Bloodline Tree – [Clan Building]

‘I imagined the Black Beast Mountains having a lot rougher terrain, like a shadowy and cold place filled with sharp rocks and thick trees. But I have to admit that this place is kind of lovely.’ Shu Yang thought to himself as he reached the edge of a cliff and looked out over the valley below.

On his way to the Sword School, Shu Yang had decided to enter the Black Beast Mountains further south first. He didn’t see the point in heading straight to the Sword School, as it would take more than a week for him to get there, and he knew that his son wasn’t there. If he had returned, someone should have told him that Shu Yang was looking for him, and he would have returned home by now.

So Shu Yang thought it was better to enter the Black Beast Mountains as fast as he could, and then circle around to the Sword School later. If he was out of luck, and didn’t find any clues about his son’s whereabouts, he could go to the Sword School later and offer up some rewards for clues and employ a few people to help him with the search.

‘But I really didn’t expect not to run into a single person, even after a week of searching. Weren’t the Black Beast Mountains supposed to be full of people these days? Or did I enter at a bad spot?’

Shu Yang shook his head slightly. He would run into someone sooner or later. He had been ready for this journey to take some time.

‘It’s just hard not to worry about Tianhu. If it weren’t for that, I would quite enjoy this. It’s peaceful to be so far away from civilization.’

‘I guess it’s nice to have some time to think, too. Maybe I can improve the Shu family art somewhat during this time. I would really like to have something more advanced to teach Tianyi when she grows up; she has the talent for it, after all.’

Shu Yang had continued collecting martial arts over the years, but he hadn’t gotten his hands on anything better than a high-grade martial art yet, and he didn’t think he could improve the Shu family art much. But now, Shu Yang had finally advanced to the Master stage, and he could look at those martial arts from a new and higher perspective.

‘I can’t waste much time in deducing my next martial art either. It’s probably going to be tricky to figure out how to advance to the Saint stage. I imagine it will take me at least a year. Thankfully, my connection to the Bloodline Tree has improved a lot, otherwise it would be a lot harder.’

Shu Yang didn’t feel like slowing down now that he had advanced; quite the opposite, he was very eager to improve his realm. With his advancement to the Master stage, his Bloodline Power wasn’t far from reaching the 10.0 mark, and Shu Yang was curious to see if that would finally get his bloodline above the mortal level.

But just the birth of a few more grandchildren would hardly affect his Bloodline Power now that it was so high; if he had to rely on feedback to break through the 10.0 mark, it would probably take a long time. The fastest way was definitely improving his realm.

After enjoying the view of the mountains for a moment, Shu Yang continued his journey, running at a quick pace. He really enjoyed the feeling of moving so fast. Since his advancement, his body had improved in all sorts of ways, but the most obvious were strength and speed.

Where there had only been a small wisp of Innate qi after his advancement to the Innate stage, there was now a cloud of it. Advancing to the Master stage didn’t really require anything else but a vast increase in Innate qi, but that was a lot easier said than done. Without his improved talent and Bloodline Power to help him, Shu Yang would surely have injured himself severely trying to advance so quickly.

‘I just don’t see how I can improve further from here. It feels like I can’t fit any more Innate qi inside my heart. No matter how I try, it feels like trying to fill a glass of water that is already on the brink of spilling over.’

‘I guess I need to compress the Innate qi somehow? Either way, I’ll deduce it from the Bloodline Tree soon enough.’

...

A few more days passed, and Shu Yang still hadn’t run into any people, let alone his son.

‘How great would it be if Tianan’s children are born with some kind of tracking trait. That would be incredibly helpful right now.’ Shu Yang thought to himself. But he knew that wasn’t something he could hope for.

‘They should be born soon, though. I wonder if any surprises can appear in Tianan’s family, or if he is destined to only carry on the meager bloodline I had when Tianan was born.’

Shu Yang shook his head slightly, scolding himself internally. ‘I shouldn’t think like that. Does having a worse talent make them less valuable? Qianyue doesn’t have any special bloodline, and is there anyone more important to me than her? As long as they grow up to become decent people, that’s all that matters.’

Shu Yang wiped his mouth from the meal he had just eaten, and packed his belongings to continue his journey.

