Chapter Ten: Devouring Bloodlines

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Stepping out from the Changyun Inn, Xu Zhe grasped a simple truth.

He realized that being handsome was of no practical use—when the wind blew, he still felt cold.

So, he returned straightaway to the Celestial Loft across the street, not bothering to meet the envoys sent by other old classmates.

Li Chungang had also sent someone, though Xu Zhe couldn’t imagine why he’d go to such lengths, especially considering the Celestial Loft was his own establishment; perhaps Li himself had forgotten about owning it. Regardless, Xu Zhe had no intention of seeing anyone; after all, none of his former classmates had come in person.

Moreover, everyone knew the unwritten rule: one must submit a letter of request to the Celestial Loft and await an arranged meeting. Yet these people, like the disciples from Jade Pool, demanded he come out to meet them personally. Clearly, their intentions were less than pure. Either they’d joined forces with those women from Jade Pool, or they shared the same covetous thoughts—eyeing the so-called treasures that old classmates had sent.

But just judging from these so-called “treasures of heaven and earth,” it was clear that the people of the Azure Bestowal Continent were prone to exaggeration. A few bottles of spiritual liquid, a handful of Qi Condensing Pills, a couple of Foundation Establishment Pills, and a few spiritual herbs suitable for the Foundation Establishment stage—these were what they called treasures of heaven and earth?

Xu Zhe now sat in his room, having opened the storage ring Lin Keyi gave him, and wore the expression of an elderly man staring blankly at his phone, as he gazed at its contents.

Words failed him.

To call these “treasures of heaven and earth”—he’d half expected something like a Nirvana Leaf of the Ninth Turn, a Supreme Chaos Fruit, the Primal Iron of Ultimate Yin and Yang, or, at the very least, dragon liver and phoenix gallbladder. And yet, this was all?

What a sigh!

This tendency toward boastful exaggeration truly left much to be desired.

Setting the storage ring aside, Xu Zhe felt no disappointment—his position had changed now. As a mere so-called prodigy, how could he dare to expect too much?

He sighed softly, closed his eyes, and released a wisp of divine sense, which effortlessly swept through his door, encompassing the Celestial Loft and the street outside as if everything lay before his eyes.

“About five hundred meters. That’s the limit.”

Xu Zhe opened his eyes and murmured to himself.

Since his soul had returned to his body, he hadn’t cultivated at all. Yet his divine sense could already extend hundreds of meters.

According to the cultivation realms of the Azure Bestowal Continent, releasing divine sense beyond the body was something only those at the Core Formation stage could achieve.

“So weak. It seems my soul’s journey across the heavens and its return to this body was not an easy process—my divine sense was nearly stripped away.”

Xu Zhe couldn’t help but reflect.

In his previous life as an Immortal Emperor, a single thought could let his divine sense traverse the world. Now, a single thought could barely probe a few hundred meters.

But perhaps this was not entirely a bad thing. At least, if he started cultivating anew, his foundation of divine sense would be solid and reliable, and its upper limit would surely surpass what it once was.

Thinking this, Xu Zhe smiled slightly. Starting over didn’t seem so bad—it might even be rather interesting.

“Next, I should examine myself internally and see what’s going on with my bloodline…”

He whispered, closing his eyes once more.

His divine sense dove inward, sensing every meridian, the coursing of blood, and the empty expanse of his dantian.

Thick, sturdy.

Xu Zhe’s eyes shot open in disbelief.

He hadn’t realized before, but now he was startled: his body’s meridians were exceedingly robust, his blood incredibly pure, and, most astonishingly, his dantian had already been opened and was vast.

How could this be the body of some mortal who had never cultivated?

“Wait, is that a trace of dragon blood’s lingering aura?”

Xu Zhe’s divine sense surged into his dantian, and sure enough, in a corner, he found a tiny golden drop of dragon blood clinging to the wall, slowly being absorbed and digested.

Bloodline devouring?

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Xu Zhe was astonished.

He had read in ancient texts about the phenomenon of bloodline devouring: each person’s bloodline varies in strength, and when a foreign bloodline is introduced, it clashes with the native one—the stronger ultimately devours the weaker until a balance is reached, allowing coexistence.

That’s why humans sometimes inherit the bloodlines of demonic beasts.

For example, Qu Hongxiu was said to possess a six-star Sunbird bloodline—meaning her body contained sixty percent Sunbird blood, and forty percent human blood, implying her own bloodline was slightly weaker than that of the Sunbird.

Then there was Chu Xiaotong, with a nine-star Vermilion Bird bloodline. In her case, the Vermilion Bird bloodline was simply too powerful, while her human bloodline was so weak it was barely left after being devoured.

Such outcomes were expected—might makes right.

But the real issue was…

“My bloodline is stronger than dragon blood? And not just stronger, but completely overwhelming it, almost to the point of devouring the very last drop?”

Xu Zhe found it hard to believe.

Normally, most demonic beast bloodlines naturally surpassed those of humans. Of course, if a human cultivator reached a high enough realm, their bloodline strength could exceed most beasts. But his own body hadn’t cultivated at all, and yet it was devouring dragon blood.

This meant his bloodline was innately superior to that of dragons.

“That’s a rather frightening conclusion.”

Xu Zhe’s heart began to race inexplicably.

Even in his past life, as the son of an Immortal Emperor, his innate bloodline could, at best, match dragon blood equally.

Yet now, in this body—his by birth—his bloodline utterly crushed that of dragons.

There could be only one explanation: somewhere in his ancestry, a supreme being had left their mark—a being whose talent and realm far surpassed the Immortal Emperor’s, and who was likely no more than three generations removed from him.

“But that can’t be. If that were true, how come my parents never mentioned anything back on Earth… Oh, wait, I remember now—I was an orphan, adopted later.”

