Your Old Ancestor Told Me Not to Tell

From the lingering traces of the mark on Ziyuan Daxue's arm, Ancestor Ziyuan had deduced that Qi Yuan's bloodline was extraordinary—perhaps even a layer higher than Black Demon Ancestral Blood. A terrifying bloodline, yet bloodline alone did not determine everything. Who could have guessed that in a mere three months, his Ancestral Blood Art would already reach the seventh layer? At this pace, wouldn't he attain the Great Ultimate Principle in less than ten thousand years? This was far too exaggerated and alarming. Ancestor Ziyuan's thoughts shifted. His figure vanished on the spot. When he reappeared, he stood within the Ancestral Blood Pavilion. The surrounding space seemed frozen; time itself ground to a halt. The white-haired elder stood off to the side, frozen in his original posture, motionless as a statue. Qi Yuan's vigilance flared. Curiosity in his eyes, he sized up the purple-robed old man before him. The elder gave him an impression of fathomless depth and vastness. [Ancestor Ziyuan, Old Ancestor of Ziyuan Heaven, powerhouse of the realm of Great Ultimate Reason.] Qi Yuan felt that even if he executed a sliding tackle... Yeah, he wouldn't win. In fact, even if he held a spear while the other only carried a sword, he still wouldn't win. "Greetings, Senior!" Qi Yuan possessed the fine virtues of a Blue Star native: adaptable, able to bend or yield. Facing a Great Ultimate Principle, he readily submitted. "Reaching the seventh layer within three months is passable," Ancestor Ziyuan said placidly, giving away nothing of his thoughts. "Do not grow too arrogant. Remember that there is always someone better, and another heaven beyond the sky. Also, do not speak of this to anyone." Ancestor Ziyuan knew how eccentric Blood Robe could be. He had to offer a warning. Otherwise, if Blood Robe went around broadcasting this, it might draw the attention of the Black Demon Abyss's enemies, who might covertly dispatch a Yang God to strangle him in the cradle. "It really is quite ordinary. Sigh, blame it on me not working hard enough, blame it on me losing right at the starting line. I know of a race where they're born as Yin Gods, and if they're malnourished, one sip of growth oral liquid lets them develop a Divine Domain. If they cultivated the Ancestral Blood Art, they'd probably be way faster than me." *Cough, cough...* Ancestor Ziyuan almost choked. He had merely made a passing remark, yet this Blood Robe had actually started playing humble? And what sort of race was born as Yin Gods? "As the saying goes, a dog doesn't mind a poor home. The Black Demon Abyss is indeed far inferior to that race I know of, but it's still pretty decent—it gave me a drop of Black Demon Ancestral Blood. Barely adequate, I suppose," Qi Yuan said with high emotional intelligence. After a long detour, he finally circled back to his point. His meaning was clear: *Old timer, cough up the loot.* Ancestor Ziyuan froze for a moment, quickly catching on. "Even this old man only has one drop of Black Demon Ancestral Blood left." Ancestor Ziyuan was telling the truth. "You have cultivated diligently of late, so consider this your reward." A pang of heartache struck Ancestor Ziyuan as he handed over the Black Demon Ancestral Blood. Qi Yuan's eyes lit up. "Thank you, Senior!" Another drop of Black Demon Ancestral Blood. A massive profit. "Once you reach the ninth layer, this old man will reward you with yet another drop of Black Demon Ancestral Blood." Ancestor Ziyuan calculated the time; in a few more years, his quota of Black Demon Ancestral Blood would arrive. By then, Blood Robe would probably have reached the ninth layer. The later stages of the Ancestral Blood Art progressed far more slowly; in fact, a single later layer often took longer than all the earlier layers combined. "Thank you, Senior!" Saying thank you was free anyway, so Qi Yuan kept at it. "Keep this jade talisman. Should you encounter danger, it can be activated instantly," Ancestor Ziyuan said, tossing a protective jade talisman to Qi Yuan. It was enough to let Qi Yuan escape an ambush by an Ultimate Principle Realm Yang God. Even if Qi Yuan couldn't activate it in time, it would trigger automatically. [An unremarkable protective jade talisman. Possesses considerable energy, contains several flaws. If improved... its power could be enhanced by more than threefold.] "Thank you!" Qi Yuan repeated. "Senior, I have something to say, though I don't know whether I should!" Stowing the jade talisman away, Qi Yuan planned to point out its defects so the elder could revise it on the spot. That would greatly raise its value. If he ever ran short on cash, he could sell it for a handsome sum. "Then don't say it!" Ancestor Ziyuan couldn't be bothered to listen. He worried Qi Yuan would utter something utterly shocking and put him on the spot. For instance, what if he blurted out, *Could I, Blood Robe, be your long-lost father left behind in the mortal world?