Bloodline Tree – [Clan Building]

“It’s nothing, uncle,” Tianyue said, “The Tuo family just has a few Innate warriors; they aren’t powerful enough to pull something like this off. Not while I’m here keeping an eye on things.”

“Thank you, Tianyue. You’re a lifesaver,” Uncle Zhenyi said with a grateful smile from the other side of her desk. “I thought it might just be an empty threat, but I thought I should run it by you to make sure there weren’t any problems.”

“There really shouldn’t be. I’ll run by the department for civil disputes tomorrow just to make sure. I have someone I know there. She can look into it for me,” Tianyue said, “But I assume we don’t actually have any problems with the wine, right? Otherwise, things will be tricky.”

“Your father wouldn’t let something like that happen, don’t worry,” Uncle Zhenyi assured.

“Alright. Then you can go back to work without worry, uncle.” Tianyue said.

“Right, I’ll let you get back to work,” Uncle Zhengyi said, getting up on his feet, “You should come around to the shop if you have the time, we all love having you around.”

“Okay, uncle. I’ll try,” Tianyue said with a smile.

Her uncle left her office, and Tianyue collapsed onto her desk, completely letting go of the professional image she had maintained around her uncle.

‘So tired.’ Tianyue thought, letting out a yawn.

‘Maybe dad was on to something, and I should keep up with my martial arts training.’

Ever since she advanced to the 3rd-grade stage a year ago, Tianyue had almost completely stopped practicing martial arts. But she noticed she had been getting a lot more tired recently, and her body felt lazy and uncomfortable.

‘I guess I can wake up a little earlier and get an hour of practice time in each morning. That should also make Dad happy when he hears.’

Tianyue lifted her head from the desk and found a piece of paper to make a note of it. She also wrote down that she had to visit the civil disputes department.

Her uncle and his family were taking care of their Shu family wine shop here in Fugu City, and business had been going great. But not everyone was happy about that. The Tuo family had apparently started making a few scenes around the store, accusing them of making wine with poor ingredients and swindling customers.

It wasn’t anything serious, really, but Tianyue didn’t want anything to affect the family business. Not when she could so easily help.

Hours passed, and Tianyue kept busy stamping documents from the people working under her. Her job was to go through the papers of criminal investigations and make sure everything was in order and no mistakes were made. It wasn’t the most exciting job, as she just had to memorize the law and apply it while reading through the long documents. She didn’t get to make her own judgments. If there was any uncertainty, she had to pass it on to her superiors to make a judgment call.

‘This isn’t really what I had in mind. I hope Dad was telling the truth about the family gaining the support of a Master in the future. I just don’t know how he can do it. Not even teacher Jiangxi seems to be able to gain that type of support for me.’

Tianyue had basically risen as high as she could at the Fugu Prefectural Office. She had the ability to climb higher, but then she might take the spot from a member of a Martial Family. There wasn’t anything illegal about that, of course. But anyone with a brain would realize that it was a pointless action.

‘Even if I can’t climb higher, I’m already a 7th-grade Official. It might be one of the lowest here in Fugu City, but back in the Kuo County, I would basically be the top Official.’

‘While I like Fugu City better, it doesn’t sound so bad moving back to Kuo City, either. I would be closer to home, too.’

As the sun was just about to set, Tianyue packed her belongings, went out to the hallway, and closed the door to her office.

“Tianyue!”

Tianyue jumped slightly and turned to look behind her at the call of her name.

‘This guy again.’

“Finished work? Do you want to go grab something to eat?” Zhao Li walked up to her and asked.

“No thanks. I’m having dinner with my teacher,” Tianyue answered, giving a polite smile, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Oh…well, yeah. See you tomorrow,” Zhao Li said.

Tianyue hurried away. Zhao Li had been asking her out several times for the past few weeks. She had declined each time, but he still kept asking, giving her a headache. She had considered outright telling him that she wasn’t interested, but since he had never actually said anything about pursuing a relationship with her, she found it hard to bring it up herself.

‘At least he can take a no. That Ji Gui always carries on the conversation even after I’ve declined his invitation.’

Tianyue really had no intention to marry anyone. She thought her teacher had the right idea. Isn’t she living the perfect life? Living in your own mansion, with a library full of books, where you can spend each day. If you’re hungry, you have maids who cook for you. If your clothes need washing, or the house needs cleaning, the maids take care of that too.

When comparing that kind of life to her own mother, Tianyue really wasn’t tempted to start a family of her own.

Perhaps if she didn’t have any parents or siblings, it would be nice to create a small family, so it wouldn’t be so lonely. But she had a mother and father, six siblings, and more nephews and nieces every time she came home to visit. With such a big and happy family, Tianyue didn’t feel like she was missing anything.

“Official Shu,” Xiaoling greeted her when she arrived at her teacher’s mansion, where she was also living for the time being.