Xu Zhe reflected on his past and shrugged.

His bloodline’s origins were now beyond tracing.

Besides, the “ancestor was a supreme” theory was just speculation—plausible, but not worth dwelling on.

The most important thing now was to strengthen himself, to gain some ability to protect himself. Otherwise, anyone could treat him as an easy target.

Furthermore…

“When I was in the Firmament Domain, there were records in ancient texts that the Azure Sky Domain had once thrived, and that certain mysteries, unsolved even by the Firmament Domain, lay hidden here. Coincidentally, all one hundred of us have been sent to the Azure Sky Domain—maybe we can uncover clues about that island and the reason we were sent to this world.”

Xu Zhe rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

To this day, he remained curious about the island from ten thousand years ago, the rare beasts imprisoned beneath it for their blood, and the mysterious force that sent him and ninety-nine others to the world of cultivation. Who was behind it all?

Previously, he’d wanted to ask Lin Keyi, but she’d claimed to have forgotten almost everything, so Xu Zhe dropped the idea.

Now that his soul had returned to his body and he was in the Azure Sky Domain, perhaps he could investigate for himself.

“Ah… After being a recluse for ten thousand years, I’ve regained what was lost. The world is vast—I should go and see it for myself.”

Xu Zhe mused with a smile.

He quickly refocused on his own cultivation.

At present, his physical condition was excellent—almost unbelievably perfect.

The dragon blood infused in his body during his time in the sleep chamber had been absorbed over ten thousand years, tempering his meridians, nourishing his blood, opening his dantian, and leaving behind an abundance of spiritual energy.

In other words, if he began cultivating now, he wouldn’t need any treasures or body cleansing—he could directly practice even the Immortal Emperor’s techniques, skipping steps, perhaps even reaching Foundation Establishment within a day.

“But… the Immortal Emperor’s techniques aren’t as powerful as imagined. Even after reaching the Immortal Emperor realm, I died mysteriously in the end—how absurd,” Xu Zhe frowned.

Even now, he couldn’t figure out how he’d died in his previous life—it had happened so suddenly, and he only realized it at the moment of death.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t practice those techniques again—they might be cursed. As soon as one reaches the Immortal Emperor realm, death follows… Wait, I remember a certain technique…”

Suddenly, Xu Zhe’s eyes lit up and he sat upright.

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“The True Qi Demon-Sealing Canon.”

He spoke aloud.

Back in the Firmament Domain, the Immortal Emperor’s clan had excavated countless ancient ruins and reaped many rewards, among them a manual called the True Qi Demon-Sealing Canon, which could only be cultivated by ordinary mortals of the human race—the older the practitioner, the better.

The key was that the practitioner must never have cultivated before, and the older the bone age, the stronger the effect.

So someone tried it: a hundred-year-old mortal who had never cultivated began to practice the Demon-Sealing Canon, but the results were mediocre.

Next, a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, over a thousand years old, abolished his cultivation, used various rare treasures to cleanse his body back to its mortal state, and then cultivated the Canon.

At first, the results were astounding—ten days to perfect Qi Refinement, a hundred days to reach the peak of Foundation Establishment, the body restored to its prime, and the cultivator was unrivaled in his realm.

But at the Core Formation stage, he exploded and died.

The Immortal Emperor’s clan investigated and found that a wisp of energy from his previous techniques remained, which triggered the True Qi of the Demon-Sealing Canon to detonate.

Thus, it became clear: the Demon-Sealing Canon was genuine—the older the practitioner’s bone age, the greater the power.

But one absolutely could not have practiced other techniques before, or else risk the same explosive end.

After all, no one could be sure they’d completely erase all traces of previous techniques after abolishing their cultivation.

Meanwhile, mortals who never cultivated rarely lived long; even reaching two hundred years old, the Canon’s effect would be unimpressive.

So, the technique lost its appeal—too impractical. The Immortal Emperor’s clan abandoned further study and left it to gather dust in the library.

Xu Zhe had researched it himself, unable to help but mock the founder of the technique—his mind was… truly remarkable!

“The creator of this technique was a genius. The True Qi Demon-Sealing Canon is flawless—it's as if it was tailored for me.”

Now, as Xu “Ten Thousand Year Old Mortal” Zhe, he sincerely praised it.

A body with ten thousand years of bone age, yet never cultivated—a unique and extraordinary advantage.

And his looks remained as handsome as ever—simply perfect!

Xu Zhe was intensely curious about what effect the Demon-Sealing Canon would have on a body with ten thousand years of bone age.

Back in the Firmament Domain, the Nascent Soul cultivator who tried it with just over a thousand years of bone age far outperformed his peers in speed and strength.

And now, with a bone age of ten thousand years…

“I’m looking forward to this!”

Xu Zhe smiled, closing his eyes.

He began circulating the True Qi Demon-Sealing Canon. His meridians responded at once, all his pores opening wide like countless vortices, ravenously drawing in spiritual energy from every direction.

“Uhh… ah… oh, this… mm… ah… what’s… happening?”

Xu Zhe’s mind reeled, his tightly shut eyes trembling violently as waves of pain crashed over him.

The sudden influx of spiritual energy was overwhelming—like a sea surging over him, flooding his nose and mouth.

Then it transformed into a raging beast, sweeping through every meridian, rushing unimpeded through his entire system at astonishing speed, completing a full cycle in an instant.

All the spiritual energy was then refined and deposited within his dantian.

“This…”

Xu Zhe’s eyes flew open, full of disbelief.

He’d already reached the peak of Qi Refinement?

Judging by the amount of spiritual energy in his dantian, he had indeed achieved the full completion of the Qi Refinement stage.

And it had only taken a few breaths!

“Something’s not right—this is very unusual…”

Xu Zhe frowned deeply.