Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Mistress Kukan sighed. "The details of the story are unknown even to me. What I do know is that the death of your great grandmother has something to do with Mental Realm Masters. At this time, the actions of Mental Realm Masters were becoming increasingly grotesque and without morality, so it could be said that it was a perfect storm."

After hearing these words, though Mistress Kukan didn't go into detail, Ryu understood enough. 

"Then…"

"Since we weren't your great grandfather's target, the elders of the Ice Phoenix Clan at the time simply stored most of our core teachings away, sealing them. They are all still intact and haven't been destroyed. But, since I haven't practiced them personally, I have no way of guiding you. But, I trust that you will be able to comprehend much of it on your own."

Mistress Kukan smiled. If there was anyone who could succeed without the guidance of his elders, it was Ryu. He was in a unique position to do so. 

Ryu sighed as his grandmother began to explain all the things she was passing on to him. The fact that she wasn't handing them to him one by one made him realize something quite profound. 

Why was it that he was able to see, touch and feel his grandmother? He even felt that he could smell her, as though she truly was right before him… 

The answer was that this wasn't the real world to begin with. The land of endless white was his Spiritual Sea. In fact, if he cared to look around, he would probably find his Immortal Sakura not too far away. He hadn't been looking around on purpose, hoping that his grandmother by some miracle was still with him. But… This was as close as they could ever be. 

In fact, Ryu was fairly certain that a spatial ring that contained all of these things was likely already placed on his body in the real world. This was just a final nagging his grandmother was giving him. 

"… Your weapons, you know that our Phoenix Clans specialize in whips and feather weight swords. I would leave this mostly to your Grandpa Tatsuya to handle, but…"

Mistress Kukan looked Ryu up and down. 

"Something tells me that you aren't following the Tatsuya Saintly Weapon Inheritance any longer."

Mistress Kukan immediately assumed that because of the hatred Ryu felt for his great grandfather, he had chosen a completely different path. But, this was a path she couldn't immediately recognize, which left her slightly stunned. 

It was only after Ryu explained his relationship with Ailsa and his choice of the Great Swordstaff that she finally made the connection. 

"I see… This path is a bit of a double edged sword. With your Pupils, your progress will be fast without the shackles of Fate holding you back. But, it can be easily without substance as well, making every step forward you take worth less than that of others following an already preset path. 

"For now, it isn't obvious because your Great Swordstaffs still take your comprehensions of the Tatsuya Saintly Weapons as the foundation, but as you progress, you'll find that the level of your Birthed Phenomena will begin to weaken in comparison to others at the same level. I assume that you already feel that your connection to your Birth Phenomena has weakened considerably, right?"

Ryu nodded. Ever since he switched over to his Great Swordstaffs, the God Emperor, War God and Dragon God Phenomena had stopped appearing. 

Initially, when he succeeded in breaking through into the Small Realm, they had fused into one, making Ryu think that this was great. But as time went and he got closer to the Dominion level, not only had the connection weakened, but they hadn't appeared again since then. 

Ryu assumed that Ailsa was prepared for such an outcome. But, the shame of it was that before they could take those next steps together, Ailsa had fallen into a coma and he had had so many other things to worry about that he hadn't really considered the issue until his grandmother just now brought it up. 

In fact, now that he really considered it, Ryu hadn't been able to even put a dent in Sarriel's defenses with his Dominion. There was no doubt that his Dominion was far weaker than Sarriel's own. He was only able to make up the gap thanks to his Chaos Qi and the overbearing nature of his lightning-flame fusion. 

This could have indeed become a large problem. 

"As long as you're aware of the problem, I'm sure that you'll be able to fix it. In fact, our resources have the perfect thing for you currently. 

"As you know, your mother has the complete Eastern Heavenly Wind. I'm sure that if she was here, she would want to give it over to you to help you over this hump. Unfortunately, she is sealed. However, there was a Southern Heavenly Wind in our treasure house, it was just that your mother ended up choosing the Eastern Wind when she came of age while I was never as talented as Little Himari, so I didn't gain the right to take one. 

"The Ice Phoenix Clan vaults have just enough resources to take one more Heavenly Wind from its Embryonic stage to its complete stage. 

"You have a choice to make since you have the Northern Heavenly Wind Embryo on you. 

"You can either take the Southern Heavenly Wind Embryo and use the resources to help it reach maturity before absorbing it for yourself. Or, you can have your Northern Heavenly Wind swallow the Southern Heavenly Wind. In combination with the remaining resources, it should be just enough to help your Northern Heavenly Wind reach maturity.

"I believe a complete Wind Inheritance should fix all of your Dual Wielding problems. The choice is yours…"

Ryu was at a loss almost immediately. 

The Northern Heavenly Wind was the Emperor Wind, it embodied the nature of Wind the most perfectly and granted unmatched speed, allowing one to become one with the wind. In a lot of ways, it was almost akin to gaining another Spirit Body.

However, due to this, the requirement for helping it reach maturity was far higher. Not only would it need the resources the Ice Phoenix Clan had left, but it would also need to swallow the Southern Heavenly Wind. 

The Southern Heavenly Wind, on the other hand, was known as the Breath of Life and its requirements were a step lower. It wouldn't need to swallow his Northern Heavenly Wind. 

Ryu truly didn't know what choice to make.