Chapter 70: Blood Ties

Chapter 70: Blood Ties

"So you've finally decided to make your move against me?" Chu Jingxi said gravely. "I never thought we'd come to this."

System: "Quit with the dramatics."

Chu Jingxi: "Then why did you say there's no price?"

"There's no price, and that's that."

Chu Jingxi: "You're definitely trying to harm me."

System said coldly: "Just think of it as you throwing a tantrum, and I'm giving you what you're whining for."

"..."

Chu Jingxi didn't actually believe the System would harm him.

Looking back at the fake accounting the System had cooked up for him, if it simply wanted to use him against the Ghost Clan, there had been plenty of chances to push him too far—yet the System hadn't gone for the quick kill.

"Whatever you plan to do, I hope you won't keep it from me," Chu Jingxi said seriously. "I'm not the type to die for the greater good, but I have people I care about living on this land. If it truly comes to a final battle with the Ghost Clan, I won't back down."

"You're overthinking this. Blocked."

Chu Jingxi went quiet.

Finally quiet, the System said to the paranoid one: "Those before us planted the trees so we could enjoy the shade. This tab was already settled for you a long time ago."

Chu Jingxi froze, then his tone turned serious: "It was my parents, wasn't it?"

This time it was the System's turn to be speechless, stumped as to how he'd made such a wild leap.

"You said 'those before us' yourself—Yan Zizhan wasn't even born back then."

The only people left who'd give that much for him without asking anything in return were his parents, or the clan acting out of bigger interests.

"Little Zhi..." Chu Jingxi quickly caught himself: "...zard."

The System knew exactly what he'd almost said, and started racking up charges for his idle chit-chat.

Chu Jingxi's mouth twitched.

While the System was getting its revenge, he opened his palm, and a Companion Shell sat there quietly. Chu Jingxi stared at it for a long while, once again suppressing his urge to investigate.

His background was definitely not ordinary. It wasn't smart to just ask other Demon Cultivators outright. At least now he had a lead—he just needed to wait for the Demon Clan Elder to come out of seclusion and ask who'd gone to help the Chu family in that clan competition centuries ago.

But before that, while the System was busy, Chu Jingxi casually asked: "Why'd that Demon Cultivator help out back then? Were my parents in the junior division too?"

"Who else do you think would be like you?"

The System caught on: "..."

Chu Jingxi smiled. So it really was his parents who'd been tight with that Demon Cultivator. Money well spent.

---

Get back on the horse where you fell off. The day after getting his hard-earned cash swiped, Chu Jingxi started demanding his back pay from the Immortal Alliance, asking Gold Immortal Fulu to help him unload the mine.

Then he tracked down a Great Cultivator from Wangdao Tower who'd come specifically to confirm the news, and asked them to appraise the loot and broker the deal.

An auction could take forever. Selling it all in one lump would cost him some profit, but it was quick. Wangdao Tower didn't lowball him like they did other clients either, cutting Chu Jingxi a slightly better deal.

"This is a big transaction. If you're not in a rush, a courier will bring the spirit stones within a day," the Great Cultivator recommended the second option. "Or you can use your token to pick them up at any Wangdao Tower trading house."

Chu Jingxi: "I'm kind of in a rush, so I'll just wait a day."

Spirit stones only felt safe when they were in his own pocket. What if Wangdao Tower went bust while he waited?

"..."

The next day at noon, Chu Jingxi hit the road with twenty million spirit stones, most of it from selling the mine.

"Career and love, both thriving." A genius just naturally shines like this.

As he summed up his life, Yan Zizhan stood next to him, counting the cash, and got hooked on the word "love." When Chu Jingxi asked if the numbers added up, Yan Zizhan calmly started counting all over again.

Chu Jingxi raised a brow. Weren't cultivators supposed to remember everything at a glance?

Only one Warship headed back; the other Great Cultivators weren't heading back anytime soon.

The hidden mutated corpses only made up a quarter of the top fighters from back then, and even more corpses were still missing. They couldn't afford to be careless—now they had to search the old battlefield inch by inch, no matter the cost.

"Something this big goes down, the Ghost Clan's definitely gonna make a move once they hear about it."

Chu Jingxi could tell that even Gold Immortal Fulu, who usually took everything in stride, looked grim on the way back.

The Warship suddenly dropped in altitude.

Chu Tiannan: "It's the Beast Taming Sect down there!"