While he hadn’t run into any people, he had encountered a few beasts along the way. Most avoided him, and Shu Yang didn’t have any reason to fight them, so nothing came from it. But a few hours ago, a large beast had suddenly come tumbling toward him. Shu Yang didn’t know the name of the beast, but it looked like a bear of some sort. It had about the strength of an Innate warrior, but it didn’t have much dexterity. Shu Yang thought even a 1st-grade warrior could have a chance in a fight against it, if they had a sharp weapon and were skilled enough.

Shu Yang obviously dealt with it easily, a small step to the side followed by a powerful punch to its head, and the fight was basically over.

‘Beast meat is truly delicious. And the amount of qi it contains is really something else. If I could feed my family with this kind of food all the time, they would probably advance at incredible speeds. Is this what the Martial Families have for food? I should look into the prospect of hunting in the mountains. Buying it myself is far too expensive for now, unfortunately.’

Shu Yang packed his bag with as much meat as he could carry before setting off again.

After a few hours of running, Shu Yang suddenly came to a stop. He looked to the side, at the stem of a large tree.

‘Did I imagine it?’

Shu Yang focused, squinting his eyes, and suddenly something appeared in front of him. A small black fox the size of a house cat.

‘A beast? It camouflaged itself?’

‘Wait…Did I just use Piercing Gaze?’

Shu Yang didn’t have time to think about it, however. The beast seemed to have noticed that it was discovered, and it jumped to attack, targeting Shu Yang’s throat.

‘So quick!’

Shu Yang wasn’t slow either, though. He reacted immediately, jumping to the side as he threw a punch at the beast mid-air.

The beast couldn’t handle the punch at all and flew back at almost the same speed it had when attacking him, slamming against the tree and sliding down to the ground.

‘That could have been dangerous. I’ve never heard of any beasts hiding in the shadows and launching sneak attacks. Guess I need to be a little more careful going forward.’

Shu Yang ran up to the beast, completely focusing on its movements. Just because it was weak didn’t mean he should be careless.

But just then, the small fox looked up at him. Its eyes were filled with fear and indignation.

‘Wait…’

Shu Yang took a closer look, and it didn’t change. He truly saw emotions swirling behind those eyes. That hadn’t been the case for any of the beasts he had encountered so far.

‘Is it intelligent? I haven’t heard about any beasts like that…Strange.’

Unconsciously, Shu Yang slowly lowered his raised fist. He hesitated for a moment before slowly backing away.

‘Whatever. It seems to be young. There isn’t much meat to eat either. I’ll just let it be. If luck is real, maybe karma is too.’ Shu Yang thought to himself. Deciding to let the beast go despite being attacked. It made him a little uncomfortable to kill something that stared at him with those eyes.

The black fox remained where it was, staring at Shu Yang as he backed away, but it didn’t launch another attack.

After Shu Yang had created some distance, the beast suddenly took off in the opposite direction, escaping.

Shu Yang could just barely follow its agile movements as it scurried off into the distance.

‘What happened with my eyes just then?’ Shu Yang thought, finally having time to process the strange moment where he seemed to have seen through some sort of camouflage and spotted the beast.

‘Did I finally manage to use my trait Piercing Gaze?’

Shu Yang had been trying to figure out the use of that trait for years, but besides seeing clearer and further, there was nothing else. He might have been happy with that, but he could feel that there was a piercing quality to the trait from his connection to the Bloodline Tree, but he couldn’t figure out how it worked.

He couldn’t see through any object at all. Not to mention walls, even a sheet of paper was totally impenetrable to his vision. By this point, he had basically given up trying to figure it out, deciding to wait for his daughter to grow up and hopefully notice something.

But now, there seemed to be something he could finally see through.

‘So I can pierce through the camouflage of beasts? That seems too specific. There has to be some underlying rule…But maybe it’s too obscure for me to figure out. Either way, having discovered one thing I can see through should make it a lot easier to discover the second thing.’

‘With enough examples, I should be able to notice a pattern.’

His mood lifted, Shu Yang continued on his way, thinking that perhaps Piercing Gaze could help him find his son somehow.