Bloodline Secret Art

After Eagle King left, Feng Xu moved the teaching site into the new house.

It was getting colder outside, but the people indoors ate hotpot and sang songs. With the stove keeping them warm, this winter felt like spring.

That morning, the sun was already up, and the weather had begun to warm.

Lin Sen, Jiang Ze, and Kun Tai put on their fur coats and set off with dried meat.

They were returning to their own tribes to call people over to haul the goods.

A round trip would take more than ten days, and transporting everything back would take over twenty days in total. There would be plenty to do after spring arrived, so it was best to settle this before then.

Iron Mountain was in no hurry. The Red Iron Tribe's supplies were provided by the Wind-Fire Tribe, so keeping them here was not much different from keeping them at the Wind-Fire Tribe.

Feng Xu led half the people to Wild Boar Ridge and returned to that cave once more.

He did not intend to bring back the boars allocated here. They would all be dragged into the cave and processed there.

Once spring came, they would reclaim land on the plain below the mountain. This place would serve as a temporary warehouse for supplies.

After assigning everyone else their tasks, Feng Xu, Feng Sui, Feng Xi, and Iron Mountain walked to the cliff inside the cave.

"Can we really get down from somewhere this high?"

Feng Xu nodded and took out the Dharma Treasure, the Heaven-Hanging Ruler.

Why was it called the Heaven-Hanging Ruler? Because this Dharma Treasure could fly.

Feng Xu sent a stream of mana into it, activating the Dharma Treasure's restrictions.

The Heaven-Hanging Ruler rapidly expanded, stopping only after it grew over ten feet long.

Feng Xu, Feng Sui, and Iron Mountain stepped onto the Heaven-Hanging Ruler with torches in hand, leaving Feng Xi behind to wait.

The Heaven-Hanging Ruler descended swiftly and steadily, while the purple light below grew clearer and clearer.

After an unknown amount of time, the three finally reached the bottom.

The space here was exceptionally vast, spanning nearly six li in every direction. A massive pool lay at its center, while glowing purple crystals were piled all around it.

Purple motes drifted through the pool, and the spiritual energy was incredibly dense.

"No wonder that Pig Demon had such cultivation. There is actually such a blessed land here."

Feng Xu scooped up some water and sensed the spiritual power contained within it.

"Can this place help our cultivation?" Feng Sui asked.

"Not for now."

Feng Xu shook his head.

"Cultivating mana here would yield twice the result with half the effort, but you use Bloodline Power. Unless you cultivate mana as well, it will not make much difference."

Though the Human Race's aptitude could not compare to that of innate living beings, it was more than sufficient for them to embark on the path of cultivation.

It was only that they could not read words or innate Dao script, making it difficult to teach them cultivation methods.

There was a secret art that could allow them to embark on the path of cultivation even without knowing any cultivation methods.

That was right—the Battle Mark from the Witchblood Secret Art.

The original Battle Mark required higher-grade Fierce Beast essence blood and materials, and it was better suited to the physiques of the Witches. When Feng Xu had dreamed himself into Purple Cloud Palace, he had improved this art and named it the Bloodline Secret Art.

In broad terms, it was similar to the Battle Mark of the Witchblood Secret Art, but Feng Xu understood it more deeply. The Witches only had a superficial grasp of this art.

They simply stuffed in whatever rare and powerful things they could find. Whether one could endure it and awaken a talent depended entirely on luck and personal strength.

Feng Xu was different. He could adjust the formula according to need and draw different Battle Marks.

They could generally be divided into three major categories.

The first was the cultivation-method type, the branch Feng Xu had studied the longest.

The formulas were divided into yin and yang varieties. By using different formulas for different cultivation methods and drawing the corresponding Battle Marks, warriors could cultivate according to those methods even without knowing them.

However, they could only replace ordinary daily cultivation. When making a breakthrough, the cultivator still had to personally grasp the proper timing.

Someone who cultivated passively for a long time would naturally be less capable of judging that timing than an ordinary cultivator.