Tianyue smiled brightly at the address. It was something Xiaoling had said once, and Tianyue loved the sound of it so much that she asked Xiaoling to always address her like that.

“Good evening, Xiaoling,” Tianyue greeted.

“Your father is here. He is in the dining room with Lady Jiangxi. They are waiting for you to have dinner together,” Xiaoling said.

“Dad is here?” Tianyue asked, surprised. She didn’t know he was coming over; it hadn’t been that long since his last visit.

‘Great! I wonder how things are at home.’

Tianyue ran into the dining room and saw her father sitting opposite her teacher, deep in conversation.

“Dad!” Tianyue called out.

Her father got up with a smile and stretched out his arms, “Tianyue, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Tianyue said. Seeing the outstretched arms, she rolled her eyes slightly but still went over to hug him.

‘Am I not getting a little too old for this?’

“Why are you here? And why do you look different again?” Tianyue asked. She thought her father kept changing slightly every time she saw him. It wasn’t that he was aging. In fact, her father seemed to never age. She thought he still looked like a man in his twenties, despite already being forty. But she guessed that was just because he was an Innate warrior, so he was aging more slowly than normal people.

But it wasn’t just that he was aging more slowly; he was always a little different. It could be that hair seemed softer, his skin smoother, or his eyes brighter.

This time, it wasn’t that he looked different; it was more the feeling he gave off that was a little different. But Tianyue couldn’t tell what it was.

“Why do you always say I look different? Are you so forgetful that you don’t remember what your father looks like?” Her father asked.

“It’s because I have such a good memory that I notice these things,” Tianyue said, very sure about the small changes in her father’s appearance over the years.

“You do have a special feeling about you,” Her teacher commented, looking her father up and down, “Have you progressed a lot in your martial arts, perhaps?”

“Well…” Her father seemed to hesitate slightly before nodding, “I guess I did just reach the Master stage a week ago.”

“What!?” Both Tianyue and her teacher yelled out in shock.

“Why are you so surprised?” Her father asked with a smile, rubbing her head, “Didn’t I tell you that I would get you the backing of a Master? Well, now you have it.”

“That…”

How could she suspect that her father was actually talking about himself? Is the Master stage something just anyone could reach? Even people born into Martial Families, with their powerful bloodlines to help them, had trouble advancing to that stage. How could her father have advanced in just a few years?

‘But…If it’s Dad, I guess it’s not too surprising.’

Tianyue had always known her father was special. She just didn’t expect that she had still underestimated him.

“Haha,” Her father laughed at her expression.

Tianyue pouted slightly and retorted, “Just wait. When you advance to the Saint stage in a few years, I won’t give you the slightest sign of surprise.”

This time, it was her father who was surprised, giving Tianyue some satisfaction.

‘Saint stage…He couldn’t really, right? No, that’s impossible. Everything has a limit.’

‘But to think my dad is actually a Master…Does this make our family a Martial Family? Either way, I should be able to advance further here in Fugu City now!’

After a few more minutes of conversation, with her father avoiding most of her teacher’s probing questions, everyone sat down to eat together.

Her father revealed that he wouldn’t be staying for long, as he was going to look for Tianhu again. But this time, he would head into the Black Beast Mountains to search.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Tianyue asked, “That Saint Beast is still alive, isn’t it?”

“If your brother can go, there is no reason I can’t follow. Don’t forget that I’m a Master now. And that beast should be hiding somewhere, I probably won’t run into it if I don’t go looking for it,” Her father said. He then looked up at her teacher and asked, “Have there been any news from there lately?”

“Not that I’ve heard,” Jiangxi responded, “I guess the situation is still pretty much the same as it has been for years. I suppose your son is just there to enjoy the spectacle. It’s not that strange to stay a few years inside the mountains, but I can understand your worry.”

“But how are you going to find him?” Tianyue asked, “Aren’t the Black Beast Mountains huge?”

“It will probably take a while, but if I cover enough distance and ask enough people, someone is sure to have seen him at some point,” Her father answered.

“Since you’re a Master now, you should make use of it. There are bound to be a lot of people willing to help you look to curry favor,” Tianyue said.

“That’s not a bad idea. I’ll see if I can arrange something. I could at least offer a reward for any clues. Since so many people are already out in the mountains looking for the Black Beast, it shouldn’t be hard to keep an eye out for Tianhu,” her father said.

After a few more hours of conversation, Tianyue saw off her father and went to bed. Her father would be continuing traveling to the Sword School early the next morning.

‘Dad is a Master…’ Tianyue thought to herself in a daze as she lay in bed. She still hadn’t quite digested the news. ‘It doesn’t seem like a dream anymore to live a life like teacher’s in the future. I just hope Tianhu is alright. He should just stay at home from now on, and keep safe. There is no need to run around with a dad like ours.’