6 Predator becomes Prey!

Wang Xixi started making necessary preparations for the supposed genealogy inspection and records. She can't afford to screw things up otherwise no one prevent her from death. She has lived for more than twenty thousand years and she didn't want to die even after living this long. No one wants to die and the fear gets only worse as one gets older. All achievements of life are wasted. No matter mortal or cultivator they would be ready to commit the worst atrocity for an extra day in the life.

Morals? Reputation? Everything pales in comparison to life. If you have the life you can have everything. What is the use of reputation after death? Morals and rules are things created to control the weak and gullible.

Still, there was a tinge of regret in her heart. She has seen Zhen Han's grandfather Zhen Ling grow up. While it's true that is no sense of kinship among royalty but there are always some exceptions. Humans grow fond of the pets they keep so how can they feel no compassion for someone whom they have treated like their children?

Even though the Skyrise Emperor has ninety-nine wives and more than a thousand concubines the number of children he has are less than a hundred. For powerful cultivators, it's extremely difficult to have children. It was a rule of the Heavens to balance the world. If strong cultivators can easily breed then their children would be strong just due to their virtue of birth. Excessive of everything is harmful to the balance of the world and hence heavens try to restrict it.

Wang Xixi has no children of her due to her high cultivation. She has seen Zhen Ling from birth to his current age and held some maternal love for him. Now she was going to harm his only grandson so how can there be no guilt?

"Besides the roots of soul strands would need a few decades before they can grow up. So it's not like Zhen Han wouldn't be able to live his life on his own accord for the next decades."

Wang Xixi gave a chuckle filled with grief. She said these words to herself to lessen the guilt but she knew the words were laughable.

"I wonder if my lord husband is numb to the guilt? The presence inside blood cocoon can only lay out its foundation for revival in someone who has a blood connection with lord husband..."

The blood relationship doesn't have to originate from Skyrise Emperor. It can originate from his own children, from his blood brother and sister and their descendants who share a kinship with him.

"If only lord husband hasn't found that legacy left by the presence inside blood cocoon... if only he hasn't sacrificed his own blood brother...if only."

She gave a long sigh. She knew there are no "if only". One has to pay for their actions no matter how regrettable. She wanted to live and for that, she was ready to do anything even if she regretted it in future.

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Lin Li had no idea about the schemes plotted against her son. Her father-in-law has no chances of inheriting the throne and while he indeed rules over one of the states it wasn't something for which the imperial family would plot against her son. Zhen Ling was at Divine Manifestation realm so he has few more thousands year of vitality left.

The one to succeed his place as the ruler of state would be Zhen Lin's son. So plotting against Zhen Ling's grandson was a waste. Even if they killed his grandson who can say he wouldn't have a new grandson in the next few years. What Zhen Ling didn't lack is time.

So Lin Li wasn't worried about any plotting from the imperial family. She only wanted to get done with the genealogy and go back to her home.

She took Zhen Han to the Genealogy Department which was located on the south side of the imperial palace. The department was in a ten-floor pagoda.

Wang Xixi was waiting for their arrival at the foot of pagoda. She guided them inside the pagoda which has an archaic feel.

"Han'er, you don't have to be worried. The procedure for genealogy inspection is very easy. You would be sedated for an hour so there would be no pain," Wang Xixi tried to cheer up Zhen Han.

"I'm not afraid!" Zhen Han tried to put a brave front. His mother has told him the people in the department would take his blood and run some scans through a magical array so he felt somewhat scarred. He is a three-year-old kid so things such as blood made him uncomfortable.

"Haha, of course not. You have the blood of Skyrise Emperor in your veins so how can you be afraid," Wang Xixi playfully said. From her face, no one can notice any signs of the action she was about to take.

Soon they come in front of a giant hall which was heavily guarded against outside through a defensive array. The interior of the giant hall was made of blood crystals. According to Lin Li's knowledge, the blood crystals store the information about the genealogy of every royal member.

At the center of the hall, there was a white slab radiating a white light. Zhen Han was made to lie above the slab.

"Lin Li, I'm sure you know but you have to be outside the hall during the process. Only I'm allowed to be inside the hall as I'm responsible for the records," Wang Xixi reminded Lin Li.

