Eternal Heavenly Emperor-Chapter 394 - 384: Bloodline Testing

After Gao Zhen returned to her residence, she immediately entered a secret chamber and took out a stone disk covered in numerous complicated runes.

Upon touching it, the runes instantly lit up and began to ascend, forming a human face in the air.

At this moment, if there had been a figure above the War King level present, they would definitely recognize that the face was none other than Gao Yunfeng, the current Family Head of the Gao Family and Gao Zhen’s father.

"Zhen, has He Lingtian still not changed his mind?" Gao Yunfeng spoke, clearly using a long-distance communication device.

"No!" Gao Zhen shook her head, paused for a moment, and said, "Father, is there any medicine that can erase Bloodline Power?" She shared her thoughts, now facing yet another annoying contender for the position of Family Head in Chu Hao—who was also of the main lineage.

"As far as this old man knows, there is no such medicine!" Gao Yunfeng shook his head, but he paused and then added, "However, if it’s just to temporarily suppress the Bloodline Power, that’s not difficult, and it’s not a poison but just a trick to deceive the testing Treasure Artifact."

"Then Father, quickly give me that medicine, the selection for the Family Head’s successor begins in half a month," Gao Zhen urged urgently.

"No worries, this medicine only needs to be taken continuously for three days, and it can reduce the manifestation of the Bloodline Purity by tenfold," Gao Yunfeng said with a smile. "Originally, some collateral branches of major families used this to hide their Bloodline Purity to avoid jealousy from the main lineage. I didn’t expect it could now have the opposite effect."

Gao Zhen sneered; she planned to first strip Chu Hao of his right to inherit, then deal with him slowly.

...

Chu Hao’s daily routine had not changed much, still diligently practicing martial arts every day and sparring with the Barbaric Girl using Dragon Fist. Limited by his realm, his strength increase was still only about a hundredfold, but his proficiency had greatly improved.

During this period, he was treated like a guest. The He Family did not provide him any Cultivation Techniques or secrets, only delivering three meals a day.

Chu Hao had the Phoenix Blood Jade, which protected him from poisons, and he also had detoxifying pills from Xiaocao, so he naturally wasn’t afraid of being poisoned through his meals.

Fat Cat roamed around the island all day, and it was unclear what mischief he was up to. Chu Hao was too lazy to ask. This Cat Demon was obviously very slippery, even if it did something bad, it wouldn’t leave any evidence.

The Barbaric Girl was somewhat bored. She liked being free, but here she could almost only stay in a small courtyard all day, which made her very uncomfortable.

"Hang in there a few more days, after I complete the Ancestral Pool baptism, we can go to the Nine States Heaven Talented Assembly," Chu Hao consoled her, as this girl was quite temperamental.

Just like that, half a month quickly passed.

Chu Hao’s strength had slightly improved, with his fourth Life Spring about half opened and he reached the middle of Fourth Tier. However, at this rate, by the end of the year he could only break through to the Five Springs at most.

Five Springs, to compete at the Nine States Heaven Talented Assembly, he definitely couldn’t win the championship, and even making it into the top ten would be risky.

Therefore, he definitely needed to enter the Ancestral Pool for a baptism to fully activate his Bloodline Power and aim for a higher height in the coming months.

Meanwhile, he was still just a guest of the He Family. With his status still unclear, the He Family members maintained a watching attitude, even the Pro-emperor faction sent no one over, leaving He Luo to be the full representative.

On this day’s morning, everyone gathered at the martial arts field at the center of the island for a Bloodline test.

It was simple, each person just had to cut their finger, let a drop of blood fall onto the testing Jade Artifact, and based on the artifact’s reaction, the Bloodline Purity could somewhat be discerned—not very precisely though.

For a precise test, the He Family had only one such Jade Artifact, and with at least ten thousand people participating in the selection, how long would it take to complete the test? Therefore, this first step was just to eliminate the vast majority, keeping only several dozens or hundreds for a second round of selection.

—Bloodline Purity was not the only criterion; loyalty to the family and significant martial arts talent were also required.

Though the He Family had deep resources, even an idiot could be forcefully promoted to War King, but could a War King truly be a Family Head of an ancient clan with such cultivation? Therefore, where the differences in Bloodline Purity were not vast, they naturally aimed to choose those with better talent whenever possible.

Today was the first round, then some time would be spent on a comprehensive evaluation of those who passed this round, selecting five or maybe ten candidates, allowing He Lingtian to make the final decision.

After all, he was the true king, the ultimate decision-maker of the entire He Family.

Thus, He Lingtian did not show up today, but Gao Zhen did come with He Shilong, seemingly to declare to everyone that no matter what you think, there’s a legitimate Crown Prince here.

Her gaze swept over Chu Hao and she couldn’t help but reveal a cold smile. The kid had been eating meals laced with medicine for seven days, which hadn’t harmed him physically at all, so the Phoenix Blood Jade had not been needed, but soon they would see. The kid’s Bloodline Purity had been cut by a full ten times; even if he could have stood above the others, now he would be lucky to be anything but at the bottom or at best middle-ranked.

Many leaders of the collateral branches had been invited as witnesses to ensure no cheating occurred.

