Bloodline Tree – [Clan Building]

“Are you sure you’ll be back in just a week or two?” Tianyi asked, hands on hips.

“Probably,” Shu Yang said. “It could take longer, a month or two even, if I have trouble finding Tianxu.”

“You expect it to be easy? Do you have any idea of where he is?” Tianren questioned.

The family had all gathered to say goodbye to Shu Yang, as he was leaving to find his son who had been out adventuring for far too long.

“I have a pretty good guess,” Shu Yang said, not revealing his Bloodline Ability. He had considered talking about it, but felt it was better to keep it hidden. There was always a risk of it leaking, and he wanted to be able to use it as a trump card. “Anyway, I won’t be too long. Don’t worry.”

“What if you still take long? What if Bian Linfeng gets here before you return?” Tianyi questioned.

“If he’s not in a hurry, ask him to wait. If he needs to go, you should all go with him; I’ll catch up,” Shu Yang said.

“You’ll catch up?” Tianyi asked, not believing it.

“That’s just a last resort,” Shu Yang said. “If I really can’t find Tianxu, I’ll return. I won’t risk missing Bian Linfeng’s arrival.”

“Okay,” Tianyi said, looking a bit doubtful.

“Alright, don’t worry. Just relax and enjoy your time here before we have to leave,” Shu Yang said. He kissed his wife and waved goodbye to his children, not in the mood for a long goodbye. He had already spoken about his departure for a while now, and everything that needed to be said had been said.

“I’ll study properly, Grandpa!” Xinchu called out after him.

“See that you do!” Shu Yang called back with a smile.

He had decided to postpone his alchemy competition until he got back. There was really no need to rush anything. It was also better to see which of his grandchildren had the patience to stick with their studies for a longer period of time, and weren’t just quicker than the others at grasping things.

Having the patience to study diligently was more important than talent. At least Shu Yang thought so.

“What do you say, Xiaorong, should we travel on foot until we reach the Dust?” Shu Yang asked once he had left the settlement. Xiaoshi was now at the Foundation stage, so Shu Yang felt it was fine for Xiaorong to come with him. She had abilities that you never knew when they might come in handy.

Besides, it was nice not to have to travel alone. Tianhu had rejected his invitation after giving it some thought. Perhaps if the journey to the Sword Sect wasn’t coming up, he would have taken the opportunity to go on a small adventure. But now that he knew he was going to leave soon, he had opted to stay at home. He didn’t feel at ease leaving his children while they were still young. Especially since the time he had to spend with the twins might be limited in the future.

“You decide,” Xiaorong answered from his shoulder.

‘I guess you won’t have to move either way.’ Shu Yang thought, rolling his eyes.

“I’ll just go on foot, I guess,” Shu Yang said, stomping off the ground and starting his journey west. He felt it wouldn’t take that much longer. Besides, a flying ship was bound to be seen by people. And while he didn’t fear the Lishen Emperor, this wasn’t the time to stir up trouble.

‘I should probably get to the Dust in a few days. A week tops.’

‘Maybe I really underestimated how long this will take.’

Shu Yang wasn’t actually sure how far away Tianxu was. He had a vague sense for it, and guessed that he was either in the Wen Kingdom or the Far West.

He actually thought the Far West was more likely, though he had no idea how Tianxu managed to get there.

‘Let’s hope I’m wrong, and he has stuck around somewhere in the Wen Kingdom.’

…

Unfortunately, things wouldn’t be so easy.

After traveling for four days, Shu Yang arrived at the Dust, separating the Wen Kingdom from the Far West. But he could still see Tianxu in the west using his Bloodline Ability.

‘I should have gotten noticeably closer, right?’ Shu Yang thought as he stared into the distance.

His Bloodline Ability wasn’t very good at giving him a sense of the exact location when he used it over vast distances, but he still felt that Tianxu was closer than when he had used his ability back in the Black Beast Mountains.

‘He should be somewhere between twice as far away and ten times as far away as I’ve traveled.’

‘That’s fine for now. I’ll just continue heading west until I can’t see him when I’m turned to the west anymore, and slowly circle in on his location.’

He just used his Piercing Gaze briefly, so he didn’t have to wait several days to recharge it every time.

He stepped up to the edge of the Dust, and it looked just like the same snow-like sand he had seen in the Desolate Mountains.

‘How did Tianxu manage to get across? Was he taken there by someone? But I’ve never seen him in captivity.’

Shu Yang hadn’t really looked all that closely at what Tianxu was doing, at least not compared to the watch he kept over Tianyi. That was because Tianxu had left of his own volition, and he was an adult when he left, so his situation was completely different to Tianyi’s.

Still, he would look over briefly from time to time, and he had never seen anything that could indicate he was a prisoner of any kind.

‘Whatever. I’ll ask him about it when I find him.’

Shu Yang took out his flying ship from his storage ring and jumped aboard.

