Demon Immortal
chapter-170

"I have a bloodline…"

Duncan didn't know how exactly he should react to this revelation. To anyone else, knowing that they have a bloodline would be cause for joy. After all, in the cultivation world, having a bloodline meant that they were a special existence.

Bloodlines, spirit bodies, constitution, and other innate talents could be considered as special existences in the cultivation world. Among 10000 cultivators, one would possess such things. It can easily be seen how rare this is.

After all, for every 100000 humans present, one would become a cultivator. And being 1 in 10000 even among cultivators can be considered pretty rare. That's the reason every cultivation sect or family would be glad to welcome these special existences into their fold.

Moreover, even among these special existences, there would be several grades based on how powerful their individual abilities are. Duncan didn't know the grade of his bloodline yet, but having a bloodline alone should have brought him joy.

Unfortunately, it wasn't joy that Duncan received at this moment. To be precise, confusion was the thing that occupied Duncan at this moment. Unlike other special talents, a bloodline is somewhat different when it comes to how it emerges.

Any cultivator may be born with an innate constitution, spirit body, or talent. That is entirely up to luck. On the other hand, a bloodline is something that is passed down through blood relations.

In order for someone to obtain a bloodline, there are several prerequisites that must be met. First and foremost is that they must be a descendant of a powerful cultivator. The more powerful the ancestor is, the more concentrated the bloodline would be.

Even then, things aren't that simple. Having a bloodline meant having some innate powers in their blood. But, if one doesn't activate these powers they would lay dormant and eventually fade away.

The conditions to activate a bloodline aren't uniform either. Every bloodline will have its own conditions to activate its bloodline ability. These may range from being benevolent to incredibly harsh. And the most important factor is that these conditions are only known to the family and will never be leaked out.

If one doesn't activate their bloodline power within a certain period of time, these powers would lay dormant for the rest of their life. They may be passed down on to future generations or be completely absent as time goes by. Sometimes, they will skip generations before reappearing. This is ultimately decided by luck or what is simply called providence.

However, there was one thing certain about having a bloodline. Any family that has a bloodline would be a powerful one.

Hence, for Duncan, having a bloodline meant he must have an ancestor who was incredibly powerful at some point in time. His bloodline must have originated from that particular ancestor.

But, Duncan was an orphan. He didn't even know much about his parents, where could he go and find this elusive ancestor? Moreover, if there was indeed an ancestor, why was he left to toil in the spirit mines in his early days?

Even if his family couldn't provide him with cultivation resources, couldn't they have at least made sure he led a normal life? Moreover, was his family even alive to this day?

Families becoming exterminated is a very common thing in the cultivation world. Once his powerful ancestor died, it is very likely that his family might have faced a calamity. There were countless stories like this.

So, Duncan didn't mind that much. But, the fact that he had a likelihood of having a powerful family made Duncan reel. There were a lot of conflicting emotions present inside him at this moment.

Duncan knew that only by researching the origin would he have answers to these questions. But, Duncan didn't want to know about these things. He was content being a lone wolf. He wanted to be free. After the disaster of Starsinger Town, he didn't want to be tied down to anything.

Now that this possibility of a powerful family has come to his attention, it was only natural that his mind was in turmoil. He knew that only by learning more about his family could he evolve his bloodline further. But, he was also worried about unnecessary troubles coming for him due to this.

Duncan remained silent for a long time. In the end, he banished all the messy thoughts in his head and let out a loud sigh.

"Among the cultivation techniques, there is a special kind of cultivation technique called Bloodline Techniques. Only by practicing these Bloodline Techniques will a cultivator be able to unleash the full potential of their bloodlines," Duncan mumbled looking ahead.

"These Bloodline Techniques will help a person's bloodline to evolve further and become more and more stronger. However, these techniques are useless for other cultivators without the bloodline to cultivate."

"Even among the Bloodline Techniques, those that can be stored within a descendant's body can be called as transcendental techniques. For this to happen, the bloodline must be very powerful. If not, a bloodline wouldn't be able to hold the technique within it. And only the ancestor of the technique would be able to engrave this technique into the very bloodline he created…"

"Seeing how [Slaughter Demon Sutra] was able to be engraved inside the black heart and even possessing the techniques for above Nascent Soul realm, I can only conclude my ancestor was incredibly powerful."

"But, how did the Heavenly Demon Sect acquire the altered version of this technique? And the alteration was also ingenious. They had altered a Bloodline Technique into a high-grade cultivation technique that just requires special condition like the Black Heart."

"This can't be done by an ordinary person. It is most likely that my ancestor is someone who is very powerful. But, the way he had done this also hints at some hidden motive and intrigues. There must be a reason for my ancestor to spread this technique and also disguise it. And this reason couldn't be something simple…"

"Sigh… looks like my life is getting more and more complicated. Why was my powerful ancestor hiding that this is a cultivation technique related to his bloodline? What exactly was he afraid of? Should I be worried about getting dragged into things I don't have knowledge about?"

"I think I should keep quiet about this change. It looks like my master doesn't know the secret behind this cultivation technique. That means I can't confront him either. He might be really ignorant. But, things have become far murkier because of this. Does my origin have some special significance? I can only keep my head down and continue to search for clues about my bloodline discreetly."

"Sigh! What a drag!!! Who knew that I would activate a bloodline, eh?"

Duncan sighed and shook his head in disbelief. He never expected such a thing to happen to him. He only wanted to cultivate his soul art, but things had spiraled out of his control and he had been led into several things one after the other.

When he entered this cave, it was to gain enlightenment on the concept of a mountain. But now, he had learned things about slaughter dao, improved tremendously in strength, and even activated his bloodline.

Once Duncan realized that he had a bloodline, the reason for his injury became very clear. Activating a bloodline power is a brutal process. Usually, it involved fulfilling a lot of hidden conditions and even enduring unimaginable pain while his bloodline activated.

When a bloodline activates, it would reshape a cultivator's body to be in line with the power it gave a cultivator. During this time, a cultivator must endure unimaginable pain as the bloodline reshapes their body. This was what happened to Duncan. Since this was a special phenomenon, the injuries caused by it will also be healed by the bloodline before the activation is completed.

Duncan didn't know what kind of hidden conditions he had fulfilled. He didn't even know he had a bloodline prior to this, how can he fulfill hidden conditions consciously?

But, he was able to infer that he had activated his bloodline from the clues left behind during the transformation. His body had been reshaped. He now had an entire cultivation technique that led up to the Nascent Soul realm. And he was feeling far more powerful than he was before.

Now that his phantom pains were receding and he wasn't focused on figuring out what happened, Duncan can already feel the power that was coursing through his body. He could hear his strong heartbeat and now had increased clarity of mind. Even his soul felt a bit more denser than before.

And this was only the beginning…

Duncan had a vague idea that the conditions needed for activation might be related to the black heart he possessed. Until now, he had unknowingly fulfilled them. But, he didn't need to search in the blind any longer.

He now had a direction to focus his bloodline evolution upon. Furthermore, with the improved [Slaughter Demon Sutra], Duncan was confident that he will be able to easily evolve his bloodline further and further.

With this new change, Duncan's self-confidence rose to new heights. Not only did he feel that he was twice as powerful as he was before, but he also had hope for future advancement as well.

At this moment, Duncan felt that his future shined brightly…

*****