"I'm extremely sorry, ma'am. I have heard it from my husband before but I forgot about it due to my carelessness."

The genealogy inspection was only done for the people of royal blood. Lin Li was from the Great Lin Clan which has no blood connection with the imperial Zhen Clan. Lin Li has come to capital many times but never to the blood inspection hall.

Lin Li kissed her son's forehead and left the hall. As soon as she left the hall a blood-red barrier covered the boundary of the hall. The barrier was far stronger than the barrier covering the entire first zone of the imperial city! From this one could judge how important the blood inspection hall was for the Skyrise Emperor.

Wang Xixi used her psychic abilities and made Zhen Han unconscious. She made a small cut on Zhen Han's wrist and followed by waving her hand. The drops of blood from his wrist scattered in every direction and were absorbed by the blood crystals. The blood crystals released a blinding glow upon the absorption of the blood which lasted for a flicker of a second.

If the blood crystals release a glow it means the blood absorbed by them have a true genealogy connection to the founding ancestors of the Blood Inspection Hall. If no glow then there is no connection to the bloodline. In both cases, the blood crystals record the genes structures of the person. Even though a person's gene structure changes with progress in cultivation the very source of it remains the same. The blood crystals record the very source and hence in future, the person can be identified even if he/she becomes a monster due to cultivation deviation.

The whole procedure of the genealogy inspection and records didn't even last five minutes. It has been the same way from the very inspection of the Blood Inspection Hall but yet the person whose genealogy was recorded would always be kept inside for an hour. The procedure was painless and carried no danger but yet the person was made to enter sleep for an hour.

Not every genius or royal born is given the special attention of blood-red cocoon. Hardly one or two people in a million would bring the attention of blood cocoon. While it is hard for higher level cultivators to breed the same didn't apply to the mortal born descendants or lower level cultivators. Their presence resulted in a large size of the population carrying the royal blood. Wang Xixi would be busy throughout the year for the blood inspection. The blood inspection was compulsory for everyone as long one carries even the royal bloodline no matter how diluted. The hall has the capacity to undergo multiple inspections at once but for "special occurrence" only single person is inspected.

The reason no matter, if the person is special" or ordinary, is kept for an hour is to make a smoke screen. The "special" treatment requires longer but the true procedure would not take even five minutes. If most people only took five minutes but others took long then there would be suspicion. Same applies if they are not made stupor. This was the foundation for an hour-long official inspection.

"Sighs. Now is the time to do my true job."

Wang Xixi took out a treasure jar from her storage ring and opened it. Inside it was placed two blood-red soul strands.

The soul strands hovered over Zhen Han's face, and then entered his glabella. The soul of a human being is located inside the glabella.

A living being comprises of three aspects: Energy, Essence, and Soul. The energy and essence are considered as mortal aspects of a living being. The soul is considered as the immortal aspect of a living being because even if the person dies he/she can revive through the cycle of reincarnation. The soul is the most important foundation of a living being. It is where the Will of a person is stored.

The two soul strands soon found the soul of Zhen Han, and they couldn't help but have a shocked reaction on their faces. The soul of Zhen Han was in a humanoid form and its appearance was same as that of the host body.

That wasn't what made them surprised. What shocked the two invading soul strands was that Zhen Han's soul was releasing a violet radiance. The violet radiance has a heaven-shaking aura which scared the two soul strands. They realized with a fright that they have lost their mobility!

Even though they were nothing but a negligible part of the soul of the person in blood cocoon they carried a power greater than Divine King. Yet now they were feeling scared. The two soul strands were independent consciousness of the blood cocoon but in the end, they are a part of it.

The soul strands have a feeling that they have seen the violet radiance before!

The soul strands start trembling in fear soon when they realized that they have lost connection to the main body! They couldn't feel the presence of the soul from which they originated!! The worst part for them was that their main body wouldn't notice anything amiss since they were independent consciousness and had planned to sever the link after invading Zhen Han's soul to protect Zhen Han's body from strain.

Originally they planned to invade Zhen Han's soul by implanting themselves as "seeds". After becoming "seeds" they would enter into a state of hibernation otherwise their presence would destroy the soul of Zhen Han as he is nothing but a mortal and hence can't handle their presence.

