Who Is Qi Yuan's Ancestor?

Ignoring everyone's gazes, Qi Yuan walked toward the Blood Jade Wall. Using an Ancestor Return Pill required the aid of the Blood Jade Wall. Qi Yuan was also looking forward to seeing how much of an enhancement this Ancestor Return Pill would bring him. According to what others had said, the greater one's talent and the deeper one's karmic fortune, the greater the enhancement. With him being so remarkably talented and clever, the ancient forebear at the source of this Innate Seed body's bloodline would surely think very highly of him, right? Why not... invest a bit more? Boost him straight to the Myriad Dao Martial God realm? As Qi Yuan headed toward the Blood Jade Wall, the other people in the stronghold followed after him one after another. They had long known that the previous mission's reward was an Ancestor Return Pill; some prominent figures had even planned to trade for it once Qi Yuan and his group successfully completed the task. Of course, looking at things now, that remained wishful thinking. Now, everyone trailing behind was extremely curious about what kind of harvest this ruthless man, Qi Yuan, could attain at the Blood Jade Wall. At that moment, the martial artists cultivating beside the Blood Jade Wall woke up one after another. Seeing Qi Yuan surging with terrifying blood vitality, their expressions filled with dread. And when they saw the crowd of stronghold members following behind him, they quietly withdrew from the Blood Jade Wall. After all, the situation was unclear, and safety came first. Cultivation? What cultivation? Thus, by the time Qi Yuan stepped into the area before the Blood Jade Wall, everyone who had been facing the wall in cultivation had backed away. Qi Yuan paused, turning around to look at the crowd. "Have you all cursed me behind my back or something? Otherwise, why are you so terrified of me that you won't even stand with me?" Hearing this, the apprehensive crowd's expressions shifted slightly. "N-No, absolutely not! It's just that we aren't worthy... of standing beside you!" Lin Yeshan spoke up boldly. "Right, we aren't worthy!" the others echoed in agreement. "Alas, you bunch of old feudal fossils, still living in the past. Nowadays, what matters is... equality for all!" Qi Yuan murmured softly. A minority of the people in this stronghold were modern, but the vast majority were actually ancients. For instance, Lin Yeshan was an ancient escort guard. So calling their mindsets stubborn and feudal was probably accurate. Qi Yuan couldn't be bothered to say any more to them. Leaping forward, he stepped into the space before the Blood Jade Wall. At that exact moment, he swallowed the Ancestor Return Pill into his stomach. Looking inward, he found that roughly a tenth of the blood in his body began glowing red like fireflies. And this portion of blood happened to be the blood Qi Yuan had gained from devouring demons through his Devouring Primordial Physique. In a flash, Qi Yuan was like a leaking teapot as red light spilled outward from him. "A reaction with the Blood Jade Wall already! His talent really is astonishing... No wonder!" "Who is the source of his bloodline?" "He's so strong, the blessing from his bloodline's ancestor must be extraordinarily generous, right?" The onlookers were burning with envy. Qi Yuan was already formidable; if he gained the favor of an ancestor, how terrifying would he become? It was simply unimaginable. Just then, brilliant light flared across the Blood Jade Wall. A thick beam of blood-red light surged into Qi Yuan's body. "A dormant lower-grade bloodline? It's actually this... His future is bleak!" An old man saw the blood-red light, a flicker of disappointment crossing his eyes. The sources of bloodlines were divided into ranks. The lowest was lower-grade, followed by mid-grade, then high-grade, and the highest was titled. Beyond ranks, bloodline sources had another distinction: namely, dormant or active. Dormant meant the ancestor at the source of the bloodline had already perished. Active meant the ancestor was still alive. Naturally, the more active and higher-grade it was, the greater one's prospects and the richer the harvest. A dormant lower-grade bloodline sat at the very bottom. "Such a bloodline will hardly be of any help to him. What a shame!" "Shame, my foot! You're just in the Qi-Blood Realm and you're pitying him? Even without an ancestral bloodline, the realm he has reached is something you won't touch in your entire life!" At these words, everyone present fell silent. Indeed, to Qi Yuan, this Ancestor Return Pill was merely icing on the cake at best. Meanwhile, Qi Yuan kept his eyes closed. A single drop of blood inside his body boiled for a moment. Well... it boiled for just that one moment. His strength also grew a tiny smidgen at that instant. At this moment, his mind focused upon that drop of blood. Instantly, countless pieces of information flooded into his mind. Peering across infinite space and time, he saw a blood-red world. Qi Yuan saw a slender bone dripping with blood. Following this bone, he seemed to see its master. It was a wretched-looking crawling demon beast with a huge head and spindly limbs. This was the bloodline source of that single drop of blood. "A Yin God?" At a glance, Qi Yuan gauged the strength of this bloodline