Not far from where they had been earlier, they stumbled upon a Dusty cave.
Gu Linju waved her free hand and a small wind blew the dust away, making him feel grateful, but he then thought about it...maybe she knows her father's behaviors.
As soon as they settled down, it began to rain. Gu Lin fang stared at the rain for second as a strange feeling of sadness enveloped him.
'Ah...It would have been a wonderful view from the penthouse but here I am in a cave ah' he thought while beating his chest.
"Does it hurt?" Gu Lin ju suddenly asks, but Gu fang remained in a daze.
"Does father hate me now? It's... it's all that Gu Tai long's fault! I warned him to stop but he still arrogantly killed that worm, Gu Mei jie...All this is because of that trash!, It really had nothing to do with me" She continued.
Her words brought Gu Lin Fang's thought back to himself.
'Right' A typical web novel setting, the trash mc fell in love with a Gu family trash but had been taken to the Wu dang sect, as the disciple of an Elder who noticed his special physique.
He went there and became the Elder's first personal disciple, automatically taking him to the inner court.
His cultivation soared till he became an Auroras core elite, unsurprisingly he was chosen for some kind of mission and chose to come visit his old sweetheart on passing.
Only for the Gu clan's young master, my 'precious' daughter and their crew to kill the said sweet heart, Gu Mei jie, on the very same day.
You can literally guess the rest of the story.
For some reason, Gu Lin fang found the whole situation silly as he looked at Gu Linju. Gu Lin Fang can bet his money that the so called Gu Mei Jie has a special physique and is probably still alive.
'Should I just end her, she's pretty useless to...' He weighed the idea as he noticed she was only at the 9th level of qi gathering realm, half a step from the foundation building stage.
'Well I have always wanted to have a kid though, the idea seems interesting...this is good, I even skipped the troublesome part...then, isn't no longer interesting? So confusing'.
[Ding!]
[As the strongest surviving Elder of the Gu clan, You have automatically been awarded with the position of Patriarch.]
[When fighting in the Gu family territory, your cultivation level is increased by two]
[This is dependent on the faction's Notoriety and rating.]
[Gu clan needs at least one other member besides the patriarch to function.]
'interesting...'
'Looks like the other clan members are still being hunted down, well without knowing the condition of the others, I can't kill her yet...guess I'll have experience what being a father feels like' Gu Lin fang's expression remained unchanged as all this went on.
'What do kids eat?'
Gu Lin ju was in tears as he continued to watch her, so he decided to say something.
'lets test if my acting skills had become rusty'.
"I don't hate you Ju'er, father just hates himself for being weak!" He gritted his teeth at the end before looking at the girl in front him, "Ju er, no matter what...you have to be strong!, We have to be strong to avenge mother someday!".
Indeed, his wife had died during the attack from Wu Dang, she had been one of the elders, a strong one at that due to her quality of techniques!, 'good riddance...I won't be patriarch now...wait, I'd still be patriarch, I'm at the Nascent soul realm now'.
[Your affinity with Gu Linju has increased by 5 points]
[Gu Linju : 90(Respected.)]
"Yes, I will do anything...as long as father teaches" Gu Lin ju says solemnly.
'Young woman, don't say things that will cause misunderstandings...' Gu fang thought with a frown.
'Just 90 points from my own daughter, looks like increasing affinity and trust would be very hard'
While thinking this he said in a tired tone, "Just rest for now".
He had better things to do at the moment. Gu ju didn't say anything else as she quickly rushed to sit next to him, hugging his arms with satisfied smile.
Gu fang ignored the little girl and began to look through the pills to clear his system from the poison.
His luck was good as he soon found one.
Blood cleansing dew!
Without hesitation, he took the pill and felt his body's strength recover gradually, giving him a comfortable feeling.
Once that was done, he brought his sights to the Bloodline elixir.
[Bloodline elixir: washes the user's bloodline while randomly replacing it.
Can only be taken once!.]
'This... doesn't that mean, if I am unlucky, I will be getting a weaker bloodline instead? And it can't be redone with this item!...are there other ways to change bloodline?'
Gu Linfang couldn't help getting self cautious about it but then again, 'At this point, there's no use chickening over the unknown' He gulped the elixir before he could change his mind.
[Used the Bloodline elixir]
[As Patriarch, you have the option of changing the newly acquired bloodline to the clans bloodline and deciding on who can receive it.]
[Washing...]
[Initiating random selection]
[Snow Vein Demon snake bloodline (Purple) acquired]
Before Gu fang could burst out laughing with joy, he was struck by something unknown.
