Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu took the lecture in silence, coughing from time to time.

His father was right, he knew that. But honestly, he never really worried about it.

What would he do if a woman he neglected chose to leave him? Well, he wouldn't really care, so long as she never married again. Because if she chose to lie with another man after losing her Primordial Yin to him, it wouldn't just be a matter of her any longer, it would be about his pride and his Faith. He would never allow that.

In truth, he would probably kill such a woman and her lover, never thinking twice about it.

Was it fair? Of course not, he knew that. But Ryu wasn't a man who dealt in fairness to begin with.

Most of these women his father was talking about had a clear understanding of his personality before they took action. The only exception to that was Mae... well, he guessed Isemeine as well.

When Ryu thought of this, his relatively calm expression became a frown.

He really liked Eska and she wasn't among the neglected, at least for now. But now she shared a body with Isemeine, and Isemeine had a completely different set of morals and personality. If not for Eska's influence, Isemeine would already be thinking about leaving him. In fact, she might have already acted on it.

If Isemeine did such a thing while sharing Eska's body, even if they were technically separate, Ryu couldn't say he wouldn't care anymore. He wouldn't even be able to kill Isemeine without affecting Eska or maybe even killing her as well.

He wouldn't even know what to do in the situation aside from burning everything related to her lover to the ground, and even then he'd still be furious.

The odds of such a thing happening were low, Eska had a lot of autonomy about what went on in both of their bodies, but her influence wouldn't be the dominant one forever. As the years went on, Isemeine would eventually catch up. And it was likely as a Martial God, Isemeine's potential was beyond that of Eska's.

It shouldn't be so simple as their Taboo methods made them far more of one mind that Ryu probably knew, but just the ideas weren't things he liked at all.

None of this was helped by the fact Isemeine was raised in a culture of outright promiscuity. Such a balance could only last for so long.

And right now, Ryu was only thinking of the most extreme examples. Who was to say that there weren't more subtle issues that he might have to deal with in the future?

Did he believe Mae would betray him? No, he didn't. But she was in a world all on her own, and if she came to find out that he didn't even think of her much, nor was it ever at the forefront of his mind to go and visit her, as the years waned and her temperament matured and grew, how would she react?

He had no worries at all about Ailsa and Yaana, but due to his negligence they had been separated by trillions of years. How could that be acceptable?

Now, he had suddenly taken a Selheira into the fold, and she was a true wildcard. Who knew what might happen in the future with her? She was walking an odd path between human and beast, but her latter half clearly had an overwhelming influence.

And then there was Elena. He had been gone for nine cycles of a hundred thousand years and it had almost broken her..

A chop lightly hit his forehead to bring him back to attention.

"You could easily do it," Titus suddenly said. "If you wanted to rule your women with an iron fist and plant a seed of fear in them, it would still be possible... If you were stronger than all of them by a good margin.

"However, I know well that there are two sides to my son and that's not a path you're willing to take. Even so, after the first one steps out of line, it's the path you'll end up taking regardless.

"There are some things in life that you can take back even if you want to. Even if one of them deserved it and you retaliated in kind, the cascading effect would harm the relationship the others have with you down the line.

"Don't be so casual in the future. They're ultimately living creatures as well, even if they love you. Alright, Ryu?"

Ryu blinked, then nodded. "Yes, father."

"Good. Even if you want more women, you have to ensure that you not only have the resources, but also the time for them. Anything less and you will only be harming yourself and them."

Ryu nodded again. He felt that his father was right, he just didn't really think about it. He just did as he pleased.

His heart was freer than it had once been, but it seemed that there were drawbacks to that as well.

"Now," Titus continued. "I assume I already understand what you meant by "beast girl". But what about the rest?"

Ryu chuckled. Indeed, in retrospect, it was probably less what his mother told him and that comment instead that triggered the lecture. Either way, he appreciated it. He was young and still blind to some things.

Ryu told his father about the Phoenix Sky God, causing a line of worry to appear.

Ryu shrugged. "In the end, I was unable to cultivate and they gave me a chance to. I'll make them regret it if they dare to do anything to me in the future."

Titus sighed. Indeed, his son did have two sides. When he was stubborn like this, it didn't matter what he said.

"Then your Sect?" Titus asked.

"I'm still not sure how to deal with it. I don't want to leave those two in danger, but I also don't want to alert Old Wan of anything. The less that man knows, the better."

Suddenly, Ryu's eyes lit up. "I thought of something. There's a chance he could see through it, and you might have to clash with Aika, but it could work..."