Within the cavernous, antiquated hall, Gao Xinjian's voice seemed to pierce through the dust of the past, unveiling long-buried secrets piece by piece.
"Much of the technology and knowledge the Grand Alliance subsequently derived from the diagram was actually derivative of the Secret Diagram of the Celestial Being, and indeed, by feeling their way forward based on it, they achieved numerous breakthroughs.
"Especially after the advent of the new era, significant technological strides were made. Many of the technologies held by Progenitor Company today also benefited from this.
"From this, we saw hope. Had we continued along this research path, we might have attained even greater achievements, and perhaps truly found a way to resist the entities from the world on the other side.
"Yet what followed was the collapse of the Grand Alliance."
Gao Xinjian's tone turned wistful.
"Following the dissolution of the Grand Alliance, the research program naturally could not proceed. The various nations, corporations, and major organizations went their separate ways.
"And the 'Celestial Being Diagram,' as the Grand Alliance's most vital legacy, was carved up among them. Major powers such as Great Shun, the Linakes Federation, Norland, Ayon, and the Noros Theocracy claimed the lion's share.
"Among them, Great Shun and the Federation—possessing vast territories and the greatest military might—seized the largest portions. The remainder fell into the hands of numerous corporate giants and major martial art disciplines.
"However, some diagrams originally gathered from the general populace and intended for transfer to the Grand Alliance wound up in the hands of various organizations and religious factions. Many sects rose to prominence on the back of this, as much of the content helped them break through bottlenecks in their secret arts and technologies.
"It was precisely for this reason that thereafter, every major nation and global conglomerate sought to acquire more of such things.
"From then on, confrontations between nations, corporate wars, and clashes between states, corporations, and religious remnants often stemmed from these diagrams—whether fought to seize them or to suppress research into them.
"Not a few corporate behemoths were dismantled in the process, and from their carcasses, numerous smaller companies were born."
Hearing this, Chen Chuan could not help reflecting on certain past events—particularly the Molan Company, which had been wiped out.
That company had emerged only after the fall of the global giant Tianhe Mining, and had later been targeted by the government. Could it have harbored something of this nature as well?
Gao Xinjian continued, "Yet as I mentioned just now, technology is merely derivative knowledge drawn from the diagram. The core essence of the diagram lies in the possibility of creating an almost flawless human race—naturally powerful, blessed with innate gifts, and capable, once matured, of standing against the entities from the opposite side.
"In the old era, those emperors and aristocrats who were considered naturally noble and possessed talents far beyond ordinary men were inextricably tied to these esoteric diagrams. They all profited from them, seeking to become higher lifeforms truly elevated above mortals, like the gods and immortals of legend."
He turned his gaze toward Chen Chuan and spoke slowly, "This bloodline can take root within an individual or the lineage of a family, passed down from generation to generation."
Chen Chuan glanced at Gao Xinjian. The latter said without the slightest evasion, "Yes, our Gao family was once among them.
"However, across generations of inheritance, the stability of such a bloodline steadily deteriorates. Descendants are either born with inherent defects or die young. Only on rare occasions is an exceptional child born with blood pure enough to carry on the line. If so, the family survives. But if several successive generations fail to produce such an heir, the family withers and dies out.
"Early imperial houses and aristocrats often met their end in this manner, which is why no dynasty ever endured indefinitely.
"It was not until the middle ages that the ruling elite either turned to the Old Faith for aid or resorted to mutating their own bloodlines to sustain their lineage.
"The latter gradually became the mainstream among imperial houses. Yet it brought another consequence: upon reaching a certain age, they would mutate into creatures completely distinct from normal humans, capable of continuing their existence only by entering a convergence zone.
"Even before fully mutating, their temperaments were markedly aberrant—some perverse and sadistic, others innately mad. Those who merely pursued mindless hedonism were, by comparison, the most normal among them, practically seen as blessed, benevolent monarchs.
"Yet certain ancient families refused to make such a choice. They did everything in their power to pass down their bloodline by other means."
Gao Xinjian sighed. "Mr. Chen, when we first met, I told you that our Gao family suffers from a hereditary condition. This was one of the reasons.
"However, the ancestors of our Gao family were farsighted. After learning of the bloodline's fatal flaws, they did not chase after blood purity, nor did they intermarry with royalty or other aristocrats. Instead, they continually married into ordinary families.
"This caused our bloodline to regress, making it rare for any clansman of pure blood to appear. Yet even so, the defect continued to hound us. Every few generations, individuals with extraordinary talents would still emerge, and it was they who allowed our Gao family to endure to this day."
