Ryu looked at his grandmother, a seed of guilt sprouting in his heart.
Maybe if it wasn't for him being so averse to gazing at Fate with his Heavenly Pupils, he would have noticed that something was wrong long ago. By then, things wouldn't have happened this way…
Of course, these thoughts were nonsense. Ryu only lived to see a thousand years old in his first life. By then, there had been millions of years of momentum built up for the Martial Gods. On top of that, between his death and the destruction of the Tatsuya Clan, there was a buffer of another few million years. In the grand scheme, his own life was nothing but a blip. It was the equivalent to what a single second was to a decade, a century, even.
However, that didn't stop Ryu from gripping his grandmother's frail hand just a bit tighter.
"Look at you, 21 years old and already at the 3rd Immortal Ring Realm. How'd you manage that?" Mistress Kukan changed the subject.
Ryu smiled bitterly. "I was just lucky…"
"Lucky?" Mistress Kukan smiled mysteriously. "You think grandma can't see three Primordial Yin signatures in you? I didn't know I raised a little Casanova. How'd you manage to coax a Sky God into your bed? You're not selling yourself, are you?"
Ryu choked on air, coughing hard. How was he supposed to answer this exactly?
The reality was that he was the one who had ended up being coaxed. But, that was hard to explain too. He didn't want his grandmother to think that he was some sort of gigolo. He was innocent!
In truth, Ryu was overthinking things. Even if he was to be a gigolo, women didn't just give their Primordial Yins to anyone. And, a woman who still had her Primordial Yin wouldn't be paying for sex to begin with.
Beyond that, Ryu's grandmother could tell that while Ryu's mind was in chaos, it wasn't on the level of someone who had forsaken their values. So, it was obvious that Ryu wasn't selling himself either. She was just having fun teasing her grandson.
"Alright, alright." Mistress Kukan chuckled, feeling that she had gotten Ryu back for his previous laughter. "Then, it's about time grandma passes on what I prepared for you. You haven't disappointed me, I don't know what I would have done had that little girl made it here first."
"Little girl? Oh, you mean her."
Mistress Kukan's eyes sparkled. "My little boy has a small crush, hm?"
Ryu smiled. Did he have feelings for Sarriel? Not at the moment, no. Was he highly attracted to her though, that was a yes. She was the kind of woman he liked the most, after all. So, to call it a crush wasn't inappropriate, but it wasn't much deeper than that.
Mistress Kukan smiled knowingly. She knew her grandson well. It was for this reason that she used to give Elena a hard time. Well… That and because she absolutely hated Elena's own grandmother.
She always felt that Elena wasn't the perfect match for her Ryu. She also felt that Ryu had been tricked into becoming her husband.
To her, Ryu was her little boy and could easily be tricked by a vixen, especially since he hadn't spent a great length of time exploring the world and he never got to have the frivolous youth other young masters of his status would have had.
As for how she felt about Elena now…
"That little girl isn't bad but she's a bit peculiar. There are many who have been monitoring this Legacy World for a long time, but she's the only one who truly saw to its root. It even seemed that she understood its origins…" Mistress Kukan shook her head. "Forget it, I will let you figure all of that stuff out. This isn't important for now.
"For now, it's impossible for you to access the Ice Shrine and our Ice Phoenix Clan's Holy Lands. It was thanks to the Ice Shrine's help that Little Himari was able to lay down such a powerful seal. So, the core teachings, treasures and various resources of our Clan are all here with me."
"… Is mom…?" Ryu asked hesitantly.
"Though I am not sure about your father, Little Himari should be relatively safe. However, whether or not you can see her is a different matter entirely. Currently, she's in a state of deep hibernation and awaking her means undoing the Seal. If the seal is undone, though…"
Ryu took a deep breath. "I understand."
If the Seal was undone, whatever was holding the Martial Gods back would vanish. But, Isemeine had also said that they were close to undoing the Seal themselves. Wouldn't that mean mother would be in danger once they succeeded?
Ryu's grip tightened again.
"I can rest at ease seeing that you've awaken the Ice Flame. With it, many things will be much easier. But, I can also see that your Ice Flame is being suppressed by your other fires due to its partly ice attribute. You haven't leaned into the life attribute enough and thus this is the result, but this is also our fault. You haven't had proper guidance…
"I see you've also awakened your rebirth flame, Merula will be very happy to know this." was Ryu's Grandma Tatsuya. It seemed the Fire Phoenix Clan had been having trouble producing heirs that could awaken the Rebirth Flame much like the Ice Phoenix Clan had.
Mistress Kukan sighed. "In a lot of ways, this is all our fault. The Phoenix Clans are highly dependent on the soul but such cultivation was banned long ago. If not for this, we would have never declined to the point where we couldn't find even a single proper heir."
Ryu frowned. Now that he thought about it, this was true.
"Then… Why was such cultivation banned at all? Was it really because of their danger?"
Mistress Kukan hesitated. Should she really tell this story? Didn't he hate his own great grandfather enough?