He suddenly felt a sharp pain on his spine, his head started throbbing like it was about to explode, tightly grasping his head, his actions woke the sleeping girl as he soon began to squirm around the rocky ground.
Something crawled beneath his skin as Gu Lin ju's screams were drowned out by his own, bleeding from his pores, a blood mist burst out from his body and circled across the air before forcing it's way into his body again.
His legs began twitching around and kicking to the sides, unfortunately this action proved to be too much for his body as bones began to crack.
Screaming in pain, He could feel a billion ants biting across his skin at the same time.
God knows how long it went on for but for Gu fang, it felt like eternity.
Soon, he couldn't even scream but his shaking stopped with his face planted on the ground.
Some physical changes appeared at this time, his originally messy silver gray hair due to his age began to change, they turned black and seemed to become straight, slight thin scales appeared on some parts of his back, left shoulder and chest, covering his heart on both sides, his hands became slender with pitch black nails.
Without looking at his face and some other factors, you'd think it was a young man or something.
His skin became slightly pale, shocking Gu ju beyond words.
"Father... father...you!"
"Hmm?" Gu Lin Fang opened his eyes with slight difficulty and his pupils glowed blood red like that of a snake before returning to it's pitch black color.
He struggled to sit up, as he looked at his status window.
Name: Gu Lin Fang
Affiliation: Gu Clan(on the verge of a collapse).
Bloodline: Snow Vein Demon snake(Purple)
NPC qualification: Blue rank Elite.
Occupation: Poison maker lv 5(Primary), Alchemist lv 2(Subsidiary).
Standing: Gu clan Patriarch
Cultivation Base Qi: Nascent soul Early stage.
Cultivation Base Body: Auroras Core realm
Cultivation manual: Wailing Ghost Qi gathering method Lv10
Martial arts Techniques : Poison Ghost Palm Lv 3, Nether Poison needle Lv 2, Banshee's footprint lv 0, Silent goose steps Lv 0
Dao: None
[Traits]
[Personality]
'The bloodline changed and the NPC qualification as well, just not as high as I thought'.
'It seems that there are other factors involved.' he thought while turning towards the little girl.
"I'm alright, if anything, this is good thing" Gu Lin fang assured her calmly while wondering how he could see what he looked like now. He rubbed his fingers across the now black hair and noticed his black nails...
Some information came to his head, 'this is from my blood?'.
Soon he could control the length of his nails, though it couldn't grow by much, it could release a kind of numbing poison. On the other hand, he could also feel the abnormal flexibility he now had.
'I must really look younger now' he thought scornfully, 'my role play ah!... just how young though!Hiss'. He couldn't help draw cold breath when he noticed how thick his skin was.
His eyes flash slyly as he looked at his daughter, "I have just unlocked our Gu clan's ancestral bloodline! This is nothing short of Good luck out of misfortune!"
Her eyes glowed with happiness as she stared blankly in awe, not doubting her father at all,"Father is amazing! Our ancestors have not abandoned us!".
'yes, the system is our great ancestor!' he rolled his eyes inwardly as he continued his lies "and I think I have a way to unlock it for our clansmen, just that it painful... you saw it too"
"Yes..." Gu ju hesitated but seemed to think of something before saying with a determined look, "father, for mother's and the others sake... I'll do it".
Gu fang was amused, 'She wants to change... that means she's trainable'.
He wore a serious expression as well and nodded.
His eyes would glow red from time to time as he didn't know how to control it that well yet, before extending his nail for his index finger and decided to pull blood from himself and have her lick a drop.
As she waited, He opened the system UI.
[Do you wish to make your bloodline, the Gu clan's primary bloodline?]
'Primary? Does that mean, there can be more?'
"Yes!" He responded inwardly to the system's question and the necessary changes appeared, he then proceeded to request for the ability to share the new Gu bloodline
[Opening the Gu clan tree]
A wide blue transparent window appeared before him, with several little passports of different Gu clansmen including servants and guards. Most of it was covered with a blood red X, leaving about thirty one from the direct line, he didn't bother with servants yet... unfortunately, it was a small clan and didn't have any side branch.
While he was looking, one of the 31 changed to an X as well, obviously dead.
'Looks like the hunt is still on, this can't be the Wu dang sect disciples anymore, someone has interfered... perhaps old clan enemies or slaves maybe? We can't stay here for long, hopefully this changes her looks as well' putting this at the back of his mind, he found Gu Linju's picture, it was connected to his with a thick silver tree like branch.
