Bloodline Tree – [Clan Building]

“Husband, wake up. Wake up.”

Shu Yang opened his tired eyes as he was shaken awake by his excited wife. He glanced out the window and noticed that the first rays of sunlight had just started to show.

“What time is it? Why are you up so early?” Shu Yang asked. He took a closer look and noticed his wife was already dressed.

“Of course, it’s so we can explore the city,” Qianyue said. She was smiling brightly, looking more like an excited little girl than the 36-year-old mother of six that she was.

Shu Yang pinched her cheeks lovingly and smiled, “Alright, I’ll go up. How about the kids?”

“I’ll go wake them up, too. I already have breakfast prepared. It’s in the dining room,”

Qianyue said before hurrying off.

‘Was she looking forward to leaving the village that much? I guess I have to remember to take her for a few more trips in the future.’

Shu Yang got up from his bed and stretched his body. Looking out of the window and seeing a few high-rise buildings in the distance, Shu Yang wasn’t particularly excited. This was Kuo City, and he was very familiar with the sights, having come here many times over the years. But it was the first time he brought Qianyue and the kids.

‘Even if we’re here to have fun and visit Tianyue, I should still make some time to practice my martial arts. I can feel that I’m not far away from reaching the Innate stage.’

Shu Yang was a little slower in advancing than he had first thought. It was simply because he had been so busy ever since Lady Jiangxi told him about the potential upcoming war with the Wen Kingdom five years ago.

A lot of long trips to expand his business further east had delayed his training. But now, most preparations were in place in case something went wrong, and things were finally calming down slightly. He had managed to foster a few competent employees over the years who could do most of the work for him.

“Dad, when are we ready to leave?”

Just as Shu Yang stepped into the courtyard, he heard Tianxu’s voice.

“You two are up this early, too?” Shu Yang asked, looking at his sons Tianhu and Tianxu, who were having a spar in the dim morning light.

Ever since Shu Yang stopped working in the fields himself, he had started getting up much later in the morning. He never knew his two sons still had the habit of rising with the sun.

“We need to practice,” Tianxu said with a nod, “So when are we leaving?”

“What kind of swordsman is so impatient? We’ll leave in a few hours when the sun has risen. Tianyue probably isn’t awake yet, and we’ll go get her before going to buy swords for you two,” Shu Yang said.

“Fine,” Tianxu muttered with a pout and went to spar with his brother again.

Shu Yang shook his head and started his own practice.

As he practiced one move after another, he could feel his muscles and blood give rise to an almost ethereal mist of qi. Shu Yang focused on controlling that mist and moved it along his blood vessels, strengthening his body.

‘It’s almost at the stage where I can collect a complete unit of innate qi. There is no problem with my control, I just need to temper my body a little further, and I should advance.’

Shu Yang could clearly feel the Innate stage was just behind a paper-thin veil. All he needed was to gather his blood and qi to burst through his limits. There shouldn’t be a problem with the bottleneck, he felt that his Bloodline Power and talent were more than enough to handle it. But he didn’t want to rush anything; it was better to make sure his physical body reached its peak before attempting to break through.

After practicing for only half an hour, Shu Yang stopped. He was completely starving, and pushing further wouldn’t yield much more.

He closed his eyes, and focused on the Bloodline Tree hidden deep within his sea of consciousness. It was still only a sapling, but had now grown to about three feet tall.

Through the Bloodline Tree, Shu Yang could clearly feel the power of his bloodline.

[ Bloodline Power: 4.93 (Mortal - Middle) ]

[ Traits: Slight martial arts talent, Clear mind ]

His Bloodline Power had increased a lot over the past five years. A lot of it came from his own advancement from the beginning of the 1st grade to the peak. But the one who had contributed the most was his son Tianzheng. Even if he was only five years old, his Bloodline Power had increased from 1.12 to 2.07, giving Shu Yang a lot of feedback.

Of course, his other children also contributed as they grew up and advanced in martial arts, but even if added all together, they could only barely compete with Tianzheng’s feedback.

‘When I advance to the Innate stage, my Bloodline Power should pass the 5.0 mark. I wonder if that can make my bloodline finally reach the ‘Mortal - High’ grade?’

“Husband, are you coming inside? Do you really have to practice every day?” His wife asked as she stepped outside, pouting slightly.

Shu Yang laughed and hugged her. If she knew her husband was close to becoming an Innate warrior, she would probably think differently.

Shu Yang hadn’t told anyone about his progress. His family probably assumed that he had reached his limit already. A farmer reaching the 1st grade was already amazing enough; no one would believe Shu Yang could actually reach the Innate stage.

“Li Xia is still the only one inside. You boys should learn to relax a little,” Qianyue continued.

Shu Yang turned around and noticed that Tianren, Tianan, and Tianzheng had all stepped outside to train at some point.

“It’s good that they are disciplined,” Shu Yang said, feeling pleased that his sons were all so diligent in their training. “We still have plenty of time. And now that we have a courtyard here in Kuo City, we can visit more often in the future.”

