Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Elise didn't expect Ryu to suddenly appear before her like this. It could even be said that she hoped that this would end with the money she handed out. She had been more than generous enough, and even went a step beyond what she thought was necessary just to make sure that she could make up for her mistake.

Unfortunately, in the cultivation Realm, such things weren't often taken as a sign to sow for peace. Most often, they were taken as a sign of weakness instead, and she seemed to think that this very same thing was happening here.

Ryu took a step and Selheira sat by his side. The furniture creaked beneath her weight, causing Elise's brows to tremble.

Selheira seemed to be the most inconspicuous of them all after Ryu's display. Other than her beauty, which was veiled to begin with, it was hard to see anything odd about her other than her height. But even then, her 6'3" to 6'4" height wasn't all that shocking in the grand scheme of things, especially when there were female Fire Giants walking around.

But her weight...

The furniture here was not forged from normal materials. It was not normal for it to creak the way it just had.

Selheira looked a bit embarrassed by the change. Since she was in human form, she didn't really take into consideration her weight at all. And Ryu, especially when they were in each other's arms, never really made her feel like she was heavy at all.

Of course, she knew that most of that was his pride as a man. He had no intention of struggling beneath his own wife's weight. But in this setting, it made her feel a bit self-conscious.

Ryu chuckled and pulled her into his arms. He didn't seem bothered by her large wings, and her weight on his lap didn't seem to move him at all. She might as well have been as light as a feather.

This sight only made Elise tremble more.

One would think that the furniture would creak even more now, but it was so stable and unmoved that Elise actually felt fear. What level of control over one's body and strength did this take?

It could be said that the applications of Ryu's close combat body weren't just in being capable of incorporating the strengths of many weapons into a single lethal weapon.

Elise composed herself and tried to remain calm.

"Might I ask what the young master has come for today?" She asked with a forced smile.

"I've heard that there's a gathering happening soon. I want to know what you know about it."

Elise was startled. "This..."

"I would have asked the Ice Queen, but I think it's best they know as little about my intentions as possible."

Elise hesitated. "Young master wants to... participate?"

"Potentially. That would depend. Is it possible?"

"Um... theoretically, it is. This is also a method of recruiting for the Demon Kings. Although they like to keep their main Bloodlines pure, from time to time they will experiment by incorporating half-blood or mixed-race geniuses into their branch bloodlines.

"Humans are rare in the True Nether Plane, but it's not like they don't exist. Honestly, you would probably still need a sponsor. The Demon Kings and especially their geniuses are extremely arrogant. If you don't have a certain level of standing, they will attack you just for the sake of attacking you. By then, even if your strength stacks up to them favorably, you will end up suffering anyway."

Ryu nodded, he understood this principle well.

For powerful Clans or Sects, after a certain point raw strength wasn't the most important thing, deterrence and face were even more important once you had passed a certain threshold.

Essentially, at a certain level, it was more important that people didn't dare to attack you versus how well you could respond should someone attack you. It could be said that this was a huge reason why Faith was such a big deal as well.

Take the Tatsuya Clan, for example. They were known as the most powerful Clan on the Shrine Plane, but this wasn't just because of their raw power. Technically speaking, Primus wasn't even one of them anymore, so they weren't even considered an Eleventh Order Clan, not really. Not without a Sky God.

It could be said then that the whole reason they managed to stand tall for so long was because no one dared to attack them... until the Martial Gods came along and shattered that image.

This was probably a similar situation to what was going on on the Ninth Heaven. There were many other smaller and less significant powers on the Ninth Heaven. If they all ganged up together, it wasn't impossible that a region could take down one of the Nine Powers just by virtue of their numbers.

But would they ever do that?

Of course not.

Gathering up morale and support for such a thing would be as difficult as climbing to the Heavens themselves. This was the weight of deterrence.

'Deterrence... temperament...'

Ryu felt like he had comprehended something again, but he shook his head and forced himself to focus.

Honestly, this was a similar state to what Ryu had been in the first time he awakened his Dao. He seemed to progress it by leaps and bounds every day and he made huge changes to himself as a result.

However, Ryu had begun to wonder...

Were all breakthroughs in comprehension created equal? Could his obscene comprehension abilities actually be a net negative instead of a positive?

He wasn't actually sure.

It seemed foolish, but when you took a step back his thoughts made sense.

Was it really the case that he just happened to stumble into the perfect scenario and words time and time again? Or was he like a child picking berries in a forest while straying further and further from the paved path?

Should he be more cautious with what he chose to use to break through?