Chapter 110: Take a look at this tree, doesn’t it look like your Bloodline Fruit?

Chapter 110: Chapter 110: Take a look at this tree, doesn’t it look like your Bloodline Fruit?

Shovel after shovel of dirt was dug out. Before long, the Ancestor’s mechanical arm hit something.

CRACK~

A grating sound that set one’s teeth on edge rang out, and a flash of joy appeared in the Ancestor’s eyes.

"It’s really here! My boy, you’re in luck!"

He reached both hands into the pit and pulled out the jade box within.

The moment the jade box emerged from the ground and the Ancestor saw it, the joyful expression on his face instantly froze.

"This... Where’s my Bloodline Fruit? Why is my Bloodline Fruit gone? Who stole my Bloodline Fruit and the lid?"

Su Han: "..."

Looking at the empty, lidless jade box in the Ancestor’s hands, Su Han was at a loss for words.

Looking down into the freshly dug pit, the Ancestor tossed the jade box aside and started digging again. Before long, he had widened the hole in the ground.

Within the pit, fragments of jade lay quietly in the soil. Judging by the weathered edges of the breaks, they had clearly been shattered for a very long time.

"Broken? It broke on its own? Then what about my Bloodline Fruit?

If there was no thief, why did my Bloodline Fruit disappear?"

Su Han: "..."

After glancing at the Ancestor, the jade box, and the fragments in the pit, Su Han hesitated for a moment before moving closer and pointing to the massive, ancient-looking tree nearby.

"Um, Ancestor... forgive me for asking, but did you bury the Bloodline Fruit under a tree back then?"

The Ancestor glared at him. "What tree? If I had buried it under a tree, would I have needed to leave a stone tablet here as a marker?"

Su Han: "..."

’You... have the nerve to mention the stone tablet.’

’Erecting a stone tablet like this... You’re just lucky no one has entered this Imperial Mausoleum for a thousand years. Otherwise, forget the Bloodline Fruit; you wouldn’t even have the jade box left, believe you me.’

Whether the Ancestor believed it or not, Su Han certainly did.

Pointing at the large tree, Su Han looked at his ancestor. "Ancestor, do you think... there’s a possibility?

That your Bloodline Fruit... it sprouted."

The Ancestor: "..."

"Take a look at this tree. Doesn’t it look like your Bloodline Fruit?"

The Ancestor: "..."

Staring at the thousand-year-old tree, which now looked somewhat familiar, the Ancestor was speechless.

"This tree... I didn’t pay attention before. Now that I look closely, it does seem a bit like the legendary Bloodline Ancient Tree."

"So..."

Hearing the Ancestor muttering to himself, Su Han nodded. "Case closed, then. Your Bloodline Fruit... it wasn’t lost."

The Ancestor: "..."

WHAP! A hand slapped the back of Su Han’s head. The Ancestor wore an expression of profound disappointment.

"What’s with that nonchalant attitude of yours? That Bloodline Fruit was for you! Without the Bloodline Fruit... you expect to awaken the Emperor’s Blood on your own? Not in this lifetime!"

Su Han blinked. "We may not have the Bloodline Fruit, but don’t we have a whole tree now?

Don’t you think that as long as the mountain stands, we won’t have to worry about firewood?"

"Pah!"

The Ancestor, far from feeling comforted, shot Su Han a vicious glare.

"You think Bloodline Fruits grow just because there’s a tree? There are countless rare bloodlines in this world, but only one type of Bloodline Ancient Tree.

Without a corresponding bloodline to nurture it, how do you expect the tree to produce any fruit for you?"

Su Han: "..."

Subconsciously, Su Han glanced at the Ancestor’s mechanical body.

"Sun Thief, what are you looking at! Don’t forget, I’ve been dead for a long, long time, and I don’t have much time left now.

Even if I had plenty of time, my body turned to dust long ago. I couldn’t use my own blood to nurture a Bloodline Fruit for you even if I wanted to!"