The process was slow, as each person’s identity was strictly verified.

There were a hundred Jade Artifacts for testing, all crudely made; they only roughly divided Bloodline Purity into five levels, represented by the colors red, yellow, green, purple, and black. Red indicated the lowest Bloodline Purity, while black indicated the highest.

"Red, inferior Bloodline."

"Pah, for such Bloodline to even dare to compete for the position of Family Head, that’s crazy!"

"Green, medium Bloodline."

"Eh, isn’t this He Shuang from the collateral line? Didn’t expect his Bloodline to be so rich."

"Purple, superior-grade Bloodline!"

"Wow, this is the purest Bloodline seen so far."

The testing continued, and the onlookers kept shouting in excitement. Such a Bloodline test was usually done right after each person was born; there had never been a mass collective test of this scale, making it a novel experience for many.

"Black, super-grade Bloodline!"

In the field, a black luminescence soared into the sky, representing a quite pure Bloodline.

"Who is that?"

"He Xinming from the main meridian."

"Ah, the eldest grandson of the Family Head’s third brother. Truly from the main meridian, such pure bloodline!"

"Look there, another black light!"

"Indeed, and even darker and richer, clearly an even purer bloodline."

"Still from the main meridian, it must be He Chunyun, right?"

"Yes, He Chunyun, and his martial arts talent is extraordinary. He is only 40 years old but already an Eighth Tier Warrior!"

"Eighth Tier? I heard he achieved Eight Springs Unification, truly deserving of the title ’genius’!"

Whenever someone with a superior-grade bloodline appeared, it inevitably caused a stir among the crowd, given the rarity of such individuals. In fact, the purity of one’s bloodline had little impact on one’s cultivation; it wasn’t guaranteed those with purer bloodlines could advance in their realms rapidly.

However, the purer the bloodline, the more it could resonate with the Ancestral Artifacts.

Take He Lingtian, for example, with just a thought, all the Ancestral Artifacts of the He Family would heed his command. Even if ten people of the same realm joined forces, they couldn’t compete with him because his bloodline was the purest, closest to the ancestors.

This was precisely why he could firmly control the entire He Family—controlling the Ancestral Artifacts meant truly controlling the He Family.

Of course, there were also some special methods that could strengthen the control over the Ancestral Artifacts, but these secrets were only known to the successive Family Heads.

In such a large ancient clan, naturally, there were many members with rich bloodlines. The testing had only reached halfway, and already more than sixty black columns of light had appeared. At this rate, the number of people passing the first round would exceed one hundred.

The number of people who had not participated in the test was dwindling, while those achieving a superior-grade bloodline were increasing. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Shilong, it’s your turn," Gao Zhen suddenly said to her son.

Given He Shilong’s status, he was not required to participate in this round of testing. As the child of a Family Head, failing the first round would be too embarrassing for everyone involved.

Upon hearing his mother’s words, He Shilong immediately stood up and walked towards the center of the arena.

He sliced his finger, a drop of blood fell, and boom, immediately, the Jade Artifact beneath emitted a pure black column of light, as if painted with ink.

"So rich in color!"

"Indeed befitting the child of the Family Head!"

"I heard that Lord Shilong’s martial arts talent is not very high, but I never expected his Ancestral Blood to be so rich!"

"Yes, I hadn’t expected it either."

The crowd was all abuzz, and bloodline testing could not be faked—or rather, if one were to fake results, they could only make them worse, not better, so naturally, no one would bother with such deceit.

He Shilong quickly returned to Gao Zhen’s side and sat down next to her, the picture of a dutiful son.

"Is there anyone else who hasn’t undergone the test?" As there were one hundred test Jade Artifacts, and some areas no longer had people lining up, the person in charge of the testing immediately shouted out, hoping to wrap things up sooner rather than later.

Chu Hao promptly stood up and walked towards the elder.

"Age, name, main meridian, or branch?" the elder immediately bombarded him with a series of questions.

"Chu Hao, 20 years old, neither main meridian nor branch," Chu Hao thought for a moment before answering.

"You are Chu Hao?" the elder looked at Chu Hao, a trace of surprise on his face.

Clearly, while not many had interacted with Chu Hao up to now, his name was at least known among the higher echelons of the He Family.

Chu Hao nodded, saying, "I am Chu Hao."

"Well, let’s start the test," the elder said indifferently.

Chu Hao grimaced, shook his right hand, and summoned Starlight, then slashed his finger with it.

—He was a Body Cultivator, and his skin was really too tough to cut without using Starlight.

Many who were unaware of Chu Hao’s identity, seeing him use Starlight just to draw blood, immediately scoffed and laughed, thinking him quite a spectacle to be so showy at such an event.

Boom, a massive surge of blood energy suddenly shot into the sky, causing those nearby with lesser strength to turn pale and have difficulty breathing, nearly fainting.

"Body Cultivation, this guy is actually a Body Cultivator!"

"And his realm is not low."

"Among the Thirty-six Heavenly Fiends, there is a Single-Meridian who follows the path of Body Cultivation; could this guy be from that branch?"

All eyes were upon him as the drop of blood slowly fell onto the Jade Artifact.(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)