The Heavenly Immortal Realm was divided into twelve heavens. Those who cultivated the Creation Scripture needed to condense thirty-six Dharma Images of Innate Living Being level to reach perfection in this realm.
Twelve heavens and thirty-six Dharma Images—each heaven corresponded to exactly three Dharma Images.
Perfection at the First Heaven meant three Dharma Images; at the Second Heaven, six. Jiang Yuan had condensed seven Dharma Images, which meant he was at the Third Heaven of Heavenly Immortal.
Of course, his realm was indeed at the Third Heaven, but his combat strength was harder to gauge. It might be at the Sixth Heaven, or the Seventh, or even the Eighth.
Why was the gap between combat strength and realm so great? Naturally, it was because Jiang Yuan's stats were off the charts.
An ordinary Creation Heavenly Immortal only needed to condense Dharma Images of Innate Living Beings. But Jiang Yuan had condensed Dharma Images of Innate Divine Beings.
Above Innate Living Beings were Innate True Spirits; above Innate True Spirits were Innate Gods and Devils; and only above Innate Gods and Devils were Innate Divine Beings.
With such a vast difference between them, Jiang Yuan's combat strength naturally far exceeded the norm and wasn't constrained by his realm.
"If I remember correctly, Mu Jiao is at the Sixth Heaven of Heavenly Immortal. Even if he's made a breakthrough recently and advanced to the Seventh Heaven, he still won't be my match."
"In that case, it's time to send him on his way."
Jiang Yuan suddenly thought of Mu Jiao and decided it was time to accept his invitation. After all, Mu Jiao had invited him to his home so many times, and he had never agreed. That was terribly impolite.
Besides, before Jiang Yuan's breakthrough, Mu Jiao had helped him gather quite a lot of Nine Sons' Essence Blood. That was a considerable favor, and he needed to repay it.
At the thought, Jiang Yuan felt an urge to set off for the Dragon Palace at once and seek out Mu Jiao. But in the end, he held back, because he had something more important to do.
He would trace blood to its source and bestow the power of Blood Rebirth upon all his people.
Earlier, when Jiang Yuan created his cultivation method, he had inscribed all 129,600 Innate Runes into the human body, transforming them into 129,600 divine repositories, which he had named acupoints.
The power of Blood Rebirth was connected to these acupoints. People of the Human Race in later generations would only need to find a way to open them all and reveal the Innate Runes hidden within to gain the power of Blood Rebirth upon reaching the Void Refinement Realm.
Jiang Yuan's plan was sound, but he had only managed to accomplish half of it: he had succeeded, but the rest of his people had not.
For all his people to become like him and gain the ability to achieve Blood Rebirth simply by opening every acupoint,
he needed to reach the Heavenly Immortal Realm, then use the method of tracing blood to its source to transform this ability into an innate divine ability and inscribe it into the bodies of all his people.
Before, Jiang Yuan hadn't been a Heavenly Immortal. Though he had thought of this, he hadn't been able to do it. But now that he had reached the Heavenly Immortal Realm, he could certainly try.
"All the Ten Thousand Races have innate divine abilities. The Human Race should be no exception. Let me leave a blessing for future generations and turn the power of Blood Rebirth into an innate divine ability, hidden within every member of my people."
After saying this, Jiang Yuan sat cross-legged on the ground and used the method of tracing blood to its source. Starting with his own bloodline, he continuously traced it back toward its origin.
Jiang Yuan had many direct ancestors, but apart from Ancestor Sui, none had reached the Taiyi Realm.
Even so, as soon as he began tracing his bloodline, those ancestors who had reached the Heavenly Immortal Realm were alerted. They each used the same method, trying to find out who was tracing their bloodline back to its source.
This method wasn't limited to one's own people; enemies could use it too. And when enemies did so, it was usually to wipe out every last one.
By tracing blood to its source, they could pinpoint the origin of a bloodline, then slaughter every living being connected to it.
That was what it truly meant to pull up the grass by its roots—far more ruthless than executing nine generations of a family. By following the connections between bloodlines, they could kill everyone and leave not a single survivor.
Though Jiang Yuan's ancestors didn't believe anyone in the Primordial World would be bold enough to wipe out the entire Human Race, they still thought it best to check, just in case.
Then they saw Jiang Yuan.
The ancestors who knew him were all stunned, never expecting him to have reached the Heavenly Immortal Realm so quickly. Those who didn't know him asked their acquaintances about his origins.
Seeing them, Jiang Yuan nodded in greeting, then continued tracing his bloodline upward.
Before long, he traced it back to Ancestor Sui.
At this point, Ancestor Sui could easily have stopped Jiang Yuan. After all, he was a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, while Jiang Yuan was only a Heavenly Immortal. The gap between them was immense.
But Ancestor Sui had no reason to do that. On the contrary, once he learned what Jiang Yuan intended, he gave him a hand, helping him trace his bloodline further back.
Beyond Ancestor Sui, Jiang Yuan saw the source of the Human Race's bloodline—Lady Nuwa.
With his own strength, he couldn't have traced it back this far. But with Ancestor Sui's help, he had succeeded.
"Master, your disciple has created a method that he wishes to turn into an innate divine ability and pass down to future generations, for the benefit of the Human Race. I humbly ask you to grant your approval."
Before Lady Nuwa, Jiang Yuan dared not make demands. He knelt respectfully, offering up the Blood Rebirth method he had created for her to inspect.
This was not Lady Nuwa herself, but a shadow she had left at the source of the Human Race's bloodline to protect it.
Anyone who wished to influence the Human Race through its bloodline source first needed her consent.
"Granted!"
Lady Nuwa glanced over the Blood Rebirth method and, after confirming it would benefit the Human Race and do them no harm, nodded and stepped aside from the bloodline source behind her.
It was a drop of scarlet Holy Blood, like the rising sun, surrounded by swirling Creation Qi, with the sun, moon, and stars revolving around it.
This was the source of the Human Race's bloodline. Through it, one could influence the entire Human Race—bestowing innate gifts, stripping them away, cursing the whole race, or even bringing about its destruction.
"Go!"
Jiang Yuan stepped forward and inscribed the Blood Rebirth method he had created onto the source of the Human Race's bloodline. In an instant, the source awakened and began frantically devouring the surrounding spiritual energy.
To change the Human Race from its very source and bestow an innate divine ability upon every member, having the method alone wasn't enough. A vast quantity of resources was needed as well.
Otherwise, the bloodline source couldn't conjure up power from nothing to change every member of the race. And the more people there were, the more power it would take to bestow an innate divine ability upon them.
Jiang Yuan understood this perfectly, so he had prepared in advance. He took out the resources the Human Race had accumulated over the years and turned them into pure Innate Primordial Qi for the bloodline source to devour, replenishing the power it expended.
Fortunately, this was still the early period of the Human Race's existence, and its population was limited, unlike in later generations, when it would spread across the entire Primordial World. As a result, the bloodline source used up few resources before completing the task.
If it were a powerful race like the Dragon Race, bestowing a new innate divine ability upon every member would require a truly terrifying amount of resources. They would have to sacrifice a Quasi-Saint.
With such a high cost, few powerful races would be willing to do it. Even if they did, they would only bestow it upon their direct descendants, not the entire race.
Thus, bestowing an innate divine ability upon an entire race usually happened in the early period of that race's existence, when the cost was lowest.