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. Updated from novelbIn.(c)om
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.'
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.