* How would Ancestor Ziyuan answer? No matter how he answered, he would lose all dignity. Hearing this, Qi Yuan felt a pang of disappointment. Lost another hundred million. Still, Ancestor Ziyuan had given him so many good things, like a grandfather doting on his grandson. Qi Yuan had no desire to be anyone's grandson. But this Black Demon Ancestral Blood was simply too enticing; asking him to give it back would be like asking for his life. Qi Yuan hesitated. *Ah, humans are far too conflicted; this isn't good.* Suddenly, inspiration struck. Qi Yuan looked earnestly at Ancestor Ziyuan and said with solemn gravity: "Senior, accepting your gifts does not mean accepting your grace and becoming your descendant or grandson. Some people are born without mothers-in-law, and I grew up with no parents, no grandparents, and no desire to add an ancestor over my head. "Senior's generosity will be repaid tenfold and a hundredfold in the future. But during this time, should Senior become my enemy, I will treat you as an enemy!" Qi Yuan laid the cards on the table. The Black Demon Abyss and the Moon Goddess Palace had long been in conflict, which technically made them Jin Li's enemies. On matters like this, he naturally had to stand by his wife. As for that wild speech just now, it was naturally plagiarized. Ancestor Ziyuan stared at Qi Yuan, rendered utterly speechless. "What, you're already treating me as an enemy?" Ancestor Ziyuan asked in a calm tone devoid of emotion. "When I was in the Demonic Abyss, I abducted a Yue Nü to be my wife. We even have our marriage license—all that's missing is the Moon Goddess Yuanjun's consent!" Qi Yuan said. Ancestor Ziyuan gave him an extra glance, slightly surprised. Glancing down, he noticed the Yue Nü mark on Qi Yuan's arm. "The Nine Elders of the Black Demon Abyss are not a monolithic whole, and Ziyuan Heaven is not the one waging war against the Moon Goddess Palace," Ancestor Ziyuan said indifferently. Among the Nine Elders of the Black Demon Abyss, Ancestor Ziyuan was on good terms only with Third Elder. With the others, they were mere acquaintances, and a few were bitter enemies who wished for each other's demise. "Go back." With a wave of his sleeve, Qi Yuan vanished. Within the Ancestral Blood Pavilion, time seemed to rewind. A fragment of the white-haired elder's memory was snipped away, and Ancestor Ziyuan's figure disappeared at that very moment. Outside the pavilion, the wariness in Qi Yuan's eyes deepened. A Great Ultimate Principle was truly terrifying. Against the display Ancestor Ziyuan had just put on, he had no way to resist. In other words, even with ten thousand sliding tackles, he couldn't kill Ancestor Ziyuan right now. If an ordinary Great Ultimate Principle was this formidable, just how monstrous would the one from Taihuang Palace be? At the thought, Qi Yuan glanced up toward his star, thinking of Canary and Ning Tao working diligently to catch suns in the cosmos, and felt much more at ease. "Senior Brother Blood Robe, how did it go? Which layer?" Ziyuan Xiaolu stood outside, looking at him with eager anticipation. "Well... your Old Ancestor told me not to tell," Qi Yuan answered honestly. "The Old Ancestor?" Ziyuan Xiaolu's eyes went wide. "Even the Old Ancestor was alerted? Could it be... at least the third layer, maybe even the fourth?!" Excited and overjoyed, curiosity clawed at her heart. She desperately wanted to know which layer he had reached—whether he had made it to the fourth layer, or even surpassed Hei Jian's record. Yet she also understood that she probably wouldn't find out for centuries, given that the Old Ancestor had personally intervened. Though her curiosity burned, she could only endure it. Just then, she blinked at Qi Yuan and saw him hold up seven fingers. "The Old Ancestor told me not to say it, but he didn't tell me not to gesture it. Understand now? What layer I'm at? By the way, don't spread the word," Qi Yuan said casually. Ziyuan Xiaolu stared at the seven fingers, her head spinning. The seventh layer? Her legs went weak, her mind going completely blank. Far away, Ancestor Ziyuan witnessed this scene and could only shake his head. *This kid just can't stop stirring up trouble!* *** Eleven days passed. Qi Yuan was left wanting more. "What a pity. The Black Demon Ancestral Blood has been completely devoured again." After three days of devouring and refining the blood, his progress in the Ancestral Blood Art had surged dramatically, crossing into the eighth layer. Past the eighth layer, Qi Yuan discovered that his bloodstream now contained traces of cold, chilling blood that glinted with golden light. It gave him quite a fright, making him suspect heavy metal poisoning. To be safe, he recolored his golden blood, dyeing it red. That felt much more normal. "Pity, I'm still a long way from the ninth layer." The further he went, the slower the progress. To accelerate it would require a vast amount of Black Demon Ancestral Blood. Otherwise, by Qi Yuan's calculations, relying solely on his own talent, working diligently without food or drink, it would take at least a century to reach the fifteenth layer's perfection. That was horrifying. The future was dark, devoid of prospects—no different from working fifty years in an electronics factory just to scrape together a down payment. "Black Demon Ancestral Blood... how