Bloodline Tree

“Well, I would love to just banish them. But then it won’t take long before our presence here becomes common knowledge. Do you think the Lishen Emperor will come and root us out before Dad returns?” Tianren asked his family.

“We certainly can’t let them go out and spread word of this place,” His mother said, shaking her head. “Our top priority is to lay low until your father returns.”

Tianren actually agreed. He just didn’t like having to keep those people in their settlement.

“Well, what is there to discuss? We’ll just have to lock them up. It’s not like we can kill them, right?” Tianan questioned.

“For theft? We’re nowhere near that point,” Tianhu said.

“That’s what I’m saying. So we lock them up. I’m sure it won’t be long before Dad gets back; he can decide what to do then,” Tianan said.

‘I guess that’s the only option.’ Tianren thought with a sigh. He didn’t want to waste manpower guarding a couple of thieves.

“So we build a place to keep them in?” Tianyue asked, “We’ll also have to feed them, right? Isn’t that just rewarding them? I’m afraid a lot of other people will start having thoughts if we treat them too well.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment. Tianyue had a point.

The settlement had grown a lot in the past few months. Apparently, the war between the Lishen Empire and the Wen Kingdom had intensified, and the common people were suffering.

It started with the people from Baishu Village, who had at first decided to stay behind, coming over in droves. They knew the Shu Family had a settlement somewhere in the Black Beast Mountains, and with no other option, they came looking for a path to survival.

The people from Baishu Village alone had doubled the settlement's population, and in the past month, that number had doubled once more.

Tianren and his family weren’t ready to take on so many people all at once, and the refugees had to sleep cramped in buildings or outdoors while they all worked on expanding the settlement.

But that wasn’t the biggest issue; food was. His father had prepared a lot of food before leaving, yes. But that didn’t take this large a population into account.

The extended Shu Family could survive for more than a decade with the food they had, but if they started sharing it with everyone, it would run out in just a month. Not to mention that more and more people were constantly arriving.

They had started trying to grow food as soon as they arrived in this place, but the environment was far from optimal. Even after over a decade here, they could only feed about a hundred people from the food they grew themselves.

It was only a matter of time before people became desperate and started committing crime to feed themselves.

“What do we do then? Give them cramped cells? Just to discourage people? Do we give them a public beating?” Tianzheng questioned.

“You feel like beating someone just for trying to feed themselves, feed their family?” Tianren asked. He certainly didn’t want to.

“No,” Tianzheng said, shaking his head with a sigh.

“No matter how harsh a punishment we give them, others will still continue to commit crimes if they don’t have food,” Tianhu said. “You can’t discourage someone enough that they would rather starve. In fact, I doubt banishing them would even reveal our location. They would probably just gather nearby and form a group of bandits and come to rob us from time to time. In the end, our only option is to find more food, or kill everyone we can’t feed.”

“Then…let’s find more food, yes?” Tianan asked.

“Obviously,” Tianren said.

“How?” Tianyue asked.

“We steal it,” Tianren answered.

Tianyue frowned. “We’ll have to become thieves ourselves?”

“How do you think Dad got all the food he brought us? He didn’t exactly grow it,” Tianan said.

“Dad only stole from the wealthy, the ones from the Lishen Empire who caused this mess,” Tianyue said.

“And when the wealthy run out of food, they’ll take from the poor, like the refugees we see here. In the end, it’s all the same,” Their mother interjected. Everyone turned to look at her. She rolled her eyes and continued, “It’s not like it’s a bad thing. Your father stole to feed us, his family. Because he is powerful, he got away with it, unlike the people we have captured. That’s the way the world works, and nothing we do can change it. This isn’t a discussion about morals, either way. We have decided we need to stay here and hide until your father returns. Since we can’t just kill all the refugees, we need to find a way to feed them. The only way is through stealing. It’s that simple.”

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“Right,” Tianren nodded.

“I don’t like it,” Tianyue said with a frown. “I say we let the criminals do the stealing.”

“That’s not a viable solution, unfortunately,” Tianren said. He turned to his younger brother. “Tianhu, Dad had Xiaorong to help him, and those talismans in case things turned for the worst. We can’t be as carefree as him. We have to plan things meticulously, so we can be sure nothing goes wrong. Once we have scouted a location, I suggest you be the one who goes inside. Your senses are the sharpest, you are the strongest, and you can use your sword intent to signal us if you run into trouble so we can rush to join you.”

