Chapter 123 - Smells delicious

“Huh!” Shu Yang struck out with his sword, completing the cycle of movements of his Shu Art. He had now deduced the next step for his body cultivation, and just like his spiritual cultivation, it had become very attuned to the sword.

‘Progress is still really slow.’ Shu Yang thought with a sigh.

It had been five months since the alchemy competition, and since then, Shu Yang had pretty much directed all his attention to his own body cultivation.

But even if there was some improvement, it was really hard to find joy in it.

‘I can’t even see the end. Even if I continue like this for the next ten years, I won’t be able to reach the middle Foundation stage. Probably not even close.’

Shu Yang focused on his bloodline, eager to see if at least his Bloodline Power had seen some increase.

[ Bloodline Power: 15.00 (Founding - Low) ]

[ Bloodline Ability: Piercing Gaze ]

[ Founding Traits: Sword Bone ]

[ Common Traits: Great body cultivation aptitude, 9th grade spirit roots, Sharp Mind, Lucky, Charming, Long-lived ]

‘I actually managed to reach the 15.0 mark!’

Some of his increased Bloodline Power could, as always, be attributed to his descendants growing up and growing stronger. But most of it was entirely due to Shu Yang’s hard work over the past few months.

‘Wait. It’s still only at the ‘Founding - Low’ level. I was certain I was going to reach ‘Founding - Middle’ by crossing the 15.0 threshold.’

Shu Yang sat down on the ground, wiping away some sweat.

‘That’s not good. That means that there is a very long way until I upgrade my bloodline to a Golden Bloodline.’

‘I guess that was always going to take a while. More importantly, advancing to the middle Foundation stage at all is going to be difficult, even if I use some rare resources to speed up my progress.’

Shu Yang had basically always been a step ahead with his Bloodline Power, and had relied on it as a crutch to break through bottlenecks. But now, neither his aptitude nor Bloodline Power would help him much.

‘I guess I’ll put body cultivation on hold for a while, and wait for the bloodline feedback to raise my aptitude and Bloodline Power.’

‘In the meantime, I should focus on my spiritual cultivation. It’s a bit embarrassing to be stuck at the 2nd stage of Qi Refining; I could definitely reach the 6th stage with my current talent and resources.’

‘If some of the older grandkids are quick enough to find partners with spirit roots, I should see quite a bit of progress there as well.’

‘I should also try to improve my sword intent. The Sword Bone still has a lot of use that shouldn’t be wasted.’

Shu Yang rose to his feet and walked back to the settlement again. He didn’t want to practice so close to people, as his strength was a bit dangerous when he let loose.

He quickly saw a lot of his kids and grandchildren busy practicing martial arts as he entered.

‘Good, everyone is motivated.’

Shu Yang had really tried to encourage everyone to practice lately, even the ones without any talent for body cultivation. That was because the Shu Family didn’t have any talent in spiritual cultivation, and if they didn’t want to be looked down on when they arrived in the Sword Sect’s territory, and his grandchildren to be scorned by potential partners there, they needed to show off what they actually excelled in.

Shu Yang believed that with him as the head of the family, as a Foundation stage body cultivator, along with several of his more talented children in the Master and Innate stages, they wouldn’t be casually dismissed even without spiritual cultivators. But the effect would be even greater if every single one of his family members showed at least some amount of talent in body cultivation, so he had tried getting everyone to start taking it seriously.

Besides, it couldn’t be a bad thing. It was a healthy routine to have, if nothing else.

‘Getting them all to the Innate stage is probably impossible, but with enough resources, reaching the 1st-stage martial warrior stage shouldn’t be an issue.’

After the alchemy competition, Shu Yang had given Xinxiao a bunch of resources, basically everything he had brought with him that wasn’t of a higher tier than she could handle. He had told her to not be afraid of waste, and to try to further improve the formula she had used in the competition.

And the result wasn’t disappointing. After months of hard work, with Xinrue and Xinchu to help her, she had managed to make the potion even more effective, without any side effects.

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It wasn’t a huge improvement, only about 15% more effective for the lower stages, and maybe 5% more effective for an Innate warrior. But what Shu Yang was most pleased about was how much the three of them had learned during the process of coming up with it. Shu Yang had stopped by pretty often to take a look, and even he felt that he had learned a lot about alchemy during the past few months.

It probably wasn’t anything special compared to the families in the cultivation world, especially those with a history of several centuries. But it was a good start. And it was already put to good use, as all of Shu Yang’s grandchildren were still below the Innate stage, and the potion was greatly appreciated by them.

‘Some cultivators are bound to be interested in having a trait for body cultivation in their bloodline.’

