When comparing the two, Joel was the superior of the two in terms of comprehension, having completely fused five Profound Mysteries of the Laws of Lightning, whilst Yulana had only completed around 10% of her fifth fusion, and Joel's concept-infused weapon art had reached the peak of the Full God realm whilst Yulana was somewhere in the middle stages of the same realm.
Still, after successfully completing her bloodline infusion, Yulana wasn't the same woman she was before.
Not only did she have the physical abilities of a humanoid Apex Divine Beast, but her Innate Ability allowed her to infuse her own blood with her water-type divine power to increase its might ten times over, and her Divine Ability, Blood Domain, created a domain which enabled her to manipulate the blood essence of her target by either suppressing all the abilities tied to their bloodline – minus the physical power of their bodies – or, more incredibly, transferring it from one person to another.
As it stood, Yulana was the stronger of the duo. Still, when she saw the look in Joel's eyes, she didn't fight him on his decision.
Originally, back when they all first joined the Yin-Yang Pavilion, Joel had been second only to Ace. Then, over time, whether it was Amira, Killian, or even Kannal, one by one, he was surpassed by each of them.
Still, he had always been stronger than her, something that had been incredibly important to him as her husband, but now…
Although he was happy for her having gained such an incredible opportunity, it left him with a sour taste in his mouth.
Ever since Yulana first began accepting her new bloodline, Joel dove headfirst into his training, pushing himself harder than ever. And in his eyes, he saw this Asura as just another whetstone.
Yulana silently watched as her husband was gradually suppressed by the Asura. Although he was by far the more skilled of the two, the difference in raw power was a little too much for him to deal with.
Still, she didn't jump to his rescue; she just patiently watched with her fists balled together tightly.
Thankfully, even though not quite on the level of Ace, Joel was still a genius amongst geniuses, but more importantly, he was unyielding and firm in spirit.
He didn't care that he was being suppressed more and more over time; he just continued fighting with all his power, and eventually, he was rewarded with a pair of simultaneous breakthroughs.
Not only did his [Storm Wielding Sabre Art] breakthrough to the Highgod level, but he also began fusing his sixth Profound Mystery with the other five. Although it was barely even 1%, the leap in power it provided was enough to completely suppress his opponent.
But just before he could go in for the kill, Yulana stopped him. She told him that there was something she wanted to try first.
It was right then that the image of Khelissa's face appeared in the sky to her rear, her eyes glowing crimson as a sphere of blood enveloped her, Joel, and the half-dead Asura.
Joel watched in surprise as the blood was drained from the Asura and condensed into a single drop of almost black blood before flying directly into his chest.
Even in his injured state, Joel was more than capable of dodging, but he trusted his wife implicitly; he knew she would never do something that would harm him. Plus, he had an idea of what she wanted to do, and it excited him to no end.
Yulana watched as her husband's body began convulsing in pain as it was enveloped in a cocoon of blood.
At the same time, Khelissa told her disciple that she still needed more practice using the bloodline transference technique as she had wasted part of the blood essence of the Asura. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to decrease the finished product by a noticeable amount, but for a first attempt, it wasn't bad.
Before Yulana could respond, though, two Sovereigns suddenly appeared in the sky – Wodred and Shinji.
Wodred appeared because the Asura had just died due to having his blood transferred. He was actually his emissary, and he sensed his death.
Shinji came because he sensed the battle between two commanders happening in his Starmist Sea. Usually, he wouldn't care about battles at that level, but when he saw Yulana perform the bloodline transference technique, he realised that she was a Vampire Lord – a race that hadn't been seen since the sudden and mysterious death of Khelissa many years ago.
If it were a few decades ago, before he was reunited with his long-lost son, he wouldn't have cared much, but after his son returned to him, with his bloodline having weakened drastically by the hasty pregnancy before his wife died, he saw this new Vampire as his son's hope to improving his bloodline; as such, he didn't care what he had to do, he was going to bring the Vampire with him.
Wodred, though not inspired by the same thing, was also interested in Yulana after realising she was a Vampire Lord.
Shinji, determined to get his way, explained that as the Sovereign in charge of the Starmist Sea, what happens there was for him to decide; as such, Yulana would be coming with him.
Still, Wodred reminded him that not only was he the Chief Sovereign who ruled over the entire Infernal Realm, but the person they killed and stole his bloodline from was his Emissary.
Shinji didn't know how to respond immediately, but as he saw Wodred victoriously levitate Yulana and Joel – in his blood cocoon – over to his side, an idea suddenly came to his head.
He decided to go for broke and say that Yulana and Joel were actually related to his son and his friends. They all came from the same place, and he was just here to pick them up.
Wodred didn't believe him, especially as if it were true he would've said so at the beginning, but he also knew it wasn't impossible either; after all, Supreme Geniuses didn't just grow on trees, for there to be two more that he hadn't heard of suddenly appear in his Infernal Realm… It made sense that they were also from the Yulan Plane.
Still, unless he knew for sure, he wasn't willing to give up; as such, Wodred focused on Yulana and asked if he knew Shinji's son.
Shinji knew it was a long shot, but he still shouted out that his son's name was Wukong, and he was from the Yin-Yang Pavilion of the Yulan Plane.
At first, Yulana remained perfectly silent, not wanting to make a sound for fear of angering either of the two Sovereigns, but when she heard Wodred's question, her brows furrowed as she internally rolled her eyes sarcastically thinking, "How would she possibly know the son of a Sovereign personally."
All she wanted was to find a way to get out of this mess without angering either of the two powerhouses when she heard Shinji explain who his son was, causing Yulana's eyes to light up immediately.
She may not have seen him in well over a thousand years, nor did she know anything about him having a Sovereign for a father, but Wukong wasn't someone she would ever forget, and more importantly, there was only one Wukong from the Yulan Plane's Yin-Yang Pavilion.
She immediately confirmed that she did know Wukong, and that Wukong was once their instructor and could even be counted as her husband's teacher.
Shinji wanted to roar with laughter, but he maintained his perfect poker face as though this was bound to happen from the very beginning.
Wodred couldn't help but look deeply at Yulana and the blood cocoon once more before leaving. He had no idea why so many incredible geniuses were popping up in the Yulan Plane – if not for the fact that it was impossible for Sovereigns to descend into a Material Plane that they weren't originally born from, he would be tempted to go there and visit it himself; unfortunately, that was impossible.
Still, it didn't matter too much to him. Although it was disappointing that he not only lost such a promising Emissary and was denied two others, it didn't mean too much to him. After all, to Sovereigns, Supreme Geniuses were impressive, but they didn't mean much to them; even if they became paragons, they still weren't able to threaten Sovereigns; at most, they were just stronger henchmen to use if needed.
It was only when Wodred finally left that Shinji let out his sigh of relief. Even though he was one of, if not the strongest of the various Intermediate Sovereigns and was no weaker than the average Chief Sovereign who hadn't become a paragon, in front of Wodred, he was still incredibly weak.
Had Wodred been determined to take Yulana back, even by the use of force, Shinji would've had to just let it happen, but that hadn't happened.
Instead, with Yulana's help, he could finally fix Wukong's bloodline and make him a true Violet-Eyed Battle Ape.
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