The second was the divine-ability type. By using powerful bloodlines, one could randomly awaken an Innate Divine Ability. Future cultivation would require circulating mana according to that Innate Divine Ability or a cultivation method similar to it.

The third was the transformation type. It used Fierce Beast bloodlines to draw corresponding tattoos, causing one's mana circulation to gradually resemble that Fierce Beast's. Given enough time, one could demonize in battle, becoming half-human and half-demon, or even fully demonized.

Each of the three methods had its own advantages and disadvantages, but a person could choose only one type of Battle Mark at a time.

Battle Marks would gradually fade away through metabolism, but the body's mana circulation would be permanently altered. Unless deliberately changed, it would remain so for life.

Feng Xu's plan was to draw cultivation-method Battle Marks for children at the age of five, primarily using the portion of the Eight-Nine Mystical Art before True Immortal.

After reaching adulthood, they could switch to another method or continue building their foundation until they broke through to True Immortal, then change methods.

That choice would mainly depend on the cultivator's aptitude.

These were all tribal secrets, and he intended to let his own people use them first.

"At present, we only have the essence blood of the Wolf King and the Pig Demon. Demonization can only choose between those two, and random divine abilities will also be affected by those bloodlines. So my advice is to use cultivation-method Battle Marks to build your foundation first."

Once the tribe's overall strength had increased and they could hunt Demon Beasts with greater potential, it would be better to switch to the divine-ability or transformation type.

The same applied to Feng Xu himself.

The portion of the Eight-Nine Mystical Art beyond True Immortal could not be passed on. The karmic consequences were too great.

Once the tribe produced experts above True Immortal, it would no longer matter. Feng Xu's understanding had already reached the level of Quasi-Sage Peak, so creating a new cultivation method would not be difficult.

Feng Sui and Iron Mountain naturally listened to Feng Xu. They knew nothing at all about this secret art.

The three took a turn around below and found nothing else unusual. Feng Xu used the Heaven-Hanging Ruler to bring them back up.

Feng Xu made a rough estimate. This cliff was over three thousand zhang high, while the mountain itself was only a thousand zhang tall.

In other words, that treasured land below lay beneath the earth veins.

Feng Xu had people carve out alcoves on both sides of the cave to place oil lamps in later for lighting. He also built an earthen wall along the cliff's edge to prevent anyone from accidentally falling.

Feng Xu and Feng Sui returned to the tribe first to prepare the materials for drawing Battle Marks, while the others continued working here.

By the time the people from the three tribes returned to transport the spoils, everyone in the Wind-Fire Tribe and Red Iron Tribe except the elderly had already received Battle Marks.

The Battle Marks were hidden beneath their fur coats, completely invisible to outsiders.

The winter snow melted, and the earth brimmed with life once more.

Feng Xu stood atop the ridge and gazed toward the distant plain.

"It is time to prepare for spring plowing."

Growing rice probably would not earn Merit, but it could improve their meals. Even without Merit, it had to be done.

More than eighty people carried farming tools down the mountain in high spirits to till the land.

"Ah, you only find it novel right now. You will not be smiling later."

Feng Xu teased as he watched his beaming tribespeople.

He had over five hundred jin of rice seed, enough to cultivate more than two hundred mu of land. This was no difficult task for these strong and sturdy primitive humans.

The men pushed plows while the children cleared stones from the soil.

The women and elderly handled lighter tasks near the new house.

After the winter, almost every woman was pregnant. Feng Xu did not want them doing heavy labor.

It took only two days to reclaim more than two hundred and fifty mu of land.

That night, everyone spent the night in the caves they had dug in advance.

Feng Xu arranged the next day's work and told them to rest early.

"Xu, is planting that... rice really so troublesome? Can't we just scatter the seeds?"

"Farming requires care. Work a little harder now, and you can harvest more later."

The Primordial World was rich in spiritual energy, so they really could scatter seeds anywhere and still get a good harvest. But Feng Xu hoped they would take farming seriously.

Perhaps when spiritual energy declined in the future, they would need more meticulous labor just to reap some harvest.

Besides, tilling the land first could increase their yield. After all, this process had been passed down for thousands of years in another world.