source—comparable to a Yin God. "Hmm... here... why do I feel like there's another me?" Qi Yuan was slightly taken aback. Due to the Ancestor Return Pill, his consciousness briefly lingered at the domain of the bloodline source. He was astonished to find that there seemed to be another him here. "No, wait—it's a portion of the Innate Seed's spirit!" In just an instant, Qi Yuan figured out what that "him" was: it was a fragment of the Innate Seed's spirit. After the world reset, he had completely devoured the Innate Seed and returned to his true self. Yet here... an overflowing part of the spirit remained. This was quite... peculiar. "Strange... this portion of the spirit seems dormant. Could it be... the spirit that died ten years later?" Many thoughts raced through Qi Yuan's mind. Before the world reset, after the Qi Yuan formed by the Innate Seed died, had his departed soul... drifted here? And after the world reset, it was actually still around. Qi Yuan's eyes flickered with speculation. Ultimately, his gaze settled on the remnant bone on the ground. "You're already so old, yet even after dying you're still fretting and giving me blood. I've always respected the elderly and cherished the young, so I'll return your blood to you. Oh, right... I'll toss in a bit of my own blood as well!" Qi Yuan was generous. In any case, this blood was formed from demon essence blood processed through the Devouring Primordial Physique. Giving a little away was nothing. Meanwhile, before the Blood Jade Wall, everyone saw a flash of blood light burst from Qi Yuan's body and sink back into the Blood Jade Wall. The onlookers were dumbfounded by the sight. "What's going on?" "Why did the bestowed blood... get taken back?" "Could it be a mistake?" "Did it recognize the wrong bloodline?" "Did the ancestor realize he wasn't biological? A cuckold's child?" Everyone looked completely baffled; this was the first time anyone had ever witnessed such a thing. Right at that moment, another beam of blood light flew out from the Blood Jade Wall, rushing straight toward Qi Yuan. The bewildered crowd had an epiphany. "It really was a mistake! This one is the real deal!" "Dormant mid-grade. While ordinary, it's not bad." "Could this be Qi Yuan's actual ancestor?" Yet before they could ponder further— The Blood Jade Wall flared with overwhelming radiance. One beam, two beams, three beams... ten... hundreds of beams of light, densely packed in an endless stream, rushed en masse toward Qi Yuan's body! "Ah... why does he have so many ancestors?!" "Lower-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, there are even titled ones!" "What's happening? Is the Blood Jade Wall broken?" "Could it be... that his maternal ancestress... slept around with a lot of them, so all these bloodline forebears... think he's their own son?" The people in the stronghold included both ancients and moderns, so their imaginations naturally ran wild, coming up with the most exaggerated theories. They looked at Qi Yuan with bizarre expressions, as if watching a drama unfold and relishing the juicy gossip. Had Qi Yuan's strength not been so overwhelming and his blood stench so suffocating, they would have pulled up small stools, cracked melon seeds, and spun wild gossip to their hearts' content. "This could practically be made into a movie... 'In Search of Ancestors'!" "'Where Is My Ancestor?'" Wary of Qi Yuan's fearsome strength, they kept their voices hushed and restrained. "As expected, they mistook their descendant! See that? More than half the blood flew right back!" "Seems like those bloodline forebears who went back only ever held hands with the maternal ancestress at most!" "How pathetic!" The men and women of the stronghold were overflowing with curiosity, wishing they could travel back to ancient times just to see what kind of bewitching figure Qi Yuan's maternal ancestress had been to have played hundreds of ancient forebears like fiddles, all of them believing Qi Yuan was their offspring. Now, after taking a lap through Qi Yuan's body, they finally realized: well... he's not our descendant, he just carries a bit of the scent. Naturally, none of them knew that the red beams of light returning were all bloodline source forebears who had been reduced to severed remains. Qi Yuan respected the elderly and cherished the young; not wanting them to keep fretting after death, he had left his blood behind on their skeletal remains. He would wait until he connected with that remnant soul fragment of the Innate Seed, at which point he could use the blood as coordinates to locate those ancestors. As for the purpose, it was naturally to respect the elderly and cherish the young—by seeing them off to their final rest and managing their funerals. Qi Yuan was far too eager to climb the ranks. "Are these... the bloodline ancestors of this Innate Seed body? Their gifts... really are far more generous. Their strength... Mythological?" Although Qi Yuan's original power was absent, his discerning eye remained. The lower-grade and mid-grade bloodline ancestors only possessed the strength of Venerables. The high-grade ancestors could reach the caliber of Great Venerables. As for the titled bloodline ancestors, they were Mythological powerhouses. "Is this a Martial Lord? Then... is a Martial God... a Yang God?" Qi Yuan kept