Chapter 71: Section 72: Actually Absorbing the Bloodline?
His left foot was on the black volcanic rock, while Zhenjin’s right foot had already stepped onto the desert.
After half a day, they came once again to the boundary between the desert and molten lava landscape.
Looking ahead, the yellow-brown sand stretched to the horizon. The scorching sun was distorting in the distance, turning into a haze.
Zhenjin, Zi Di, and Cang Xu were all both hungry and thirsty.
There was no food, and everyone hailed hunger pangs.
The high temperature from the volcanic eruption made them sweat profusely.
...
This was very dangerous—sweating depleted the precious water in their bodies.
They had to replenish water ahead of time.
This consumed a lot of the already scarce water resources.
Everyone talked very little, maintaining silence.
Zhenjin paused at the boundary line, then, carrying Bai Ya, continued forward.
With a youth on his back, Zhenjin had the heaviest burden.
On the road, Cang Xu once suggested to Zhenjin: if he wasn’t used as food, then just abandon him.
Zhenjin refused without hesitation and warned Cang Xu to never speak of it again!
The young knight’s firm attitude rendered Cang Xu speechless.
Zi Di repeatedly offered to share the load carrying Bai Ya.
Cang Xu reluctantly made the same offer.
But Zhenjin refused both offers.
Zi Di was only a fifteen-year-old girl, and Cang Xu was an elderly man with white beard.
Their physical conditions were both very poor too.
If another one collapsed from fatigue, it would make things even more difficult.
“I once said that I will do my best to save everyone and will not abandon anyone. This is my promise and my responsibility,” Zhenjin told Zi Di and Cang Xu.
“My lord, your noble character makes the bright stars in the night sky dim in comparison!” Cang Xu sincerely exclaimed, “You are the epitome of a Holy Temple Knight.”
Zhenjin gave a wry smile and shook his head.
Only he fully understood his own thoughts.
He had wavered, even nearly fallen, having harbored the evil thought of using Bai Ya as food.
He felt ashamed and doubted himself.
Thus, saving Bai Ya at this moment felt more like a validation.
He wanted to prove to himself that he was a qualified Holy Temple Knight!
Zhenjin was actually in a very difficult situation at the moment.
He felt his knees and legs growing weak.
He had not eaten any food since last night and had narrowly survived a battle with the gun scorpion.
He was injured and had severely expended his physical ability.
Although he had mastered the Heart Core, the mutation did not fill his stomach.
His empty stomach was secreting acid, as if it could digest a piece of iron if one were put into it!
And his throat felt like it was filled with volcanic ash.
To distract himself, Zhenjin began to ponder over many troubling questions.
The first question—what exactly was the Demon Core in his heart absorbing?
Any life form, whether whole or a part from a lifeform, could be absorbed by the Heart Core.
Besides turning into special fresh red demon energy, the Heart Core also added more options for mutation.
“So, is the Heart Core actually absorbing Bloodlines?”
Even though Zhenjin had lost his memory, he knew the concept of Bloodline was not limited to blood.
A Bloodline was not just cultivation talent; it was an informational inheritance of a life form! Sёarch* The novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
For example, drinking dragon blood does not make one a dragon. The Dragon Bloodline includes dragon blood, dragon scales, dragon body, as well as dragon crystal, Dragonese, Dragon Clan magic, combat skills, and more.
“Now that I control the Heart Core, does that mean I can master
all the Bloodlines in the world?”
Zhenjin was thrilled by this thought.
He clearly understood what this meant!
Mastering the Heart Core would mean absorbing and transforming external Bloodlines, which would bring boundless power, authority, wealth, and resources.
If a life form had an outstanding Bloodline, its cultivation speed would be faster, and its efficiency greater. It would grow stronger more rapidly over a relatively shorter period.
Having great power naturally attracted followers. Even without followers, sheer personal might could overturn the old order.
Violence brought power, which made it easier to acquire resources.
With abundant resources, strong cultivators would become even stronger, whereas the weak would grow weaker.
Over time, the strong would become the upper ruling class, and the weak would become the lower class, ruled and exploited.
This was the history and current state of all races.
The cornerstone of human nobility governing society and standing unyielded was the Bloodline.
Bloodlines were extremely important.
The impact of Bloodlines spanned a lifetime!
Without enough Bloodline, one remained ordinary, much like the sacrificed members of exploration teams. For Cang Xu to become one of the noble housekeepers was already a great achievement. His case was very rare in human society.
Huang Zao and Lan Zao had Bloodlines, thus they managed to reach the Bronze Level with a common cultivation method of Fighting Energy. UnsupportedOperationException, they were at their peak, and not only was it difficult to improve, but their cultivation and life levels would also decrease with aging.
Zi Di was a Black Iron Level Mage. She herself admitted that she had tapped out her personal cultivation potential. Why? Because she lacked a noble Bloodline!
Zhenjin belonged to the Hundred Needle Family, which used to be a great southern nobility with a high-quality Bloodline. Its Bloodline source could be traced back to the Legendary Level gold needle bee queen. Thus, members of the Hundred Needle Family could theoretically cultivate to the Legendary Level.
Throughout history, powerful individuals from the Hundred Needle Family emerged endlessly at the Silver Level, Gold Level, and even the Holy Domain Level!
However, no one had reached the Legendary Level yet.
The Legendary Level is the theoretical limit for the Hundred Needle Bloodline.
Yet, in this world, there were many Bloodlines superior to the Hundred Needle Bloodline.
