Aiken Family Bloodline

A treasure?

Ladd's heartbeat quickened slightly. Even the Old Ancestor called it a treasure? Then this thing was obviously no ordinary item. Sure enough, how could something passed down alongside a Battle Qi Manual possibly be commonplace?

"This should be some kind of Divine Artifact Fragment."

Ailin did not hide anything, though he did not directly say it was a fragment of a High-level Divine Weapon. Although Ladd had already reached the Saint Domain, who knew how long it would take him to become a god? There was no need for him to know too much about God-level matters yet.

Besides, this thing would not be of much use to his cultivation.

"A Divine Artifact Fragment?!"

Upon hearing Ailin's words, Ladd's eyes widened involuntarily, and his heart raced. This thing was actually a fragment of a weapon wielded by a God-level expert?

His family heirloom pendant was connected to the divine?

"If my guess is correct, this Divine Weapon's former owner should have come from a Divine Plane."

Though he called it a guess, Ailin was quite certain.

The material of this fragment was not from the Brinia Plane. Moreover, from the residual Destructive Aura upon it, one could infer that its original owner had most likely been an expert who cultivated the Destruction Rule.

"A Divine Plane?"

Ladd was slightly startled.

He had only recently become a Saint Domain expert and had not yet had the chance to meet the Plane Guardian. Naturally, he knew almost nothing about Divine Planes.

"Haha, it seems you still don't know about Divine Planes."

Seeing Ladd's reaction, Ailin smiled. Back then, no one had guided him either, but he possessed memories from his previous life and thus knew a fair bit about Divine Planes. Therefore, even after becoming a god, he had not grown arrogant. He had merely wanted to improve his strength as quickly as possible.

"Please enlighten me, Old Ancestor."

Ladd hurriedly bowed.

Ailin smiled. "Since you have already become a Saint Domain expert, matters concerning Divine Planes are no longer secrets to you. You would learn of them sooner or later. I'll tell you about them now."

Perhaps because he had begun considering a trip to the Divine Planes, Ailin found himself saying a little more to Ladd.

"In this world, the region where we live is merely one of countless Material Planes. Beyond these innumerable Material Planes, there are also four Higher Planes and seven Divine Planes. So long as one reaches the Saint Domain in a Material Plane, one is qualified to travel to a Divine Plane."

"..."

Before long, Ailin gave a simple introduction to what he knew.

There was also a trace of longing for the Divine Planes in Ailin's words.

After all, he had never been to a Divine Plane himself. Everything he knew came only from his memories of the original work and the Plane Guardian's accounts. Yet even through those memories alone, he knew clearly just how wondrous the Divine Planes were.

He had previously devoted himself to cultivation, and he had not encountered any major bottlenecks in his comprehension of the Water Law, so he had never considered actively going to a Divine Plane.

However, after obtaining a Sovereign Spark but being unable to refine it, his state of mind toward cultivation had been somewhat affected. That was why he had developed the thought of traveling to a Divine Plane.

"The world of the strong..."

Listening to Ailin's description, Ladd revealed a look of longing as well.

Anyone with the heart of a strong warrior would, after learning about the Divine Planes, yearn for that world of the strong.

"Although Saint Domain experts are qualified to go to a Divine Plane, you would be better off going after becoming a god."

Seeing Ladd's expression, Ailin understood what he was thinking and offered a reminder.

As for this talented younger member of the family, Ailin did not want him to die young. He wanted to see just how far Ladd could grow. Although the Duncan Family was powerful enough, there were truly no members he thought highly of.

In the entire family, aside from himself, there were only three Low Gods. Even that was only barely achieved through the accumulation of time and some guidance from him back then. Of course, this did not include clansmen who had already gone to the Divine Planes.

There were also some Saint Domain experts in the Duncan Family who had been unable to break through for a long time and had ultimately gone to the Divine Planes. Naturally, no one knew their exact circumstances. Perhaps some had become gods. However, it was more likely that they had died.

"I wonder whether this pendant is of any use to you, Old Ancestor. If it is, Ladd is willing to give it to you."

Hearing Ailin's reminder, Ladd came back to his senses and pulled his thoughts away from his longing for the Divine Planes. He spoke earnestly.

For one thing, he truly did want to give the item to Ailin. After all, it was a Divine Artifact Fragment, and he understood the principle that a man's wealth could bring him disaster. Furthermore, if this really was a Divine Weapon, he estimated that he would be unable to use it anyway, so keeping it would be a waste.

"Haha, don't overthink it. This thing is of no use to me. Just keep it yourself."

Ailin shook his head.

Though he had never been to a Divine Plane, that did not mean he lacked materials from one. Whether they had been gifts from the Plane Guardian or obtained by killing that Death High God, he had acquired quite a few materials.

