Primordial Yins all have a different feel to them. But, regardless of what they might be expressed like, they all followed the same set pattern. The first was talent, the second was cultivation, and a tentative third was length of time.

The more talented and higher cultivation a woman had, the stronger her Primordial Yin would be. There was also evidence that this also scaled with the older a woman became, but this had a caveat as well.

A Primordial Yin couldn’t increase indefinitely in strength along with a woman’s age. The prerequisite was that she remained in her prime and didn’t decline.

To someone like Eska, her Primordial Yin had been on the decline for a long while. Such a truth was inevitable. After all, she had died. If this wasn’t considered being past her prime, then nothing would be able to fit this mold.

By comparison, a man’s Primordial Yang wasn’t given out. It was rather retained, but could be used to nurture a partner during intercourse. This nurturing would be especially potent during his first time, but it could be built upon as the man improved to reach such a level again. Until, of course, he too began to decline.

The honest truth was that the reason Ryu saw the delicate frame of a youthful young lady as opposed to the true form Eska had before her death was because Eska’s soul was separate from her body and the body she used to reform herself was filled with life and vitality.

This reality didn’t leave Ryu feeling very perturbed. Quite frankly, he didn’t care. In fact, if Eska was a bit older in her looks, within her middle-ages, he knew himself enough to know that he would probably be even more attracted to that. There was nothing more confident and bordering on arrogance than an older woman.

The only reason Ryu even cared to have these thoughts was because he could feel the decline of Eska’s Primordial Yin first hand. Though it was still far more potent and powerful than Isemeine’s, it was not by the measure one would expect of a Sky God in comparison to a Path Extinction Realm expert.

Ryu wasn’t disappointed by this, though. He still believed that the greatest gift he had gotten from this ‘transaction’ wasn’t this Primordial Yin, but rather the shift in his mentality. And, even if he hadn’t received this shift, this amount of Primordial Yin… was more than enough.

Ryu’s blood churned and circulated, responding especially well to Isemeine’s Primordial Yin. It felt like for every one unit of Isemeine’s Primordial Yin, he received ten units of benefit. Just a simple touch made his body surge, his blood vessels practically glowing with gold.

Ryu’s thoughts inwardly sharpened.

Now that he thought about it, Elena’s Primordial Yin was far better than Ailsa’s had been at chipping away at the latter’s seal. Back then, Ryu had assumed that this was just because the seal was Ailsa’s to begin with. It had already integrated with her, so it was used to countering her energies for a long time already.

In fact, Ryu was certain that it was Elena’s Primordial Yin that triggered the backlash of Ailsa’s seal to begin with, which was why he had been forced to use much of it toward helping undo the rest.

Ryu didn’t know what branch of the Martial God Clan Elena’s supposed father was in. But, if he was from the very same branch as Fidroha, everything would align perfectly.

Fidroha’s Berserk Vital Qi, what was it that it did? Didn’t it remove limits on the body, tapping into a deeper reserve of strength?

The sudden understanding hit Ryu like a tidal wave. Maybe it wasn’t just Elena’s Primordial Yin that caused Ailsa’s change, maybe it was its properties themselves.

‘These Martial Gods… Just where did they come from?’

Ryu felt his Vital Qi swell, the cords of his muscles bulging and whining, only to snap and reform on themselves. It sounded as though steel was breaking and being fused.

It was more than just Ryu’s blood becoming stronger. As his Vessels opened one after another, he felt as though he was integrating with his Bloodlines on a much deeper level.

Ryu’s Vital Qi worked a lot like everyone else’s. His strength used his blood as a foundation while his flesh was secondary.

However, for true Ancestral Beasts, just a simple movement of theirs could crush mountains and dry oceans. This level, though, was something that most of those with beast blood had to forego reaching unless they had special Bone Structures.

For Ryu, this was especially so since his chosen cultivation technique wasn’t related to his Dragon or Qilin blood, but rather his more docile and nurturing Phoenix Blood.

But, as Ryu shattered his Fourth Body Vessel, then his Fifth, and eventually his Sixth, he felt his blood tempering his muscles in a way they never had before as though his body was being broken down and reforged.

The peak strength Ryu should have been able to reach at the Peak of the Vessel Tempering Realm was 500 million jin. This was already 400 million jin more than any other person with strength a half step from Path Extinction Realm power.

Yet, at the moment before stepping into the Blood Tempering Realm, Ryu could clearly feel that his strength was above that. It wasn’t by an exaggerated amount, just at about 550 million jin total, yet such a change was glaring to him.

‘Interesting… I chose the Phoenix Heavenly Body technique before I met Ailsa… Did I make the wrong choice? Is my philosophy toward Body Realm cultivation wrong? Or maybe Isemeine’s Vital Qi is simply that special?’

Somewhere deep inside, Ryu felt that his last guess was the most correct. But if this was the case, then these Martial Gods were even more of a problem than he initially assumed.

He didn’t regret spending all of Elena’s Primordial Yin on Ailsa rather than himself. As far as he was concerned, there was no difference. And, even if there were a difference, it was in that Ailsa could continue to be by his side in exchange for such a sacrifice.

But, the broader implications of this honestly… fear inducing prowess of the Martial Gods stilled Ryu’s heart.

A calmness took hold of his mind and body. Regardless, this was a mountain he would climb.