Su Han glanced from the Bloodline Ancient Tree to the Ancestor, who had just once again declared he didn’t have much time left, and was momentarily at a loss for words.

’So... it was clearly your own unreliable idea to bury a perfectly good Bloodline Fruit in the dirt, which is what led to it sprouting in the first place.’

’So how did it end up with you blaming me?’

The Bloodline Fruit was gone, and that was that. There was nothing anyone could do; he didn’t command the power of time, able to reverse its flow and turn the tree back into a Bloodline Fruit.

Resigned, Su Han looked at his ancestor and asked, "Ancestor, did you also have to eat a Bloodline Fruit to awaken your Emperor’s Blood back in the day?"

The Ancestor shook his head. "Of course not. I’m a once-in-a-generation genius..."

Su Han smiled. "Exactly. You, Ancestor, are a once-in-a-generation genius who could awaken his bloodline without relying on a Bloodline Fruit. So why must your descendant absolutely rely on one?"

The Ancestor blinked, looking at Su Han with an innocent expression.

"No, what I meant was... I chanced upon three Bloodline Fruits that could awaken the Emperor’s Blood back then. As a once-in-a-generation genius, I only needed to eat two of them to successfully awaken my bloodline."

Su Han: "...So, you’re saying you can’t awaken the bloodline by eating just one Bloodline Fruit?"

The Ancestor blinked, then nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Definitely. Otherwise, why would I have said earlier that whether or not you could awaken the Emperor’s Blood was all up to this one fruit?

If eating one Bloodline Fruit was enough to awaken the Emperor’s Blood, wouldn’t I have said that with this fruit, you were *guaranteed* to awaken it?"

Su Han: "..."

’So, what you’re saying makes so much fucking sense that I can’t even think of a comeback right now.’

’But... a self-proclaimed, once-in-a-generation genius like you needed two Bloodline Fruits to awaken. What gave you the delusion that I’d be able to awaken the Emperor’s Blood with just the one you left me?’

"Um... Ancestor, you said it yourself. Even a once-in-a-generation genius like you needed to consume two Bloodline Fruits to awaken.

Even if I, your descendant, am pretty talented, it’s not like I’m twice as gifted as you, right?

This single Bloodline Fruit most likely wouldn’t have been enough to awaken the bloodline successfully. Since eating it would have been pointless, it’s better that it grew into a tree—who knows, maybe it can produce new Bloodline Fruits in the future."

The Ancestor considered this... and realized Su Han had a point.

He nodded. "You make a good point. In that case, we’ll keep the tree. We won’t burn it."

Su Han: "...B-burn... burn the tree?"

His eyes widened in shock. Su Han stared at his ancestor, utterly dumbfounded.

"Did... did you just say... burn the tree?"

The Ancestor glanced at Su Han and nodded. "Yeah!

This stupid tree wasted one of my Bloodline Fruits, and it’s not like it has any practical use now.

If I don’t burn it down, am I supposed to just leave it here to piss me off every time I look at it?"

"Whew~"

Su Han let out a long sigh of relief.

’Thankfully... the Ancestor’s reason for wanting to burn the tree was different from my own.’

But that made sense, he figured. After all, he’d already appraised it. The Bloodline Ancient Tree wasn’t a Skill Tree.

As they walked back, Su Han looked at the Ancestor’s mechanical body and a question suddenly occurred to him.

’Before... I’d suspected that the Ancestor had dragged the Reincarnation Coffin back here just to lie in it himself.’

’But look at him now... the coffin itself has practically come to life, and with the Ancestor’s original body long gone, he obviously doesn’t need to lie inside the Reincarnation Coffin.’

So...

"Ancestor, you must have entered those ruins North of Lingzhou City when you were alive, right?"

Hearing this, the Ancestor turned to Su Han, the lights in his eyes flashing.

"My boy, you’ve been to those ruins too? Did you get in through the thieves’ tunnel I dug?

So, what did you think?

Wasn’t my thieves’ tunnel absolutely perfect?"

Su Han: "..."

’Is... is that something to be proud of?’