Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Even setting aside those two anomalies, just considering Ryu\'s Dao alone Ailsa found herself at a loss. It was by far the most complex and powerful Dao she had ever laid her eyes upon, and she had spent much of the first portion of her life doing nothing more than reading endless records about the most powerful existences to ever grace their world. 

On the one hand, she was endlessly proud of her Life Partner and husband. But, on the other hand, it made her feel inadequate and lost. 

The Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils had always been an existence the Cultus Faeries called their bane. When Ryu had activated his first <Instinct>, she had told him as much. 

But now, Ryu wasn\'t only set on a path to reach the pinnacle of what these Pupils had to offer, but he had already laid the foundation to surpass it in all aspects in the future. 

Ailsa herself was still stuck in the mindset that her husband\'s eyes were the greatest treasure ever bestowed by the Heavens, and yet Ryu had already seen its greatest weakness and thought of a method to break past it. The difference was palpable. 

Ailsa had many things she could blame this on, the worst of them probably being her Clan. Despite how free spirited she was and how much she had pushed against the grain, it was inevitable that the thoughts of her father and their Clan would wear her down, whittling much of her individual thought away until all that remained was a poor recreation of what she thought was defiance. 

Her husband was true defiance. Even when he had lost himself in a murky darkness, hating the world for all that it was and wasn\'t, the one thing he had never lost was his will to fight. 

Maybe it was inevitable that a nurturer would lack a sharp edge, maybe it made little to no sense for her to have an edge to her at all…

But she wanted one. 

How could she have one, though? She couldn\'t remember the last time she fought anyone, maybe she was being a bit too selfish. It didn\'t even make much sense, what she didn\'t understand were things that should be studied, why would fighting help her?

Ailsa\'s mind was still undergoing a whirlwind of emotions when Ryu finally opened his eyes. But right then, it was as though nothing had ever been wrong, her smile becoming just as bright as it always was. 

Ryu shifted his neck from side to side, a relief filled cracking filling his body. He felt like he was untouchable at that moment, free and unfettered. 

With a thought, he brought Ailsa and Yaana out from the Incubator. There was no need for them to stay in there constantly. 

"Hm? What\'s wrong?"

Ryu\'s gaze narrowed as he looked toward Ailsa. He looked her up and down. Despite the bright smile on her face, his eyes saw something completely different. 

The state his pupils were in right now didn\'t feel much different than they had in the past. The process toward transcending past the limits of the greatest eyes in existence would be a long and grueling one. It would be no more than a joke if Ryu had had a large breakthrough in that fashion. 

However, the original state of Ryu\'s completely unsealed pupils were more than enough to expose some things. And, with Ryu\'s Dao now completed, it was an even more impossible task. 

Ryu could see the murkiness of the qi surrounding Ailsa. Even if he hadn\'t wanted to see it, he would have still picked up on it. 

With his Dao, Ryu could piece apart a person\'s Karma and look into its flow. There was clearly something wrong with Ailsa\'s own. It was filled with hesitancy, self-doubt, and worry. Even back when Ryu\'s Dao was still incomplete, if Ailsa was for some reason his enemy, she would currently be maybe the easiest target he had ever seen to target. It looked almost as though she only needed a few pokes to completely collapse. 

Ailsa\'s expression flickered when she heard Ryu\'s question and her bright smile waned when she saw through his thoughts. It suddenly became very obvious that she couldn\'t hide such things away from Ryu any longer. 

Ryu wanted to say something else, but his gaze suddenly shifted toward the distance. 

With all the commotion he had caused earlier, it was a wonder that it had taken so long for someone to come and see what was happening. But, when Ryu laid eyes on these individuals, his eyes couldn\'t help but narrow. 

It was a pack of griffins, majestic and pure, completely unlike the impure monstrosities depicted in some folk lore. 

Their snouts somewhat resembled beaks, but they were covered in soft layers of fur. Their foreheads were adorned by gorgeous gems and their feathers were a wise away of shades between vibrant gold and gorgeous browns. 

They didn\'t have the claws of eagles but rather had soft and pliable paws hiding sharp claws within. Their heads were adorned by tall crowns of colorful feathers, making each one of them look like a King and Queen of their own space and world. 

But, what was the most damning were their pupils. An oppressive aura bore down from a simple glance. Even those of their race who hadn\'t awakened their own carried some of its characteristics… The characteristics of the World Pupils, the only pair that could be said to somewhat rival Ryu\'s own. 

However, it was thanks to his own eyes that Ryu realized that these griffins hadn\'t come because of the commotion. Instead, their eyes were completely focused on Little Gem who was taking an adorable nap near Ryu\'s chest, her little tongue licking forward from time to time, only for her little paws to wipe at her snout. 

Ryu\'s gaze turned cold.