Using those materials, he had also forged Divine Weapons of his own.

However, he could only forge High-level Divine Weapons for physical attack and physical defense. As for soul-defense Divine Weapons, he had not forged any.

Soul-defense Divine Weapons were the most special of the three types. Forging one essentially involved the use of soul power, completely different from forging offensive or defensive Divine Weapons. To forge a soul-defense Divine Weapon, one needed profound attainments in the soul.

The Water Law did not excel in matters concerning the soul.

Moreover, the Water Law itself excelled at defense. If even his own soul defense could not withstand a Soul Attack, then a soul-defense Divine Weapon would most likely be useless as well.

"This Divine Artifact Fragment was passed down from your ancestors?"

Ailin suddenly asked.

"Yes. This fragment, along with the Battle Qi Manual Ladd currently cultivates, were both passed down by my ancestors."

Ladd answered with certainty.

He was certain of that. But when he thought of Ailin's speculation regarding the pendant's origins, Ladd's heartbeat quickened slightly. If that was true, did it not mean that his ancestors had once been deeply connected to a God-level expert? Perhaps they had even been connected to a Divine Plane?

"The Battle Qi Manual as well?"

Ailin nodded, becoming even more certain. "A Battle Qi Manual capable of cultivating someone to the Saint Domain is considered a rare treasure on the Brinia Continent. Coupled with this Divine Artifact Fragment, it seems your ancestors truly were extraordinary."

Although Ladd possessed Duncan Family blood, that was only because someone had married into the Duncan Family in later generations. If one truly traced his lineage back to its roots, Ladd's bloodline did not originate from the Duncan Family. It originated from his own Aiken Family.

"Although this manual is a treasure, there seems to be some kind of restriction on cultivating it. As far as Ladd knows, people among my ancestors have always cultivated this manual, but almost none broke through the realm of a level-three warrior. When I first cultivated this manual, I never expected to achieve much either, yet I somehow broke through level three. After that, I encountered no bottlenecks at all. As for the reason, I have no way of figuring it out."

Suppressing his excitement, Ladd spoke of the manual with some confusion. "Later, when I traveled to Maia City, I came across the family's bloodline test. By chance, I discovered that I was part of a branch of the Duncan Family, so I returned to the family."

Listening to Ladd, Ailin nodded.

Many special Battle Qi Manuals were restricted by bloodline. Just like the Battle Qi Manual Ailin had compiled for the Duncan Family, only those with Duncan Family blood could cultivate it successfully.

It was not that others could not cultivate it at all. It was simply far too difficult for outsiders, and they could not cultivate it to its highest level.

From Ladd's description, Ailin guessed that the manual Ladd cultivated was most likely the same.

The person capable of compiling such a manual could not have been weak. At the very least, aside from thoroughly studying their own bloodline, they would also need to possess a certain level of comprehension of laws and rules.

If his guess was correct, then the Aiken Family Ladd belonged to must have produced a true expert countless years ago, perhaps even an expert from a Divine Plane.

That expert had descendants on the Brinia Continent, but after some unknown and terrible upheaval, their inheritance had been cut off.

Ladd should have been the first person whose Aiken Family Bloodline had reached the required standard. Yet clearly, Ladd himself knew nothing of this family bloodline, or rather, the Aiken Family Bloodline had long since become unknown.

The present-day Aiken Family was merely an ordinary surname.

If that was truly the case, then Ladd was rather unique. Not only was the concentration of his Aiken Family Bloodline, passed down through who knew how many generations, sufficient, but his Duncan Family bloodline had also qualified at the same time.

"Do you know how long the Battle Qi Manual you cultivate has been passed down?"

After a pause, Ailin asked casually.

He also wanted to see whether he could infer events that had once occurred on the Brinia Continent through this information. There were not many matters in the Brinia Plane that could draw his attention now, but if it involved information about experts from Divine Planes, he was still somewhat interested.

Ladd shook his head helplessly. "This... Ladd does not know either. Other than this manual and that pendant, my ancestors left behind no information at all. But it has certainly been more than ten thousand years."

As far as he knew, before he returned to the Duncan Family, his ancestors had been commoners for many generations. At most, some ancestors had held posts in the military.

Hearing Ladd mention ten thousand years, Ailin shook his head with a smile and did not ask any further questions. Ten thousand years? Within the hundreds of millions of years he knew about, it could not possibly have been the era when the Aiken Family flourished.

But the Aiken Family...

At that moment, memories from the original work surfaced in Ailin's mind. Could they be connected to Aiken of the Hell Bauhinia Continent mentioned in the original work? Of course, this was only his suspicion. There were countless experts in the Divine Planes; there might not be only one expert named Aiken.