“That’s the future,” Qinayue said, “I can’t enjoy it now. Besides, it’s been so long since I saw Tianyue. I’m worried she might get bullied. She must have woken up by now, so we need to hurry to see her. We can’t let her think that her family has forgotten about her.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll listen to you,” Shu Yang said, understanding that Qianyue was just worried about their daughter.

A few weeks ago, Lady Jiangxi used her connections to get Tianyue a place to work at the County Office here in Kuo City.

At first, Shu Yang had refused. Tianyue was still only 13 years old, and he couldn’t accept her moving away from home so early. No matter how much Tianyue wanted to go, Shu Yang wouldn’t budge.

It wasn’t until Lady Jiangxi spoke up that Shu Yang wavered. She told him that Tianyue was wasting her potential and was being understimulated in Baishu Village. Lady Jiangxi thought Tianyue was more than mature enough to handle some work as an Official. Apparently, it wasn’t rare at all in Martial Families for the children to start stepping out of the home and gain some life experience at that age. Tianyue would need to start early too, unless she wanted to fall behind in the future.

Still, Shu Yang thought it would be better to wait a few years.

In the end, Lady Jiangxi had to reveal that she was a pretty powerful Innate warrior, even if she didn’t look like it. With her staying with Tianyue and looking after her, there wouldn’t be any problems.

After some more deep conversations with his daughter, and considering that Kuo City was only a two-day journey away, Shu Yang finally agreed.

Now, Tianyue had been living with Lady Jiangxi for almost three weeks, and Shu Yang could understand his wife’s longing.

Shu Yang missed her too, of course. But he had already stayed with Tianyue for a few days when she first moved, and then visited once again a week ago.

“Boys, breakfast is getting cold. You can practice more tonight,” Shu Yang called out to his sons, and the family went inside to eat together.

Shu Yang was starving, so he got dug right in. He needed more food than ever now that he was about to advance to the Innate stage.

His sons also had big appetites, and the table filled with dishes gradually emptied.

Shu Yang felt a little guilty that his wife had spent so much effort just for it to disappear within a few minutes. He had tried convincing her that they should hire someone to help around the house, but Qianyue still didn’t want a stranger in her home.

‘Thankfully, Li Xia has moved in and should be able to help out in the future.’

Shu Yang looked at his daughter-in-law across the table, whispering sweet nothings with Tianren. Looking at her slightly bulging belly, he felt content in his heart. It wasn’t as much the thought of a grandchild increasing his bloodline as it was the contentment of seeing his son start a family of his own.

Seeing the next generation entering the world, Shu Yang felt he had done his job as a father.

Of course, the manner in which it happened could have been better. Just like Shu Yang and Ren Qianyue back then, Tianren and Li Xia got pregnant before marriage.

Shu Yang had planned on waiting until they were at least a little older to suggest marriage, but since they couldn’t hold themselves back, they had no choice but to rush through with a wedding in advance.

Luckily, Tianren and Li Xia had been together for many years, and both families knew that they would get married eventually. And considering the Shu family’s growing status, Li Xia’s parents only saw the early pregnancy as a great blessing.

“Look at you all, eating like you’re scared to starve,” Qianyue scolded them, “Leave something for Xia. She has two people to feed.”

“It’s fine,” Li Xia said, waving her hands with a smile, “I’m already full.”

“Nonsense,” Qianyue said, filling her plate with more food.

Shu Yang and his sons looked at each other and smiled wryly. Their places in Qianyue’s heart seemed to have been replaced by her grandchild even before he or she was born.

“Little Zheng is also growing. Eat some more,” Qianyue remembered her youngest son and plated some more food for him as well.

“Aren’t I still growing, Mom?” Tianxu, only 11 years old, asked, “Don’t tell me I’m not going to grow taller than you in the future.”

Qianyue just rolled her eyes at him.

“Alright, if you’re still hungry, we can grab something to eat at a stall on the way,” Shu Yang said, “There will be plenty of food tonight too. I’ve booked a room at a restaurant in the city where we can celebrate Yue’s new career as an Official, as well as your recent advancements.”

In the past few weeks, three of his sons had advanced one after another. Tianren, being the oldest, had just reached the 1st-grade, causing quite a commotion in the village. Shu Yang wasn’t so surprised, though. Tianren had a slight talent for martial arts, so he hadn’t encountered any difficulties in his advancements; it all came to him easily. With the help of the resources Shu Yang provided and Tianren’s own hard work, it was to be expected that he could reach the 1st-grade stage without issues.

The real test would be reaching the Innate stage. Shu Yang knew that Tianren’s talent only gave him a chance; it would be far from as easy as the earlier stages.

Other than Tianren, Tianhu and Tianan both reached the 3rd-grade recently. It was a lot slower than Tianren had been, but they didn’t have the talent, and barely any boost from Shu Yang’s bloodline. Even with the resources Shu Yang brought back from Kuo City, there was only so much that could be done.

‘In the future, when I rise in status and strength, I might be able to get my hands on the truly precious pills. It might still be possible for Tianhu and Tianan to advance to the Innate stage in the future.’

Tianxu wasn’t much to worry about; he was even more talented than Tianren, and he was almost at the 2nd-grade stage at only 11 years old.

‘Even if not all my children can reach far as martial artists, I’ll make sure they can live a good life.’