Chapter 207: Bloodline Gene Lock

The juvenile Garuda had been happily feasting when his round eyes froze. His downy feathers stood on end, while the tuft atop his head spun around like radar. Stopping in his tracks, he immediately looked from side to side. At the same time, he curled his enormous yet plump body into a ball, making him resemble an oversized yellow rubber duck.

A streak of red light approached him at astonishing speed. He immediately tucked in his head and rattled off dozens of languages in a single breath.

"????????????????????????????????.[1]

"降矣，愿宥吾命!

"I surrender! Please don't kill me!

"降伏します!命だけは取らないでください!

"Surrendo! Ne me occidito!

"ni nesu em hotep nefer!

"Ясдаюсь,пожалуйста,неубивайменя!"[2]

He had spotted Yu Xian within the red light and realized that the hostile newcomer was human, so he had chosen human languages in which to beg for mercy.

Yu Xian hovered in the air and stared at the juvenile Garuda in surprise. "Auntie, he can talk!"

Eternal Purity smiled. "Pureblood Garudas carry inherited knowledge in their bloodline. They are born already knowing everything they need to know."

The Garuda poked his head out from beneath his wings and nodded repeatedly. "Mm-hmm! I was born knowing how to talk."

Yu Xian looked at Eternal Purity, then at the juvenile Garuda on the ground, his surprise deepening. "Auntie, he can see you?"

On the Blue Planet, not even Edward, a Star-rank powerhouse, could see Eternal Purity. Yet this juvenile Garuda, merely at Heaven rank, equivalent to God rank on the Blue Planet, could somehow see her.

Eternal Purity smiled. "Anyone with a pure heart can see me. Think back carefully if you don't believe me."

Yu Xian frowned, and countless memories surfaced in his mind. For example, there had been times when he was eating by the roadside and noticed a toddler nearby, snot dangling from their nose, blankly staring at Eternal Purity.

It had not happened just once or twice, but many, many times. However, children's behavior was unpredictable to begin with, and these children were usually extremely young, almost always under three years old. As a result, none of them had ever spoken to Eternal Purity.

Yu Xian returned to his senses and accepted the explanation. He looked at the juvenile Garuda, then pointed at the Rainbow Dragons nearby, of which only a handful remained, and frowned. "But... Auntie, are you sure he has a pure heart? Isn't he a little too cruel?"

"Purity and cruelty have never been opposites," Eternal Purity explained.

Yu Xian thought about how many ants he had crushed as a child and had to admit that purity and cruelty could indeed coexist. He stopped dwelling on the matter and looked at the juvenile Garuda. Just as he began wondering whether the creature would taste good, the enormous fat bird seemed to sense danger.

He hurriedly pleaded, "Big Brother, as long as you don't kill me, I can be your mount! Once I grow up, I'll be really fast!"

Yu Xian could have killed the juvenile Garuda without the slightest guilt, but the little thing had just called him "Big Brother," making him feel as though he would be murdering a child. Damn it.

Staring at the creature, which was taller than him even while crouching on the ground, Yu Xian landed atop a tree and irritably asked, "What's your name and how old are you?"

This fat bird undoubtedly possessed many abilities. He had surrendered the instant Yu Xian approached him, which meant juvenile Garudas could easily judge the strength of both allies and enemies. His command of numerous languages showed just how comprehensive his inherited knowledge was. On top of that, his bloodline allowed him to reach the peak of Void rank simply by living long enough, without any need to cultivate.

The more Yu Xian thought about it, the more he drooled. He truly wanted to swallow the fat bird whole.

"Big Brother, my name is Nora Hild Garuda, and I'm eight years old."

Yu Xian nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood. He desperately wanted to say something, but after a moment, he just gloomily asked, "Auntie, he isn't lying, is he?"

Eternal Purity smiled. "No. His name really is Nora."