The Holy Temple Bloodline represented by the Holy Emperor, the Quest for Knowledge Bloodline of Duke Quanfa, the Chimera Bloodline of Duchess Aimei, the Pleasure Bloodline of Duke Hengle, the Dark Demon Bloodline of the Dim Glow Family, and others.
The upper limits of these bloodlines generally exceeded the Legendary Level, and their cultivation efficiency was also higher than the Hundred Needle Bloodline, with much more fruitful results. The advantage of the Hundred Needle Bloodline lay in its precision, whereas these bloodlines brought broader and more comprehensive benefits.
“If I were to master the Holy Temple Bloodline, wouldn’t that provide me with the chance to become the second Holy Emperor?”
“No, theoretically, why should I only master a mere Holy Temple Bloodline? The Quest for Knowledge Bloodline, Chimera Bloodline, and others, I could possess them all. Because I have this Demon Crystal in my heart!”
“Provided, provided I kill enough targets, I could seize their bloodlines from their bodies…”
Upon this thought, Zhenjin’s heart violently trembled.
A chill spread in an instant throughout his body, leaving him tremendously horrified.
“What’s happening to me?!”
“I can’t believe I’m considering sacrificing others, targeting high-ranking nobles and even members of Holy Temple families!”
“A slight misstep could plunge the entire Hundred Needle Family into irretrievable doom.”
“No, I shouldn’t be entertaining such thoughts.”
“This is criminal! To satisfy my own greed by sacrificing the innocent. It’s too brutal! It’s too evil!”
“I am Zhenjin.”
“I am a Holy Temple Knight.”
“I won’t do such things.”
“I swear, I will never attack the innocent. I will not tread the path of evil and corruption for my own selfish desires!”
Zhenjin silently admonished himself.
At the same time, he grew intensely wary of the Heart Core.
“It’s too astounding, too mysterious.”
“It helped me find a way to survive from the brink of death, yet it constantly tempts me toward the path of evil and brutality.”
“However, in reality, it may not be capable of absorbing that many bloodlines. It’s all my speculation. It can absorb bloodlines from Silver Level beings, but I’ve never tried it with Gold Level beings, let alone Holy Domain Level, or Legendary Level; what if it can’t absorb them?”
“And…”
“Does using the Demon Core to absorb and transform other bloodlines carry any risks?”
“Does each mutation leave any side effects?”
“Could it be that there are no apparent side effects, but deep-seated issues hidden beneath that I’m unable to detect?”
“Could these latent issues accumulate and become severe enough to cause me to explode suddenly?”
“Or turn me completely into a Magic Beast, never to regain human form?”
A shadow passed through Zhenjin’s eyes.
The sudden appearance of such an unusual, overly powerful foreign object in the body made anyone with a bit of rationality cautious and suspicious.
One would try to understand it, strive to control it entirely while avoiding potential dangers.
However, right now, Zhenjin had only figured out some uses for the Heart Core, but he knew nothing of this object’s true nature.
“Why can the Demon Crystal in my heart be activated?”
Zhenjin always remembered that this island was specifically made as a Magic Ban environment where low-level Combat Skill and magic couldn’t be used.
“Even my repeated prayers were blocked.”
“Why could the Heart Core be activated?”
“The demon energy inside the Heart Core is mysterious and extraordinary, belonging neither to Combat Skill nor Magic, nor Divine Arts.”
“Could it be that it bypassed the Magic Ban’s mechanism? That’s why it wasn’t affected?”
“Or is it because the purpose of the Island Master was to create such a Demon Crystal, so the entire surrounding environment was deliberately crafted to greatly favor the Demon Crystal?”
Zhenjin’s thoughts soared, leading to more and more ideas.
But all this was a mystery.
He had no answers.
“Up to now, what I know is that with each use of the Heart Core, my control over this Demon Crystal also rapidly deepened.”
The first time was against a Silver Level Blade Spider, Zhenjin experienced a mutation for the first time.
The second time was when he faced the attack of the Plasma Flying Squirrel, Zhenjin felt the Demon Crystal in his heart for the first time.
The third time, it just happened this morning. Zhenjin initially controlled the Demon Crystal and annihilated the Gun Scorpion Leader.
“Will my grasp over the Heart Core deepen in the future?”
“The most crucial issue is still the old question.”
“Where did this thing come from?!”
After long contemplation, Zhenjin thought the most likely answer still related to the Island Master.
According to the discussions and speculations of Cang Xu and Zi Di: the Island Master was a powerhouse who reconstructed the entire island, created numerous monsters, and attempted to stabilize the chaotic Magic Power within the monsters to achieve balance.
The magic power in the goat was a semi-finished product, demonstrating the Island Master’s efforts.
And the Magic Ban environment, Teleportation Array, stimulating endless battles among monsters, the true goal was to push living beings to breakthroughs and leaps through the stimulus of life and death, generating Demon Crystals.
“So, this Demon Crystal most likely formed accidentally inside me after battling the bear, following treatment with Zi Di’s potions.”
“Thinking back, I was heavily afflicted with Fire Poison. This Demon Crystal is the product of my fierce battle with the Fire Poison Bee Swarm and the Monkey-tailed Brown Bear.”
“Does the Island Master encourage the monsters to battle each other, planning to harness life-and-death struggles to stimulate the generation of Crystal Cores?”
“Perhaps he/she/it wasn’t successful before due to the missing critical factor—human?”
“And I just happened to make up for this defect?”