Bloodline Tree

“None of the herbs are of very high grade, I’m afraid. But I got them in the territory of the Green River Sect, and thought they might be a little more unusual in this area. They’re of no use to you, of course, but perhaps your clan members can gain some experience from working with them,” Shu Yang explained as Master Chinu opened the gift box he had brought.

“You’ll have to excuse me if I’m wrong; I’m afraid I’m not very knowledgeable about these things,” Shu Yang added with an awkward smile.

“No, not at all,” Master Chinu answered with a small chuckle. “I can tell plenty of these aren’t of a low grade at all. It is a very thoughtful gift. Thank you.”

‘Hopefully, he’s not just being polite.’

Shu Yang had brought small gifts to all his nearby neighbours, as a way to establish contact.

But most of them were relatively cheap gifts, just given as a formality.

Master Chinu, though, was different. He was the alchemist that Duo Wengze had told him about. As a 2nd stage alchemist, his status was obviously higher than other Foundation stage cultivators. Shu Yang wanted to make a good impression, so the gift he brought contained a lot of spiritual plants that were quite expensive.

“I’m glad,” Shu Yang said, taking a sip of the tea. He had already been there for thirty minutes, having small talk, so he finally got to his main reason for coming over. “I won’t keep you away from your work much longer, but since I have the opportunity, I have to ask if it’s possible to buy a certain pill from you?”

Master Chinu chuckled. “Of course, it’s possible. What pill are you looking for?”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a 2nd-stage Fetus Nourishing Pill, would you?” Shu Yang asked.

“Is your partner expecting?” Master Chinu asked.

“My daughter-in-law,” Shu Yang said, shaking his head.

“You’re very generous,” Master Chinu said, smiling. “It’s quite an expensive pill. And yet, it flies off the shelves. Fortunately, I happen to have finished a batch a few weeks ago, and there are still some left to be sold.”

Master Chinu then pulled out a bottle from his storage ring, showing it to Shu Yang. “I take it that one is enough?”

“Do you have more?” Shu Yang couldn’t help but ask. He had been researching a lot in the past week, visiting various bookstores around the city. He mostly bought books about alchemy, and that’s where he found out about the Fetus Nourishing Pill.

It was actually considered a bit of an extravagant pill to take. It supposedly helped the chances of more of the parent’s Bloodline Power being passed to the child, but the effect wasn’t that great. In most cases, it would be better to just spend the spirit stones you would have paid for the pill and invest them in resources to nurture the child after it was born.

Even so, plenty of cultivators were willing to buy it. And Shu Yang was definitely one of them.

“You want more? For the same child? You should know that the effect greatly decreases after the first pill,” Master Chinu explained.

“How much would a second pill decrease in effectiveness?” Shu Yang asked.

Master Chinu shook his head. “In theory, just one pill takes care of everything. Everything that can be done, that is. There is still no guarantee that the child will inherit the full extent of their parents' talents; it just makes it slightly more likely.

“But of course, a second pill wouldn’t hurt. There might be a few aspects left to improve, but I would still not be able to claim an effectiveness higher than 10 percent.”

‘That’s really low.’

Shu Yang wouldn’t waste money on a pill like this under normal circumstances. It wasn’t a miracle pill that could create geniuses out of ordinary children.

The reason he wanted one so badly this time was because Tianhu’s and Xiaoshi’s child was bound to be on the verge of receiving a Founding Bloodline.

Tianhu’s Bloodline Power was still at 9.99, but Xiaoshi had advanced to the Foundation stage before conceiving. Shu Yang didn’t know her exact value, but it couldn’t be much higher than 10.

Their child could very well inherit Xiaoshi’s Bloodline Power, but it was far from guaranteed. Even two Foundation cultivators could have children with Mortal bloodlines; it wasn’t a rare occurrence.

So Shu Yang wanted to do everything in his power to make sure the child could inherit the full Founding bloodline. He knew from experience how hard it was to cross that hurdle otherwise. He himself had experienced it, and Tianhu was currently struggling with it. He had been at 9.99 for a very long time, and even his advancement to the Master stage hadn’t made it budge.

So even if the child inherited a very strong Mortal bloodline, perhaps having a value of 9.99 even before they started cultivating, there was no guarantee that it would advance to a Founding bloodline until the child actually advanced to the Foundation stage.

So inheriting the full Founding bloodline was crucial.

‘But 10 percent…I really can’t justify it.’

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Shu Yang was wealthy, but he was constantly losing money. It would take him a long time to earn back the spirit stones he spent on just one pill.

“Thank you for enlightening me. Just one pill will do,” Shu Yang said. “It’s 15 middle-grade spirit stones, correct?”

“Correct,” Master Chinu said, smiling.

Shu Yang retrieved the spirit stones from his storage ring and gave them to Master Chinu, who gave him the pill bottle in return.

“Thank you,” Shu Yang said.

“The pleasure is mine. I hope you’ll think of me if you have any alchemy needs in the future,” Master Chinu said.

