Bloodline Tree

‘Did everyone get moved into the inheritance site somehow?’

Shu Yang looked around, but the pale blue formation blocked most of his vision.

‘Who was the idiot who said that this was the inheritance left behind by a Foundation cultivator? This isn’t something a Foundation cultivator could set up!’

Shu Yang had only dared to take part in the competition for the inheritance because he thought there wouldn’t be much danger. But if the one who set it up was a Golden Core cultivator, the danger to his life was very real.

‘Damn! What am I supposed to do?’

Shu Yang took a few deep breaths, calming down. He knew that some inheritance sites were dangerous, where you would either succeed or die. But that wasn’t very common. In most cases, even the ones who failed still left with their lives intact.

‘Let’s just try to get through this.’

He carefully touched the formation blocking him from the outside world. It felt solid.

‘Do I need to solve the formation to get out? I don’t know anything about formations.’

Shu Yang carefully thought about his options for a while before deciding there was only one path forward.

He coiled his fist and punched the formation with all his strength.

To his great relief, the formation easily broke down from the impact, and Shu Yang was free again.

‘Good! There is hope.’

‘I guess these formations can’t be too strong, or no one below the Golden Core stage would be able to solve it.’

He looked around and saw that he was alone inside a long tunnel. A few glowing rocks lit up the way forward. Behind was only darkness.

‘I guess I’ll follow the path set out for me.’

He took off in the direction that was lit up, carefully sensing his surroundings. He didn’t dare go too fast in case he triggered a trap or something.

After a few hundred feet, another formation blocked his path. It looked the same as the one that had trapped him.

Still, he carefully touched it and gave it a moment's thought before punching through it. He couldn’t afford to be careless in this situation.

‘Nothing seems off as far as I can tell.’

Shu Yang didn’t really have any other options, so he punched through the formation, and once again, it easily broke down.

‘If this is all there is to this trial, I’ll be greatly thankful.’

Another formation once again blocked his path a few hundred feet further down the tunnel. Shu Yang went through the same procedure, but didn’t notice anything different.

He raised his arm and punched the formation, but this time, it withstood the impact.

Shu Yang jumped back slightly; his fist almost felt like it got stuck in the formation when he punched it.

‘It’s different.’

Looking at it, Shu Yang couldn’t tell, but it behaved very strangely. It felt like punching cotton.

He frowned, and once again attacked it, really using his all.

But once again, his fist was just swallowed up, stretching the formation like some kind of glue.

‘Damn. It can even withstand a Foundation body cultivator? How is anyone supposed to get past it? Do you really need to be a formation master?’

Shu Yang walked up to it, scrutinizing it closely.

Suddenly, his vision blurred, and he saw the tunnel behind it.

‘That’s right! Piercing Gaze.’

But Shu Yang’s joy was short-lived. Even if he could see through the formation, it didn’t help in the current situation.

‘Maybe if I activate my Bloodline Ability?’

His Piercing Gaze trait was always there in a somewhat passive state, which is how he could see things others couldn’t, like Xiaorong when she didn’t hide very deeply.

But it was nothing compared to how well he could see if he activated his Bloodline Ability. Not even Xiaorong, with her incredible bloodline, could always hide from him then.

They had been playing around with it a bit in the past. Xiaorong would hide, and Shu Yang would try to spot her. It was a good way for both of them to get practice.

‘Still, piercing this formation with…Wait!’

Shu Yang almost slapped himself, feeling stupid.

He unsheathed his sword, and focused on the formation in front of him.

‘I can’t always think of solving things with my body cultivation; I have a Sword Bone now, for crying out loud.’

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Shu Yang closed his eyes and resonated slightly with the bone in his forearm. He was lulled into a clear state of mind where only his insights about swordsmanship were allowed.

He opened his eyes and slashed his sword, unleashing the full power of his sword intent.

With a crack, the formation in front of him was cleaved in two and collapsed on itself.

‘Good. It worked.’

His son Tianhu had talked about how his way of thinking had needed to change when he fought the cultivators. Their talismans had blocked Tianhu’s sword intent, forcing Tianhu to break through his limits and bypass them.

Shu Yang was worried the formation in front of him would require a more advanced sword intent, but luckily, that didn’t seem to be the case.

He continued walking down the tunnel and couldn’t help but think of the thousands of cultivators who were probably in the same situation as he was. How many of them could make their way through? And what would happen if they failed?

‘I wonder how Xiaorong is doing?’

He was worried about her, but he knew she wouldn’t be completely out of her element against these formations. With her abilities, she should be able to clear the formations Shu Yang had just passed, at least.

