Bloodline awakening, peak demonic will

A ray of sunlight shone into the room. Yang Xiao stretched and got out of bed, rubbing his neck. He had slept wonderfully.

Suddenly, Yang Xiao looked around. The Corpse-Binding Rope hung on the wall, and a Dragon Horn lay beside his bed.

He recalled everything that had happened. At the end, the scarred man had swung his saber at him. By all rights, he should have died, yet here he was in his own room.

He rushed outside. Two men sat in the courtyard: the old man he had lived with for eighteen years, and Butcher. Butcher looked very uneasy, perched on the edge of his chair with his head lowered, staring at the ground.

"You're awake." The old man took a sip of tea. "I heard you wanted to cultivate."

"Old man, you know about cultivation?" Yang Xiao asked in surprise, looking at Butcher. Had he told him?

Butcher gave a bitter smile and shook his head. Who could have known how shaken he was inside?

Yang Zhan said, "No need to look at him. I'm a cultivator myself."

Yang Xiao asked, "Then why didn't you teach me to cultivate?"

Yang Zhan leaned back in his grand armchair, gazed at the distant sky, and sighed. "Because I wanted you to be an ordinary person. But now, I think I may have been wrong.

"That was only the life I wanted you to live, not the one you wanted.

"Now tell me, do you want to cultivate?"

Yang Xiao lowered his head in thought. Anyone who saw miraculous power would seek it, and he was no exception. Besides, he had learned from Butcher that cultivation could grant eternal life. Who could resist that temptation?

He nodded firmly.

He saw the old man close his eyes and say, "In the cultivation world, there is a Bloodline called Peak Demonic Will. Those who possess it are born cultivators.

"But even the Heavenly Dao has flaws, let alone human beings.

"When someone with this Bloodline grows powerful enough, a demonic tribulation descends. When that happens, you will do the one thing you regret most in your life."

"You mean I possess Peak Demonic Will?" Yang Xiao asked in shock, turning toward Butcher. "Then why did he say I had no aptitude?"

Yang Zhan glanced at Butcher. "I sealed your aptitude. His cultivation isn't sufficient to see through it."

From the old man's words, Yang Xiao realized that he was a very powerful cultivator.

"Now tell me, do you still want to cultivate?" Yang Zhan looked into his eyes, as though he could see through them into his heart.

Yang Xiao instinctively stepped back, but an instant later, he stepped forward and said firmly, "Yes."

The old man narrowed his eyes slightly and tossed him a waterskin.

Yang Xiao caught it and looked at him. "What's this?"

Yang Zhan walked toward the house. "Drink it, and your Bloodline will awaken."

Yang Xiao opened the waterskin, and a strange fragrance drifted out. He took a sip. The liquid inside was very sweet. He asked Butcher beside him, "What is this? It's sweet and tastes great."

With the old man back inside, Butcher relaxed and sat to one side. "Divine Blood."

Yang Xiao drank half of it and laughed. "Divine Blood? You mean a god's blood?"

Butcher nodded. "Do you remember that scarred False God?"

Yang Xiao swallowed and stammered, "This is that scarred man's blood?"

Butcher watched him with a smile. Just as Yang Xiao was about to spit the blood out, Butcher said, "I wouldn't spit it out if I were you. Awakening a Bloodline with Divine Blood is something countless people dream of."

Hearing how potent it was, Yang Xiao suppressed his nausea and swallowed the blood. His stomach churned at the thought that he was drinking human blood, but this stuff could make him stronger.

After he finished the Divine Blood in the waterskin, it felt as though a power had been unleashed inside him. Strength filled his entire body, and black mist seeped from him. The mist was pale, forming a faint black circle extending three inches around him.

Yang Xiao went to the wall and punched it. A hole instantly opened in the earthen wall.

Butcher walked over, turned his hand, and produced a bronze mirror, holding it toward him. In the mirror, Yang Xiao saw his own eyes glowing scarlet. He looked like a demon.

"Come inside." The old man opened the door and looked at Butcher, then said to Yang Xiao, "Go take care of the corpse in the cellar."

Butcher patted Yang Xiao's shoulder. The black mist outside his body withdrew into him, and the glow in his eyes faded.

Butcher followed the old man, and the two entered the room.

Yang Xiao knew the old man had deliberately sent him away, but he could not suppress his curiosity. He went up to the house and pressed himself against the door, trying to see inside through the crack. All he saw was darkness.

