Chapter 154 - Progress

[ Bloodline Power: 28.86 (Founding - Middle) ]

[ Bloodline Ability: Piercing Gaze ]

[ Founding Traits: Sword Bone ]

[ Common Traits: Great body cultivation aptitude, Vast Mind, 6th-grade spirit roots, Very Charming, Lucky, Long-lived, Fast recovery, Fertile ]

‘Nice. I’m really not far from crossing the 30.0 mark.’

Shu Yang knew that 30.0 was the threshold for Foundation - High. As for how he could be so certain, it was because he had asked Bian Fenglin about it.

Apparently, there were ways to tell the value of one's Bloodline Power; it wasn’t something unique to Shu Yang.

He had long known that there were ways to determine the general strength of people’s bloodline and what traits they had. Bian Fenglin had, for example, been able to determine that the twins had Sword Bones just by touching their forearms.

But Shu Yang didn’t realize that the values, the specific numbers, were something cultivators of the higher stages also used.

Apparently, most Golden Clans had a certain artifact that could determine the exact value of someone’s Bloodline Power through a drop of blood.

Not only that, some more advanced artifacts of the same type could determine the exact traits, even ‘latent’ ones. Latent in this case meant that, for example, if Shu Yang had a new child, then it was unlikely that all his traits would be passed along. But the child had still inherited his bloodline, and somewhere, there were traces of all of Shu Yang’s traits. When that child eventually had children of their own, those latent traits would be passed along, and it wasn’t impossible for some of them to manifest in the grandchild.

Those artifacts were incredibly expensive, though. Apparently no one within the province knew how to make them, so Shu Yang had no chance of getting hold of even the most basic one.

It wasn’t that much of an issue, though; his Bloodline Tree was much better than any artifact.

It couldn’t tell him what lay ahead, however. Shu Yang could only get a feel for things when his power actually rose to that level. So asking Bian Fenglin had revealed a few things.

According to him, a Founding Bloodline could have a value of anywhere between 10 and 49.99. Meaning that a Golden Bloodline required a whole 50 in Bloodline Power.

Needless to say, Shu Yang was still a long way off.

It also illuminated how vastly different the power between Founding Bloodlines was. One Founding Clan could have a bloodline five times more powerful than another.

But it got even worse after that. Bian Fenglin had told him that the Bloodline Power of an Imperial Bloodline, the grade above Golden, was a whole 500.

As for the upper limit, Bian Fenglin had no idea. No one in the Sword Sect’s province had ever even reached the middle Nascent Soul stage, not to mention whatever stage came next.

‘I guess I’ll have to be the one to find out, then. But I still have a long way to go until then.’

“Dad! Did you succeed? Are you a Foundation expert now?” Xinying came running out and yelled, uncharacteristically energetic. It was normal, though, considering that she had been worried about her father.

“That’s right,” Tianhu said, smiling and opening his arms as his daughter jumped into his embrace.

Shu Yang smiled, seeing his son being able to hug his daughter properly.

‘I wonder what Xinmo, Xinjiang and Xinxi will say when they see him next time. They have never seen their father with both arms before.’

Tianhu didn’t write about his new arm in the letter to Xinmo, apparently wanting to surprise the children next time they saw each other.

‘He probably won’t tell them about his advancement either.’

Thinking about Xinmo, Shu Yang realized he should probably tell Tianhu and Xiaoshi about his little adventure.

“Did everything go alright? Do you feel okay?” Qianyue came walking out after Xinying and asked worriedly.

“I feel great, Mom. Don’t worry,” Tianhu answered.

“Mom, we have to arrange a celebration,” Tianyi said excitedly.

“Yes, yes,” Xinying agreed, nodding with a bright smile.

“Of course we’ll celebrate,” Qianyue said, smiling. “We’ll gather everyone and have a big feast tonight.”

“It’s not a bad idea to arrange a ceremony for the public later as well,” Shu Yang said.

“Is that really necessary?” Tianhu asked.

“Of course,” Shu Yang said, “You’re the first to reach the Foundation stage since we got here, and you’re basically the face of the Shu Sword Hall. We have to make it known and earn some prestige for the family.”

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Shu Yang had learned that these types of ceremonies were the norm whenever someone reached a new major stage. Even the disciples of the Sword Sect would celebrate reaching the Foundation stage, so needless to say, their small family couldn’t just act like it was nothing.

“Will I have one too?” Tianyi asked.

“Why don’t we have it together?” Tianhu suggested, “It seems like a bit of a hassle to arrange two ceremonies within just a few months.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Shu Yang said, nodding.

‘Two children reaching the Foundation stage should really make us gain a foothold here as a proper Founding Clan.’

Shu Yang smiled slightly, imagining the scene of showing off his children to everyone.

“We should invite the kids too,” Xiaoshi said. “Surely Xinjiang and Xinxi will be allowed to leave if it’s for their father’s Foundation Ceremony.”