Flying spirit beasts had sent out signals, flagging people down below. With two immortals on board, safety wasn't a concern.

Chu Jingxi: "I'll go down and take a look."

Yan Zizhan was about to go with him, but Chu Jingxi stopped him: "Don't flaunt your wealth—keep counting."

Below, the Beast Taming Sect elder waited outside the sect gates with some disciples, surrounded by Rock Antelopes. Chu Jingxi had previously asked the Beast Taming Sect to look after this race, and they'd been generous about it, directly allocating a territory for them within the sect's grounds.

The Rock Antelope leader affectionately pressed against Chu Jingxi's robe. He patted its big head and looked at the Beast Taming Sect elder: "Senior, did you need something from me?"

Those flying spirit beasts had basically been circling around him.

The Beast Taming Sect elder nodded: "We must thank you again this time."

This gratitude wasn't just for eliminating the Immortal Alliance stronghold—more so for having a Golden Immortal intervene to seal the problematic disciples and beasts within the sect, leaving a shred of hope.

Not offering empty thanks, the Beast Taming Sect elder produced an object: "This is a gift prepared by our sect master."

Chu Jingxi looked closely—such a tiny... egg?

"An Omen Owl?" Gold Immortal Fulu suddenly appeared behind him, making Chu Jingxi jolt. Could you not appear and disappear without a trace?

Curiosity ultimately won out, and Chu Jingxi asked first: "What's an Omen Owl?"

Gold Immortal Fulu stroked his chin: "A divine beast that can carry wishes. With such abilities, you can imagine what happened to it."

Chu Jingxi understood instantly: "Wiped out."

Gold Immortal Fulu nodded, squinting as he recalled: "As I remember, the Beast Taming Sect did have a dead Omen Owl egg. The Patriarch and the Xiadan Sect Master both examined it in turn, but unfortunately they couldn't detect much life force in it."

The Beast Taming Sect wouldn't just hand over a dead egg and risk offending someone, so the elder spoke up: "The Sect Master once said that what truly led to the extinction of the Omen Owl was the karmic law tangled up with wishes. But since one egg still remains in the world, it means heaven left a sliver of hope."

He also handed Chu Jingxi several ancient texts, all about the Omen Owl.

"Thank you, Senior." Chu Jingxi still hadn't learned to turn down a free meal.

After bidding farewell to the Beast Taming Sect and the Rock Antelope, they returned to the Warship. Seeing Chu Jingxi glued to the egg, Gold Immortal Fulu reminded him, "With your luck, it might turn things around, but don't get your hopes too high."

The odds of this egg hatching were slim, but the cultivation world was never short on opportunists. If it were put up for auction, it could easily fetch millions of spirit stones.

It was a hefty gift, no doubt.

The real reason the Beast Taming Sect gave this gift was to make Chu Jingxi "think of them every time he saw it."

As long as he looked at this egg in the future, he would think of the Beast Taming Sect to some extent. Across the entire cultivation world, Chu Jingxi had massive growth potential, and maybe one day he could save those problem disciples.

Chu Jingxi nodded casually, a dreamy look in his eyes.

What a textbook main-character script! The hero finds a dead egg nobody believes in, accidentally hatches a god beast, and embarks on an invincible path from then on.

Knowing he was off in dreamland, Gold Immortal Fulu shook his head and walked to the side.

On the other side, Chu Suye was thrilled at the sight—this was a legendary beast!

She came over to examine the egg, while Chu Tiannan, who still had to pilot the Warship, could only keep craning his neck to sneak a look.

When they confirmed they could barely sense any life within the egg, both couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.

Only Yan Zizhan believed in Chu Jingxi without a doubt. Having just finished counting the books, he glanced at the legendary beast egg and mulled it over.

"Maybe we could try using the Illusion-Reality Law."

In the illusion created by the Blood Curse Art, Chu Jingxi had mistaken himself for a Heart Demon and tried to bring someone out by turning illusion into reality.

This egg barely had any life force, but at least the embryo was real—way better conditions than the illusion.

Chu Jingxi, who'd been lost in his daydream, snapped his head around. Even Gold Immortal Fulu, who'd been chuckling earlier, went quiet—it did sound kinda feasible.

From the bow of the ship, Chu Suye frowned and interjected, "This is basically creating life from scratch—no easy task."

