Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Chapter 2251  Willful

Ryu stood in the air in silence. An enormous gauntlet and a dangling severed arm hung from the grips of his fingers.

The devastation of the Tribulation hung all around him, but Ryu's robes were unblemished, his countenance unmoved. One would have never thought that he had just faced off against maybe the strongest Tribulation any Sovereign in all of Existence had ever faced off against.

"I wonder…" Ryu said softly, releasing his grip and allowing the gauntlet to fall from the skies.

BOOM!

A weight as heavy as a mountain crashed down below, lifting up the earth and causing it to roll out in waves.

Ryu took a breath and exhaled, his aura settling into the Lower Sovereign Realm.

A hand slowly raised to his forehead.

'Unfortunate…'

It still wasn't ready. He thought that his Sovereign Tribulation would certainly be enough, but it seemed that this eye had far more potential than he could fathom.

The echo of a cry resonated in Ryu's ears and he took another breath.

The cry was Hope's.

He knew that her childbirth this time would be quite difficult. She was a woman who currently wasn't tied to a Cycle of Reincarnation, while her husband was someone who had come into a great amount of Fate now.

Giving birth to a child that had also been tempered by Embryonic Qi, and was also gifted a Realm Heart before their birth, only made things even more difficult.

He really hadn't made things easy on her, but ever since the matters that happened with Old Wan, they had been set down this path, unable to retreat. In order to save her back then, he had had no choice.

But by the same token, while he could have made it easier on her by not pouring so many resources into their son, that was unacceptable to both of them.

Ryu wouldn't allow his son to be born with anything but the best of the best, and Hope wouldn't be able to face him if she couldn't withstand at least this much.

As husband and wife, they had enough of a mutual understanding to not even have had a conversation about this. But the fact Hope was upset when she thought Ryu was ignoring her and their son said all that needed to be said.

There was a flash by Ryu's side and Sarriel appeared.

"You succeeded," she said lightly.

"Was there ever a doubt?"

"A little one," Sarriel said with a sweet smile. Her edge seemed to have been almost completely ebbed away. At least it seemed like that for a moment… until she grabbed Ryu's arm. "I want to fight too."

"Do you?" Ryu asked almost absentmindedly, looking off into the distance.

"It feels like you have a great weight. I can help."

"It's my weight to carry," Ryu said lightly.

Sarriel fell into silence, remembering what happened with Ailsa. She wasn't sure if that was the healthiest thing… was there really someone that could reach their full potential without any help at all? Not even from their wives?

She had wanted to step out and help so many times before, but that would have made her and Ryu's plan to slip past the Heavenly Court all the more difficult.

One part of her loved being that little princess Ryu came to save as much as she didn't want to admit it. But there was the other part of her that thirsted after battle and blood as well—to hone her sword against the strongest opponents.

She knew that if she insisted, Ryu would let her fight. But… his mind state also wouldn't change.

He would be the palm that held up the skies no matter what.

But it was likewise because of this that Ryu's problem now was the very same problem of back then, the very same problem that Aika had said he had all those years ago…

A Dao Heart that was too rigid was easily broken.

Unfortunately, you couldn't even say this to Ryu as true as it was. He was a man who had just used the breaking of his own Dao Heart to make himself stronger. And it wasn't even the first time in his life that he had done it.

Was he truly so fragile?

No… it was more complicated than that.

"… I think I love you," Sarriel said softly.

Ryu raised an eyebrow and looked toward his wife. "And you only decided that just now—STOP!"

Sarriel ripped one of her eyes out. Ryu was reaching for her wrist to stop her, but there was a slip in his concentration, no doubt triggered by Sarriel taking advantage of his trust in her and his absentmindedness.

The eye slammed into his forehead.

Ryu felt a portion of his skull shatter and then a great amount of power flooded through him.

The sound of a boundary shattering to pieces echoed in Ryu's ears and he felt his third eye suddenly fully form.

Sarriel stood by his side with a smile on her face, one of her eyes closed as blood poured down one side of her cheek.

"Remember what you promised me," she said softly. "If you don't get me revenge and give me a bunch of babies to raise up my Clan, I will cut it off."

Ryu stood in silence. There was a great amount of rage pulsing through him right now, but he didn't even know who to direct it toward.

His wife? She was just trying to help him to the best of her abilities.

Himself? But he felt that he was strong enough to do what needed to be done even without this aid.

The world? The Martial Gods? Why the hell weren't they here yet, then?

Sarriel could feel Ryu's fury, but she only softly rested her cheek against his shoulder. Not once did she think her husband would harm her, and that was because he never would.

"You said I could be as willful as I wanted. You better listen to your own words," she teased.