Peacock Bloodline

The True Spirit Realm, the Golden Crow Imperial Dynasty.

Peacock Ridge, outside Cuckoo County, Bifang Commandery, Extended Net Moon Deer Prefecture, in the Vermilion Bird Domain to the south.

It was mid-autumn. The full moon moved slowly from east to west across the night sky, casting the power of Grand Yin moonlight over every inch of the ground.

On the summit of Peacock Ridge, surrounded by bamboo groves, stood an offering table bearing incense, candles, spirit flowers, spirit fruits, spirit wine, spirit cakes, spirit beast meat, and other offerings.

Before the table, a group of children in their early teens knelt and worshipped the full moon overhead. Around them, a group of adults dressed in magnificent feather robes performed a moon-worshipping dance.

As the moon-worshipping ceremony continued, the full moon reached the middle of the sky. As though responding to the rite, ten thousand golden threads appeared amid the Grand Yin moonlight, and olive-shaped drops of "Emperor's Flowing Essence" descended, falling across the mortal world.

Peacock Ridge received some Emperor's Flowing Essence as well. It fell into the bodies of the children worshipping the moon, and changes began to appear in some of them.

Spiritual lights of blue, green, white, gold, purple, and other colors appeared on their bodies, then gathered behind them, forming one or more Peacock Feathers of different colors.

The Peacock Feathers shone with dazzling splendor, and an eye appeared at the tip of each one, containing a power that could entrance the soul.

Kong Wenxuan was among the children, worshipping the moon as well. He, too, felt Emperor's Flowing Essence enter his body. In an instant, his consciousness seemed to drift upward and enter a river of strange and shifting colors, where it struggled against the current.

It seemed to last an instant, yet also a long time. Upstream, he saw a green peacock with its tail spread behind it, shining with brilliant emerald light. His consciousness was drawn to it and plunged straight into the green peacock.

In the real world, green light began to appear on his body, and a green Peacock Feather began to form behind him.

Just then, however, Kong Wenxuan's consciousness suddenly saw a mass of Five-Colored Divine Light forcefully break into the river of strange and shifting colors. It crashed into the green peacock, engulfing both it and his consciousness.

In the real world, the green light on his body abruptly changed into spiritual light of azure, yellow, red, black, and white. The green Peacock Feather behind him also changed into five feathers: one azure, one yellow, one red, one black, and one white.

It's the Five-Colored Divine Light that brought me to this world and has always been in my mind. It actually came out while I was awakening my bloodline!

At the sight, Kong Wenxuan could not help feeling a stir in his heart. But then a vast amount of information emerged from the Five-Colored Divine Light and flowed into his mind, forcing him to calm himself and digest it.

Beside the moon-worshipping grounds, several people in magnificent feather robes stood beneath the bamboo, resembling a group of human-shaped peacocks as they watched the children awakening their bloodlines.

Their leader was an old man holding a blue feather fan. Though elderly, he still looked handsome. His magnificent blue feather robes did not look gaudy or vulgar in the slightest; instead, he was full of charm.

Several people stood behind him, men and women, old and middle-aged. They too wore magnificent feather robes of various colors, and each possessed considerable charm.

"Forty-nine children took part in the moon worship this year, but only fifteen have awakened their bloodlines so far. An awakening rate of less than thirty percent! Sigh..."

The old man at the head sighed and said in a grave voice:

"According to the genealogical records, our Kong Household's Peacock Bloodline was once a bloodline of a Ninth-Grade True Spirit. The younger members of the household only had to worship the Peacock True Spirit Star to awaken it. At its height, the awakening rate could even reach fifty percent."

"Unlike now, when we can only worship the moon and rely on the Grand Yin Jade Rabbit True Spirit's blessing to awaken our bloodlines. The awakening rate is less than thirty percent, and who knows how many will ultimately survive the backlash of their demonic nature."

"Sigh... We descendants have failed in our duty. We have truly let our ancestors down!"

"Ah! Scree..."

