Ryu's Spiritual Sense kept observing his mother. Though it wasn't nearly as good as his <Third Perspective>, it was still far sharper than even he expected. Still, to him, it was akin to going from being able to view the world through his own eyes, to now being stuck looking at it through a pitiful camera.
He couldn't see nearly as far and the image wasn't nearly as sharp. It even took him several seconds to be able to conclude that his mother's vitality had been harmed, she wasn't like this naturally.
He knew that he hadn't left his mother long enough for her to age like this, but there was no telling what sort of time warps she had experienced. Plus, he wasn't exactly sure how many years it had taken his body to reform itself either. Everything had been a blur during that time and his mind was in limbo. It was difficult to even think straight, let alone grasp any concept of time.
The luck of it was that he was supposed to bask in the feeling of rebirth.
Ryu had felt that the awakening of this talent was a bit odd, though. It didn't feel how it was supposed to. He couldn't sense a process toward another rebirth at all. It was as though this was the only one he would get.
Considering the fact this wasn't exactly unheard of, Ryu could accept it. But, there was a nagging feeling that he was missing something.
When the Nine Lives Talent was awakened, one could gain three, six or nine lives. Ryu could barely accept that he only gained one because he was human and this was a Talent that transcended beyond normal Talents.
But, that nagging feeling didn't disappear.
That was when Ryu thought of another problem. 999 years wasn't too long in the grand scheme of things, but the activation of the Nine Lives Talent shouldn't have taken so long. Although it wasn't an instantaneous process, it also wasn't so long either.
"Mother, what happened?"
Himari's smile didn't falter. "It's only a small price to pay. Why are you worried about such things? Do you not trust your mother's talent, I'll just break through again."
Ryu's brows furrowed. Breaking through while your vitality was depleted was hundreds of times more difficult than initially. And, his mother's words seemed to imply that her cultivation had fallen. That was an even worse fate, though not as difficult as re-comprehending something, it was still a tall mountain to climb.
It was only at that moment that Ryu realized that his cultivation had fallen as well.
'What the hell?'
Ryu's gaze flickered. His cultivation hadn't fallen far. He had gone from the Path Extinction Realm back down to the pinnacle of the Immortal Ring Realm.
He hadn't even noticed because his aura was far stronger than it had been in the past, but the result of this happening was his comprehensions once again falling back to the Ruler Realm.
How often would he have to go through this?! It was already such a ridiculous mountain to climb before, but now?!
While Ryu was a bit frustrated by the change to his comprehensions, he suddenly realized that his odd fist comprehension had actually evolved.
With a thought, he seemed to become a towering, unmovable mountain.
His and his mother's hair fluttered. If it wasn't for Himari's strength, she would have been sent flying, completely unable to stop herself until she had traveled at least several hundred miles.
'This… Shrine Mountain?'
Ryu's brows shot up.
Himari's smile deepened.
"Come, let's go see your grandpa."
Himari's gaze flickered with a hint of sadness. But, Ryu's senses were no longer sharp enough to catch it.
Still, he didn't need to see it to know how his mother must be feeling. He wanted to ask where Elena had gone, but he refrained from doing so.
With a step, the pair had vanished.
"Elena left after she was certain that you would wake up," Himari said lightly.
She knew her son too well to not be able to read his expressions like a book. Grown man or not, he was still her baby. It was all too easy for her to do this.
Ryu's expression flickered. "What did she say?"
"She said that it's because she neglected her strength that this happened."
Though the words were simple, to Ryu they were endlessly profound.
He knew his wife well. At a moment like this, she was feeling embarrassed. Even if she wouldn't say it in so many words because she knew that Ryu would reprimand her like he usually would, this was the truth.
Because of her family, Ryu had suffered again and again. And in the end, he had almost died, while much of his family really had crossed over that line of no return.
She had purposely remained ignorant to many things so that she didn't have to deal with them. And, because her supposed father doted on her so much, she had been allowed to do it. She never put much effort into her cultivation and she neglected her bloodline, she did practically everything to distance herself, even to the point of trying to drag down Ryu to wallow in her own mediocrity along with her.
By her age, in the Deity Race, she should have long since become a Sky God. But, she had only recently entered the World Sea Realm, and even that was because she didn't have much of a choice, her cultivation increased just by her eating and sleeping. She didn't even try to comprehend anything, but their truths just popped up in her mind.
She didn't want to face Ryu right now.
Maybe if she had wielded more power, more influence, she could have stopped these things from ever happening. If she used her talent properly, maybe her mother and grandmother could have relied on her instead of going so far to harm a world that wasn't their own.
Ultimately, she realized that Ryu was correct.
Ryu snapped out of his thoughts as his mother handed him a spatial ring.
He swept his senses into it, and when he saw what was inside, his lip couldn't help but twitch.
The spatial ring was small, only about five by five by five meters. Floating motes of low gold light fluttered around like butterflies and in the very center there was an enormous bed covered in rose petals.
It looked like a luxury hotel for vacationing couples on their honeymoon.
This alone would have been enough for Ryu to get the message, but Elena wasn't one to complete these by half measures.
There was a pair of pink lace panties on the edge of the bed. Though it was neatly arranged, Ryu could instantly tell it was worn because the natural state of a spatial ring was to preserve… Food wouldn't go bad and water wouldn't evaporate… And, in this case, the pair of panties had a faint moistness still clear for Ryu to see.
Elena had definitely worn them before.
If Ryu didn't get the message before, he would definitely get it by now. But, apparently to Elena, this was still a half measure.
On the rest of the large bed, dozens of crystal jades lay. Ryu swept his gaze over one of them only to be assaulted by hundreds of nudes.
He quickly pulled his mind back before his Bloodlines started acting up with his mother right by his side, but it was still too late to stop him from flushing red.
Were those videos in there too?!
Himari raised an eyebrow but eventually smiled and shook her head.
"Kids."
Ryu cleared his throat, shaking his head before glancing into the ring again. He eventually found a letter that began with a very large number. The number was written in bold font right at the header as though Elena wanted to make sure he saw it.
Right below it was another enormous number.
And then another.
Then, there were his wife's words.
"The first number is the number of times I thought of you."
"The second number is the number of times I thought of our first night together.
"The third number is the number of times those thoughts led to the… situations you can browse through in those memory jades. Don't make a noble lady like me spell it out for you hubby, I'm already embarrassed just writing this."
Ryu's lip twitched. This was you embarrassed? What did you look like when you were being shameless, exactly?
She had really so boldly handed such a thing to his mother! What if she had looked?!
"You had better enjoy them all thoroughly, I put it all together for you. I need you prepared and ready for when we meet again, but this young wife here has waited long enough. I want to…"
A long string of obscenities Ryu had to pull his mind back from reading again ensued.
Ryu couldn't help but burst into an uproarious laughter.
This was his Elena.