Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu snapped back into his body, a dangerous glow gleaming from his bleeding eyes. His silver irises had turned somewhat opaque, and though he wasn't blind, he had been regulated to vision near to that of a mortal's.

He was on his hands and knees, having fallen at some unknown point. But even so, the dangerous aura he was exuding was so gloomy and all-pervading that his Birthed Phenomena seemed to have gained a tinge of darkness to it as well.

It was hard to put into words the kind of fury he was feeling right now, not just due to that man, but due to his own weakness. He wanted nothing more at that point than to shred the world to pieces, but he slowly restrained himself, the darkness being peeled back somewhat.

He didn't know who that man was, but so long as Ailsa didn't kill him first, he would enjoy the day he got to drive his fist through his chest.

Ryu slowly stood, the blood streaking down his cheeks and the faded color of his eyes gaining the attention of the two Dao Gods immediately, but not more than his rage just now. It had truly felt palpable, as though his fury was somehow taking the reins of Fate and forcefully twisting them.

"Fix my disciple," Fading Star gave a look to her husband.

Fading Star wasn't doing too well herself. She seemed to have lost a lot of weight. Her breasts weren't as towering as they had been before and her cheeks almost seemed to sink into her bones. At the same time, her life force felt like it was whittling away.

Radiant Star was standing close enough to her to prop her up, but the two still seemed to be in a spat so Fading Star was only using his arm just enough to not fall over on her face.

"What?" Radiant Star asked, speechless. "He's not even your disciple yet, do you see him showing any respect and subservience? When did he worship you as his master, I must have missed it."

Fading Star only continued to glare at Radiant Star.

Radiant Star shook his head and waved a hand. A strong amount of silvery Star Qi descended and practically plowed into Ryu's face before he could react. Two streams went up his nose, another two into his ears, and the last forced open his mouth. It was the most invasive thing that he had experienced.

"Radiant!" Fading Star snapped.

"You told me to fix him, you didn't say how," Radiant shrugged.

He used every orifice of Ryu's body that wasn't his eyes almost as though to prove a point. By the end of it, Ryu felt that his eyes were maybe even sharper than they had been before. But from start to finish, he never took his eyes off of Radiant Star.

The latter finally stopped controlling his qi and waved a hand. He met Ryu's gaze indifferently and didn't seem to care about his distaste at all.

Ryu might be willing to sacrifice his wife, but how could Radiant Star be alright with that? The fact he wasn't killing Ryu right now was purely because of Fading Star and nothing else.

A harrumph came from his side and Fading Star tried to stand on her own. She nearly fell over immediately, causing Radiant Star to have to catch her arm.

"Let go of me," Fading Star said just as calmly as she usually did.

"No," Radiant Star said simply.

And like that, the two were at another impasse.

Ryu looked toward Fading Star for a moment and the world fell into silence. The woman had indeed given up a lot to help him. In truth, although he had a master before, that boisterous old man hadn't given up nearly as much as Fading Star did.

It wasn't really a function of effort or pain to him. Quite frankly, he preferred to rely on no one but himself and an overly caring master might actually be a detriment rather than a help to his growth.

However...

His mind spun with all those new worlds he had seen. He felt like this woman had opened up an entirely new realm of existence for him.

Remembering those tiny little mortals who managed to grow to such power even without the ability to cultivate, he felt a burning sort of yearning inside of him.

Some of those little mortals managed to expand from their own planets, even leaving their worlds and extending their reach outside of their galaxies.

If he were to scale their power to his own, and then their feats to his own, they were impossibly more impressive.

If mortals who couldn't even run faster than a few miles and hour, could step beyond their stars...

Why couldn't he find a way to streak across Existence itself?

Ryu sank down to his knees and pressed his head to the ground.

Fading Star's smile suddenly beamed as Radiant Star shook his head, looking away. Even so, there seemed to be a smile tugging at his as well, a smile that turned to panic when Fading Star tried to hurry forward to help her disciple up.

Radiant Star had no choice but to stand to the side and stop Fading Star from collapsing as she helped Ryu up.

Fading Star beamed, placing two hands on Ryu's shoulders and looking up at him. The more she looked, the more satisfied she felt.

She had never had a disciple before and she felt a bit giddy about it.

She had never had a child either, though she had many children by proxy in a weird sort of way.

It could be said that in this way, Ryu was both her first disciple and her first son. How could she not be happy?

Though she really wanted to do something about his multiple wife situation and lecture him about how he shouldn't focus his attention on one woman at a time, she decided not to start off on the wrong foot. Considering how much Ryu had been willing to give up just now for his wives, at the very least, he wasn't neglecting them.

Her smile grew wider and despite her somewhat sickly appearance, she too seemed like she could light up a world.