The Moon World was one of the very few off shore worlds that Ryu's Tatsuya Clan controlled. Or, rather, in this case, his Tatsuya Clan by proxy of his Ice Phoenix Clan. And, yet, it was a world where the greatest cultivator that could be born would be of the mere Dao Pedestal Realm.
It was one thing to invest in a Ninth Order Sect where a Dao Pedestal Ancestor would be the best you could hope to find if said Sect was in your world. However, it was a completely different matter to invest in an entirely separate world. So the question was… Why?
The obvious answer was for resources. Having a large source of lower level resources was important for any Clan or Sect. There was only so much you could find in a single world. Having many subordinates you could pool resources from was ideal for a super power. And, considering the Moon World was a world of extreme yin, it made even more sense that the Ice Phoenix Clan would place such great emphasis on it.
This reason was enough for most to accept. It was even enough for Ryu to accept as well. This was what he had believed for the longest time and he hadn't thought much of it. But, what he didn't know was that there was a deeper underlying reason…
The two Phoenix Clans of the Shrine Plane had been struggling with their Bloodlines for a very long time. It was impossible that Clans that had reached this state wouldn't be doing everything in their power to reverse the tides. In any other situation, both the Ice and Fire Phoenix Clans would have begun to be disrespected and disregarded among the top Clans of the Shrine World. However, it was thanks to their close ties with the Kunan and Tatsuya Clans that they were not. The marriage alliances between these behemoths is what had protected them for so long.
How much longer would such a system have lasted for, though?
After a single marriage alliance, then a union of their grandchildren, how much further was there to go? Would they have to make another marriage alliance? What would happen after Ryu's grandparents passed away? There was always Ryu and his parents which represented all four Bloodlines, but they were all tied to that Tatsuya Clan. Ryu was their scion, his father was their Patriarch and his mother had married into their Clan.
Even if the ties of the Clans would be infinitely close thanks to this, it would also make the Phoenix Clans faintly inferior. Over generations, it might even reach a point where instead of being considered equals, they would be nothing more than subordinates who could only attach themselves at the hip of the Tatsuya.
Things might be fine for one or two generations while their sentiments were still kind and their bones were still strong, but what about after three? Four? Ten? A hundred?
How long would it take for close ties to become rife with disdain? How long before their Bloodlines became second class, only fit to subordinate themselves? How long until they had no right to the Shrines any longer? How long until they were no longer even fit to have a place on the Shrine Plane at all?
These were matters that Ryu had in the back of his mind as well. One of his goals in his first life wasn't just to help his parents become stronger, but it was also to help the Phoenix Clans rise again. It was because of this that he had put so much effort into finding the location of the Death Shrine. He believed that a part of the reason the Ice and Fire Phoenixes were declining was because they were missing their third and final piece, the balance that helped them all to maintain that perfect cycle.
With the Tatsuya Clan, there was always their rival Kunan Clan. The push and pull of Dragons versus Qilins would always keep them in top form. In fact, if not by such a roundabout manner, it would have been impossible for the Qilin and Dragon Bloodlines to merge as they had.
The Phoenix Clans weren't incompetent. They would have tried their best to find a path out of this inevitable end.
It made perfect sense that Ryu wouldn't know anything about their true efforts. He was ultimately the scion of the Tatsuya Clan. He was two generations removed from exceptionally close ties with the Ice and Fire Phoenix Clans and both of the individuals that gave him his strongest connections with them—his grandmothers—had married into other Clans.
Though Ryu's grandmothers still wielded great power over their Clans, out of respect for certain proprieties, they could only remain silent about many things. It was in part due to this that Ryu's Grandma Kunan was so shocked that Ryu had actually been trying to help by finding the Death Shrine and clues about the Dark Phoenixes.
By now, it was all too obvious. The Moon World was the resting place of the final bouts of strength the Ice Phoenix Clan had left. In fact, it was a land that the Fire Phoenixes had placed great emphasis in as well.
Ryu had never known why this was. Even after he gained the treasures of the Ice Phoenix Clan and learned of the importance they placed on this world, he still hadn't had any clue. That was… Until he saw these floating islands and the secrets that lay beneath them.
Now that Ryu thought about it, why was it that his mother would take him traveling to this world of all places? It seemed like any normal trip he might usually take with this father, just another important lesson in their subordinate Clans and territories. But…
The Clans his father brought him to were subordinate to the Tatsuya Clan. He was the scion of the Tatsuya Clan. It was his responsibility to look over them once his father retired to focus on his cultivation. However… What did the Moon World have to do with him?
Now it all made sense. Ryu had thought that his people were too incompetent. The Martial Gods had only been here a fraction of the time and yet they had already learned of the Chaos Plane, so what had they been doing for all these trillions of years? There was only so much that he could accomplish in a thousand years, he couldn't possibly dip his foot in every pot and without an ability to cultivate and a deep understanding of the world's qi, he wouldn't have been able to deduce the existence of this plane either.
So it turned out that things were like this. Finally… Finally it felt like they were one step ahead of the Martial Gods.
What did the Awoken Moon Sect represent? Well, when you found a world that was such a great treasure, wouldn't you find a way to protect it?
"It seems I'm going to have to cut off your fun a bit early." Ryu spoke to Ailsa.
Ailsa pouted, her lips pursing. She was definitely still having fun. But, in that moment, her figure suddenly swayed.
Ryu reached out and caught her waist before she fell. "Look at you, you're already on the verge of collapse. You're too stubborn, you could have relied on my soul at least a small bit. Even if you want to fight, why do you have to do it on your own if I'm here?"
Ailsa still stubbornly pursed her lips, but her eyes flickered with an undisguised warmth. It did feel comfortable being in her husband's arms like this.
In the skies, the Ice Queen suddenly found itself shattered from all sides, its figure flickering in and out of existence. The raging attacks of the Griffins and Martial Gods had become more frantic under the assault of the cold. They could feel that if things continued like this, they would end up dying, their bodies frozen over completely outside of their control.
"It seems that it's time to end this." Ryu said lightly.
He entrusted Ailsa to Yaana and the safety of them both to Ryza. With a step, he appeared above the Awoken Moon Sect, the shimmering light of its moon reflecting in his irises.
Ryu could see it quite well. The complex runes that made up this Moon reminded him a lot of what he had seen in the Silver Star Visualization. But, aside from a slight similarity, they couldn't be compared in complexity at all. The difference was akin to Heaven and Earth.
Still, when Ryu laid eyes on it, he couldn't help but exhale a long breath. If he wanted to reveal all the secrets of this Moon, even with his current eyes, it would take him several months at least. He could imagine how many billions to trillions of years his Ice Phoenix Clan had put into this plan…
He stood above it, his smile curving.
'This probably means that this was Sarriel's real goal, hm? I have to hand it to her. To manage to put these pieces together before I could, she's quite the clever woman.'
Ryu's head suddenly snapped in a particular direction. It was subtle, but the air in the region rippled almost imperceptibly. Unfortunately, it wasn't subtle enough to escape Ryu's detection.
A grin spread across his face, his lips mouthing several words before he waved.
BANG!
The entire Moon World quaked, its very foundations suddenly falling under Ryu's control… And just like that, Ryu kicked everyone he didn't want to be here out.
…
Sarriel stood in the depths of space in a daze, her haughty expression finally giving way to a different sort of emotion…
Bafflement.
And then, she roared into the skies.
"That son of a bitch, I'm going to kill him!"