Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Isemeine frowned.

"What the hell are you asking me all of a sudden? Did you suddenly become soft?"

She had noticed that Ryu had changed considerably after their first encounter in the True Martial World, and she had continued to observe him from within Eska.

The problem was that she hadn't really known Ryu all that well to begin with. She was just the useful flesh toy he brought out when he felt like he needed to vent.

Honestly speaking, if it was another woman, they would have grown to absolutely hate Ryu. Well, she had hated Ryu in the past, but it was for an entirely different reason. She didn't really care all that much about him using her body because it was a good time. What she cared about him was him infringing on her dignity and looking down on her.

She was a Mighty Martial God, someone who should be respected and worshiped. It was more insulting to her when she was writhing with lust and yet Ryu preferred to sit there and watch her die than touch her.

As a Martial God, she simply had a different relationship with sex than most others of the cultivation Realm. Her own mother had children with two different men, and many more lovers outside of that. Of course, her fathers likewise had many lovers of their own.

That was simply the culture. It was ingrained into their very bones and minds that the only use of Dual Cultivation for them was growing stronger and birthing stronger babies for their Race.

Martial Gods rarely fell in love. Or, more accurately, they rarely fell into an unselfish, all encompassing and loyal kind of love. They might favor one person over another, but something like giving up the reins on their sex life to another was almost entirely unheard of.

In fact, the only person Isemeine known to have done this was Elena. Well, she might as well count herself as well, but that wasn't really out of her own personal choice. That annoying Eska was always nagging too much.

Ryu smiled and shook his head. This was an expected response, honestly.

"Just tell me."

Isemeine nose quirked up to one side then wrinkled.

"I guess you're a decent fuck buddy."

The moment she spoke, she felt a hint of heat from her side. She looked over and seemed to finally take notice of Selheira. The latter looked quite calm at the moment, but her crystal slit eyes seemed to paint a different picture entirely.

Isemeine laughed.

"It looks like your little puppy doesn't like my words."

When Selheira didn't respond to these words, Isemeine grinned and didn't seem to mind it until she suddenly squealed, jumping up. If it wasn't for Ryu's arm around her waist, she might have gone soaring.

"Be obedient," Ryu said.

Isemeine rubbed her ass cheek, a bit speechless. Her body was strong, how had Ryu made her feel that pinch so viscerally?

"Do you know how weak you are right now? I could snap you like a twig. You wouldn't even last a round in bed."

Ryu looked down at Isemeine. He probably should have been angry. That sort of dig was a sore spot that went a long ways back. But he had already decided something, and he wasn't so immature to allow a dissatisfied woman's words to throw him so far off his game.

"Do you know what would happen if you chose to leave me?" Ryu suddenly asked.

Isemeine rolled her eyes.

"You'd turn murderhobo like you usually do. Is that supposed to scare me? I don't even think you'd care, you're just obsessed with your own little power fantasy."

Ryu smiled, but inwardly, he was a bit surprised.

Isemeine claimed to not know him well, but that response was on the money.

The more Ryu responded like this though, the weirder Isemeine felt. Where were the quippy remarks? Where was the rage? Why wasn't he flipping her over and putting it in yet?

It was fun to watch the usually elegant Eska writhe like that. When she was even in the mood, she could fuse their senses and it felt like she was experiencing the same thing, though a bit dulled. However, there was only so long she could watch that lovey dovey sex. Though the two really seemed to like each other.

She gagged.

"Gross."

She wasn't exaggerating, nor was she being jealous. It really did feel gross.

In her opinion, given the way their relationship started, it blooming into a real like or love of one another was ridiculous. It didn't compute to her.

Well, she knew why that was. To her, sex was never something that could conquer or sway her emotions, it was just an outlet. And from an outside observer like her, it felt like Eska was falling for Ryu purely because he was good in bed.

Unfortunately, Isemeine had missed the nuance of the situation entirely, because the type of man she liked was completely contrary to the type of man Eska liked.

Eska liked the brighter and more cheery Ryu, while Isemeine much liked the darker and more commanding Ryu. She wasn't a masochist like Selheira, but she just preferred a more dominant man.

Ryu observed the changes in Isemeine's expression silently. Even the latter didn't seem aware of just how much she was showing him right now.

'More complicated than I thought,' Ryu thought to himself.

Isemeine's Primordial Yin was inside of him right this moment, and with his senses, even the slightest fluctuations in her emotions could be sensed. Though it couldn't be directly translated, he could feel the slight changes and get a feel for what she was thinking.

This was why he had wanted to have this conversation. He didn't plan on fixing things with a single "heart to heart". He had just never really put any effort into understanding the kind of people his concubines were. Even Eska's change was mostly a surprise to him. It could be said that it was mostly luck that her attitude had changed in regard to him.

"So are you going to fuck me, or what? Or did you just bring me out here to show me that you have a bleeding heart now?"

Ryu's lip curled.

"Bleeding heart?"

Isemeine's white-gold irises flickered when she saw the danger in Ryu's gaze. Indeed, maybe he hadn't changed so much after all.

However, by the time she broke out of her daze, Ryu was already looking around. Right now, they were deep into a mountain range, one that his father had likely already killed the top level creatures of or else he would never leave Ryu here so casually.

Truthfully, Ryu had things to do and he would prefer to head to the Ethereal Plane immediately so he could check out some things. But his cultivation wasn't the only thing that deserved some effort in his life.

With a step, he flashed and vanished. When the trio appeared again, they were even deeper into the mountain range and had found a small oasis. The area was quite peaceful, and it seemed that a very powerful creature had called this place home in the past. The qi was so dense you could breathe it in like humid air and there was a slight drizzle of mist falling everywhere that felt both refreshing, and somehow didn't make them feel wet and sticky, almost as though it evaporated the instant it touched their skin.

Selheira seemed to like the surroundings, burying her head into her side of Ryu's chest.

"Well isn't this nice," Isemeine chuckled. "Better than losing your first time on a jagged rocky surface. Seems like you've improved over the yea-AH!"

Isemeine yelped again, then glared at Ryu.

"How the hell are you doing that! You're not strong enough to harm my body!"

Ryu smirked. "You sure you want to test that?"

Isemeine's gaze flickered with uncertainty. She had already unearthed a lot of the potential of her body, and as a Martial God... there was a lot of it.

She and Eska might "only" be Transcendent Sky Gods, but the strength within them was much greater. It was just that they never used it because using Taboo Powers so openly was dangerous.

Even so, that didn't mean that Ryu could just make her feel pain like that so easily.

Ryu's smirk deepened. Then, he looked from Isemeine's eyes down to his crotch.

Isemeine rolled her eyes, but she still obediently got down on her knees.

"This is not turning over a leaf you know," her next words were muffled as she wrapped her lips around it, "... this is," she pulled back, "not fun for me at all..."

Seeing Isemeine like this, Ryu's understanding of her deepened. She was clearly not happy with him, but she tied almost none of her unhappiness with this sexual act. In fact, she felt happy doing it, because the act itself aroused her. She even seemed to like the fact Selheira was watching.

Even as blood was diverted from his mind, Ryu's thoughts didn't slow.

He couldn't just randomly decided to take Isemeine as a wife. Even if Eska wouldn't say anything, he knew that every woman, or every person for that matter, had a temper of their own regardless of how gentle they seemed. Selheira was probably the most obvious example of this.

The word wife to Eska held a lot of meaning and he had felt her wild fluctuations of emotions when he said it. If he just casually bestowed it on Isemeine now, how would she feel?

No, he needed something else.