A short flight and a hop through the teleportation array later, Chen Wentian and Zhou Ziyun arrived at the Sky District. They didn’t pay attention to the tall skyscraping pagodas around them and headed straight for the library.
“You’re not mad… are you?” He asked.
She snorted, “Why would I be mad?”
“That I signed you up for some Dao preaching competition.”
“I’ll be fine. Worst case, I make a fool of myself and make you lose a lot of face.”
“Hahaha! I have complete faith in you.”
“Mmmhmm.”
They both left it at that and arrived at the entrance to the library. The building was also a pagoda that stood ten stories tall. The sides were made of white stone while the roof tiles were red. It was a curious sight, a beacon of knowledge amidst the forest of tall buildings. It was one of the few benefits the Immortal Association provided to the human population under their protection.
Only, this benefit required a lot of money.
“Two people, that will be two hundred kilograms of red spiritual crystal for a one-day pass.” Said the dispassionate voice of the clerk behind the welcome desk.Chen Wentian tried to give the person the stink eye but they weren’t even looking in his direction. He made a noise of disapproval and dropped a sack of money on the counter. It disappeared in a flash and two wooden badges appeared in its place.
“Bloodthirsty…” He muttered as he took them.
Although he wasn’t a poor immortal, it was still a lot of money. The amount could have helped Lin Qingcheng accept a few hundred more disciples to her House of Paradise or it could have paid for Jasmine’s unsatiable appetite for about a week. It really was difficult being a sect master.
Zhou Ziyun, suddenly happy, grabbed his arm with a skip in her step, “Where should we go first? I remember you mentioning that there was quite a big section about sword Daos here. Maybe we can find something that will help Sister Wu in forming her Sorrowful Sword Style?”
“She’s been hanging around Lingxi a lot lately so she should be fine.”
“Then what about elemental arts?”
“No, I have somewhere in mind. Come.”
Chen Wentian led up the stairs to the highest floor. It was almost empty here and they didn’t see anyone as they walked through the aisles filled with dusty tomes and fragile scrolls. As they studied the room, section by section, he explained his thought process and goals.
At this point, his highest priority was to understand the disciples that had special and inexplicable skills. Besides Long Yifei who was learning from a great power within the main continent, the others were not so fortunate. Wu Qianyu aside, the ones he needed to help the most were Lin Qingcheng, Zhou Ziyun, and Bei Yingluo, to uncover the secrets of their abilities.
From what he knew of secret abilities, there were an endless number of them in this limitless world of cultivation. But, they mostly fell under two categories, gifts and bloodlines.
The most mysterious were gifts bestowed by the heavens through fortune or a blessing of pure luck. The will of heaven was fickle and could randomly gift a person with no cultivation background a rare physique or strange ability. These were the most difficult to predict.
Unlike powerful secret arts and great Daos, gifts could not be learned, only born. Sometimes, it would result in a world-shaking genius that could upend the established hierarchy. But oftentimes, they would run into greater powers and be destroyed, turned into oblivion before they could reach their full potential.
Unlike heavenly gifts that appeared out of nowhere, bloodlines were the work of human reproduction. Although they could appear suddenly akin to gifts, they had a specific source, whether it was their immediate parents or a hidden ancestor many generations ago.
It was a well-known fact that humans were a highly adaptable race and that their blood was a powerful incubator for powers from other races. Some special traits that first appeared as a heavenly gift could be passed down from generation to generation. If their bloodline was properly maintained through selective breeding, they might be able to create a permanent power through the might of the blood.
Certain human bloodlines were also known to contain blood from powerful spiritual beasts. Some human clans did more than emulate beasts and actually stole their blood. Divine beasts were an especially attractive target as they had the strongest and most coveted abilities. Some humans hunted divine beasts for this purpose. But it was also rumored that some humans lived together in harmony with beasts and took their blood as a sign of honor and friendship.
In this sense, Chen Wentian’s blue dragon powers could be considered a kind of bloodline power. It did not completely come from his blue dragon soul but the source of fire that it left behind before it died. Because of this source of fire that dragons usually only left for their own kin, he could temporarily transform his body into one akin to a dragon. There was a trace of dragon blood in his veins and his bones were tough as a dragon’s. Even if he did not have the blue dragon soul, he would have still been able to wield blue dragon flames although it would have been somewhat weaker.
And it was entirely possible that he was not the only human with the powers of divine beasts. It wasn’t difficult to imagine grand royal families and ancient noble lineages residing in blessed realms and holy worlds that have stubbornly held onto bloodlines stolen from divine beasts.
Finally, human bloodlines didn’t come from just beasts but also demons and other races. Demon bloodlines were especially powerful and strange. There were all kinds of demons in the world with a myriad of powers. Those humans that cultivated demon bloodlines could either kill demons and rob their blood or they could even be demon worshippers, having completely fallen to the enemy of their own race.
These demon worshippers were even worse than actual demons. The Immortal Association had a standing order to wipe out all demon worshippers and their kin, down to every last chicken and pet dog. Everything had to be wiped out where demon worshippers existed.
“Therefore,” Chen Wentian concluded after the long lecture, “To address an unknown power, we need to establish where it came from, a heavenly gift or a hidden bloodline. If it is heaven’s gift, then there is nothing to worry about. Qingcheng, Qianyu, Yingluo, or you, if your ability was a gift, then we will simply rejoice and we can cultivate it without worry. But if your ability came from a bloodline, we will have to proceed carefully.”
“How so?” Zhou Ziyun asked.
“The best case is that it is a hidden human bloodline. Perhaps one of your parents is the great-great-great-descendant of some folks that got lost in the subcontinent. These human factions with bloodlines are often more powerful than the Spirit King Realm. Things can get messy if your secret ability attracts their attention. They might want you back and they might be unruly and too powerful for me to handle.”
“If the bloodline came from beasts, which is probably unlikely in your cases, it will definitely attract greedy people from all directions. The news of divine beasts always brings out the worst in us. Greedy and jealousy are difficult to defeat and there has been endless bloodshed over these matters.”
He sighed and shook his head, “But if the bloodline came from demons, this is the most worrisome. I don’t have to repeat myself with regard to demon worshippers. But even for clans that kill demons and steal their blood, there is a certain sense of taboo about them across the land. They are often looked down upon and sometimes even outright outlawed. They will not only face the wrath of demons but the narrow-minded opinions of other people. They may even be hunted and killed by their own side.”
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A/N I wrote three special stories to celebrate IOAFD reaching one million words. They are a retelling of the side stories after the very first arc, with three brand-new smut scenes. They are free to read for a limited time!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/1-million-lin-95241918
https://www.patreon.com/posts/1-million-zhou-95242080
https://www.patreon.com/posts/1-million-wu-95242102
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