Ryu retracted his mind from its odd state, it was simply too much.
He stepped out from the vat of Aloe he had been standing within, his body glistening. Though, his lip couldn’t help but twitch when he notice that Yaana was covering her face with both hands, and yet not obstructing her own vision in the slightest.
For some reason, he kept forgetting that there were people around him as his thoughts bounced all over the place. It also didn’t help that a certain member was pulsing about like it had a mind of its own as well. The instinct of a beast was even more potent after the cleansing of his Bloodlines.
In the past, Ryu felt that his state was perfect. His Fire Dragon Bloodline wasn’t as pure as his father or grandfather’s, nor were his other Bloodlines comparable to his mother and grandparents, but he never worried about it. Even though he had access to the stored Blood Essence of two of his Ancestral Clans now, he never used them.
This wasn’t because Ryu was a fool. Rather, it was because he understood the importance of not letting his greed get the best of him.
People being born with two Bloodlines had happened in the past. But, the idea of four Bloodlines appearing in one body, many of which had clashing ideologies and histories of violence tying their Faiths down, was completely unheard of.
It had to be remembered that Ryu’s mother had a Qilin and Ice Phoenix Bloodline within her, while his father had two Fire Elemental Beast Bloodlines. His mother was able to coexist her two Bloodlines firstly because they didn’t clash, and secondly because she shared Ryu’s Bone Structure. As for his father, his two Bloodlines synergized perfectly.
This was all to say that Ryu could quite literally not exist if not for the Balancing ability of his Ice Jade Crystal Body. If he was born with literally any other Bone Structure, his mother would have miscarried him. There was no way he would have survived.
Messing with the Balance that his Bone Structure had found was foolish, and may very well weaken instead of strengthen him.
But now that all of his Bloodlines had been simultaneously cleansed…
Ryu took a deep breath. Ailsa was still in meditation and he still wasn’t certain what to do with Yaana. If she had all of her memories and he still saw her as his big sister, the conclusion would be obvious. But, he was still finding it hard to meld those two images together.
‘I need to calm down. I rule these Bloodlines, not the other way around.’
A heated breath left Ryu’s lips as he closed his eyes. The good news was that with his senses dulled like this until he could get control over them, he was mostly disconnected from the true raging lust he should be feeling.
With deep breaths, he soon felt himself calming down. As easily as he could focus on his Fire Dragon Bloodline, he could just as easily focus on his Ice Phoenix Bloodline. Though the Ice Phoenix was still a beast and had plenty of lust of its own, it would never match up to the Qilin and Dragon in that regard. Plus, the cooling sensation helped Ryu keep a level head.
Yaana watched this scene feeling a bit conflicted. She knew that this was an opportunity to take advantage of Ryu and she even thought of doing so, but in the end she shook her head. She didn’t want Ryu to choose her because he had run out of other options like he had with Eska and Isemeine. She wanted him to choose her for other reasons.
Ryu’s mind finally calmed enough for his body to cool down. With a thought, his Spiritual Qi swarmed and his body was covered in dark black robes. However, deep within them, the flickering of Heavenly Patterns could be seen, making it both feel as though Ryu was right before your eyes, and yet somehow transcended above at the same time.
Ryu opened his eyes and smiled toward Yaana before looking around.
“Seems like I caused a bit of a mess.”
Yaana blinked before almost doubling over in a fit of giggles.
A bit? The entire forest was practically in shambles. If it wasn’t for Yaana acting to block some of the debris, Ailsa would have been knocked over in the head by a stray flying tree trunk. There was no telling what kind of reverberating effects this kind of destruction would have.
Ryu rubbed his nose. He really should do something about all of this.
He exhaled a light breath, feeling the rhythm of his Southern Heavenly Wind. When it came to matters of the Mortal Plane, he didn’t have to dig too deep, he just needed to touch the surface.
A refreshing breeze of gold hung around Ryu. And then, his gaze suddenly snapped open once more, a ring of gold pulsing around his silver irises.
WHOOOSH!
A strong surge of qi brimming with Life Force flew out from Ryu as a center. Like a seismic wave, it radiated outward in pulses.
The grass beneath Ryu’s feet was almost instantly revitalized, growing an entire inch in the blink of an eye. The bowing trees regained their elastisicity and snapped back into place, destroyed and ravaged greenery healed themselves and heavily injured and dying beasts suddenly found the strength to allow their hearts to continue to beat.
When the strong surge finally slowed, Ryu exhaled a breath.
“… Wow.” Yaana’s eyes glowed with admiration. Ryu’s actions hadn’t done anything for the trees that had already snapped in two, nor could he do anything for the beasts and potential humans that had already died, but with just a thought he had practically revitalized the whole Martial Plane.
“It was just a crude measure.” Ryu said with a smile.
He wasn’t being humble, it truly was a crude measure. Ryu was just lucky that these were all Mortal Realm things he was dealing with, or else it would have never worked. With the vast gap between himself and them, just the slightest strand of Immortal Qi was like a Heaven sent treasure.
Ryu took a step forward, vanishing several kilometers into the distance.
“I will be back soon.” He said, his voice fading. “Take care of Ailsa.”
Yaana sighed as she watched Ryu disappear into the distance. Couldn’t he take a bit more time to speak with her? Was she really so scary?
‘He’s a bit soft, my Little Ryu.’
The sudden voice drifted to Yaana’s ears. She didn’t need to look to know that it was Ailsa who was speaking.
“Big sis?”
Yaana was caught off guard because she thought that Ailsa had been in a deep state of meditation. But, when she looked over, she saw that Ailsa still hadn’t moved a single inch.
‘He doesn’t really know how to use his words, but his worry is pretty obvious. He’s afraid to take advantage of you now not because he magically began to see you as his little sister when he spent a lifetime seeing you as his big sister. To him, you’re still Nuri. All your mannerisms, quirks and actions are all the same, there’s not even a single step of deviation. Trust me, he’s been watching…’
“… Then… Then why?” Yaana asked.
Yaana simply couldn’t understand.
She didn’t know much about this past life of hers and a small part of her still worried that the one Ryu was pining after was still her mother who had passed away long ago… If that was the case, she didn’t know how she would be able to deal with it.
However, if she really was this Nuri, and they really were exactly the same person, then she didn’t care so long as she could be by Ryu’s side.
To be forced to think of the same man for hundreds of years, and to finally have him so near and yet be unable to do anything… It was driving her mad.
‘… Even though he doesn’t say anything, his situation with Elena is eating him up from the inside out. He feels like he failed her. One reason he doesn’t dare to reconnect with the portion of Elena’s soul in his mind is because he wants to respect her wishes and not act as her husband would before she’s ready to accept him again. But, a second reason is because he’s afraid of what he would see once he did. When two souls connect in that way, there’s no hiding anything. If to the deepest depths of her soul Elena wanted nothing to do with him… It would devastate Little Ryu.’
Yaana listened attentively even though she didn’t know what this had to do with herself. She didn’t believe that Ailsa would be bringing this up for no reason. And soon… She was proven to be correct.
‘He worries that one day you will reawaken to your memories as well, and the same betrayal Elena feels for him, you will too. He’s unwilling to risk that.’
Yaana fell into a deathly silence.
This sort of situation… she had no idea how to deal with it.