"Then what should we do?" Eska asked.
"Well, for now, they probably won't dare to do anything. In fact, it might be even better if you appeared so that they could know that you were also tied to me."
Eska's gaze flickered. The Ryu she knew probably wouldn't do this, but he seemed to be far more flexible now. In the past, he would have directly ignored the existence of Primus and come up with his own plans as though the latter didn't exist.
Eska could sense the hatred Ryu had for Primus, but he still spoke of using him without a care in the world. It was an odd dichotomy that was hard to properly pin down.
Ryu had indeed changed. Half of his Dao was perfect to use in manipulating people and the situation. If he was the Court Minister or a Chancellor of an Empire, he would probably be unstoppable without raising his fist even once. But until now, he had completely ignored this portion of his Dao as though it was worthless. Well, not entirely, he still used it in battle to see through the intentions of people and react accordingly, but this wasn't where its full potential lay.
But now, he didn't care very much about the details. Since Primus wanted to protect him for the sake of fulfilling his Karma, he would have to pay a due price. The death of his grandparents, of Primus' own flesh and blood son... making Primus the public enemy of the Nine Powers wasn't even enough.
This man Primus didn't care about offending such behemoths. He had directly killed a Dao Sovereign of the Fire Giants, a Clan of Demon Kings that stood toe to toe with the Nine Powers, and that didn't even include the Skeleton King he killed right before that. At least the Skeleton King's death was due to adequate reasons, but the Fire Giant was killed for no reason at all.
It was clear that Primus simply didn't care about such things, so what Ryu had brewing for him was far worse.
"Tell me about your legacy, Ryu suddenly said, changing the subject.
"They call it the Twin Twilight Clan. It's a Clan separated into darkness and light, or more accurately, shadow and light."
"A Clan?"
It was the first time Ryu had heard such an interesting name for a Clan. It sounded more like a Sect's name than anything else. The Frost Clan was somewhat similar in this respect, but from Ryu's understanding, that was more so a quirk of the small world they had originally come from rather than an intentional choice like this seemed to be.
"Yes, they named their Clan after their Bloodline and its unique quirk. Their Bloodline only activates when twins are present in the womb. One gains the Shadow aspect, and the other gains the Twilight aspect. Then, together, they can display extraordinary strength."
"Interesting.." Ryu mumbled. "And what's that taboo part? What deviations in their cultivation do they take?"
"There's no precise deviation, the oddity is in how they cultivate in general.
Progression has to be made by both parties."
Ryu raised an eyebrow. He had thought that maybe when one progressed, the other would progress as well, but it seems that he was overthinking? But if this was the case, this sounded more like a chain and ball then it did a benefit. If you had to wait for your counterpart to progress just so that you could progress as well, it would actually slow you down quite considerably. This didn't sound like it was beneficial. but then again, Eska had yet to finish.
"This is a bit of a hindrance, and it was actually a great problem for us in the beginning. My cultivation was technically at the Sky God Realm, while Isemeine's had yet to even cross into the Cosmic Seed Realm at the time. But it was also this that allowed us to restart and lay a firmer foundation.
"While it's a hindrance, it also comes with several benefits. For example, we both advantage from one another's talents. It's akin to having two of everything. Two sets of Meridians, two sets of Spiritual Foundations, two sets of Soul Natures, on and on.
It also allows us to have access to two separate Daos as well, and it allows us to complement one another using them."
Ryu listened carefully, and this sounded great, but honestly it wasn't nearly as amazing as Ryu felt the Unbalance Art and Nine Pillar Flame Sects were. There was something that was missing here.
"... The most important part of the inheritance is the Twin Twilight State. When one becomes the Twilight and the other becomes the Shadow, our talents fuse, creating an entirely new talent. At the same time, our cultivation increases by the sum of its parts. Currently, our cultivation has reached the Transcendent Sky God Realm. When we fuse into one, completely and fully, we approach the Dao Lord Realm."
Ryu's gaze narrowed. It seemed that he had asked and he had received. This was indeed huge. But more so than their cultivation realm, he was more interested in something else...
"Your talents fuse?" Ryu asked.
"Yes, they fuse and become all new talents that sit on a much higher grade than usual. When we fuse our cultivations, we at best gain one Realm. But when we fuse our talents, the changes are much more significant than that. Even the weakest of them are at the Order Grade, and the strongest of them reach the Origin Grade. The best change is in our Dao, though... When it comes together, it reaches the Peak of Ancient Daos. These people are truly not a equal for us, they're just a convenient way to reach the Eighth Heaven."
"I see. " Ryu's gaze flickered. This was indeed a big deal, but he had also thought of something quite important. "... So you and Isemeine...?"
Eska fell into silence for a long while, it was clear that this was something that she had also thought about a lot.
"We've opted to stay together. The benefits we receive now would disappear if we ever separated. We aren't twins, but in our current state, we fare better than even the greatest geniuses of the Twin Twilight Clan. Even without entering the full Twin Twilight State, our battle prowess is naturally at the Omniscient Sky God Realm.
"Only when we've attained all of our objectives might we think about it again... But truthfully, I think we both have gotten quite used to this state."