He selected it quickly and several options appeared, such as, confirm clan loyalty, status, share etc.
He selected share and another list appeared, share Bloodline, techniques etc.
Doing the needful, he chose to confirm.
Immediately, Gu Linju began to spasm as Gu Linfang watched curiously, her eyes rolled back into her head and all he could see was the whites of her eyes!. two minutes later, the blood mist shot out and returned, literally refining her without mercy.
krack! the sound of bones breaking came, Gu Lin fang squatted next to her as he watched closely before nodding. At some point, she fainted...He knew that this bloodline thing can be giving in batches but he still chose to give a full 100% to satisfy his curiosity.
"It looks awful...I probably didn't faint due to my traits and personality" He finally let out before picking her up and setting her up in a corner of the cave.
The effects were still on as her skin was covered in patches of blood and something seems to be moving under her skin.
'I need to confirm the surrounding quickly before leaving once again' He frowned upon noticing how messy his clothes was but calmly pulled it off and changed to one of the blue grade Gong fu robe he received from the system.
It was black and had no designs, despite that, it felt comfortable to wear while looking expensive, all of which satisfied his vanity, the very idea of wearing something cheap irked him, then he pulled off the bandages from before and placed them in his spatial ring as he wondered why he put them there in the first place, "Distasteful!" He sneered.
"400 medium grade spirit stones, that's 40000 low grade spirit stones and the 15 supreme grade spirit stones from the system...added with the 1000 low grade ones in this persons spatial ring before I took over... that's around 4-6 years of the Gu clan's income if I'm not wrong."He continued to rummage through the inventory before choosing to give up, he wore the spatial ring on his finger and decided to think about why he was still a Blue rank NPC.
Stroking his now short black beard, He thought coolly, 'I could only learn 4 techniques, 1 cultivation manual for gathering qi and meditation'.
'Now it's 6 techniques and 1 manual...that's all I can equip? since that's the case...can I unuse the old ones? what happens then...do I really want to try?' While in deep thought, Gu Linju once again began to twitch.
Gu Lin fang looked at made a conjecture, ' she won't be able to exert any strength now...Tch...what a...hmm? what's her grade now?'
He could only sense her cultivation level, so he had to go to the clan tree to see, "BLUE?!! This won't do".
At the same time, he took note of someone else in the clan tree that was glowing gold color despite being a purple NPC, Gu Mei Jie.
The silly thing was alive and seems to have met a fortuitous encounter or something. Curious, he noticed a tag below her name, 'Glistering Snow Palace'.
"I knew it!" He deadpanned, surprisingly, His wife's elder brother was alive along with two guest elders that was still loyal to the clan. Now that he thought about it, a few guest elders joined hands and escaped with the clan treasures including some Gu insects.
He stepped out of the cave with those thoughts and tried to find anything to hide the entrance. at some point the rain had stopped, so the dust had died down.
"I'm guessing this rain is but a rare occurrence around here in the whole Northern desert!" He mumbles as thought about flying or running towards Iron Crow City.
It was already night fall and he found out that he had night vision, though not entirely clear like day time.
'it really doesn't feel like I'm just coming to this world, very strange, it's like I've been here since forever' a random thought came to mind when he was done, but He quickly brought out all the skill books he had on him.
"Blood Demon Tao(purple), Banshee Footprint (Green), Crooked war finger(Orange), Silent goose steps (White), Fang of the Ghost Wolf(Blue), Sixteen Queen kite steps (Green) ,Bloodthirsty Bull's Finger(Green) etc...looks like my guess was correct, this is not a skill book but a kind of life skill under alchemy, luckily I'm a rank two alchemist already, I can learn it. "
[Balki zombie refining method (Blue)]
'So nice! Seven techniques in total,one manual and a life skill technique...hmm? orange skill book, legendary! only below Mythical rank(Red)' Wide eyed in surprise, he looked at his hands and made a decision.
He thought sinisterly while flexing his claws repeatedly, "perfect, I'll main in palm techniques because of you and maybe 1 weapon technique to throw enemies off...hehehe".
Gu Linfang adjusted his sitting position and decided to select his six skills from here, "Haa?!, there are skills that are for females only?!" his expression soured as he quickly checked the orange skill book before sighing in relief.
"For the first time in my whole lifetimes, I'm thanking God or whatever is up there."
With that out of the way, he quickly selected, Banshee Footprint (Green), Crooked war finger(Orange), Balki's zombie refining method (Blue), Fang of the Ghost(Blue),Bloodthirsty Bull's Finger(Green), Leaving one empty slot for now.