Ryu's vision blurred. When he could finally see again, the wide expanse of a familiar world opened up to him.
Snow covered everything for as far as the eyes could see. Large mountain ranges in the distance were beautifully capped with pristine and unblemished snowfall. And, the skies continuously supplied more of these precious snowflakes.
Ryu had returned to the Moon World.
'Well, at least she was nice enough to help me get to my destination.'
Ryu wasn't enraged by this despite his usual temper for a myriad of reasons. Firstly, he had already expected it. He might be ignorant of how things were going and what the hidden lore and secrets behind it all was, but he wasn't a fool. Why would Sarriel want to share these matters with him after all the effort she put in? She definitely had a method of dealing with the Phoenixes and Martial Gods without him, he had just made things more convenient.
Secondly, Ryu was planning on leaving anyway. The Moon World wasn't a world of benefits that he could ignore. They had already been benefitting from him changing their Fate already. And, just from the few seconds he was here, he could sense that they were on the verge of evolving from the small world they were to a large world.
Once this happened, the cultivation cap here would increase from the Dao Pedestal Realm to maybe even the World Sea or Sky God Realm. But, that was just the tip of the iceberg. The birth of natural treasures that would follow this evolution would be what everyone wanted to get their hands on.
Of course, it had to be understood that this cultivation cap didn't refer to what existences could step foot here. After all, when Ryu came to visit this place with his mother and grandmother, they had already been well beyond the Dao Pedestal Realm. Rather, the level cap represented the peak of what those who remained in this world could achieve.
Simply put, this world didn't have a high enough concentration of high quality qi to allow breakthroughs beyond this cap.
And finally, the third reason Ryu wasn't angry… Was because he had already formulated a backdoor for himself to return. Sarriel would be a bit too naïve to think she could fool his eyes now. Though, this wasn't necessarily her fault, how could she have possibly guessed that Ryu had unsealed all 999?
It was practically impossible to unseal just a few hundred, even relying on all sorts of high class treasures. If not for Ryu stumbling into the truth of Mortal Qi, he would have eventually run into a bottleneck he couldn't break past.
Regardless, Ryu let Sarriel play her little games. He would be back to claim what was his soon enough. Though, something told him that he might not have to go back to run into her again.
Ryu still believed that him running into Sarriel on the Moon World was nothing more than a coincidence. In addition, she didn't accomplish anything important in the fake Nether World either. Or, more accurately, that was what he believed…
Sarriel wouldn't do anything for no reason, so that meant that she had come to the Moon World for a purpose as well, and maybe he would find out what that purpose was very soon.
Ryu blinked, suddenly raising a hand to his eyes. "Oh…?"
'So you finally noticed? It took you long enough. What am I going to do with you?'
Ryu laughed. "I was a bit distracted and the sensation didn't feel too tangible. I'm still getting used to the feeling of having my eyes completely unsealed."
Ryu's eyes were still blazing balls of crackling lightning. From a glance, it didn't even look as though there was anything tangible within, it looked like nothing more than an intangible mass of energy sparking with radiant blue lightning.
'Only you could ignore this level of Talent awakening.'
"What can I say? Your husband is too talented already."
'Oh? But according to Sarriel you aren't worth very much at all.'
"That woman is just feeling a bit inferior. I let her say what she pleases."
Ailsa released a light laughter. She had wanted to reprimand Ryu for daring to flirt with another woman with two of his wives by his side like this, but he was apparently a bit too slick with his words. She had no idea what she would do with this hooligan, she almost missed the much colder Ryu. Her husband in the past would have probably already charged over to teach that woman a lesson.
Suddenly, though, Ailsa remembered that this was sort of her fault. It was she who pushed Sarriel onto Ryu so fervently.
However, as soon as this thought appeared, she shook her head. Accountability? Ridiculous. She was his wife, she had the right to be a bit willful from time to time now.
'This is good, though. Pairing the Lightning God Talent with the Storm Talent will make things far more interesting. It was probably triggered to awaken when it saw you doing something so recklessly dangerous.'
"It was a calculated risk."
'It was reckless!' Both Ailsa and Yaana spoke into Ryu's mind at once, causing him to cough lightly.
"Okay, okay. Let's just test it out, then."
Ryu raised his head to the skies, a sudden rumbling thunder taking place as he activated his Storm Talent for just a moment.
Right then, a thick bolt of blue lightning fell from the skies. However, before it could hit the ground, Ryu's gaze flashed, his hand reaching out and snatching it out of the air.
Just like that, a bolt of lightning danced within Ryu's hand in a controlled fashion, obediently beginning to compress itself more and more.
This was the Lightning God Talent. The Storm Talent allowed one to gather up the rage of the weather, creating a large area of effect attack that could wipe out an entire world…
The Lightning God Talent, though, allowed you to rein that power in, concentrating that wrath into fine and controlled points.
The bolt of lightning in Ryu's hand compressed so much that it became nothing more than a silver needle, even hiding much of its original blue color.
With a flick of his finger, the silver needle shot out. The screeching of space against metal made one's ears bleed as it shot through the skies.
And then…