As Zhen Han would grow up the seeds would germinate inside the soul and slowly awaken from their hibernation. After a few decades, they would spread their roots inside the Zhen Han's soul and slowly take control of it after full awakening. This would become a natural takeover instead of a forced body possession.

As the original "seeds" originated from the presence inside the blood cocoon the source of Zhen Han would become the same as the blood cocoon. This process becomes far easier due to the bloodline connection. The blood cocoon then can absorb Zhen Han without any worry as Zhen Han and the blood cocoon has the same source.

There is no danger in absorbing a source which originated from oneself. It's dangerous for the blood cocoon to absorb a foreign source due to contamination. The source is the very origin of life so how can one absorb an origin carelessly?

But now the two soul strands had a premonition their plan was going to fail. Soon they realized why they felt the violet radiance released by Zhen Han's soul was familiar.

F%ck! Wasn't it the same violent radiance created by the heavenly phenomenon three years ago? Why is the soul of this mortal who hasn't even started cultivation releasing the violet radiance?

Three years ago everyone irrespective of gender or race has absorbed some violet radiance released by violet clouds in the sky. The violet radiance was a blessing which created miracles for everyone.

Even the presence inside the blood cocoon has absorbed the violet radiance three years ago. Even though the place it lived was restricted by the world's most formidable array formation they could do nothing to stop the violet radiance. The presence in blood cocoon was grateful that the array didn't stop the violet radiance as it was able to help a great lot.

The violet radiance saved it a lot of time and efforts in its recovery process. The presence inside the blood cocoon has ordered the Skyrise Emperor to found more of violet radiance but that worthless emperor failed.

But now a three-year-old kid was releasing the same radiance as if his soul was a factory manufacturing the violet radiance! The worst part was that the soul strands couldn't absorb the radiance at all. The radiance was absorbed by the fleshly body of Zhen Han! The soul strands were not able to move at all!

The presence inside the blood cocoon has lived for more than a million years, and by the virtue of it the same can be said for two soul strands as they shared memories. It soon understood most likely the child named Zhen Han is responsible for the heavenly phenomenon three years ago!

"Damn. We have to escape from here. The main body has to be informed of this heaven-defying treasure here. The main body would be able to recover in no time to its original glory!"

"No! It could far surpass its earlier achievements! It can have its revenge against the Demon Extermination."

"But how do we get out of this messy situation?"

Just as the soul strands were trying to think of ways they realized with a fright that the soul of Zhen Han was creating a devouring force. The soul strands were moving towards the soul of Zhen Han without their free will.

As they came near Zhen Han's soul they were once more shocked. They saw a violet bead inside the soul of Zhen Han. Earlier they saw no signs of bead but now they were able to see the violet bead with golden runes. They also noticed very faint cracks on the bead. The cracks were such that not even Divine King can notice them but they could as they were part of an entity who was once Dao Ancestor!

The soul strands screaming in fear after noticing that the devouring process was created by the cracks inside the bead!

They were more than sure of bead's intention! The bead wanted to absorb them for helping it meld the covers!

"Damn! We were supposed to absorb Zhen Han! How can it be opposite!"

How can a predator become prey?

"F@ck!! We can't let it happen. We would rather explode ourselves instead of absorbed by a bead! "

How can a Dao Ancestor be played by a bead! They had their own dignity!

Would rather die than submit!

The soul strands once more released a terrifying scream after realizing they weren't able to self-explode! They could do nothing but scream as the devouring force brought them to the cracks of beads!

Hang on!

"Why does it feels like as if the bead and we share the same source? This feeling can't be wrong! We have the same source!"

"Impossible! Unless...don't tell us the phenomenon three years ago was a trap?"

Their main body has absorbed violet radiance so in a way, they also have absorbed the radiance.

The heavenly phenomenon was not a blessing but a curse?!?

"It subtly modified our very source to match the bead!"

Was it done so that the bead can absorb everyone?!

Impossible! The entire Endless Continent has absorbed the violet radiance!

Everything for mending few cracks of a bead?!

Motherf#cking Heavens! How is this Zhen Han guy a prey? He is a predator from the birth!