Bloodline

Yan Yuan jumped from building to building and reached the alleyway, nobody noticed her going over their heads above. She jumped down and walked towards the barrel.

The barrel had a lid, so she could not see what's inside.

'What is he doing?' Yan Yuan was confused.

She waited a bit more, she even let her prescence known. But Li Pingjun still did not come out.

In the end she knocked the barrel a few times as a courtesy, but there was still no answer.

"E.... Excuse me" Yan Yuan said to the barrel, her face had a tinge of redness. If anybody saw her doing this, she would kill herself from embarrassment.

'Open' the sword on her back said

"Fine"

With no other choice left, Yan Yuan opened the barrel, immediately after she was baffled by what she saw.

"He's.... sleeping?"

Inside the barrel, Li Pingjun sat with his eyes closed. A sword was beside him in the cramped box, the woman looked at the unusual scene in front of her. But before Yan Yuan was able to say anything, she heard a voice.

'What an..... embarrassment'

Yan Yuan looked in shock toward the sword beside Li Pingjun, The voice she heard came from that sword not from hers. Not to mention the sword spoke very clearly, unlike her sword.

"An advanced sword spirit!" Yan Yuan said with excitement.

'humph' a cold snort came from the sword on her back.

"uhhh" she looked at her sword awkwardly.

For a sword to be able to speak that clearly, means that the person had cultivated the sword to the extreme. The sword and the user would make an unbreakable bond, knowing each other's intention without any need for words and greatly increasing battle prowess.

The sword would not let anybody else use it, at this stage the sword had it's own will, it will be near impossible for a normal person to use the sword as they intended. for the (person who doesn't know word) they would just steal the sword and not be able to use it, but then again, Xiao Jian looked like a normal sword and it's not everyday that you see someone with the sword communication ability.

Yan Yuan looked at his sword with fervor, one day, she hoped that she could cultivate her sword to that stage.

Yan Yuan looked at Li Pingjun's face, he looked so young but he is able to cultivate the sword to such an extent. Yan Yuan Was confused on how he is able to do that.

'His cultivation is nothing special too' Yan Yuan thought.

Cultivation talent indeed does not come hand in hand with sword talent. It would be a waste for a sword genius like him, to die early without his talents being able to bloom fully because of his cultivation base.

With that, Yan Yuan formulated a plan inside her head. She looked at Li Pingjun's sword.

'May i ask what your master is doing?' she asked Xiao Jian.

'He's... dead' Xiao Jian said with a flat tone.

Yan Yuan had a (dumbfounded other words) expression, She didn't know what to say to that. She could tell that Li Pingjun is not dead yet his sword said so.

'Could you elaborate?' Yan Yuan thought she didn't get the meaning correctly.

'Dead,... gone to the... afterlife'

It seems she got the sword's meaning correctly.

As Yan Yuan was scrambling her head on what to say, Li Pingjun's eye's started to flutter open.

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In an inconspicuous alleyway, an awkward exchange is currently occurring. A woman looked down inside a barrel, where a man sat hugging his legs looking up toward her.

"Were you sleeping?" the woman asked

"....."

The man was silent, he had a plain look with a sword on his side. Indeed, it was Li Pingjun. The moment he woke up from his sleep he saw a woman looking at him, and it was even the woman he was trying to avoid. She had a weird look on her face.

Li Pingjun was silent, he quietly got out of the barrel. The woman also silently looked at him slowly getting out of the barrel.

Li Pingjun coughed loudly, as if to reduce the awkwardness in the atmosphere.

"I was merely training" he said with a serious face.

"What kind of training were you doing?"

"I have the right to remain silent" Li Pingjun said with an expressionless face.

The woman was dumbfounded, geniuses are truly different, she thought. Although she was one herself, this man is on another level. She shook her head, getting rid her of stray thoughts.

"Could you tell me the reason you're in this city?" Yan Yuan asked Li Pingjun with a calm voice, as if nothing happened.

"of course, I'm here for the competitions" Li Pingjun felt suspicious, but decided to tell her anyway.

"Are you only there to watch?"

"Yeah"

After Li Pingjun said that, a smile bloomed on her face. Li Pingjun was taken aback for a moment from her smile, it's as if she's glad that he's only here to watch.

"Then I will be awaiting your presence at the competition venue" Yan Yuan said.

"Ah, that's right, could I have your name?" as if she remembered something, she continued.

Li Pingjun was wary of her intentions, he could tell that she had an ulterior motive. But he thought that giving her his name shouldn't cause any trouble, not to mention he didn't feel any bad intentions from her.

"It's Li Pingjun, nice to meet you"

"Like wise, my name is Yan Yuan" the woman also gave her name to him. though, Li Pingjun already knew that from his ability.

