Iron-Eater Crocodile

When Daoist Chongyun saw the two enter, he waved Qingfeng aside, and his burning gaze swiftly settled on Wang Yu behind him.

Wang Yu felt uneasy, but none of it showed on his face. Instead, he bowed respectfully to the Daoist and greeted him as "Abbey Master."

"Your blood energy has gathered into a mass without dispersing. It does indeed look like the signs of a newly awakened bodily bloodline. But it's rare for blood energy to gather in the head. Since it fills only half your head, whatever bloodline power you possess must have awakened only halfway. A bit of a pity. This unusual manifestation of blood energy will fade in half a day, so there's no need to worry too much." Daoist Chongyun studied Wang Yu carefully for a long while before speaking, his delight tinged with regret.

"Master, even if Autumn Leaf has awakened only half his bloodline, he's still far superior to someone with Spiritual Perception alone. Besides, awakening a bodily bloodline makes it easier to get started with certain cultivation methods and secret arts," Qingfeng said earnestly from beside them.

"That's true. Autumn Leaf, let me ask you: are you willing to take me as your master and become my true disciple?" Daoist Chongyun nodded, then solemnly questioned the boy before him.

"Of course I am. Your disciple pays his respects, Master!" At this point, how could Wang Yu possibly refuse? He immediately dropped to his knees and knocked his forehead loudly against the floor.

"Good, good. From today onward, you are my second disciple." Daoist Chongyun pulled Wang Yu to his feet, looking pleased.

"Congratulations, Master, on taking Junior Brother Autumn Leaf into your tutelage." Qingfeng offered his congratulations with a smile as well.

"Now that Autumn Leaf is my disciple, that set of methods you originally intended to teach him, chasing quick gains, will no longer do. He must first learn the basic cultivation method from me and lay a solid foundation." After a moment's thought, Daoist Chongyun addressed his eldest disciple.

"Of course. Since you intend to teach him personally, Master, I'll take my leave." Qingfeng promptly cupped his hands in farewell.

"Go on, then. Oh, leave the mirror here. I have a use for it." The Daoist nodded, then suddenly remembered something and added another instruction.

The young Daoist acknowledged him, handed over the small bronze mirror he carried, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Autumn Leaf, I need to test your bloodline power again and make it manifest further. Only after determining which bloodline has awakened can I feel at ease teaching you a cultivation method," the Daoist told the young novice seriously.

"Master, what is a bloodline? Is it something very few people awaken?" Wang Yu could not help asking.

"I forgot-you don't yet know where bloodline power comes from. Let me give you a brief explanation." The Daoist paused, then immediately understood.

Wang Yu quickly pricked up his ears.

"As the name suggests, a bloodline naturally refers to the bloodline of another kind of being. They say that in the Ancient Era, countless years ago, some human cultivators sought greater power by using various means to implant the blood essence of powerful nonhuman races or Demon Beasts into their bodies. This gave them innate abilities unlike those of ordinary people. When these humans married ordinary people, their descendants also had a certain chance of activating those innate abilities. That is bloodline awakening," the Daoist explained.

"Then my ancestors might have been descendants of those human cultivators?" Wang Yu was greatly astonished.

"Heh, that isn't wrong. But in truth, after all these years of spreading and proliferating from the Ancient Era to the present, bloodline power has long since spread throughout humanity and truly become humanity's own power. It's not even strange for someone to harbor several kinds of bloodline power at once. Compared with the past, however, these bloodlines inherited from the Ancient Era have become extremely diluted. For humans today, awakening a bloodline and activating its innate abilities has become difficult beyond measure."

"If an ordinary person with Spiritual Perception is one in a thousand, then someone who can awaken a bloodline is rarer than one in ten thousand. Those who possess both are rarer still. That's why I took you as my disciple the moment I saw that you'd awakened a bloodline."

The Daoist explained without concealing anything, then took a palm-sized wooden case from inside his robe. He opened it to reveal a dense array of slender silver needles, making Wang Yu shudder.

"Don't be afraid. This needle technique of mine merely stimulates your blood energy further. It won't hurt at all." After speaking, the Daoist told Wang Yu to remove his outer robe and sit cross-legged with his back to him.

Though uneasy, Wang Yu could only follow each instruction.

Then he felt a slight numbness at several points on his bare back. The blood throughout his body began flowing rapidly, faster and faster, until heat spread through every part of him.

Just then, Daoist Chongyun patted Wang Yu's shoulder from behind, making his body turn around to face him.

Silver light flashed, and several more silver needles pierced directly into various points on his chest and abdomen.

Boom!

Wang Yu felt all the blood in his body surge upward at once and gather at the crown of his head, making his entire head feel as though it had swollen a size larger.

"Break!"

Daoist Chongyun gave a low shout. At some point, a yellow talisman had appeared between his fingers, and he instantly pressed it onto the crown of Wang Yu's head. A cool sensation poured from the talisman, immediately clearing some of Wang Yu's dizziness and the pressure in his head.

