Grand Ancestral Bloodlines
chapter-1586

Ryu sat in meditation, Selheira curled up on their bed in a deep sleep. But it seemed the sweet smile on her face had yet to fade away. The current Ryu, though, was completely focused. Those things had been pushed to the back of his mind and the front was trained on his internal structures, namely his Bloodlines.

It seemed a beast's Primordial Yin was different than he expected, though this made sense considering the fact they didn't have souls in the traditional sense. Everything was rooted into their Spiritual Roots and everything spread out from there.

Due to this, Selheira's Primordial Yin was neither extracted in the normal sense, nor did it act in the normal sense.

Rather than finding its place in his Spiritual Sea like the others, it was actually swimming through his blood. And truthfully, this would have been a very troublesome matter in any other scenario.

The trouble was that Ryu could feel Selheira's Primordial Yin resonating with his Fire Dragon Bloodline, forming a feedback loop that was strengthening it again and again. It could be said that even compared to Dual Cultivating with Sky Gods back when he was still a mortal, Selheira's Primordial Yin still managed to have the largest direct impact on him.

If he hadn't learned of Bloodmancy, his Fire Dragon Bloodline would have already gained enough backup to directly swallow all of his other Bloodlines, and it was hard to tell what would happen if that occurred.

Maybe the most positive scenario would be that it would use his other Bloodlines as fodder and energy to directly improve itself, reaching the pinnacle of the Fire Dragons and beyond like it had been meant to from the very beginning.

But that was if he looked at the situation with rose-colored glasses because even in that ideal scenario, he would probably have to spend years curled up into a ball, suffering unimaginable amounts of pain.

Destroying the Bloodlines of a person wasn't just about getting rid of the amount flowing in their veins, it required targeting their Blood Essence, their very souls, it required needling organs and drilling into the bone that produced it.

That didn't even mention the fact that Bloodlines were the foundation of a body's strength, removing them meant removing that strength. As painful as Body Realm Cultivation was, reversing it was even more so.

It was a horrifying process.

'Women are dangerous,' Ryu thought to himself with a chuckle.

Many looked at the balance of the existence of Primordial Yin, one imbalanced in the favor of men. In many ways, this was true, and it was also why Clans and Sects were fiercely protective of their female disciples.

However, if you weren't a strong man and thought that you could just go around charming exceptionally strong women, you find out the hard way that your life wasn't so infallible.

The universe simply didn't allow useless men to gather up large numbers of exceptional women.

Mae's soul was only one such example. It seemed like a unique instance where the backlash would grow stronger the more Primordial Yins he took in, but then there was this situation right here. There were any number of similar but alternate situations out there that could make a man really pay for his greed.

Of course, Mae's soul wanting to be in sole possession of Ryu, and thus acting up due to the existence of his other wives, was precisely those Matriarchal tendencies Ryu was talking about coming into effect.

For now, he was able to suppress them all quite easily. This helped after re-establishing connection with Ailsa because her own Primordial Yin had suddenly grown far more powerful, suppressing Mae's thoroughly.

But if Mae grew to a Dao God one day as well, who knew if it would come back to bite him?

Ryu smiled. He would have laughed if not for Selheira's sleep.

He didn't fear even the Heavens, why would he fear his own women?

Thanks to Bloodmancy, Ryu had a different perspective on Selheira's Primordial Yin than he would have otherwise. In fact, he felt that rather than a detriment, he felt that it was a useful tool.

He watched as a stream of rainbow wrapped around his Bloodlines, resonating with one in particular and mostly rejecting the others. It was fiercely arrogant and it seemed to only be naturally subservient to the existence of Fire Dragons.

However, that didn't mean that it wouldn't submit to the others as well. Hadn't she not wanted to submit to Ryu at first as well?

Instead, watching it act like this made Ryu get a feel for the dynamics and spirituality of Bloodlines to a degree he hadn't been able to quite grasp in the past.

His master said it would take practice to get a hang of it, and in the meantime it was difficult to extend that control for extended periods of time.

But right now he felt that that comprehension was advancing by leaps and bounds... and it only helped that the nature of Selheira's Primordial Yin was so perfect.

It was said that the Fire Dragons were the Emperor Dragons and the Crystal Dragons were the Prime Ministers. The former raged at the Heavens and the latter directed that rage, guided it.

The Crystal Dragons were the intelligence behind the Dragon Race and it was with their silent support that the Fire Dragons were able to reach their current level of power.

That was why it pissed Selheira off so much that they were kicked down from the Ninth Heaven by the very beasts they had elevated to their current station.

As for Ryu, there couldn't have been a more perfect Primordial Yin for him to rein in the control of his Bloodlines.

He slowly sunk into that familiar state of Bloodmancy. His souls reached forward, tentatively forming a connection with one another. Incorporeal established a link with Corporeal and they began to find and push and pull balance against one another.

Then, Ryu began to slowly coax Selheira's Primordial Yin. He was gentle and sweet, but domineering and fierce when he had to be.

It responded exceptionally well to his real soul. Ryu could faintly tell that this was because of Selheira's deviated path.

A pure Crystal Dragon, or rather one purely following their intended path, would only respond to a Bloodline so affectionately. Selheira's, however, could respond to both.

It immediately fell to the familiar scent of his Fire Dragon Bloodline, but it was more easily coaxed than another's would be when his soul appeared. And once that sense of familiarity was formed, Ryu could begin to slowly familiarize it with his other Bloodlines.

This was no longer the path of Dominance, Ryu could faintly tell that.

However, there was also something about Bloodmancy that was slightly different from the methods he had learned in other disciplines.

It felt... much more fluid, much more individual. He felt that this was why Fading Star started off with that entire lecture and didn't teach him any Bloodmancy directly.

If he couldn't grasp that feeling on his own, it would have simply been a path that he had no Fate with.

And that was why he followed his gut and even the guidance of his Dao.

He could feel the mysteries and how his body was subtly pulling him in one direction or another.

Then it clicked. Layers of enlightenments piled atop of one another and made things clearer and clearer.

Bloodmancy relied on the advantage of humans, that balance between Heaven and Earth, between the guidance of some higher power and your own wishes. There was no more perfect outlet for these comprehensions.

Selheira's Primordial Yin seemed to be quickly understanding that despite their quirks every part of Ryu's Bloodlines were, in fact, her husband.

She warmed up to them, wrapping her rainbow energy around each and every one.

Though Ryu casually referred to it as a rainbow color, this wasn't exactly accurate.

Selheira Primordial Yin, much like her crystals, were only made up of extremely light shades of blue, violet, and pink. They warmly wrapped around one another, creating a gorgeous array of colors that almost reminded him of [Ephemeral Tapestry].

Like the guidance of a sweet housewife, Ryu's Bloodline grew more and more docile beneath Selheira's touch. She pulled at them, guiding them down the path to strength, but at the same time, she didn't fight with them. She stood back and watched with a smile as her man grew stronger and stronger.

Harmony.

Ryu could feel it, that ever elusive balance between his Bloodlines. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fuse them together and bring out their full strength at the same time. He always had to choose one or the other, which was why he had formed individual Bloodline Phenomena instead of a completely new creature.

However, Selheira's gentle guiding hand and his delicate control through Bloodmancy were quickly coming together and forming a magnificent monument.

Ryu could feel his Focus Qi rapidly draining, but his mind didn't waver, he didn't even think about it as he pressed forward.

He inched closer and closer...

And then it suddenly Clicked.