Lineage

"Who goes there?!" Gongliang Yu was well aware of his unique status. Unlike ordinary Core Formation cultivators, he was prone to attracting unwanted attention, so he had deliberately waited an hour to slip away unnoticed. Yet against all hopes, he had still been followed. The pursuer no longer concealed their aura, revealing themselves to be none other than a Nascent Soul Patriarch. Only a Nascent Soul expert could have shadowed him for who knew how long without him noticing in the slightest. Utterly shaken, Gongliang Yu no longer cared about the Blood Zhi Herb and hastily moved to recall the Nascent Soul talisman puppet to protect him. The Blood Zhi Herb was an illusion, a Nascent Soul trailed behind him... These strange occurrences sent chills running through Gongliang Yu's heart. Without realizing it, he had very likely stepped right into a trap long ago. By now, the Nascent Soul cultivator had charged forward with no attempt at concealment. Dazzling treasure light gathered like an auspicious cloud hovering above Dongyang Bo's head. The vajra ring radiated circular ripples of light, deflecting the blood shadows away. "Dongyang Bo!" Gongliang Yu's pupils dilated as he cried out in shock. Figures of various Nascent Soul experts had flashed through his mind—demonic cultivators of the Xiaohan Realm, figures from the Tianxing Alliance, and even Sin Abyss spies—yet Dongyang Bo had never crossed his mind. Back when Senior Brother Tie Guanzi held sway over the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace, they had already allied with Shaohua Mountain, both counted among the Eight Righteous Sects. Though friction between the disciples of the two factions was inevitable, it had never disrupted the bigger picture. Even after Tie Guanzi fell in the Ziwei Palace and Gongliang Yu succeeded him, though Gongliang Yu harbored a degree of wariness toward Dongyang Bo, he had no wish to sour their relationship for the time being. A man harbored no intent to harm a tiger, yet the tiger was bent on devouring the man. Dongyang Bo was actually making a move against him! Gongliang Yu was not naive enough to believe Dongyang Bo's presence here at this exact moment was a coincidence! Yet too many doubts plagued his mind. Right then, Dongyang Bo drove the vajra ring with full force and surged straight toward him. He plowed unimpeded through the swarm of blood shadows, the vajra ring casting phantoms in rapid succession. No matter how fiercely the blood shadows lunged, they could not approach within arm's reach and were instead knocked flying, a display far more effortless and elegant than that of the Nascent Soul talisman puppet. Dongyang Bo put on no pretense. Ignoring Gongliang Yu's bewildered, furious glare, he stared straight at the Nascent Soul talisman puppet recalled to guard its master, heaping praise upon it. "No wonder the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace has flourished without decline and maintained an unbroken heritage! Truly worthy of its renowned name, this Nascent Soul talisman puppet does not disappoint. With this puppet in hand, it will suffice to protect my lineage's enduring survival. When I eventually descend to the Underworld and face my master, I will at last have an answer for him!" Hearing these words, Gongliang Yu experienced a sudden flash of insight, and the doubts in his mind finally unraveled. This old scoundrel had come for nothing else than the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace's sect-guarding treasure, the Nascent Soul talisman puppet! This revelation chilled Gongliang Yu even further. The moment he had seen Dongyang Bo, his first thought was that the old bastard had caught wind of the Blood Zhi Herb from somewhere and had come to contest him for it. Though Dongyang Bo had no personal use for the Blood Zhi Herb, he had countless disciples, not one of whom had attained the Nascent Soul stage. It was hardly surprising that he would covet the herb. As for the Nascent Soul talisman puppet grasping only an illusion of the Blood Zhi Herb just now, it was likely an innate self-preservation mechanism that developed once the spirit herb matured; the true body might be somewhere close by. The Heavenly Dao valued life, and the world was filled with countless exotic flora possessing similar abilities. The world knew very little about the Blood Zhi Herb, so an absence of records regarding this was entirely normal. Therefore, shaken though Gongliang Yu was, he believed that with the Nascent Soul talisman puppet and the life-saving methods handed down by his sect, he had every confidence in escaping even if he could not best Dongyang Bo in a fight. At worst, he could seal off the sect grounds upon returning and seek another path to make his breakthrough. The world turned in endless cycles; the day for vengeance would come eventually. Dongyang Bo was bullying the weak as an elder and snatching treasures first. Under the current circumstances, would he dare raise an