Suddenly, the door opened, and the old man looked down at him. Yang Xiao backed away with a sheepish smile and hurried toward the cellar.

Inside the cellar, he saw the corpse he had found in the desert. The old man must have brought it back while he was unconscious.

He wrapped the corpse in black cloth, took an iron shovel, and carried it outside over his shoulder.

Every corpse found in the desert was carried to the Ten-Thousand Graves Mound east of town for burial.

Even the town's elders probably had no idea how many bodies were buried in the Ten-Thousand Graves Mound. A hundred corpses were brought back from the desert every year. As the years accumulated, the number buried there had already surpassed ten thousand.

He put the corpse down and searched it. The deceased was a woman, with a silver bracelet on her wrist and a few taels of loose silver. He removed the valuables, dug a pit on the spot, and buried her properly before returning to town.

As he entered an alley, a young man approached from the opposite direction. He was very thin and walked with his head lowered.

When the young man passed him, Yang Xiao instinctively glanced at him. That single glance revealed his face.

"Gu Lian!" Yang Xiao grabbed the young man. He had been so preoccupied with cultivation that he had nearly forgotten him.

Gu Lian instinctively looked at him. That single glance made his legs buckle, and he dropped to his knees, pleading, "Yang Xiao, I didn't kill you! Don't come after me! Every grievance has its source, and every debt its debtor! Gu Chen made me do everything. Go find him!"

A cold glint flashed through Yang Xiao's eyes. He had not said anything, yet Gu Lian had confessed everything. Still, that fit Gu Lian's timid, trouble-fearing nature.

He pulled Gu Lian in front of him. "Come identify Gu Chen as the culprit, and I'll let you go."

"You're not a ghost?" Gu Lian saw Yang Xiao's shadow and came to his senses.

So Gu Lian had mistaken him for a ghost. No wonder he had fallen to his knees before Yang Xiao even said anything.

"Your father was right. With guts like yours, you're not cut out to collect corpses in the desert." Yang Xiao patted Gu Lian's face and dragged him toward Gu Chen's home. "Come identify Gu Chen."

Gu Lian tried to break free and run for his life. Yang Xiao had already been strong before—otherwise, he could never have dragged a corpse back through the desert. After awakening his Bloodline, he was even stronger. He dragged Gu Lian all the way to Gu Chen's door.

Gu Chen's home was a siheyuan, a traditional courtyard compound.

"Gu Chen, get the hell out here!" Yang Xiao kicked the gates open and threw Gu Lian inside.

"Who dares run wild in my home?" An old man leaning on a cane emerged from the main hall. He was Gu Chen's father, Gu Tianheng, the mayor of Ancient Sand Town.

"Yang Xiao, what madness are you bringing into my home?" Gu Tianheng's brows knitted tightly.

"Mayor, you'll have to ask your son about that. Have Gu Chen come out and speak." Yang Xiao stepped forward.

"What happened?" Three more men emerged from the main hall, with Gu Chen among them. Ahead of him stood two imposing figures: a richly dressed middle-aged man blind in his right eye, and a general wearing armor. The one who had just spoken was the one-eyed middle-aged man.

When the middle-aged man appeared, Gu Tianheng immediately grew respectful. He turned and bowed. "City Lord Lin, it's merely an ignorant child making trouble. I'll send him away at once."

Then he turned to Yang Xiao. "Yang Xiao, whatever business you have today, go home first. We'll discuss it tomorrow."

"Mayor, what if I insist on speaking today?" Yang Xiao asked coldly.

"You!" Gu Tianheng pointed at Yang Xiao, ready to throw him out. But remembering that it would be improper before the important figures behind him, he said gently, "Yang Xiao, I really am occupied today. Can we discuss this tomorrow?"

By then, a large crowd had gathered outside. They had all come to watch after hearing the commotion, pointing and gesturing at those inside the gates.

"Gu Tianheng, your son ordered Gu Lian to sprinkle the ashes of a jackal pup on me. If I hadn't been lucky enough to survive, I would have died in the desert this time. You owe me an explanation!" Seeing the crowd gathered outside, Yang Xiao laid everything out.

"Yang Xiao, you can't make wild accusations about something like this." Gu Tianheng's face darkened. He looked at Gu Lian threateningly. "Gu Lian, some things are no joking matter."

