Ryven teleported directly into the Strathor family estate, appearing in the courtyard of their main compound. The family's territory sprawled across several hundred acres, housing not just the immediate Strathor bloodline but also their branch families, servants, and cultivation facilities.
The Strathor clan was considered one of the more successful cultivation families in their region, though they were far from the most powerful. Their strength lay in their business acumen and careful resource management rather than overwhelming individual power.
At the peak of their hierarchy was Patriarch Marcus Strathor, Ryven's grandfather, who had reached Unity Realm before departing for the ancient battlefield three years ago. His quest for breakthrough opportunities to the Law Realm had taken him to one of the galaxy's most dangerous cultivation grounds, where only the strongest dared to hunt for advancement resources.
Below him in the family structure were five Unity Realm elders, including Ryven's father David. The family also boasted twelve Soul Realm experts who handled most of the day-to-day leadership responsibilities and business operations. These numbers made the Strathors a respectable mid-tier cultivation family, though certainly not among the galactic elite.
Ryven made his way through the compound toward his parents' private mansion, noting how the origin chaos exposure had enhanced everything. The spiritual energy density was noticeably higher, the cultivation gardens were more vibrant, and he could sense that several family members had experienced breakthrough advances in the past day.
As he approached the elegant three-story building where his parents lived, Ryven was surprised to see lights on in the main hall despite the early hour. His enhanced senses detected both his parents inside, apparently in the middle of an important conversation.
He knocked and entered without ceremony, as was normal for family interactions. "Good morning, Mom, Dad."
David and Elena Strathor looked up from their tea with expressions of shock and confusion.
"Ryven? How are you here?" David asked, rising from his chair. "I didn't receive any notification about portal usage. The monitoring systems should have alerted me if you returned from Tianxing."
Elena moved to embrace her son, but paused as she got closer. Her Soul Realm cultivation allowed her to sense the dramatic changes in his spiritual signature. "Your aura... it's completely different from when you left."
"Mom, Dad, please sit," Ryven said, gently guiding them back to their seats. "What I'm about to tell you, don't overreact."
The next hour was spent recounting his incredible journey. Ryven explained the inheritance discovery, his breakthrough to the Infinite Seed Foundation, the origin chaos descent, and his rapid advancement through multiple cultivation realms. He showed them samples of the beast cores and treasures he'd collected, demonstrated his space law mastery by creating small dimensional rifts, and carefully revealed the scope of his transformation.
Throughout his explanation, David and Elena listened with calm attention that surprised Ryven. He had expected shock, disbelief, maybe even fear at the revelation that he had accidentally transformed two entire planets. Instead, they seemed almost... unsurprised.
"Why aren't you guys surprised?" Ryven finally asked, noticing their lack of dramatic reaction. "I just told you I caused worldwide cultivation breakthroughs and drained 37% of both planets' spiritual energy."
David and Elena exchanged meaningful glances before Elena spoke. "Well, we kind of had an inkling something like this might happen eventually."
"What do you mean?"
"Let us tell you a story," David said, settling back in his chair with the air of someone about to reveal long-held secrets. "When you were born, there was a serious problem. You were always in pain, constantly crying, and no healer could determine what was wrong."
Elena nodded, her expression growing sad with remembered worry. "Normal babies sleep and eat and grow. You barely slept, refused most food, and seemed to be fighting some internal battle we couldn't see or understand."
"When your grandfather examined you with his Unity Realm spiritual senses, he discovered something he'd never encountered before," David continued. "There was a constant battle happening between your bloodline and physique. Two incredibly powerful forces were fighting each other inside your tiny body, and the conflict was tearing you apart."
Ryven listened with growing amazement as the pieces of his childhood began making sense.
"Grandfather tried everything he could think of," Elena said. "He consulted ancient texts, contacted experts from other families, even reached out to some of his Law Realm acquaintances. No one had seen anything like your condition."
"Finally, he made a desperate decision," David said. "He used his Unity Realm power to block some of your meridians, cutting off the energy sources that were fueling the bloodline conflict. It was the only way to stop the battle from killing you."
"The meridian blocks worked," Elena added, "but they also prevented you from cultivating normally. Grandfather knew this would make you appear talentless compared to other children, but it was the only way to save your life."
David reached into a storage device and withdrew an ancient-looking scroll. "After stabilizing your condition, Grandfather told us something that seemed impossible at the time. He said you weren't just suffering from conflicting bloodlines - you were the 'fated one' mentioned in an ancient prophecy he'd encountered."
"What prophecy?" Ryven asked, though he was beginning to suspect the answer.
"During one of his exploration missions to a secret realm, Grandfather encountered a higher being - some kind of ancient entity that existed before normal cultivation rules were established," Elena explained. "This being gave him a wooden box containing a pill and sword, along with specific instructions."
David unrolled the scroll, revealing notes in his grandfather's handwriting. "The being said, 'The fated one shall come to receive it. When the time comes, he'll find it. The inheritance will recognize him, and finally, the truth will be revealed.'"
"The pill and sword were resonating with you even as a baby," Elena said. "But Grandfather realized the pill's effects would be too much for a child to survive. So he hid the box somewhere in the old building and sealed it with formations that would only respond to the right person at the right time."
Ryven sat in stunned silence, processing the revelation that his entire childhood struggle had been orchestrated by forces beyond normal understanding. His grandfather had known about his dual inheritance before Ryven was even old enough to walk.
"So you knew I would eventually find the inheritance?" he asked.
"We suspected," David replied. "Grandfather was very specific that we shouldn't tell you about any of this unless you discovered the inheritance naturally. He said forced knowledge would interfere with the awakening process."
"But when the planetary transformations began yesterday, we knew it had finally happened," Elena added. "The scale of spiritual disturbance matched what Grandfather predicted would occur when your bloodlines finally harmonized."
Ryven leaned back in his chair, overwhelmed by the implications. His entire life had been shaped by prophecy and careful manipulation by forces he was only beginning to understand. The mysterious higher being, his grandfather's preparations, even the timing of his inheritance discovery - none of it had been coincidence.
"I need to talk to Grandfather," he said finally. "There are too many questions about this secret realm and the being who gave him the inheritance."
"He's been at the ancient battlefield for three years now," David said. "Communication is impossible from that distance, and the battlefield itself blocks most long-range techniques. We won't hear from him until he returns or..."
"Or he doesn't return," Elena finished quietly.
The ancient battlefield was legendary for claiming even Unity Realm experts who ventured too deep in search of advancement opportunities. Many cultivators entered seeking breakthrough resources, but few emerged unchanged, and some never emerged at all.
"When I'm strong enough, I'll go find him," Ryven decided. "But first, I need to continue my advancement and learn more about the inheritance I've received."
As the morning progressed, they discussed practical matters - how to explain Ryven's transformation to the rest of the family, what resources he needed for continued cultivation, and the political implications of his newfound power.
The Strathor family's position in the cultivation world was about to change dramatically, and they all understood that careful planning would be necessary to navigate the challenges ahead. But for now, they were simply a family reunited, sharing secrets that had been hidden for nineteen years and preparing for a future that promised to be far more extraordinary than any of them had imagined.