his eyes half-closed. To those dead ancestors, he dared send his blood. As for the living ones, he wouldn't bother troubling himself. After all, when elders bestow a gift, one must not decline. "Not bad. Right now, I've likely stepped into the peak of the Martial Spirit realm. One step further, and I'll be a Martial King!" Having absorbed so many gifts, Qi Yuan's strength had surged considerably. The Martial King realm was comparable to the Purple Mansion. Further up was the Martial Lord. "So killing demons really is the fastest way to advance. Hopefully next time, I'll encounter a fiercer world with even more demon beasts, giving me a few more... lovely ancestors." At that moment, Qi Yuan opened his eyes. The crowd, which had been buzzing with discussion a second ago, instantly fell dead silent. Those whose faces had been full of fascinated amusement froze completely. Every sorrowful event in their entire lives flashed through their minds, purely out of dread that they might burst out laughing and incur Qi Yuan's wrath. Because of this, the crowd, caught between tears and laughter, wore solemn expressions. Some even looked sorrowful, tears welling up and spilling over uncontrollably. "Did your... fathers die or something?" A bewildered look appeared in Qi Yuan's eyes. ... Jun'an Community. New buds sprouted on the branches, ushering in the vibrant greenery of early spring. Wang Zhiqi wore only a thin shirt, yet felt no chill. "Principal, this is our neighborhood. Looks pretty nice, doesn't it?" Wang Zhiqi was innocent by nature and at an age when having fun came naturally. Moreover, with her outstanding talent, she was very popular at Tianxuan Building, and all the instructors treated her warmly. Thus, facing Xie Tang, she harbored none of the typical fear mortals had toward immortal cultivators and spoke quite boldly. "Mm, quite a lot of people," Xie Tang nodded, casting a mild glance over the residential area. Indeed, a very ordinary mortal neighborhood. "Don't look down on our community just because it seems ordinary; there are plenty of incredible people here! Take my dad, for instance—hehe, he's a martial artist, practically a king of soldiers!" Wang Zhiqi bragged. Her father, Yang Shan, truly was a king among soldiers, a legendary figure. Such things had to be kept confidential and couldn't be shown off in front of her old classmates, but it was different before an immortal cultivator like Xie Tang. "Not bad. Quite an outstanding talent," Xie Tang praised. A genius disciple naturally deserved to be indulged. "There's also a cat in our neighborhood that's an internet celebrity—she has millions of followers!" Mentioning this, Wang Zhiqi grew animated. "Principal, that cat has basically become a spirit! Not only can she stir-fry and cook meals, she can even solve a Rubik's Cube!" As she spoke, Wang Zhiqi pulled out her phone. She played the video for Xie Tang to see. In the video, a cat looking thoroughly aggrieved wore an apron and held a spatula, stir-frying dishes and tossing in salt and seasonings from time to time, looking extraordinarily amusing. "This cat is so smart! I've even held her before—she belongs to my neighbor!" Wang Zhiqi rattled on enthusiastically. Watching the video, Xie Tang froze slightly. For some reason, she felt a faint sense of familiarity from the cat. "In a world like yours, this cat is indeed peculiar, but back in the Fire Spirit Realm, it would be nothing special. Some cats in our Fire Spirit Realm have even developed spiritual awareness, possessing intelligence no different from ordinary humans." "Principal, do you think this cat has talent? Could she cultivate immortality like us?" Wang Zhiqi asked. "Difficult," Xie Tang shook her head. "Our Xuantian Sect does not possess cultivation techniques for beasts or non-humans either." "What a pity," Wang Zhiqi sighed, a bit crestfallen. But then she looked up at Xie Tang and suddenly said, "Principal, if you created an account, you'd definitely get tons of followers and become a huge internet celebrity!" "Oh? Is that so?" Xie Tang gave a placid smile, her brows starry and her eyes sharp as swords. "It's my first time seeing someone whose eyebrows look like stars! Everyone else has sword brows and starry eyes, but Principal, you have starry brows and sword eyes—it's so unique!" Stars practically danced in Wang Zhiqi's eyes. Xie Tang chuckled. "My eyebrows are nothing. If you ever meet my senior martial sister, you'll discover that someone's eyebrows... can actually look like turtles!" "What?! Turtles? That's way too cool!" Wang Zhiqi gasped in wonder. "Once I achieve success in cultivation, I'm going to make my eyebrows look like... the sun!" Xie Tang looked at Wang Zhiqi with fondness. If anyone else had joked about her eyebrows, she would have cleaved them in two with a single sword strike. Wang Zhiqi was different; she knew the girl was naive and innocent by nature, completely without malice. Just then, her star-shaped brows twitched slightly, and a flicker of delight entered her eyes. "Your neighborhood really is a cradle of talent—I just spotted two more little ones with remarkable gifts!" In terms of talent, the two of them actually surpassed Wang Zhiqi by quite a margin. How could Xie Tang not be thrilled? To think she would reap such an unexpected harvest on this trip!