Mistress Kunan's eyes widened as she gazed at her grandson. She knew Ryu's personality well. He was cold, calculating, and treated his words like gold. In truth, she was worried that if she wasn't his grandmother, he might not speak to her at all. The fact that this very same Ryu was saying these words meant that if he wasn't 100% confident, he was at least 99% so.
"A Dormant Shrine?" Mistress Kunan probed.
Such Shrines were coveted by Clans of all kinds. With the system of things having been set for so long, Dormant Shrines were among the only resources capable of shifting such a stable situation.
Shrines themselves not only provided Clans with protection, they also dictated the Faith tied to a lineage. Said Faith is responsible for the prosperity of Clan, its potential for growth, but most importantly, its longevity.
The Faith of the Tatsuya and Kunan Clans were unrivaled. With such a level of protection, they had an unshakeable foundation.
Of course, one might then wonder just why such blessed Clans birthed a cripple like Ryu, but this was an inappropriate way to view things.
For one, the prosperity Ryu brought his maternal and paternal Clans couldn't be underestimated. Due to his aid, his Father, Titus Tatsuya, had already become the number one expert of the Shrine Plane with his mother acting as a close number two.
Secondly, if one analyzed Ryu's body, you'd be shamed if you dared to say he wasn't a blessed young man.
Not only was Ryu born with a perfect balance of four Ancestral Grade bloodlines, he awakened the number one ranked Heavenly Pupils. And, although his meridian awakening ceremony failed, he was also born with Ancestral Grade meridians.
How could a young man born with so much talent be classified as anything other than blessed?
"Mm." Ryu retracted the excited glint in his eye, his expression darkening slightly. "Our next movements have to be extremely calculated."
"Do you sense something?"
Ryu looked off into the distance, gently holding his grandmother's arm. "We have the most accumulated Faith in the martial world, yet it seems that other Clans are surging while ours have stalled. Something is amiss."
"Have you…" Mistress Kunan hesitated.
She knew quite well what abilities of her grandson's eyes. Often times, Elders of their Kunan and Tatsuya Clans would attempt to exploit Ryu's abilities, but his grandparents and parents never had. They understood quite well how much Ryu hated reading Fate, so they never forced him to do such things. However, judging by the way he was speaking…
"After what father did yesterday, I've felt uneasy." Ryu replied seriously. "If it's for the sake of my family, any discomfort is irrelevant."
Mistress Kunan's eyes glistened with unshed tears as she tightened her grip on her grandson's arm.
'Am I really cursed to live longer than my grandson?' Her heart ached uncontrollably.
"If your father hadn't done what he did, I would have never allowed him to marry your mother. I want my grandson by my side for as long as possible."
Ryu sighed. "The heavens are in turmoil. So much so that even my eyes can't make sense of anything. There's a possibility that this is because I have no real practice reading the stars. But, my instincts tell me that it wouldn't matter."
Mistress Kunan shook her head. "Reading the stars has never been entirely reliable…" After a pause, Mistress Kunan continued, "What have you understood about this ruin?"
"Not much…" Ryu lowered his voice. "I've cross-referenced a few ancient texts and am fairly confident about its general location and its importance. That's all."
"A few?"
Seeing his grandmother looked at him skeptically, Ryu rubbed his nose. He had been working on this for hundreds of years, how could it qualify as "a few". Just by virtue of the fact no one else knew about this ruin, one could understand the difficulty of finding this information.
Mistress Kunan smiled knowingly. "You've grown old now and think you can lie to your grandmother?"
With a cough, Ryu changed the subject. "The location is very sensitive… It's not located in this layer, it's—"
Suddenly, Mistress Kunan's head snapped toward a particular direction. "How dare you?!"
An oppressive aura erupted from Mistress Kunan's frail looking body. In that moment, she had regained her majesty as Priest Saintess of the Life and Ice Shrines.
Ryu's eyes narrowed. The reason he spoke so freely about such a sensitive topic out in the open like this was because no one dared to eavesdrop. Even if someone had the courage to do something so stupid, was his grandmother some frail woman? She was a Priest Saintess!
A shadow stumbled from the void coughing up blood and revealing a red robed elder.
Mistress Kunan was livid. Someone actually dared to impugn upon her prestige in such a fashion? And worst yet, it was a mere Shrine Elder?!
She already so rarely got to spend time with her grandson. How could she take this lying down?!
"Your courage has grown Sixth Fire Shrine Elder Ciaran!"
Elder Ciaran smiled wryly. "Ah, it's Priest Saintess Kunan. My apologies, I was simply in a rush and happened to encroach upon your Void Domain. The mistake is entirely my fault."
The sheer lack of sincerity in his voice caused Ryu's grandmother's rage to shake the very foundation of the Palace.. "It seems that the last time I killed someone was over a billion years ago. Maybe some fools have forgotten my name!"