“Alright, Xiaorong. This is the first time I’m trying this; be ready in case anything goes wrong,” Shu Yang warned, getting ready to fly the ship.

“I’m ready,” Xiaorong answered.

‘Here we go, I guess.’

Shu Yang steered the ship and flew out over the Dust. Straight away, the spirit stones that powered the flying ship were being consumed at an astonishing rate. Much faster than Shu Yang had seen at any stage of his previous journey.

‘Damn. This is going to be expensive. Hopefully, the Dust isn’t too wide.’

He couldn’t see the other side yet, and after a few minutes, it was hard to make out the land behind him as well. All around him was a vast, endless expanse of fine sand that reflected the light of the sun in a strange way. White was perhaps the best description, but it wasn’t entirely suitable.

Shu Yang turned his attention to the spirit stones again and started to worry about how fast they were being consumed.

He knew this would happen, though. That was the reason that the Desolate Mountains were so costly to traverse: the many rivers of Dust running through it.

‘Just what is the Dust? Where did it come from?’

He wondered if anyone knew, or if it was a mystery even to the Sword Sect.

“Land,” Xiaorong said after a few more minutes.

Shu Yang could also see it in the distance.

‘Thankfully, it isn’t too far.’

After a few more minutes of flying, they were finally above solid ground again, and the consumption of spirit stones slowed down.

Shu Yang still landed the flying ship and put it back in his storage ring. Not because he didn’t want to waste any more spirit stones, but because he didn’t want to attract any attention to himself while not having an understanding of this place.

“So this is the Far West, huh,” Shu Yang said, looking around curiously. At first glance, it wasn’t much different from back home. “Let’s head inward, and see if we can find a town or something where we can find out a bit more information.”

Shu Yang stomped off the ground and took off with great speed.

There were no people or signs of civilization for the first tens of miles. But that wasn’t strange, as it was still pretty close to the Dust. The situation was similar in the area closest to the edge of the Dust back in the Wen Kingdom.

Half an hour in, he finally spotted a few signs of life. A few farms, an old road. He even saw what looked like a village in the distance.

But he didn’t stop, wanting to find a slightly bigger place where more people gathered.

After another two hours, he suddenly heard something.

“...go…maniac…”

‘Huh?’

Shu Yang was mid-jump, high in the air. He looked toward the voice and saw a young woman running from a man. She looked quite distressed.

Shu Yang landed on the ground and slowed down his pace, heading toward the two people.

“I can’t believe it! I trusted you! You’re actually one of those devils!”

Getting closer, he saw the situation a bit more clearly. The woman was yelling and running frantically, and the man behind her actually followed her with ease. It didn’t look like a serious chase.

“Don’t fight it, Weiwei. It will only harm you,” The man said, appearing pretty calm.

Shu Yang could feel that they were both martial warriors. The man was at the Innate stage, and the woman was a 1st-grade martial warrior.

“I hate you!” The woman yelled, still trying her best to get away.

‘Should I intervene?’

Shu Yang wasn’t one to get involved in things that didn’t concern him, and he didn’t know the full story here. But just leaving after seeing a scene like this felt wrong.

‘Whatever. They’re both weak. I’ll step in and see what’s going on. Maybe the woman will be willing to answer some questions about this place if I save her.’

Shu Yang took a swift step forward and appeared next to the man, kicking him to the ground before he could react. Not with full force, just enough to take him down.

“Argh!” The man groaned in pain.

“You…What…” The woman turned around, stunned. She looked at Shu Yang with a strange gaze.

“Do you mind explaining what’s going on here?” Shu Yang asked.

The woman’s face flushed red. She gritted her teeth and yelled out, “Get away from me!”

She then took off running again.

‘What?’

Shu Yang could easily catch up if he wanted, but decided to let her go as she wished. He instead turned his attention to the man on the ground.

“Would you like to explain wha-” Shu Yang began, but stopped himself when he saw the woman rushing back.

But something was wrong. Very wrong.

She was pulling off her clothes. All of it. Completely crazed.

“Hurry, it hurts,” The woman said, throwing herself at Shu Yang.

Shu Yang sidestepped her easily, and she fell to the ground behind him.

‘Don’t tell me…An aphrodisiac?’

Shu Yang looked at the man on the ground with disgust.

“Weili, I’m sorry. Please help me,” The woman said, now crawling to the man on the ground.

“No, wait,” Shu Yang said, and kicked the man away from her grasp.

“You! You do it!” the woman said, turning her attention to Shu Yang again.

“You’re not thinking clearly,” Shu Yang said with a sigh.

“Just-” The woman began, but Shu Yang knocked her unconscious.

He frowned and rubbed his forehead. He then pulled out a blanket to cover her with.

‘Hopefully it’s not going to endanger her. It shouldn’t, right?’

But what else could he do? He couldn’t let her have sex with that man, could he?

He sighed and started looking through his storage ring for something that might work as medicine.

‘Damn. I really don’t like this place.’

‘The Evil West indeed.’