“Definitely,” Shu Yang said. “That actually reminds me, I have looked around a bit in the past few days, trying to research what pills are popular in this place, but I haven’t seen anything about pills that can extend lifespan. Do you know why that is?”

Master Chinu smiled wryly. “Because that is something alchemy cannot touch. At least at my level. You can, of course, take pills that improve health. But there is always a limit. The only way to break through that limit is through cultivation. That is the reason we cultivate, isn’t it? To live longer, striving for immortality.”

“There really isn’t anything?” Shu Yang asked.

“I’m afraid not. It’s a rule that is extremely hard to circumvent. I suppose it’s possible, but not for us. Perhaps an alchemist at the Nascent Soul stage can manipulate laws of that level, with the right resources, but I wouldn’t know about that.”

“Alright,” Shu Yang said, nodding slowly.

‘I guess I would just postpone the inevitable either way.’

Shu Yang had always known he would outlive his family. It wasn’t hard to understand. His talent kept increasing, but theirs stayed the same.

But it was still a very depressing thought. He was reluctant to entirely accept it.

“Master Chinu is truly knowledgeable," Shu Yang said.

“I still have a lot to learn,” Master Chinu said with a small chuckle. “But unfortunately, I’m already old. I don’t have much time left to expand on my knowledge. It will be left to the younger generation to build on what I leave behind.”

“That is all we can ever do. We should be grateful for the opportunity our own ancestors left us with, and follow in their footsteps. Hopefully, our descendants might one day reach that elusive stage of immortality.”

Master Chuni chuckled. “Hehe, right you are.”

“I heard you have a few of your clan members living here. Are they studying alchemy from you?” Shu Yang asked. He had one more thing he wanted to accomplish with this visit, but he was a bit afraid of overstaying his welcome; they had both finished their tea by now.

Thankfully, Master Chinu gave no indication of irritation. “Some of them are. I usually take in a few descendants with good talent for cultivation, and a few with good talent for alchemy. I still hope one of them will be able to build a Foundation before I pass, but it seems unlikely.”

‘Is advancing really that hard?’

Shu Yang knew it wasn’t easy, of course. But Master Chunsi lived in the area with access to a 2nd stage spiritual vein, and he was a 2nd stage alchemist. As long as his descendants were born with a spirit root, it shouldn’t be that difficult to nurture a Foundation cultivator.

‘Then again, without my talent, I really don’t see how I could have managed to advance. The same goes for Xiaoshi.’

‘And that is body cultivation. Perhaps spiritual cultivation is even more difficult.’

“I’m sure such a day will arrive. At least you are in a better position than I am. My only talent is body cultivation; I have no knowledge of the immortal arts. It will be a challenge for my descendants to find a way to earn a living in the future,” Shu Yang said.

“Oh? Things can’t be that bad. That estate of yours is certainly not cheap. Besides, you are still young. I doubt things are as precarious as you claim,” Master Chinu said.

“I suppose I exaggerated a bit,” Shu Yang admitted with a small laugh. “But it’s true that I don’t know much about the immortal arts. I’m actually looking for someone who could teach my clan members a few things.”

Before Shu Yang could continue with his suggestion, Master Chinu broke in. “I should make it clear that I have never taken on disciples outside of my clan, and I don’t plan on changing that. I might just be a stubborn old man, holding onto false hope, but that is my decision nonetheless."

“You misunderstand me,” Shu Yang said, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t dream of wasting your time on teaching those kids. They are definitely not talented enough to be worthy of such treatment; I know that well enough. What I was about to suggest to you was for one of your students to teach them a thing or two.”

Before Master Chinu could refuse, Shu Yang put his hand up and clarified, “Nothing you need to keep secret. I understand that legacies aren’t casually shared. I would be more than happy if they could just be taught the basics. They are practically blank slates, so any knowledge that could be shared would be greatly appreciated. I am willing to pay, of course.”

“That…isn’t impossible, I suppose,” Master Chinu said slowly. “But we’re talking about absolute basics here, and if you want access to any pill recipes, you will have to pay for them separately.”

“Of course,” Shu Yang said, nodding eagerly. He really just needed someone with a bit of experience to teach them some rudimentary knowledge. It would allow his grandchildren to avoid many stumbling blocks.

As for more advanced knowledge, Shu Yang never had any hope that his grandchildren would be able to make use of that information. They weren’t even able to manipulate spiritual qi.

His hopes were just that they could develop something suitable for body cultivators in the lower stages.

Hopefully, one of his descendants would one day be blessed with both the talent for alchemy and spiritual cultivation. If his grandchildren had already gotten the basics down, then it would be a lot smoother for those who came after.

Shu Yang stuck around for a while longer, hashing out the details with Master Chunsi, before taking his leave and returning home again.

‘That went well.’ Shu Yang thought as he walked down the street.

‘Another step forward, at least.’

‘But the work is far from over. I need to look at properties in the outer city tomorrow.’

‘Tianhu and Xiaoshi should be back any day now. Once Tianhu is here, we can start our first source of revenue together.’