Chu Jingxi's mind started wandering down other paths. His Illusion-Reality Law was only at level one, and the panel had officially stamped it as unupgradable. Using that ability to resurrect something wasn't realistic.

However, Yan Zizhan bringing up the Blood Curse Art ordeal sparked other ideas.

"What if I use the law to keep pumping dreams into this egg?"

Only creatures with a nervous system can dream.

Chu Jingxi: "If it dreams, that proves it's alive—only the living dream."

The whole Warship went dead silent. What kind of terrifying logic was that?

Chu Jingxi was still chewing on it—once he set up a reverse precondition, he could then slip in Words Become Law at just the right moment, and finally beg heaven for a blessing.

With all three conditions lined up and luck backing him the whole way, how could it not hatch?

Chu Jingxi couldn't help but look at Yan Zizhan, his inspiration, feeling great: "We really are a match made in heaven!"

The almost tangible brightness hit Yan Zizhan's heart, and a smile crept into his eyes.

Beside them, Gold Immortal Fulu caught the words "perfect match" and had just started to sense something off when the echoing clangs rattled his eardrums.

The Rustless Copper Bell had been super drowsy lately—not just slacking off, but its power was growing fast. Having just absorbed the bad vibes from the last round of work, it turned to see a little crackling egg in Chu Jingxi's hand.

It got so mad it stopped talking like a person and turned into a wind chime—pissed and jingling.

"This is an Omen Owl." Chu Jingxi, head throbbing from the racket, could only make empty promises: "Down the road, if you've got a wish, you can ask it."

The Rustless Copper Bell finally simmered down a bit. "Really? Can it make you fall to demonic corruption?"

If so, it'd be willing to put up with this.

Chu Jingxi was speechless.

Darkness fell, and night had been coming early lately. While the Rustless Copper Bell was still zealously preaching its dark conversion, the Chu family suddenly sent word for them to swing south and head back.

Chu Tiannan, at the helm of the Warship, was puzzled. The family usually just handed tasks to the younger folks without explaining why. Gold Immortal Fulu's transmission lasted longer; his face looked calm, but the pressure in the surrounding world was shifting.

Yan Zizhan also received an urgent message from the Taiqing Sect. Chu Jingxi stood beside him and heard every word clearly, his face immediately darkening.

-*

The Hanging Gourd Sect—or rather, the former Hanging Gourd Sect.

In the alchemy chambers that once required queuing, blood trickled in winding streams down the Cauldrons that had accumulated medicinal residue.

Bloodstains were everywhere, but from the herb garden to the back mountain, not a single bone could be found—only trails of blood marks climbing desperately in search of escape.

Wisps of blood mist drifted continuously to the mountain peak, replacing the alchemy clouds that had lingered for years. The bloodstains around the teleportation array were especially dense, with overlapping human silhouettes melted together.

Not long ago, a large number of Ghost Cultivators had appeared and launched a suicide attack, and the remaining alchemists couldn't escape the Grand Refining Array either.

For ten thousand miles around, the area was steeped in ghostly aura from the refining, and not a single living being could be found.

Ever since the Poison Pill that countered the ghost race was introduced, ordinary Ghost Cultivators who once used their bodies to raise Ghost Gu Worms had become obsolete pieces, so the ghost race simply cast them out ahead of schedule.

When the Alliance Leader of the Alchemy Alliance led his people there, his expression was colder than ever before.

Across the Eastern Domain, there were over a thousand alchemy sects and medicine halls combined. With a limited number of formation masters, it was impossible to inspect every location for hidden Grand Refining Arrays in a short time.

But what truly made him feel extreme danger was something else.

"The ghost race can already descend upon the continent."

The Xiadan Sect Master's expression was no better. The Dao Source was probably like a rotten apple now, and the Primordial Continent's rejection of foreign elements was rapidly declining.

He judged, "The ghost race is likely testing how many Ghost Cultivators they can descend at once. Meanwhile, they're inciting chaos to make the alchemists researching the Poison Pill panic."

The Xiadan Sect Master also had a personal speculation he didn't voice—every additional place refined was also damage to the Heavenly Dao. The Grand Refining Array inherently defied the laws of heaven and earth. As those laws were continuously eroded, and the Heavenly Dao couldn't stop it, its authority might gradually dissipate.

The Hanging Gourd Sect incident wasn't isolated. Just two days later, another faction fell victim.