Yu Xian could not help feeling that Eternal Purity's smile carried a hint of mischievous amusement. "But isn't that far too much of a coincidence?"

Eternal Purity replied with a smile, "The myriad worlds are composed of countless random events, inevitabilities, and coincidences. Something you consider random may sometimes have been inevitable, while something you believe was inevitable may instead have been a coincidence."

Her words sounded profound and mysterious, but in reality, they were complete nonsense. Yu Xian had long since grown accustomed to her saying deliberately cryptic things. Her words always seemed to contain some hidden meaning, yet whenever he thought about them carefully, they usually turned out to be meaningless. He could no longer be bothered to dwell on them.

He looked at Little Nora. "I can spare you, but you'll have to give me some of your blood."

Little Nora timidly replied, "But I'm afraid of pain."

Yu Xian revealed his fangs and smiled. "I can drink your blood. I promise it won't hurt."

Little Nora abruptly raised his head and stared down at Yu Xian in shock. "Big Brother, you're a vampire?"

Yu Xian nodded. "That's right. I'm a vampire. Is there a problem?"

Little Nora hesitantly replied, "My blood has a Bloodline Gene Lock. If a vampire drinks it, it'll only give them diarrhea. It won't do anything for you."

Yu Xian frowned. "A Bloodline Gene Lock? What's that?"

Little Nora explained, "It's a seal that prevents others from copying, cloning, or stealing the power of a bloodline. If someone has children with a species other than a Garuda, it can also prevent the bloodline's power from being fully inherited. Many hybrid creatures have incomplete abilities because one of their parents possesses a Bloodline Gene Lock. It also prevents the blood from being used as food or as material for refining artifacts. Anyway, it has all kinds of functions."

Yu Xian looked at Eternal Purity. "Auntie, is he telling the truth?"

Eternal Purity nodded. "He is. After all, the myriad worlds contain many abilities capable of seizing bloodlines, while copying and cloning are hardly advanced technologies. That is why many supernatural races possess Bloodline Gene Locks."

Yu Xian finally understood why absorbing the blood of so many dragons had still failed to reconstruct the Ancient Cosmic Dragon's complete bloodline. It turned out that a Bloodline Gene Lock had been preventing him from doing so.

He looked utterly miserable. "So, my Blood Demon Style: Infinite Self-Devouring Art is actually pretty useless throughout the myriad worlds? Maybe even completely worthless?"

Eternal Purity replied, "No. As long as you become stronger than the person who placed the Bloodline Gene Lock, you can forcibly break it. Naturally, you will then be able to continue using the Blood Demon Style: Infinite Self-Devouring Art."

Yu Xian looked at Little Nora and helplessly said, "In other words, if I want to obtain the complete Garuda bloodline, I first need enough strength to take on his ancestor by myself. By the way... Auntie, was his ancestor at the peak of Void rank?"

"When his ancestor established the Bloodline Gene Lock, he was Hegemon rank. Garudas can naturally grow to Void rank without cultivating, but cultivation can, of course, make them even stronger. It's like how an ordinary, untrained person in your world might lift one hundred kilograms, while a trained strongman might lift five hundred."

The moment Yu Xian heard "Hegemon rank," he knew there was no hope. Little Nora's ancestor could probably kill him with a single breath. Trying to break the Bloodline Gene Lock they had created was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Eternal Purity suddenly smiled. "However... there is another way for you to gradually obtain the Garuda's power."

Yu Xian's eyes lit up as he expectantly looked at Eternal Purity. You should've said so earlier!

1. The symbols are genuine Egyptian hieroglyphic characters, but the sequence appears decorative rather than a coherent Egyptian sentence. Its intended meaning is presumably the same as the lines that follow: "I surrender! Please don't kill me!" ☜

2. In the raws, these lines are written in Classical Chinese, English, Japanese, Latin, Pseudo Ancient Egyption, and Russian, respectively. They all presumably mean, "I surrender. Please don't kill me!" ☜