Just then, a scream mingled with a bird's shriek rang out from the moon-worshipping crowd.

The group looked over and saw a boy with a single white Peacock Feather formed behind him. He had fallen to the ground and was writhing in pain, screaming and occasionally letting out birdlike shrieks.

White feathers were sprouting all over his body. His arms had begun to transform into peacock wings, while his legs were changing into a bird's legs and talons.

At the sight, the old man's expression grew even darker and uglier. He sighed again and said, "Without the True Spirit Star belonging to our lineage's bloodline to suppress it, whether awakening a bloodline or breaking through a major realm, it is a trial of life and death."

"It is a struggle between demonic nature and human nature. If human nature prevails, one becomes a bloodline cultivator. If demonic nature prevails, one degenerates into a Demon Beast."

"Poor child. He couldn't suppress the demonic nature in his newly awakened Peacock Bloodline. He's going to degenerate into a Demon Beast."

As the old man spoke, he waved his blue feather fan. A stream of water gathered out of thin air, forming a rope that flew down and bound the child, who was twisting and degenerating into a white peacock Demon Beast. It pulled him beneath the bamboo and brought him before the group.

Instead of killing the child outright as he twisted and degenerated into a peacock Demon Beast, the old man waited until his Demonization was complete and he had fully transformed into a white peacock Demon Beast, with several white Peacock Feathers growing from his tail. Only then did the old man kill him, pluck and put away the feathers, and, with a sigh, burn the remaining demon corpse to ashes and place them in a porcelain jar nearby.

By then, screams and shrieks were rising one after another from the moon-worshipping grounds.

One child after another successfully awakened the Peacock Bloodline, only for their human nature to fail to suppress the bloodline's demonic nature. They began to twist and degenerate, undergoing Demonization into peacock Demon Beasts.

The cultivators beneath the bamboo all took action, binding the children undergoing Demonization and pulling them over. Once their transformations were complete, the cultivators killed them, collected their Peacock Feathers, and burned the remaining Demon Beast corpses to ashes, placing them in separate porcelain jars.

When Kong Wenxuan finished digesting all the information conveyed by the Five-Colored Divine Light and opened his eyes, he saw that only forty of the original forty-nine people remained. Of those who had successfully awakened the Peacock Bloodline, only six remained, including him.

He looked toward the bamboo grove and saw a playmate he had been somewhat familiar with screaming and shrieking as green peacock feathers sprouted all over his body. In the blink of an eye, the child degenerated and underwent Demonization into a green peacock Demon Beast. The patriarch then killed him, plucked several green peacock plumes from his tail, and burned the remaining demon corpse to ashes, which he placed in a porcelain jar.

Even though Kong Wenxuan had successfully awakened the household's Peacock Bloodline and come through the struggle between human nature and demonic nature to become one of its Peacock Bloodline cultivators, he could not help feeling a chill in his heart at the sight.

He could not help looking up at the sky. The full moon had already sunk in the west, while the twenty-eight stars of the Four Symbols and Twenty-Eight Mansions-the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise-stood in the four directions. Their starlight shone so brightly that even the light of the full moon could hardly obscure it.

Within and beyond the Four Symbols and Twenty-Eight Mansions, countless other stars filled the sky, each one presided over by a corresponding True Spirit bloodline.

This was the True Spirit Realm, a world where people cultivated immortality through bloodlines. Everyone bore the bloodline of a Demon Beast, and only by awakening it could they embark on the path of cultivation.

Among bloodlines, True Spirits reigned supreme, from the Great Sun Golden Crow, a first-rank True Spirit, to the Grand Yin Jade Rabbit, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, which were second-rank True Spirits, and downward in order to the lowest, bloodlines of a Ninth-Grade True Spirit.

But beyond even the lowest-rank bloodlines of a Ninth-Grade True Spirit, there were still more numerous bloodlines that had failed to attain the status of True Spirits.

The Peacock Bloodline of the Kong Household, into which he had been born in this life, was undoubtedly one of them.