Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu thought of Deterrence, and it seemed to perfectly coincide with Temperament. The latter was the overarching umbrella, while the former was one of the many tidbits stored within.

Ryu actually felt that for a moment, it was quite a valuable comprehension. In fact, he could probably make a Dao Technique similar to [A God's Brush] if he pursued that path further.

But was it the right path to take?

Dividing Order and Dividing Chaos... It was meant to look at the world from a macro level.

Using Temperament as a means to breakthrough made sense because it was a piece of the puzzle that he hadn't yet considered. But Deterrence was beneath that same umbrella. If he honed in on the details too much, he might miss the forest for the trees and steer his Dao down the wrong path.

Others might end up bottlenecking their Daos and being forced to weaken them to progress because their comprehension was too low.

But for Ryu, it seemed that his problem was that his comprehension was too high. He was too good at connecting dots and making seemingly innocuous statements and making broad-reaching sentiments about it all.

If he followed his whims too much, he could end up running into a brick wall eventually.

"Interesting..." Ryu thought.

Elise didn't want to interrupt. Ryu seemed lost in his thoughts and from time to time, the air around him would shift oddly.

"Maybe I could put up guardrails in my Inner Matrix, but to what end? Do I even know or understand what I want my Dao to be at the end of the day?"

Did he know?

He felt that he had a vague idea.

If he was recreating an inner world, didn't this world need its laws? In that case, should his Dao become the law that encompassed this land, forging it into what commanded the seas and sealed the skies?

That was the obvious path.

But what did it mean to be the law of a world?

His thoughts drifted toward the Shrines and that of Shrine Mountain...

After a long while, Ryu shook his head and looked up, meeting Elise's eyes.

"And you aren't participating?"

Elise smiled bitterly. "How can I? My talent isn't so great. I would just be going to die."

She had no background.

"But you're informed," Ryu said.

Elise's heart skipped a beat.

"Let's cut the formalities," Ryu said slowly. "The Fire Giant and Ice Queen weren't here by coincidence; you somehow managed to get them here. That also means that you knew of where they were even though they had no intention of setting foot into this city."

A cold sweat began to gather on Elise's brows, but she forced herself to remain calm.

Gathering information about the movement of such existences was a huge taboo. Let alone herself, even her father couldn't take on the responsibility for such a thing. It was likely that no one could.

"I need to know the whereabouts of a specific person. I have no need to expose your secrets, I just want this."

Elise pressed a hand to her beating chest.

"I'm not sure that I can help you."

"Mae Tatsuya. Will she be participating?" Ryu continued without a care. Those words were what Elise had to say; she still needed plausible deniability.

Elise's eyes opened wide once again.

Mae Tatsuya. That was a name that had been spread for many reasons.

First because Dao Gods almost never took disciples, unless one counted the carry-overs they had from their Sovereign or Lord days.

Second because Demons mostly did not even have last names, but Mae had always referred to her as a Tatsuya instead of by the Dream Asura or Dream Wraith Clans.

And third because she was simply too much of a rising star.

In just a few years, she went from the World Sea Realm to the Perfect Sky God Realm. It was a breakneck pace that was far too exaggerated...

But shouldn't a genius picked up by a Dao God be at least this good?

"I... I really do not know," Elise said.

Mae was too outstanding. There was a good chance that just by virtue of this, she didn't need to participate at all and could just directly get the benefits. If it could be said that Elise had no backing whatsoever, then Mae had all the backing in the world just by virtue of who her master was.

There was a fifty-fifty chance of whether she would participate or not.

"Mm," Ryu nodded. With his Dao, it was easy to see that she was telling the truth. "In that case, you should have an easy method of going to the gathering, correct?"

Elise took a breath and finally relaxed. It seemed that Ryu truly did not want to start up issues with her.

"Yes, I do."

"Good. Let me use it. Just speak out when it is prepared."

A swirling portal appeared around Ryu and Selheira, who was still in his lap.

Just as he was about to disappear, he heard Elise's voice.

"Young master... if it's not too much to ask, who is Young Mistress Mae Tatsuya to you?"

Ryu laughed. "She's my wife."

Elise's eyes opened wide, her heart practically beating out of her chest.

She stood in silence for a long while after Ryu disappeared... at least in part. There still seemed to be a kernel of Ryu here, as though he was both present and not at the same time.

She realized that this was an opportunity she had to grasp.

Ryu gently placed Selheira down, and they both looked at a familiar giant flaming woman. The violet-skinned woman was standing by the rivers of Embryonic Qi, hesitating time and time again as though she both wanted to jump in and not at the same time.

She was startled by their sudden appearance and looked toward them both at the same time.

She bowed her head. "What do you... command...?"

She spoke slowly, not used to these sorts of things. At the same time, Ryu could tell she clearly wanted to ask him why she wanted her but felt it was too rude given her status.

Ryu smiled. "Have you heard of Summoning Necromancers?"