Chen Chuan pondered briefly. "I heard Gao Xinwen say that this bloodline is evil, that it came from the opposite side, that it pollutes everything and strips all people in the world of their right to survive."
Gao Xinjian shook his head. "What he knew was incomplete. He believed that the bloodline existed because our ancestors made some deal with the entities on the other side—cursing generation after generation of the Gao family as the price for granting power to an occasional descendant.
"He even believed that once someone with this bloodline was born, they would become a harbinger guiding the opposite world, thereby threatening the survival of everyone else.
"Yet what we sought was for such a bloodline to combat the entities on the other side, not to conspire with them.
"He misunderstood completely."
Chen Chuan asked, "If that's the case, why didn't you explain it to him clearly?"
Gao Xinjian looked up and gazed deeply at him. "Because the transmission of the bloodline touches upon the deepest secret of the Gao clan. Only the family head of each generation possesses the right to know and preserve this secret."
Without waiting for Chen Chuan's response, he continued, "And my younger sister, Gao Yuling, was the one in whom the bloodline manifested in this generation."
At this point, Gao Yueying, standing nearby, stepped forward. Gao Xinjian took a photo album from her hands and placed it on the desk.
"These are many photos from her past—some from her childhood, and others taken after she grew up."
He glanced at Chen Chuan. Seeing no sign of him reaching for it, he fell quiet for a moment before continuing:
"Yuling was willful from a young age. When she inadvertently learned the truth about herself, she was utterly repulsed by her bloodline. Because the manifestation of the bloodline meant that her child would be someone possessing true, innate genius. Once the bloodline manifested to a certain threshold, she would conceive spontaneously—just like mythical figures in ancient legends who bore children after miraculous dreams.
"In the past, whenever the family discovered such an occurrence, they would find ways to have these descendants bear even more offspring. She refused to accept such a fate, so with Xinwen's help, she fled home."
Gao Xinjian said, "In truth, I never intended to force her. Later, even when she wanted to purge her bloodline, I never stopped her, because the Progenitor Company of today no longer needs such a bloodline to support the family. It's just that what happened afterward came as something of a surprise even to me."
He took another storage sheath from Gao Yueying and placed it beside the album.
"These are some travel journals and records she left behind, including notes on the people around her. I imagine you might find them of interest, Mr. Chen."
Chen Chuan was indeed interested in examining them. Gao Yuling herself held little intrigue for him, but there might be clues regarding his current body's parents.
He picked up the storage sheath and placed it against his boundary credential. Soon, he had finished reviewing the information displayed.
With this, he had gathered the perspectives of his current body's parents, Gao Xinjian, and Gao Yuling, filling in the final corner of the whole affair and piecing together the true picture of what had transpired.
When Gao Yuling first discovered the truth of her bloodline, she resisted it fiercely. Yet she did not dare defy her eldest brother, Gao Xinjian, dreading that he would demand she bear bloodline offspring. Thus, with the assistance of her second brother, Gao Xinwen, she fled home.
Because the Gao clan's ancestral home was in Jibei Dao, and the family's influence was comparatively weak in Great Shun, she crossed the ocean to Jibei Dao.
It was there that she met Yu Zhen. Due to their remarkable physical resemblance, Gao Yuling hired her as a personal bodyguard. Over the course of their subsequent travels, the two became close confidantes who shared everything.
Yet the manifestation of the bloodline continued to plague Gao Yuling. Her hair color gradually shifted from jet black to light brown.
This placed her under constant, invisible pressure, leading her to conceive the notion of stripping the bloodline from herself. This aligned perfectly with Gao Xinwen's thoughts; he too had been searching for such a method, believing that if one were found, perhaps future generations of the Gao family would no longer have to bear this curse.
Gao Xinwen later managed to assemble equipment and research personnel, setting up a research institute in Great Shun dedicated to helping her strip the bloodline away. Among those personnel was Chen Chuan's father in this life, Chen Qiyang. It was during this period that Yu Zhen and Chen Qiyang met and wed.
At first, progress was rocky. Yet perhaps due to good fortune, a year later at an internal Consortium auction, Gao Xinwen won the bidding for a Grade 2 relic that might aid their efforts.
The relic indeed proved useful. Another year later, the institute remarkably succeeded in stripping the bloodline out.
Gao Yuling was overjoyed, instructing the researchers to completely destroy the extracted bloodline so that the curse would no longer have anything to do with her or her family.
Yet to everyone's astonishment, perhaps because the bloodline had not been purged entirely, Gao Yuling still conceived spontaneously a mere six months later. Eight months after that, she gave birth to a child—and Chen Chuan, as it happened, was born on that very same day of that year.
Chapter 1262