Another awkward silence continued, for some reason she keeps looking at Xiao Jian.

'why is she silent?' Li Pingjun didn't know what to do, he looked at Xiao Jian but didn't notice anything weird.

"Well then, since there's nothing more, I have something to do, see you later" Li Pingjun said and walked away.

A weird expression emerged on her face after he said that, she looked at him weirdly and said.

"um, are you not gonna answer your sword?"

"yes?" Li Pingjun was confused for a moment, but immediately after, he realized what she meant.

'Sh*t!, I forgot she could talk to swords!, Xiao Jian must be saying something!' Li Pingjun promptly turned on the sword communication ability.

'You &%*%... stop.. ignoring me!' an unpleasant voice sounded inside his mind.

'wh.. what did you say again?'

'I'm.. Not telling!'

'Geez, why do you have to be so mad? I just didn't hear you that's all' Li Pingjun said in his mind.

As soon as he said that, Xiao Jian buzzed crazily, as if in extreme anger. Xiao Jian was speaking directly to his mind, so how could he not hear it?.

"Um, could you tell me what Xiao Jian said?"

Yan Yuan didn't know what to say at first, but then she laughed.

"you two are certainly close, as for what your sword said.... I think it's better for you to ask it yourself. well then, let's meet again at the competition" She said with a smile.

Before Li Pingjun was able to say anything, Yan Yuan disappeared from his view as if teleporting. He was dumbfounded, she was so fast that he could not even see her afterimage. He looked at Xiao Jian again.

'hey, what did you say before?' he asked again, but Xiao Jian didn't respond.

In the end, no matter how much Li Pingjun asked, he was not able to get an answer, so he left for the forest outside the city. On the way, he looked at Han Fen's information. She didn't have any hidden ability or bloodline, yet she is estimated to reach wood consolidations. Li Pingjun thought that it must be because she had a terrifying physique.

An hour later, Li Pingjun arrived at the forest near the city. He was far away enough that, even if there is a commotion here, nobody would notice. He also purposefully chose a secluded part of the forest far from the roads. The reason for this, is because of the new feature of his ability, Bloodline Simulation!.

"Holy beast white tiger bloodline sounds terrifying, I don't know what would happen if I use this ability at the inn." Li Pingun said to himself.

Li Pingjun had only identified one bloodline, and he got it from Zhan Hua. Li Pingjun made sure that there is nothing around him, man or beast. He readied himself to use the ability, he put Xiao Jian on a tree.

Li Pingjun exhaled and calmed his mind, he made a contingency plan on the way here for every situation he could think of. After that he activated the ability, a terrifying aura emerged from his body immediately after. He felt extreme power welling up inside him, it gave him the same feeling as when he used the white tiger physique transformation but ten times over. He felt like he could take on a hundred of himself from before.

Before Li Pingjun was able to bask in the feeling of power, he felt excruciating pain even worse than before after eating the pill from the old man. His blood was boiling, the blood vessels in his body burst open as if it wasn't strong enough to contain the bloodline power.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH" Li Pingjun screamed at the top of his lungs.

Xiao Jian buzzed but he did not have the capacity to respond, he would've passed out if he hadn't experience the pain from his meridians being severed.

Li Pingjun felt extreme pain from every inch of his body, he kneeled and clutched his face with both hands. He felt a burning sensation from his eyes, his eyes were wide open and red since the blood vessels in it burst open, from between his fingers you could see his eyes.

If another person were to see him, they would feel like they're looking straight at a beast. Li Pingjun's pupils had turned into a tiger's, and it also glowed bright gold. His mind and body was changing right before his very eyes, his tendons, muscles and instincts are turning into that of a beast's. Fully developed for combat.

Without him realizing it, behind him a blurry projection of a white tiger was forming. As time passed the projection became more and more solid, as soon as it fully formed the changes within Li Pingjun's body stopped. He felt something welling up inside of him, he could not help but roar at the sky, the projection behind him followed suit and roared to the sky. The roar of a tiger reverberated throughout the surrounding area, it even reached the city.

After doing that Li Pingjun felt great, but before inspecting the changes that happened to his body, he decided to run away for now. He definitely attracted unwanted attention, He kicked the ground, it cracked like a spider web and he disappeared in a flash into the forest.

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Inside a makeshift cave abode inside Mount Gaoda, a woman sat crossed legged on a rock bed with an incense stick on a rock table not far from her. The cave was illuminated dimly by a luminous stone, a smell of sandalwood permeated the cave.

The woman was meditating peacefully when suddenly she heard a faint roar of a tiger from outside the cave, she was surprised and abruptly opened her eyes, her eyes looked like a tiger's and shone bright gold within the dim cave.

"what is... happening" The woman said in a small voice.

After hearing that roar, it felt like her blood had responded to it.