can I get more?" Qi Yuan couldn't help but sigh. His background was simply too poor, losing right at the starting line; only through his own efforts could he close the gap by the tiniest sliver. Suddenly, Qi Yuan remembered something and pulled out the golden alms bowl. Inside rested a pool of bloody water teeming with a dense swarm of intelligent miniature probe bugs. Anyone with trypophobia would feel sick to their stomach at a glance. Oh, Blue Star mortals didn't have vision that sharp. "Robots, can you talk?" Qi Yuan greeted the intelligent miniature probe bugs. Unfortunately, the mechanical bugs gave no response, remaining deathly still. "Pity Zero-One isn't here. Otherwise... if I called Zero-One over, it could definitely communicate with these machine bugs." Qi Yuan pondered carefully. These intelligent miniature probe bugs did not seem like products of the Sixth Heaven. Daoist immortal methods were useless against them—or rather, to a Yang God Heavenly Venerable, such probe bugs were merely peculiar creations. "Wait, back then Zero-One transferred the insights of the Myriad Dao Martial God to me, and gave me quite a few... useful things too." Qi Yuan's eyes brightened. In those ruins, Zero-One had seized control of the starship, mastering a wealth of advanced black technology and even undergoing an evolution. When it transmitted the Myriad Dao Martial God insights to him, it had mixed in a considerable amount of that black technology. Those technologies also fell under the domain of the Myriad Dao Martial God. After all, "Myriad Dao Martial God" wasn't just an empty title. Not only did one need to master the Heavenly Dao, Earthly Dao, tree Dao, and pedestrian walkway Dao, one even had to master the Dao of hacking. "Access data." Qi Yuan extended his hand toward the intelligent miniature probe bugs. Instantly, the bugs swarmed toward him. Seeing this, Qi Yuan's eyes lit up. "It seems this Black Demon Abyss... definitely shares a deep connection with the universe where Dongjun was!" His technique worked on these intelligent miniature probe bugs, proving they shared the same underlying technology. "Receive data." These intelligent miniature probe bugs possessed data recording and storage functions. Qi Yuan directly hacked into their core systems to receive their data, hoping for an unexpected surprise. "The data is fragmented and heavily distorted." Qi Yuan felt a twinge of disappointment. Perhaps too much time had passed, and the probe bugs had gone without power replenishment. Most of the data he retrieved was broken beyond repair. Even so, he managed to glimpse some useful information. "Such a massive bug... and endless starships!" In the boundless cosmos, Qi Yuan saw a gargantuan bug drifting through the dark starry sky. Stars were smaller than its compound eyes. Such a colossal entity genuinely stirred him. "Even from these shattered images, it was definitely at the Great Ultimate Principle—and no ordinary one at that!" Qi Yuan maintained a calm expression as he absorbed the remaining footage. Then, another frame caught his attention. "What happened?" The scene flashed by in an instant, recording... the giant bug breaking through to a higher realm, only to... suddenly perish into oblivion, its spirit and soul vanishing into nothingness. Its body was left an empty shell. This was chilling. This was an entity at the peak of the Great Ultimate Principle, perhaps having already transcended the realm of Great Ultimate Reason to step into the third layer of Yang God, just like the woman he had encountered on Arch Star. Yet right at the moment of breakthrough, its spirit and soul vanished, leaving behind only a husk. A being at the pinnacle of Great Ultimate Principle, an entity of that horrifying third-layer Yang God realm... suddenly perished upon breaking through? The implications were terrifying. The subsequent footage showed countless starships approaching the giant bug, seemingly intent on harvesting its body and blood. Relying on the colossal carcass, the endless fleet constructed a sky fortress. "Could this bug be the source of the Black Demon Ancestral Blood? With a body that massive... wouldn't it hold an astronomical amount of blood?" Qi Yuan's eyes shone, having no time to mourn the giant bug's demise. From the probe bugs' database, he had discovered several locations where the bug's blood had been collected and stored! "Black Demon Ancestral Blood?" Qi Yuan's breath quickened. If he obtained that Black Demon Ancestral Blood, wouldn't his Ancestral Blood Art advance by leaps and bounds? With another breakthrough, his cultivation as a Myriad Dao Martial God could reach the Ultimate Principle Realm. Without relying on his Divine Infant or grinding away with the Great Oblivion Heart Scripture, his sheer combat power alone would allow him to rival the Ultimate Principle. Although Qi Yuan had dealt with the Ultimate Principle Realm Yang Gods of the Moluo Clan, he knew how arduous those battles had been. Now, with a massive hoard of Black Demon Ancestral Blood, did it mean his Myriad Dao Martial God realm could contend against the Ultimate Principle, or even a Great Ultimate Principle?!