Bloodline Mystery, Yin Zhong's Observation

After returning to his manor, Zhou Ming retreated to his study, forbidding anyone from approaching. He once again took out the jade tablet, the Heavenly Book, and began to study it.

At the same time, he was continuously recalling the plot of "Water Moon Cave Heaven."

"Heavenly Eye... Heavenly Eye..."

Zhou Ming's gaze shifted, and a piece of information from the plot surfaced in his memory.

The Tong clan in Water Moon Cave Heaven were descendants of gods, with the bloodline of gods flowing through their veins, possessing a mysterious power to sense heaven and earth and control its forces.

When this power was cultivated and unleashed, it manifested as sorcery.

However, even within this clan, those with a talent for sorcery were ultimately only a minority.

Furthermore, as time passed and the bloodline was passed down through generations, the number of people with talent would only decrease.

By the time the plot unfolded, the entire Tong clan had only a handful of individuals left with this talent, capable of learning sorcery.

And among these few, the majority were elders from the older generation.

Only one person was from the younger generation.

That was the protagonist, Tong Xin, the youngest of the three Tong brothers.

Tong Xin, true to his name, had underdeveloped intelligence. Though a youth in appearance, he possessed the disposition of a child.

This led him to accidentally befriend Yin Zhong and be exploited by him.

Before the final decisive battle of the plot, Yin Zhong, recognizing Tong Xin's talent for sorcery, helped him open his Heavenly Eye and taught him sorcery.

He hoped to utilize Tong Xin's sorcerous abilities to help himself.

This meant that the Tong clan, and possibly all descendants of gods, even if they possessed the talent for sorcery, would definitely need to open their Heavenly Eye to learn it.

Opening the Heavenly Eye was the prerequisite for learning all sorcery!

"According to him, this Heavenly Book can only be read by those with a Heavenly Eye. Could it be that what's recorded in the book is the sorcery of the Tong clan... Wait, why would Yin Zhong give this book to me?"

Zhou Ming discovered a crucial point.

"Could it be... I possess this sorcerous talent? Am I of the Tong clan bloodline?!"

He froze on the spot, finding his own deduction unbelievable.

"No, no, it's not just the Tong clan that has the bloodline of gods in this world; there are other divine bloodline groups!

And no, if I were from another divine bloodline group, why would Yin Zhong give me the Heavenly Book? The sorcery he wants me to learn is likely the sorcery of the Tong clan... Then I am of the Tong clan!

Still not right. If I were of the Tong clan, Yin Zhong would have simply killed me upon discovering it. Why would he give me the Heavenly Book?"

Yin Zhong harbored an unforgettable hatred for the Tong clan.

He had once incited the monarch's wrath, intending to destroy the Tong clan. When the Tong clan received the news and fled, he led troops in pursuit.

If it weren't for the intervention of Great General Long Teng of the Long clan, the Tong clan would likely have been completely annihilated at that time.

From then on, the Tong clan lived in seclusion, no longer appearing in the world, naturally meaning their bloodline could not be passed down.

It was even unlikely that any bloodline remained from that incident... because Yin Zhong was later resurrected.

After his resurrection, he still harbored his hatred, and while searching for the Tong clan, he continuously pursued the Long clan.

Later, he annihilated the entire Long clan.

If the Long clan suffered such a fate, what hope did the Tong clan have?

If any Tong clan bloodline survived in the outside world, he would definitely find and kill them!

With Yin Zhong's methods and capabilities, Zhou Ming truly didn't believe anyone could escape his pursuit.

If there truly was any Tong clan bloodline left in this world, it would probably only be... Yin Zhong's descendants!

After all, Yin Zhong's original name was Tong Yin Zhong; he was, in fact, also of the Tong clan.

His bloodline descendants would naturally be of the Tong clan bloodline!

Imperial Sword Manor could also be referred to as an external branch of the Tong clan.