The ghost race's mastery of formations was unparalleled—besides the combined formations targeting the entire continent, they had also laid independent Grand Refining Arrays in specific locations, making them impossible to guard against.

Amidst the widespread panic, good news finally arrived: the team previously sent to search for key ingredients had made a discovery, and refining the Poison Pill targeting the Ghost General was within reach.

But just a day later, a new rumor began spreading rapidly, throwing nearly the entire cultivation world into panic.

--

"Existing cultivators can no longer break through to higher realms?" The moment the Warship arrived at the immortal domain, Chu Jingxi overheard discussions on this very topic.

Gold Immortal Fulu had been extending his Spiritual Sense since boarding the Warship to guard against enemy attacks. Catching wind of more details, he went directly to report to the clan leader. Chu Suye and Chu Tiannan felt waves of shock upon hearing this and immediately contacted their acquaintances to confirm.

Chu Jingxi stood in place, frowning slightly. "Is the spiritual energy..."

Yan Zizhan nodded, confirming he wasn't imagining it—the spiritual energy had grown scarcer.

Nights in the lower realm were stretching longer and longer; things only improved once they entered the immortal domain.

A rustling came from the leaves. The spirit bamboo had almost finished digesting its growth fluid and regrown some foliage. Hearing they were back, it hurriedly uprooted itself and shuffled over.

Hearing the discussion about spiritual energy, it chimed in urgently with what it knew: "At first, there were cultivators who felt they'd hit a bottleneck, yet the tribulation lightning never came. And it wasn't just one or two cases."

Cultivators always get a clear sign before a breakthrough—they rarely get it wrong.

Chu Jingxi didn't bother asking the system. If this were fake news, the system would've already shot it down with its usual sarcasm. Asking now would just be pouring salt in the wound.

The Dao Source had an insane amount of tolerance—everything seemed fine right up until the breaking point, but cross that line and it all falls apart in an instant.

That moment was now.

Over the next few days, things got worse. Cultivators were losing their mental footing because they couldn't break through, and some forced it so hard they went into qi deviation.

For reasons nobody could figure out, the Immortal Alliance didn't step up to contain the news or calm people down—they just let the panic fester.

The other major factions did the same, offering zero explanations. The Chu family urgently called back all their disciples training abroad, and the holy lands did the same. The big powers kept things relatively orderly—the higher-ups stayed quiet while the younger generation swallowed their nerves and waited.

Panic in the lower realm spread faster than a plague. Wangdao Tower was packed wall-to-wall with people fishing for info, and every sect was busy reinforcing their protective formations.

"The spiritual energy in the human domain is slowly turning like the demon domain's—laced with a faint poison. What the hell are we supposed to do?"

"If this keeps up, will spiritual energy get even scarcer? Hurry, stockpile spirit rice!"

"Buying spirit plants at top dollar! Only ones with long shelf lives!"

"We need to hoard ore too!"

Spirit veins were being bid up to insane prices. High-grade spirit stones—which held absorbable spiritual energy for cultivation—shot up in value right along with them. Spirit stones used to just be currency, but now people were selling talismans and other goods just to trade for more spirit stones.

Back in the immortal domain, at the Chu estate, elders from other factions were filing out one by one.

The Chu Clan Patriarch went to the ancestor's secluded cultivation spot, paid his respects, and said: "The holy lands and others want to team up with the Chu family to ask the Immortal Alliance Leader to make a public statement."

Good or bad, you need someone to speak up before things change this drastically.

"Better to guide than to block—this isn't the time for announcements." A voice came from deep within the ancestral grounds. "Oh, and if that kid gets too hung up on digging into his origins, talk some sense into him. Don't let him get lost in that obsession at a time like this."

Too much obsession breeds Heart Demons.

The Chu Clan Patriarch was surprised that the ancestor would still be mindful of Chu Jingxi at such a time.

He couldn't quite read the old man's mind—if the ancestor really wanted to bury the truth, he wouldn't have quietly allowed those private investigations.

Still, the Chu Clan Patriarch reported truthfully: "Since returning, Chu Jingxi has not inquired further about his origins."

The ancestor's voice carried a note of surprise. "Oh?"

"He's been busy playing parent."

More like trying to be a bird—incubating an Omen Owl.

"..."

Author's note:

Mini theater:

Chu Jingxi: Rise again, my divine egg. Once you hatch, remember to give back to me.

Egg: ???

May the divine beast that carries countless prayers bless you all!