The Ancestral Shadow

[The moment you had enough blood to sustain yourself, the Tranquil Poison receded and that was all I managed to theorize from the entire situation.] Sensei revealed as Ji Min went deep in thought.

[You said the Tranquil Poison receded; where is it now?] Ji Min asked;

[It is currently lying dormant within your heart.]

[What? Am I going to die?!] Ji Min asked in a panic.

[I don't think so, young lord; as a matter of fact, I think you have just gained an additional life.]

[What do you mean?]

[It seems the Tranquil Poison comes alive by itself whenever it senses you are about to die. At least dying through blood loss has been confirmed; it only needed a little Qi to restart your heart which had stopped beating back then.] Sensei voiced his take on the situation.

[So, I died?]

[You could say so.]

[Did I succeed?] Ji Min asked about the most important matter.

[Based on the strength you displayed back then, I would say you did, but we can never be sure until you have tried it out yourself.]

Sensei then told Ji Min how to activate his Lord Stage cultivation since Ji Min already knew what being a Lord Stage cultivator entailed through the legacy he had received from him.

Ji Min then opened his eyes and swam over to the gazebo where Old Lao and the twins were waiting for him.

"Are you hungry?" Old Lao asked pointing towards the insane amount of buffet they had laid down within the gazebo.

"Master Lao, aren't you-"

"We can talk about all of that later, but first you should recover your energy." Old Lao interrupted.

"Right; about the energy, I want to check if my strength has increased first." Ji Min said as Old Lao nodded and took him towards the shore-like training area.

Ji Min then sat cross-legged and shut his eyes before trying to summon the power of his body cultivation.

Boom!

A mini explosion rocked the training area, sending heaps of sand flying all over the place, and then just as the explosion ended, a powerful aura suddenly began to seep out of his body, growing in strength with each passing second.

[You need to relax and simply let it all out.] Sensei advised when he noticed Ji Min was forcefully suppressing the aura from bursting out of him.

Ji Min then heeded the advice and simply relaxed his body and let everything loose.

Boom!

This time, the entire lake trembled and roiled as the powerful aura shot into the heavens like volcanic ash before crashing on the trio watching him like a tsunami, causing them to tremble and break out in cold sweats.

After releasing the aura completely, it then permeated into the area and weighed down on everything and everyone around the lake; it almost felt like the gravity around the lake had quadrupled forcing everything in the area to bow or kneel towards its source.

Furthermore, this pressure seemed to possess a unique corrosive attribute that seeped past the body of Old Lao and the twins, entering their bodies and slowing down every function in their bodies.

But just as they thought it was over, a giant illusory shadow floated out of Ji Min's body; just like a genie popping out of its lamp.

The shadow's features were barely visible and the onlookers couldn't tell what it looked like, aside from the fact that it was muscular, masculine, and inhuman.

"Summoning an Ancestral Shadow with the presence of a bloodline aura; Lord Stage cultivation of the Bloodline Realm has been confirmed." Old Lao muttered softly as they were all forced to their knees by the sheer pressure coming off the illusory shadow.

The pressure coming off the shadow not only affected all the nine facets of their physical bodies but their minds as well, and it was still increasing in weight.

Then just as the shadow completely emerged, all the effects of its corrosive aura suddenly came alive; suffocation, poisoning, organ failures, and every other effect of the Tranquil Poison; it all came alive.

The twins felt their endurance instantly shatter into pieces, as they collapsed and fell into a deep sleep; losing consciousness.

[Young lord, I think that's enough; reign in your aura, otherwise you might kill these people!]

Ji Min didn't know what was going on outside the cauldron, but the moment he heard Sensei's warning and the tone with which he spoke, he knew he was causing Old Lao and the twins harm, thus he hurriedly asked.

[How do I do that?]

[The Ancestral Shadow responds to its summoner's thoughts, so just try to absorb it like you normally when absorbing Qi.]

Sensei guided Ji Min as he hurriedly did as he was told, and just as Sensei had claimed, the illusory shadow began to squeeze back into his body, taking its suffocating, corrosive and domineering aura with it; just like a genie.

Cough! Cough!

Old Lao gave several back to back coughs before whipping out a pill bottle out of thin air; pooping a pill into his mouth, before feeding two more to the twins.

A few seconds later, the twins recovered as Ji Min finally rushed over and gave a bow of apology to them.

"I'm sorry, Mater Lao, Little Ming, Little Qing; I just broke through and have yet to gain any control over my strength."

"If there's anything you need me to do to repay my insolence, I will gladly do them." He said as Old Lao simply walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about that for now; let's just eat and get a rest first, we can talk about anything else tomorrow." Old Lao then threw a white robe towards Ji Min.

Ji Min caught the robe with a swipe of his hands and checked it out; the robe had the images of several black dragons in different poses embroidered onto it, and it looked very expensive.

Ji Min wore the robe before heading towards the gazebo where they all ate in silence before retreating to their respective rooms for the rest of the day.

The next day, Old Lao and Ji Min met at the gazebo, and Ji Min, as per Sensei's suggestion spent an hour revealing everything that happened to him the night before whilst leaving some important bits out of it.