture, but what he did know was that the True Nether Plane likely worked differently than what he was used to.

The monstrous tier geniuses of the Martial Gods were either in small worlds right now or locked up in seclusion, but for the Demon Kings of the Nether Plane, what did it mean for them to go to smaller worlds? Was it just as helpful?

Ryu didn't feel like that was true now that he thought about it.

He had been to Sacrum's Nether Plane, it was the exact same as the True Martial Plane, just weaker.

Comparatively speaking, Sacrum's laws were entirely different from the True Martial Worlds, they even created their own odd Sky God Realms as well, allowing one to skip over Fragmented and False Sky Gods to become True Sky Gods directly.

Regardless of the small world in question, they all had their own unique quirks that could be learned from, whereas for the Nether Planes, they were just copy and pasted with some truths removed.

If a Demon King genius of the True Martial World went to one of those worlds, not only would they learn nothing, but they would also regress in all likelihood.

Maybe this was the same for the Ethereal Plane as well, though Ryu had never gone to check.

As such, these geniuses needed another method to gear up for this coming moment. They couldn't afford to miss out on it and they had to perform to their utmost.

Of course, this was all just speculation on Ryu's part. There could, very well, be other reasons. But he would have to find out for himself.

"Will the Dream Wraiths be there?" Ryu asked his final question.

Luna nodded slowly. "Yes."

Ryu smiled at her after asking a few more questions. "Thank you for your help."

Luna's lips parted and then trembled, but she wasn't sure how to respond. By the time she had the courage to look up again, Ryu was already gone.

...

Ryu stood with Lu'card and Selheira.

"It seems there's going to be some fun to be had," Ryu said with a grin.

Selheira smiled and shook her head. Ryu's idea of fun was destroying everything in sight, wasn't it?

The air was decidedly more frigid now, and it almost certainly had to do with the unhappiness of the Death Guard that was still standing on a flying treasure high in the skies.

Lu'card snorted.

"Miss, I'll take my Nether Crystals now," Ryu called out.

A servant quickly ran up to Ryu and suddenly he was a nouveau riche again. Well, at least by True Sky God standards. The fact that such a small city could take out this much money pretty much guaranteed the opposite.

But that was fine. It should be enough to teleport where they needed to go.

"Let's visit a certain little business owner," Ryu said, taking Selheira's hand and vanishing.