Chapter 1628 Who Did This?
Selheira's changes came fast and quick, her tail beating against the ground with a fervor. Her delicate pink lips parted a roar that rended the skies echoes. Her power improved by leaps and bounds despite the fact her cultivation didn't budge even a single inch. It was truly as though she was a flower blooming in the depths of Spring, a gorgeous rose budding for the world to see.
It was a long while before Ryu snapped out of his state of enlightenment. Truthfully, he could have kept going, and only he would dare to snap out of it on purpose. But, he had felt diminishing returns from his thoughts and felt that in order for him to make another huge leap, it would probably take about a decade or so of seclusion.
He was unwilling to hole himself up for that long. He had never been in seclusion for that long before, at least not truly, but aside from that, he had things to do. He couldn't waste so much time.
Plus, he could slip into a state of enlightenment whenever he wanted, and more importantly than that, he knew that improving would only really be a matter of gaining a complete Northern Heavenly Wind. That would cut down a time of a decade to just barely a few hours, if that.
He turned his attention toward Selheira and found that this woman of his had undergone a great number of changes.
A twin pair of smooth, white horns curved on her forehead like a crown, nestling with her long, white hair. Her wings were more oppressive than his own, and she had a tail he had never been able to form.
Her scales were beautiful. Encased in reflective crystal, they emitted the same delicate pink, violet and blue colors of the surrounding world.
She was still on Ryu's back, and very clearly still had her human form, and yet she seemed to have become more of a Dragon than ever.
She had fallen into a deep sleep, her wings and tail drooping to the ground as she lazily snored on Ryu's back. From time to time her nose would wrinkle and her lips would spread out into a smile before she went back to sleep once again.
It was quite adorable, if Ryu did say so himself.
Checking Selheira's state, he realized that she had actually managed to resolve much of her path. What should have been her suppressed Bloodline Talents had returned in their full glory, and not only had her weight increased significantly, but her strength was on an entirely different level.
Ryu couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
His body was extremely powerful. Despite being in the Fragment Sky God Realm, its strength was easily at the equivalent of the False Sky God Realm. At the very least, that was easily so in the Seventh Heaven.
But he felt that Selheira's natural state easily output just as much power if not more.
'It seems that this is the weight of talent.'
What was most important to consider was the fact that in order to resolve her two paths, Selheira had definitely given up something. This meant that, objectively speaking, her bodily strength would have been even more powerful if she was just following the pure path of the Dragon, and even more so if she entered her beast form.
This wasn't unacceptable. Beasts had always been known to have far more strength than human experts of the same level. They were exceptional creatures and carried a general advantage that humanoids found trouble bridging.
'It seems that this path has quite a bit of potential after all. This should also be a new way of guiding others toward a breakthrough. At least for now, Selheira shouldn't have any problems with her path. She should progress smoothly until at least the Omniscient Sky God Realm. Her cultivation speed should also go back to normal, she'll definitely break through in a short time.'
Selheira stirred awake after a long while, groggily waking up and realizing she had drooled a bit. She blushed with shame and embarrassment, rushing to wipe it away.
"Awake?" Ryu chuckled.
Selheira's blush deepened, the crimson spreading down her collarbone. Her tail waved about nervously and her wings flexed. Only then did she notice that she had actually changed so much.
She hurriedly retracted her wings, but she blinked when she noticed that it wasn't changing. She couldn't just retract her wings now, they were like a permanent part of her body. Unless she used a special technique like the one she had used to become human the first time, they wouldn't go away.
She felt a hint of reluctance. She missed her wings, she didn't really want to get rid of them. But could she walk around as a human with these huge things on her back?
And what about her tail? Her dress was already in shambles because of its appearance. Would she have to cut a hole in all her dresses?
She frowned. That annoying Jojo was always going around in those bulky armors, but one of the few things she liked about being human were the nice dresses. She didn't want to have to compromise her nice dresses, but she also didn't want to give up her wings and tail again. It felt foreign to not have them by her side all the time. The last few years had been dark without them.
Ryu smiled. "We can figure something out, you don't have to get rid of them."
"... You like them?" Selheira asked softly.
Ryu laughed. "Did you think I'd hate them? My woman is a mighty Dragon, shouldn't she show off a bit?"
Selheira's heart skipped a beat. She hid her face in Ryu's back again, not wanting him to see her face as she smiled.
"I'm sure we can make some unique jewelry for you too. Every woman has necklaces and earrings, but can they adorn wings and a tail?"
Selheira laughed, tightening her grip around Ryu.
Ryu ignored the fact that he felt like his bones were about to be ground to dust. Mentioning that her grip was too strong now would only reverse the calmness she had just gained.
After appeasing Selheira, Ryu took a step and finally walked out of the trial. He found Lysander waiting for them on the outside, looking at Ryu with a gaze that could probably cause the bones of most to melt.
It was the gaze of an expert in deep thought, one entirely focused on Ryu and practically boring into his soul. Ryu could feel the pressure quite distinctly, and aside from the Phoenix Sky God, this was the first time someone had been able to pressure him to this extent with a gaze alone.
It was clear that Lysander's cultivation was extremely profound.
Lysander was quite confused. He had sent the two in there to have a breakthrough... well, he had done so mostly for his daughter, hoping that with her husband by her side, she'd be able to gain a different sort of enlightenment from the Holy Ground as compared to the past.
But instead of that happening, Ryu practically ignored the Holy Ground entirely, and in the end it was Ryu's breakthrough alone that helped Selheira where the Holy Ground couldn't.
Of course, it was because Ryu was in the Holy Ground that he found the perfect environment to resonate with and thus help Selheira, but if the responsibility were to be divided, it was clear that Ryu played over 80% of a role.
Selheira suddenly roared, her meaning clear. She wanted her father to stop glaring at her husband.
Lysander shook his large head, chuckling. His daughter was entirely on this man's side, what a thankless job indeed.
He flicked a large claw and Ryu's ring went back to him.
"So, why did the two of you come today? I know that my daughter wasn't eager to visit."
"Help us go to the Ninth Heaven," Selheira spoke before Ryu could say anything. "Oh, and do you have any soul healing treasures?"
Ryu raised an eyebrow. He hadn't asked Selheira to ask that, he had only mentioned Hope's situation briefly. He didn't know much about Crystal Dragons, but beasts also didn't have souls in the normal sense. Would the old beast even have such a thing?
"Mm... show me."
The fact Lysander said this instead of asking why surprised Ryu a bit, but by now he understood the character of this old beast somewhat. He clearly liked to act mysterious, who knew how many things "show me" could mean. It was the perfect response to make it seem like he knew more than he did.
After some thought, Ryu took out hope, holding her in his arms.
"Hmm..." Lysander's voice came out in a low grumble.
Soon, his gaze had darkened. "The Soul Reaper Taboo Sect... Who did this?"
Ryu remained silent. Old Wan's life was his, no one could take his kill.
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