Tianren would have loved to take on the role himself, as the oldest. But he couldn’t ignore reality; he was too weak.

“That works,” Tianhu agreed.

“Are we all going?” Tianyue asked.

“Only Innate warriors and above,” Tianren answered. “You should keep working on the laws. I heard you started writing everything down?”

“Well, yeah. Just tinkering a bit. I know the Yan Kingdom’s laws by heart, and I thought this place should have some rules too, so I changed them slightly to fit our family rules. I’ll have Dad look it over once he gets back,” Tianyue answered.

“That’s good,” Tianren said, pretty impressed. “We’ll need a more standardized way of doing things now that more and more people are seeking refuge here. I think we should set up an Office of some sort as well. We need people to keep the peace and handle disputes that might crop up.”

“Are we becoming a kingdom?” Tianan asked.

Tianren turned quiet and looked at his siblings. ‘It does seem things are heading that way.’

“Let’s take things one step at a time,” Tianren said.

They stuck around a while longer to discuss everyone’s duties for the coming days. Tianren would be the one to make sure the thieves were punished, and announce that they were going to get food for everyone, so there was no need to panic and turn to thievery just yet.

Hopefully, he should be able to calm things down.

“Dad!” Just as Tianren had left his mother’s, he ran into his son Xinyang, who was approaching him with hurried steps alongside his daughter Xinru.

“What’s the matter?” Tianren asked.

“A group of people just arrived at the gates, they say that some martial warriors among the newly arrived refugees have started collecting protection money,” Xinyang said with a worried frown.

“Apparently, several fights have already broken out between them and another group of martial warriors,” Xinru added.

“Should we head over? If you’re busy, I can handle it on my own,” Xinyang said.

‘One thing after another,’ Tianren thought with a sigh.

“It’s fine. I’ll come along,” Tianren said. “Let’s go take a look.”

The three of them hurried off together.

‘I should ask Tianyue to list a few ground rules. Just the most important stuff. We can’t keep letting people cross the line time and time again. We need to make it perfectly clear what you can and can’t do if you want to stay here’

“What the- Dad, look!” Xinru suddenly called out, pointing to the sky.

Tianren snapped his head up and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

‘What is that thing? Some sort of wagon? How is it flying?’

Tianren thought of something and felt a shiver run down his spine.

“Cultivators! Hurry, run back home and get your mother and siblings. I’ll warn the others. Meet me at grandma’s,” Tianren called out, turning back again.

‘I need to get Tianhu! We can’t let them take away anyone else!’

“Why are you running away? Didn’t you miss me at all?” A girl’s voice sounded from behind, making Tianren come to a sudden halt. He had never heard the voice before, but it still sounded familiar.

Turning around, he saw a young woman jumping down from the wagon in the sky, now much lower in altitude. A gust of wind broke her fall just before she touched the ground.

She put her hands on her hips and looked at Tianren with a big grin. “What? Don’t recognize me?”

‘Tianyi?’ Tianren thought to himself, his mind completely blank. How could he not recognize her? Even if she was older now, it was the face that had kept him up at night more times than he could remember.

‘She’s really alive? She’s back? She’s fine?’

“You scared me half to death, jumping out of the ship like that. How did you do that wind thing?” A man Tianren recognized straight away, his own father, asked as he also came crashing down.

“Grandpa!” Xinyang and Xinru called out in joy.

“You guys don’t recognize me either?” Tianyi questioned, stomping her foot on the ground. “Xinyang, you’ve grown tall now. Do you think you’ve grown so big that you don’t need to greet your aunt? I won’t ask for much; a formal bow every time you see me will do.”

“Tianyi!?” Xinru yelled out in shock, finally recognizing her aunt.

“Xinru!” Tianyi called out with a bright smile, running toward the niece that had once been as close as a sister.

But she didn’t make it. Tianren took a few quick steps and caught her in her arms before she made it to his daughter.

“Tianyi. You’re back. Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I…” Tianren began. He had so much more to say, but couldn’t get the words out, and tears started running down his cheeks.

“Big brother, I’m fine. I’m really strong and really smart now,” Tianyi said. “And…If you cry, I will also…”

Neither of them said another word; they just held each other as they cried.

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