army to attack the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace itself? What Gongliang Yu never anticipated was that Dongyang Bo's true objective was not the Blood Zhi Herb, but the Nascent Soul talisman puppet—and it seemed he had foreseen all along that Gongliang Yu would bring it with him! The Nascent Soul talisman puppet was no secret among figures of Dongyang Bo's stature. In fact, some of the rumors had been deliberately spread by the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace to lead outsiders into believing the puppet could never leave the sect grounds, lest it invite covetous eyes. Did that not mean that from the moment he decided to come to the Blood Lake, every single step had fallen within Dongyang Bo's calculations? The news of the Blood Zhi Herb... The true flaw of the Nascent Soul talisman puppet... And that he possessed the Dingling Jade, which could fend off the puppet's backlash and allow him to command it in his hunt for treasure—Dongyang Bo knew every bit of this, which was how he could lay such a trap! A freezing dread washed over Gongliang Yu, as though he had fallen into an icy abyss! His mind buzzed in complete disarray. He began to question just how many times Dongyang Bo had plotted against him, openly and from the shadows, ever since he had taken charge of the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace. Or perhaps it had started even earlier! Senior Brother Tie Guanzi had possessed the potential for the Nascent Soul stage. When disaster suddenly struck the sect, he had been forced to deploy the Nascent Soul talisman puppet, severing his own path of cultivation—had Dongyang Bo's hand been behind that as well? And his demise in the Ziwei Palace: had it truly been natural? Soon after Gongliang Yu achieved Core Formation, he had suffered an accident that left him with an obstinate hidden ailment, causing every attempt to reach the Nascent Soul stage to end in failure until he finally found a spirit medicine to heal the injury in recent years. Had that attack truly been an accident? At this moment, Gongliang Yu was gripped by overwhelming terror toward Dongyang Bo. Dongyang Bo turned his gaze upon Gongliang Yu and said calmly, "My disciples are dull and lacking, none capable of shouldering such heavy responsibilities. Left with no alternative, I must wrong you, Fellow Daoist." Gritting his teeth, Gongliang Yu still sought to confirm his suspicions. "That jade scroll, and the Dingling Jade..." "Indeed, it was me!" Dongyang Bo nodded slightly. "The jade scroll was genuine, though what that senior discovered was actually the Boiling Blood Evil Flower, which I had already harvested. I merely altered the name. As for the Dingling Jade, I originally intended to save it for those worthless disciples of mine to weather the heart demon tribulation. Regrettably, none proved worthy, so I arranged a fortuitous encounter to deliver it to you..." Speaking of his masterstroke, Dongyang Bo showed little joy on his face, for this was indeed an act of sheer necessity. His schemes ran deep. He had laid plans around the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace long ago, thoroughly probing the secrets of the Nascent Soul talisman puppet and painstakingly securing the Dingling Jade. Yet until pushed to absolute desperation, he had not wanted to seize the Nascent Soul talisman puppet by force. For one, he was well aware of the puppet's latent peril. Not only was the cost of commanding it immense, but as the soul shadows multiplied, it would eventually lose control and devour its master. If no one could suppress it by then, it would bring catastrophe upon his sect. For another, after years of careful maneuvering, the Shangyuan Qingjing Palace had grown increasingly reliant on Shaohua Mountain, making it a valuable ally for the future. The prerequisite, however, was that Shaohua Mountain produced another Nascent Soul cultivator to inherit its lineage. Otherwise, with decline looming on the horizon, what future was there to speak of? To Dongyang Bo's profound embarrassment, despite his years of painstaking effort, not a single one of his disciples had formed a Nascent Soul. He could still assist his disciples in Core Formation, but reaching the Nascent Soul stage was the greatest hurdle for any cultivator. He was powerless to help them there and could only sigh in secret. The jade scroll Gongliang Yu mentioned was indeed a relic left behind by a senior who had once entered the Blood Lake, recording everything that predecessor had witnessed therein. Having been sealed for years and only newly opened, the Blood Lake did not arouse much suspicion from Gongliang Yu. Moreover, the records were entirely authentic, impossible for any outsider to forge. After obtaining it, Dongyang Bo had changed the name of the spirit herb and used cunning means to pass it into Gongliang Yu's hands. With nine parts truth and one part falsehood, it had successfully duped Gongliang Yu into the snare.