However, even within Water Moon Cave Heaven, the children born from marriages within the Tong clan had an increasingly rare chance of possessing sorcerous talent. This was even more so for Imperial Sword Manor, where children were born from intermingling with outsiders' bloodlines.

Therefore, despite hundreds of years of inheritance, Imperial Sword Manor had not produced a single person with sorcerous talent.

Moreover, Imperial Sword Manor's population was not thriving. After several centuries, only a handful of people remained in the current generation.

Coupled with the fact that Yin Zhong, their ancestor, was always controlling them from the shadows.

This kept Imperial Sword Manor confined to developing within the Ancient Shu State, rarely venturing outside.

The possibility of the Tong clan bloodline existing in the outside world was even more minuscule!

"Then me..."

Zhou Ming pondered, but he couldn't figure out how he came to be.

Wait a minute!

Within Imperial Sword Manor, there was indeed one person who frequently went out.

That person had even traveled thousands of miles to the Ming State before the New Year.

He just left...

If there was one bloodline that might have leaked out, it would perhaps be...

"No way..."

This guess was too bold.

Zhou Ming was shocked by his own thought.

Outside the Imperial City.

The merchant caravan from Imperial Sword Manor moved slowly.

"Second Master, since something happened at the Manor, shouldn't we... speed up..."

A middle-aged man on horseback rode closer and said.

"Hm?"

Yin Zhong's expression was blank: "Are you telling me what to do?"

"This subordinate was disrespectful, Second Master, please forgive me."

"Hmph!"

Yin Zhong rode his horse, leading the entire caravan, moving forward slowly, showing no signs of urgency.

Since departing half a year ago and arriving at the Ming State's Imperial City, their stated purpose was business, but in reality, it was just an excuse.

His only objective was to come to Pei Ju's residence to see Zhou Ming.

Later, Pei Ju mentioned True Man Zhang of Wudang's hundredth birthday and asked him to stay and witness it.

Heh, what was so interesting about a hundred-year-old kid's birthday?

But Yin Zhong readily agreed, his sole purpose being to stay longer and observe Zhou Ming properly.

And the results of his observation, he was quite satisfied with.

In terms of talent, Zhou Ming's aptitude was excellent.

Regardless of his already displayed martial arts talent, or his yet-to-be-displayed cultivation talent.

In terms of intellect, he was also not bad.

After Pei Ju simply explained the court situation, he was able to understand it and make certain judgments about the future situation.

He wouldn't say he was exceptionally intelligent, but he was certainly smarter than many.

The only thing Yin Zhong was not satisfied with was that Zhou Ming seemed to lack ambition.

To put it nicely, he was content with his lot.

To put it bluntly, he was a useless bum!

However, Yin Zhong soon discovered that Zhou Ming didn't truly lack ambition; rather, he possessed a kind of arrogance.

It was as if the Kyushu, the Four Seas, the Son of Heaven's supreme authority, the princes and marquises, and the generals and ministers meant nothing to him.

Because he didn't care, he had no ambition.

Just like no one would deliberately pursue a speck of dust.

In Zhou Ming's heart, those things were merely specks of dust.

To Yin Zhong, this was actually a good thing.

Moreover, the absence of ambition did not mean the absence of desire.

Once a desire formed in his heart, under the cover of this arrogance, he would likely be even more terrifying than those with ambition.

Therefore, he ultimately approved of Zhou Ming.

"Hm?"

Yin Zhong suddenly turned his head, only to see a blinding pillar of light shooting straight into the sky from within the Imperial City, piercing the clouds.

"Second Master."

His subordinate, seeing this, quickly reined in his horse and looked back curiously, seeing nothing.

"Hahaha, I thought it would take another two days, but I didn't expect him to decipher the mystery of the Heavenly Eye so quickly and directly activate it! Hahaha..."

Yin Zhong ignored his subordinate, his gaze fixed on the anomaly that only he could see, thinking to himself, "As expected of..."

My... son!