Things would become a bit reversed when they arrived in the Sword Sect. Instead of hiding their talents in order to not be taken advantage of, they would need to show off everything they had in order to not be isolated.

It wasn’t just so that Shu Yang could have more talented descendants; it was also so that his grandchildren would be able to find a partner they actually liked.

If no one was interested in them in the place they settled down, some of them would have no choice but to leave and start a life in the mortal world. Shu Yang really wanted to avoid that fate. He wanted the family to stay together.

“Dad!” Tianhu called out, walking over with his wife. “We’ve been looking all over for you. Where have you been?”

“I was just out training. What’s the matter?” Shu Yang asked.

“It’s like this,” Xiaoshi began, “I was just practicing with my Bloodline Ability when I suddenly felt something was wrong.”

“Wrong in what way?” Shu Yang asked. He had obviously told Xiaoshi about the power that came with advancing your bloodline to the Founding grade, and had offered a lot of advice on how she should develop her Bloodline Ability.

At the start, Xiaoshi would automatically be able to sense people’s emotions and thoughts when she activated that strange power within her. Probably as a result of her Shen Family trait, which made her able to tell when someone was being deceitful.

Shu Yang had been very happy hearing about that, as it would be a very useful ability that he could inherit if she and Tianhu had another child.

Unfortunately, Xiaoshi wasn’t very interested in that ability. She wanted something powerful, something that could be used in a fight, and preferably something that would help her comprehend sword intent.

Shu Yang had no choice but to respect her wishes and tried his best to guide her. But developing a Bloodline Ability without a trait to base it on turned out to be very difficult, and it had taken Xiaoshi months before she saw any results.

But just a few weeks ago, she actually managed to cut a tree down with just the power of her Bloodline Ability. Shu Yang had no idea how her ability worked, as that strange energy that powered Bloodline Abilities was beyond his comprehension.

Either way, the results seemed promising, and Shu Yang believed Xiaoshi was very close to succeeding. She never really lost control anymore, and made some progress every time she recovered enough to use her Bloodline Ability again.

“I don’t know, it’s such a strange feeling. It’s not actually a bad feeling, but it made me feel a bit apprehensive all the same,” Xiaoshi said with a frown, shaking her head. “Did you experience anything similar?”

“I don’t think so,” Shu Yang said, thinking. “Can you be a bit more detailed?”

“I really don’t know how to explain it,” Xiaoshi said. She placed a hand on her stomach. “I guess it stems from my sto-”

Xiaoshi suddenly paused, and then her face slowly turned red.

“You…” Shu Yang had a guess in mind.

Xiaoshi looked away, a bit embarrassed, and murmured. “I think I’m pregnant.”

“What? Really?” Tianhu asked, shocked.

“Yeah,” Xiaoshi said, smiling slightly.

Shu Yang laughed heartily. “Congratulations, you two. I’ll tell Qianyue, and we’ll arrange a dinner to celebrate.”

He then turned and walked away, leaving the two of them to process the news alone.

‘I guess it’s still in the very early stages; I can’t feel anything from my connection to the Bloodline Tree yet.’

‘Perhaps Xiaoshi isn’t used to her senses as a Foundation cultivator, and couldn’t place the feeling at first.’

‘But this is truly great news!’

With Xiaoshi having conceived at the Foundation stage, the child was bound to be talented.

‘I’ll probably not be lucky enough to see a pair of twins with a Founding trait again, but Xiaoshi’s Bloodline Ability should be partly inherited. And being born with a Founding Bloodline shouldn’t be too much to ask, right?’

Shu Yang was just about to enter his home when he felt an ever-so-slight increase in his Bloodline Power. It happened pretty often, and Shu Yang usually ignored it, but this time he decided to check.

He focused on his connection to the Bloodline Tree and was pleasantly surprised.

‘Xinmo actually advanced to the Innate stage!’

Xinmo had good aptitude for body cultivation, so he was certain to reach it eventually. But he had only recently turned ten years old. That was a record in the family.

‘What a day for Tianhu’s family. The good news just keeps coming.’

Shu Yang entered his house and told his wife the news, and they started getting busy with preparing dinner. Shu Yang didn’t cook very often, but in a good mood, he happily helped his wife in the kitchen. He did get scolded a bit for messing things up, though.

A few hours later, just as everyone had arrived and they were about to start eating, there was a knock on the door.

Shu Yang looked around the room, but couldn’t see anyone missing. He had even invited Xiaoshi’s family over.

He went to the door and opened it, and could hardly believe his eyes.

“Smells delicious. Is there room for one more?” Bian Fenglin asked with a friendly smile.