"Is this also the bloodline chamber of your Bloodline Holy Land?"
Qin Chen was pointing at the very bloodline chamber where Steward Liu had just been.
Lin Xinrou cast a doubtful glance at the chamber Qin Chen indicated, her voice tinged with uncertainty as she said, "It should be, I suppose. Every room in this area belongs to the Holy Land's bloodline chambers, though this one has been empty for a while. Perhaps it's newly opened."
"Then I'll use this bloodline chamber." Qin Chen's eyes flickered with resolve. Without waiting for Lin Xinrou to say more, he stepped into the room and shut the chamber's heavy door behind him.
Lin Xinrou opened her mouth, intending to speak, but the firmly closed door silenced her words. With a helpless sigh, she turned and walked away.
Qin Chen gazed at the pristine instruments before him, a surge of excitement stirring in his heart. *Who would've thought that the Bloodline Holy Land of the Great Qi Kingdom would possess such a cutting-edge bloodline device? Truly, the heavens are on my side.*
The bloodline device in the room he'd just left was an ancient model, phased out by the Martial Domain over three hundred years ago. But this one—it was a type that had once been widely favored in the Martial Domain. Not only was it far more precise, but it also demanded less of the bloodline master operating it.
Qin Chen had been worried that his low cultivation might prevent him from awakening his bloodline on his own. Now, seeing this device, his heart settled completely.
*Snap, snap, snap…*
After a casual inspection of the bloodline device and finding no issues, Qin Chen deftly flipped its many switches. A low hum filled the air as the device sprang to life, a ribbon of seven-colored light flowing across it like a neon rainbow.
Qin Chen sat cross-legged atop the device, his mind swiftly calming.
Awakening one's own bloodline was akin to a doctor performing surgery on themselves—a feat of immense difficulty, considered taboo among bloodline masters. Ordinary practitioners wouldn't dare attempt it. But for Qin Chen, this was nothing.
He closed his eyes, a faint thread of true qi seeping slowly into the white crystal before him.
The crystal flared to life, intricate, enigmatic patterns emerging on its surface. As the light intensified, a mysterious force enveloped Qin Chen, wrapping him in a glow as pure as moonlight.
Beneath that radiance, Qin Chen felt his body turn transparent in an instant. His twelve meridians shimmered like crystal conduits, coursing with surging true qi.
Then, one by one, the bloodline veins within him surfaced, the power in his blood gradually rising to the fore.
Qin Chen's eyes blazed like lightning as he probed the strength of his bloodline.
But with that probe, his expression shifted abruptly.
Because he could not sense the slightest trace of bloodline power within his body.
*How can this be!*
Over the past few days, he'd consumed pulse-awakening elixirs without pause. Even the thinnest bloodline should have become vibrantly active by now—especially under this device, which could detect a bloodline concentration as low as one in ten thousand.
Yet now, he couldn't sense even a whisper of it.
Qin Chen's heart sank, plummeting into an icy abyss. A chill gripped his body, his hands and feet turning cold.
This meant there wasn't a shred of bloodline within him. No wonder he'd failed to awaken it time and again.
*This can't be possible. Bloodline inheritance comes from both parents. In ancient times, every human carried a bloodline. Even as the ages passed and that inheritance grew ever thinner, it's unthinkable for someone to have no bloodline at all.*
Qin Chen murmured to himself, unable to accept it.
*In the Tianwu Continent, many warriors fail to awaken their bloodlines—not because they lack them but because their concentration is too faint to trigger them. But for me, to sense not even a trace…*
He felt as though he stood naked in a frozen wasteland, doused from head to toe with icy water, his heart shivering.
For a warrior, a bloodline was paramount. A warrior without one was like a tiger stripped of its claws and fangs—fierce yet powerless to rule the forest.
Reborn into this life, Qin Chen carried too many burdens. Without a bloodline, how could he climb back to the peak and exact vengeance on that vile pair, Feng Shaoyu and Shangguan Xi'er?
In Qin Chen's mind, even the faintest bloodline could be nurtured and awakened with his methods. But to have none at all…
His heart turned to ice.
*Is the heavens' cruelty so absolute?*
*Am I, reborn, doomed to watch helplessly as Shangguan Xi'er and Feng Shaoyu, that wretched pair, roam free?*
No!
A fierce roar erupted in Qin Chen's heart.
*I refuse to believe I have no bloodline at all.*
Calming himself, Qin Chen frantically circulated the Nine-Star Divine Emperor Technique. Roaring true qi surged through his body, igniting his blood into a boiling frenzy.
"Blood Forbidden Art!"
A strange crimson pattern flared across his form, the power in his blood growing ever stronger.
He relentlessly manipulated the bloodline device with his true qi, its seven-colored lights flashing as its detection capabilities reached their peak.
Yet no matter what he tried, he still felt nothing.
Just as despair threatened to swallow him whole—
Suddenly—
As the Nine-Star Divine Emperor Technique pushed to its limit—
*Buzz!*
A faint glimmer flickered through his bloodline, gone in an instant.
Qin Chen's heart jolted. *What was that…*
That fleeting blue light was minuscule, but it was unmistakably bloodline power.
Like a drowning man clutching the last straw, Qin Chen poured every ounce of true qi into capturing that blue force.
In that moment, he gritted his teeth, his focus absolute, his spirit honed to a single point.
Then, something Qin Chen never anticipated occurred. The colors of the bloodline before him began to shift.
He felt an odd summons, his heart abruptly stilling as he slipped into a strange state. *It's as if a clear breeze brushes through me, pure and untainted, free of all worldly dust.*
At the same time, an ancient, simple sword emerged in his mind. Its unadorned, sharp blade let out a peculiar hum.
In an instant, Qin Chen's vision flooded with azure, as though he stood amidst an ocean of thunder.
*Boom!*
A terrifying aura erupted from him, piercing the skies above the Great Qi Kingdom's capital and soaring into the clouds.
This force danced between the tangible and the ethereal, unnoticed by anyone in the capital.
Yet the moment it breached the heavens—
*Rumble!*
A deafening peal of thunder roared across the skies of Great Qi. Every powerhouse in the kingdom trembled under its might, staring in awe at the heavens above.
In their lifetimes, they had never witnessed such a spectacle—countless bolts of lightning weaving together like a spider's web.
In a fleeting instant, the skies over Great Qi transformed into an ocean of thunder, unleashing an aura of apocalyptic ruin.