Shu Yang continued down the tunnel, wondering just how many of these were left.

‘Who set this all up? Are there truly thousands of these tunnels?’

A few hundred feet further, Shu Yang was once again blocked by a formation. But this time, he noticed something was off straight away.

‘That’s…what’s going on?’

He couldn’t help but doubt his senses.

He shook his head slightly and approached the formation.

‘No. This is a dead end. What’s going on?’

Looking around, he noticed that the wall of the tunnel next to him was strange.

‘It’s…some kind of illusion?’

The formation in front of him looked the same as the others, but behind it, there was no further path. To his right, however, the tunnel continued on behind the rocky wall.

‘It’s so thin, though. Is it just a mirage?’

Shu Yang stepped up to the tunnel wall and put his hand against it. His hand just passed right on through.

‘Neat. I wonder how many people will be caught in this step.’

Shu Yang stepped through the wall, and appeared in a similar tunnel on the other side. The same glowing rocks lit up his path forward.

‘Please let this be the last one. If a test comes that actually needs you to know formations, I’m done for.’

Shu Yang continued walking down the tunnel. This time, the tunnel kept going on and on, and no new formation appeared to block his path.

‘Is it over?’

Shu Yang kept walking forward carefully, but nothing happened.

Eventually, he started feeling that something was wrong.

‘I must have walked for miles already. Something is off.’

Shu Yang looked up and down the tunnel, thinking.

‘Maybe it’s just a bit further this time.’

Shu Yang hurried his pace slightly, continuing forward. But no matter how far he ran, the tunnel never changed.

Shu Yang came to a stop and frowned. ‘Am I running in circles? Is it another illusion?’

He looked around but couldn’t spot anything. The walls of the tunnels were solid and felt real when he touched them.

Shu Yang had an idea, so he took out one of the books he had finished reading from his storage ring and tore out a page. He crumbled it and put it on the ground.

After a few steps, he repeated his actions.

‘I refuse to believe this tunnel runs for dozens of miles straight. I have to be looping around somewhere.’

He picked up his pace, tearing out pages and dropping them as he went.

A minute passed. Then another.

After almost an hour had gone by, Shu Yang stopped.

‘Damn, I don’t have so many books to use. What is going on here? It can’t possibly be a straight tunnel.’

Shu Yang had been moving fast, and he should have covered almost 50 miles since he started tearing pages.

He sighed and put away his torn-out book.

‘Guess that won’t work. I’ll have to use my Bloodline Ability.’

He had been a bit reluctant to use it, since it was his best trump card in this place, and he didn’t want to waste it. But now, there was no other choice.

Shu Yang activated the power in his bloodline, and his eyes suddenly pierced through all obstacles.

‘Damn, I’m not used to applying them in this way.’

Shu Yang's vision pierced through the tunnel walls at an incredible speed and out into the open air. He tried to rein it in, but it was difficult.

Luckily, he had used his ability plenty of times over the years, and his mind didn’t grow confused like it used to. He was able to give his full focus.

‘Come on, just make me see what’s right behind this wall.’

Shu Yang turned his head toward his left and tried to see through the tunnel wall. There was no obstruction, but there was nothing in particular to be seen either.

He tried to see further, and the power slipped out of his control again, and he saw trees and vegetation many miles away.

‘Damn. Come on!’

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to reset.

Opening his eyes again, he tried to imagine another tunnel on the other side of the wall. He urged his vision to show him that tunnel.

But there was just a rocky darkness, and before he knew it, his Bloodline Ability ran out of power.

Shu Yang rubbed his head.

‘This isn’t good. I’m not used to using my Bloodline Ability like this. How long will it take me before I can control it in a suitable way?’

He didn’t like resorting to brute force so soon, but he didn’t see any other option. He cocked his elbow and punched the wall of the tunnel with his full power.

‘Nothing?’

The wall didn’t cave in one bit.

Shu Yang ran up a bit further and tried again, but it was the same result.

Thinking that the walls might also be covered by some kind of formation, Shu Yang unsheathed his sword and had a go.

But this time, even his sword intent didn’t work. Not even a scratch appeared on the rocky surface of the tunnel wall.

‘That doesn’t make sense. How can it be so sturdy? Or am I so deep in the illusion that I’m just imagining hitting the wall?’

Shu Yang didn’t have any other ideas, so he continued walking down the endless tunnel.

After thinking about it for a while, he realized that his best option was to recharge his Bloodline Ability and try again. Only while in that state could he trust his senses.

‘It’s going to be a long few days until then. Hopefully, I can make some kind of progress while waiting.’

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