Under Gu Tianheng's murderous gaze, Gu Lian retreated again and again until he reached the wall. Pointing at Yang Xiao, he said, "It wasn't my fault! He told me to slander Uncle Gu Chen!"

Yang Xiao's gaze turned cold. He had not expected Gu Lian to turn the accusation back on him at the crucial moment.

An old man stepped out of the crowd. It was Lao Liangtou, who guarded the ancient well. He looked at Yang Xiao and said, "Xiao, you said Gu Chen ordered Gu Lian to sprinkle jackal-pup ashes on you. Do you have proof?"

Yang Xiao pointed at the white powder on his black robe. "This is the proof. Gu Lian sprinkled it on me before I entered the desert. Surely you don't think I would put this stuff on myself."

Lao Liangtou walked over to Yang Xiao, rubbed off a little powder, and sniffed it. Then he looked up at Gu Lian. "Tell me what really happened."

Lao Liangtou's standing in town was second only to the mayor's. Frightened by his questioning, Gu Lian's legs buckled, and he slid down the wall. "It was Gu Chen. He ordered all of it."

"Mayor, you owe the whole town an explanation for this." Lao Liangtou looked at him. "Don't shield Gu Chen just because he's your son. Those were the very words you said to me back then."

Yang Xiao's heart jolted. What did Lao Liangtou mean? Could the man driven out of town back then have been his son? Yang Xiao remembered hearing him mention a son before, but whenever he asked about him, Lao Liangtou would gaze beyond the town and remain silent for a long time.

Gu Tianheng's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and his gaze brimmed with murderous intent as he looked at Yang Xiao and Gu Lian.

"Enough." The richly dressed, one-eyed middle-aged man behind Gu Tianheng suddenly spoke. "As I see it, this Gu Lian is twisting right and wrong."

As his words fell, he flicked his hand, sending a streak of blue light into Gu Lian.

Yang Xiao's heart jolted. This man was a cultivator. He had never encountered cultivators in his everyday life, yet now they were appearing one after another.

"You killed Gu Lian." Yang Xiao stared coldly at him. This man was truly ruthless. He had pronounced judgment on the matter outright, then killed Gu Lian to prevent it from going any further.

"Insolence! How dare you speak to City Lord Lin that way!" The armored general stepped forward, the sword at his waist already drawn half an inch.

Yang Xiao clenched his fists and was about to charge forward when someone tugged him from behind. He turned and saw Lao Liangtou, who shook his head at him.

Yang Xiao came to his senses. Both men before him were cultivators, beyond his ability to handle. He committed them to memory. Later, he would bring Butcher to help him seek justice. Although these two were cultivators, Yang Xiao had a feeling they were no match for Butcher.

Lao Liangtou pulled him outside and shouted to the crowd gathered at the gates, "Move along, move along! There's nothing to see."

Lao Liangtou accompanied him home without saying a word along the way. The old man was probably worried that he would act in the heat of the moment and seek revenge on Gu Chen.

At his front door, Yang Xiao opened the gate and was about to invite Lao Liangtou inside for a while, but the old man shook his head. "Xiao, let this matter rot away in your heart. Don't think about taking revenge in the future."

"You saw it yourself today. They're cultivators, not people you can afford to provoke."

Yang Xiao looked at him in surprise. He had not expected Lao Liangtou to know about cultivators too. Suddenly, he felt as though he had lived these eighteen years for nothing. It seemed he was the only person in the entire world who had not known cultivators existed.

To put the old man at ease, he agreed. Once Lao Liangtou had left the alley, he turned to find Butcher.

He found Butcher in the old man's room, but the old man himself was nowhere to be seen.

Yang Xiao asked, "Where's the old man?"

"He left. This is what he left for you." Butcher handed him half a book. "Don't ask. He left for your own good. If you stay by his side, you'll die."

Yang Xiao gave Butcher a long look. If he did not want to talk, there was nothing Yang Xiao could do. He took the book. It was titled the Great Martial Canon.

He skimmed through it, his eyes brightening with every page. This was a cultivation manual.

"Why is there only half?" Yang Xiao turned to the end and discovered that only a third of the book remained. The later pages had been torn out, and the torn edges were still fresh. They must have been removed recently.

The corner of Butcher's mouth twitched violently. "There was originally a complete copy, but your old man thought the later parts were poorly written, so he tore them out."

Butcher's heart ached after he said this. This was a legendary divine book. If it appeared in the cultivation world, it would unleash a storm of blood and carnage.