"Hm? This is..." Daoist Chongyun glanced at his second disciple's face, only to frown.

"What's wrong, Master?" Wang Yu hurriedly asked when he saw this.

"Hmm. Take a look yourself." Already prepared, the Daoist handed him the small bronze mirror.

Wang Yu took the mirror and looked. The divided light-and-dark coloring of his face had vanished, but a strange blood-red pattern had appeared between his brows.

"What has appeared between your brows is a bloodline marking, or bloodmark for short. Generally speaking, each bloodline manifests a different bloodmark. But since you've awakened only half your bloodline power, your bloodmark is incomplete as well. I'm afraid it won't be easy to identify," the Daoist said slowly.

"What do we do now?" Wang Yu asked meekly.

"There are no shortcuts left, but there's still the slow, painstaking way. Years ago, I paid a high price for a Bloodmark Compendium. It contains illustrations of many common, complete bloodmarks. If we compare them one by one, we should still be able to find the corresponding bloodline. Autumn Leaf, wait here. I'll be right back." After these hurried words, the Daoist left the Quiet Chamber.

Wang Yu could only wait where he was, staring helplessly.

Before long, Daoist Chongyun returned to the Quiet Chamber carrying a thick tome. He sat on his cushion, opened it, and began reading, occasionally glancing at the space between Wang Yu's brows.

Wang Yu sat cross-legged facing the Daoist, curious himself about what bloodline this body of his had awakened.

"Here it is! I found it! Half of this bloodmark is exactly the same as yours... Hmm, what you've awakened should be the Iron-Eater Crocodile bloodline." Chongyun's eyes suddenly lit up when he was a little less than halfway through the tome.

"Iron-Eater Crocodile? Is that Demon Beast very powerful?" Wang Yu asked expectantly.

"According to the tome, the Iron-Eater Crocodile is only a low-tier Demon Beast. It isn't particularly powerful in itself, but the innate abilities its bloodline awakens are extremely useful. For instance, the most likely one is Copper Skin and Iron Bones, which gives the awakened person thick skin and tough flesh, yielding twice the results for half the effort when practicing body-tempering methods. Another innate ability, Stone Armor, allows you to control stones and attach them directly to your body, forming a natural suit of armor... Take a look yourself, my disciple." The more Daoist Chongyun spoke, the happier he became, and the more he looked at Wang Yu, the more pleased he was. He handed over the tome.

Wang Yu took the tome and studied it carefully.

A blood-red bloodmark diagram was clearly printed on the open page. Its left half was indeed identical to the bloodmark between his brows. Beneath the diagram were densely packed lines of small text. Half described the habits and abilities of the Iron-Eater Crocodile, while the other half described several innate abilities that humans possessing its bloodline might awaken.

According to the text, besides the two common innate abilities Daoist Chongyun had already mentioned, the Iron-Eater Crocodile bloodline had two other rare abilities. One was called Blood Frenzy, an ability that used rampaging blood to enter a berserk state. The other was called Metal-Dowsing Art, though it was actually just an ability to faintly sense metal deposits.

Wang Yu committed each detail to memory. Bringing this supernatural information back to the Blue Star World would earn him considerable credit.

"All right, a quick look is enough. Of the Iron-Eater Crocodile's innate abilities, I hope you awaken Copper Skin and Iron Bones or Stone Armor. The last two are merely supplementary and don't improve your strength much. They may even have certain harmful effects. Blood Frenzy, for instance, will most likely impair your reason during battle. The last one, Metal-Dowsing Art, is even more useless. There are so many ways to survey metal deposits now-who would still use an ability like that, as tasteless as chicken ribs yet a pity to discard? First, find a way to activate all your bloodline power. Only then can you awaken one of the Iron-Eater Crocodile's innate abilities." Once Wang Yu had read most of it, Daoist Chongyun spoke up to stop him from reading further.

"Master, can you only gain one innate ability after fully awakening your bloodline? And why did I suddenly become so strong after awakening mine?" Wang Yu reluctantly returned the tome to the Daoist, then thought of something else and asked.

"Most Demon Beasts have powerful bodies, and even among low-tier Demon Beasts, the Iron-Eater Crocodile has notably thick skin and tough flesh. Naturally, your body received a substantial boost when your bloodline awakened. But that strengthening happens only once, so it doesn't count as a true innate ability. As for whether you can awaken only one innate ability, that isn't absolute. Usually, though, only one awakens. People who awaken several abilities are very rare. All right, don't let your thoughts run wild just yet. Let me remove the silver needles first." After explaining, the Daoist lightly patted Wang Yu's shoulder.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Wang Yu felt his body shudder, and the silver needles embedded in him instantly shot out. The flow of blood inside him rapidly slowed, the bloodmark between his brows faded and vanished, and his entire face returned to normal.

The Daoist's two large hands darted about as swift as wind and lightning, catching every silver needle before returning them to the wooden case.

Watching this display, Wang Yu once again marveled inwardly, clicking his tongue in wonder.