“Right, they have to be there,” Tianhu said.

Shu Yang suddenly got a little scared of showing off too much. Three Sword Sect disciples. Two of whom had comprehended 4th-tier sword intent at the age of 18.

“What’s with that creepy smile?” Tianyi questioned.

‘I was smiling?’

Shu Yang rubbed his face. “Anyway, Xinmo is currently out on a mission, but I’m sure he’ll be back in time.”

“A mission? What mission? Why would he go on a mission?” Xiaoshi questioned.

Shu Yang shook his head. “I don’t know. It seems unnecessary to me too, but Bian Fenglin said it’s perfectly normal. Perhaps his friends were going, and he didn’t want to be left behind.”

Shu Yang had actually used his Piercing Gaze to look at Xinmo on his way back from Bian Immortal City, and had seen that Xinmo wasn’t alone, accompanied by others from the sect, so he wasn’t as worried anymore.

At least, things looked safe for the moment.

“Where did he go? What’s the mission?” Xiaoshi asked.

“I don’t know what the mission was,” Shu Yang answered, choosing not to repeat Bian Fenglin’s uncertain words about robber cultivators. “But it is somewhere in the Heaven-Reaching Forest, perhaps to find some spiritual plant or something.”

“Why wouldn’t he say something in his letter?” Xiaoshi questioned.

“Probably afraid to make you worry,” Shu Yang answered with a wry smile. “Anyway, he has a lot of spirit stones, and I doubt he’d be stupid enough to go out on a mission without preparing some safety measures. He probably has a storage ring full of both medicine and talismans for protection.”

“Let’s send a letter, asking him to write back as soon as he returns,” Tianhu said, placing his hand on Xiaoshi’s shoulder.

“Alright,” Xiaoshi answered with a sigh.

Everyone went their separate ways; Shu Yang had to go out and buy some fancy ingredients for the celebration. They couldn’t just eat regular food, not when they were going to celebrate the first of the Shu Clan to advance to the Foundation stage.

‘Some nice meat from a Foundation Beast would be nice.’

It was very expensive, but Shu Yang wouldn’t need a lot, as basically only he, Tianhu, Xiaoshi, and Xiaorong could eat meat of that level.

As he made his way to the marketplace, he turned to look toward the northeast, the direction Xinmo was currently in.

He activated his Piercing Gaze, but only saw a blur caused by the formation covering Jingli Immortal City.

Shu Yang didn’t give in, though, keeping up the effort.

It took about 30 seconds of strenuous effort, but eventually, his vision broke through the formation, and he zoomed in on Xinmo in the far distance.

Shu Yang wasn’t shocked by the feat; he had managed to pierce through the formation a few months ago, after trying over and over again for over ten years.

It was still difficult, and it didn’t work on other formations of the same level yet, only specifically the one covering Jingli Immortal City.

But Shu Yang wasn’t discouraged. It was a start. In the future, nothing would be able to evade his vision.

Thanks to Tianhu’s development of his own Bloodline Ability, Shu Yang could now use his Piercing Gaze much longer.

He still didn’t quite know how to implement Tianhu’s specific Bloodline Ability, though. The knowledge was somewhat there in his mind, and he felt that if he spent some time on it, he could change his Bloodline Ability to copy Tianhu’s regeneration.

Unfortunately, it was change, not merge. There seemed to be some kind of limit on Bloodline Abilities, and even with the Bloodline Tree, Shu Yang couldn’t just gain one after another.

Still, that might change in the future. He would just have to keep trying. Keep experimenting.

‘He’s actually fighting a beast!’

Shu Yang was surprised to see Xinmo in the middle of a fight. His opponent being some kind of bear, probably a Calm Fury Bear that he had read about. It wasn’t part of any large Beast Clan, fortunately, having a pretty weak bloodline.

‘Wait. Is he alone?’

Unlike last time, Xinmo wasn’t surrounded by other people in disciple robes. He was fighting completely by himself.

Shu Yang zoomed out with his vision slightly, but there was no one around.

‘Did they separate? Did something happen, or was this always the plan?’

Something else also caught his attention, appearing a bit strange. Xinmo wasn’t using his sword.

‘What is he doing?’

He was just fighting the bear using his physical body, pummeling it with his fists.

‘Did he hear about my fist intent and started thinking about pursuing a different path?’

That didn’t seem to be the case, though. Xinmo didn’t look so focused on the fists; using kicks and even head butts, it looked completely chaotic.

‘His sword is right there! Use it!’

Xinmo had been practicing like a madman all his life. Swinging that sword for hours every day. Shu Yang just couldn’t understand why he wasn’t using it.

He kept watching as the fight continued, growing increasingly confused.

Eventually, his Bloodline Ability ran out of power, and he didn’t get to see how the fight ended.

‘This kid. Is he trying to worry me to death?’