Chapter 9

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Chapter 9: Iron Eating Crocodile

When Taoist Chongyun saw the two enter, he waved his hand at Qingfeng, telling him to stand aside, and his fiery gaze quickly fell on Wang Yu behind him.

Wang Yu felt nervous inside, but he showed no sign of it on his face. He respectfully bowed to the Taoist and said, "Temple Master."

"The blood energy is gathered and not scattered, it really looks like a sign of the awakening of a physical bloodline. However, it is rare to see the blood energy concentrated in the head. Since the energy only fills half of the skull, it seems that only half of the bloodline power has awakened. It’s a bit of a pity. This unusual blood energy will fade away in a few hours, so there is no need to worry too much," Taoist Chongyun said after studying Wang Yu for a long time, mixing joy with a hint of regret.

"Master, even if Qiu Ye has only awakened half of his bloodline, he is still far better than those who only have Spiritual Sensing. Moreover, if the physical bloodline awakens, it will be easier for him to practice certain mystical techniques," Qingfeng said seriously beside him.

"That is true. Qiu Ye, I want to ask you, are you willing to become my student and be a true disciple of this path?" After nodding, Taoist Chongyun asked the young boy in front of him with great seriousness.

"Of course I am willing! I pay my respects to you, Master!" At this moment, how could Wang Yu refuse? He immediately knelt down and bowed his head to the Taoist.

"Good, good! From today on, you are the second disciple under my teaching," Taoist Chongyun said, helping Wang Yu up with satisfaction.

"Congratulations, Master, on accepting Junior Martial Brother Qiu Ye as your disciple!" Qingfeng said, smiling and offering his congratulations.

"Now that Qiu Ye is a Junior Martial Brother, the quick and greedy things I originally planned to teach you cannot be done. You must first learn the basic techniques from me and build a solid foundation," Taoist Chongyun said to his first disciple after thinking for a moment.

"Of course. Since Master plans to teach personally, I will take my leave for now," Qingfeng said, cupping his hands in farewell.

"You go down now, and remember to leave the mirror; I have use for it." The master nodded but suddenly remembered something and added more instructions.

The young monk agreed and handed over the small bronze mirror that he always carried with him to the master before stepping out of the room and closing the door tightly.

"Qiu Ye, I need to test the power of your bloodline again to let it show itself more clearly. We need to find out which bloodline has awakened so that I can trust you with my teachings," the master said seriously to the young boy.

"Master, what is a bloodline? Is it rare for anyone to awaken one?" Wang Yu couldn’t help but ask.

"I almost forgot that you don’t know the origin of bloodline power, so let me explain it simply," the master paused for a moment and then seemed to understand.

Wang Yu quickly perked up his ears.

"As the name suggests, a bloodline refers to a special heritage. It is said that many years ago, during ancient times, some human practitioners became strong by using various means to implant the powerful blood of certain extraordinary beings or demon beasts into themselves. They gained talents that were different from ordinary people. When these practitioners married regular humans, their descendants had a chance to awaken these talents, which is called Bloodline Awakening," the master explained.

"So, does this mean my ancestors might be descendants of these human practitioners?" Wang Yu was very surprised.

"Hehe, that’s not entirely wrong. But in reality, since ancient times, after such a long time of bloodline passing and mixing, bloodline power has spread throughout humanity. It has truly become a part of human strength. It’s even common for some people to have several kinds of bloodline powers within them. However, compared to the past, these ancient bloodlines have become very weak. Now, for humanity to awaken a bloodline and bring forth their gifted talents has become incredibly difficult," the master continued.

"If ordinary people possessing Spiritual Sensing is like finding one in a thousand, then those who can awaken their bloodline are one in ten thousand. Those who have both are even rarer. This is why I accepted you as my disciple the moment I saw you awaken your bloodline."

The Taoist explained without any concealment and then took out a palm-sized wooden box from his robe. When he opened it, it revealed a mass of thin silver needles, which made Wang Yu shiver.

"Don’t be afraid. My method with these needles is just to further awaken your blood energy; it won’t be painful," the Taoist said, asking Wang Yu to take off his outer garments and sit cross-legged with his back to him.

Though Wang Yu felt uneasy, he could only follow the instructions one by one.

Soon, he felt the smoothness of his back, a slight tingling in several places, and his blood began to flow quickly through his body, getting faster and faster, which caused him to feel warmth all over.

Just then, Taoist Chongyun patted Wang Yu on the shoulder from behind, making him turn around to face the Taoist.

The silver light flickered as several silver needles pierced into various parts of his chest and abdomen.

"Boom!"

Wang Yu felt all the blood in his body surge upward, gathering at the top of his head, making his skull feel as if it had puffed up.

"Broken"

Taoist Chongyun let out a low shout, and without anyone noticing, a yellow talisman appeared between his fingers. He quickly pressed it on the top of Wang Yu’s head, and a cool breeze rushed out from the talisman, making Wang Yu, who had been dizzy, feel a bit more awake.

"Huh, what is this…" Taoist Chongyun glanced at his second disciple’s face and frowned slightly.

"What is it, Master?" Wang Yu quickly asked, noticing his master’s reaction.

"Well, just take a look for yourself," the Taoist had already prepared and handed over a small bronze mirror.

Wang Yu took the mirror and looked. He saw his face in the reflection; the previous yin-yang markings had disappeared, but a strange blood-red pattern had suddenly appeared on his forehead.

"The pattern on your forehead shows the mark of bloodline, also called blood mark. Generally, each bloodline has a different blood mark. However, you have only awakened half of your bloodline power, so the blood mark is incomplete and may be hard to identify," the Taoist explained slowly.

"What should we do now?" Wang Yu asked honestly.

"There are no shortcuts left, but we still have a simple method. In the past, I bought a book called ‘Guide to Blood Marks’ at a high price. It contains many complete blood mark pictures. If we compare them one by one, we should find the matching bloodline. Qiu Ye, wait here; I will be back soon," the Taoist said hurriedly and left the quiet room.

Wang Yu could only wait in place with wide eyes.

Soon, Taoist Chongyun returned to the quiet room holding a thick book. He sat down on his cushion and began to read it, glancing at Wang Yu from time to time.

Wang Yu sat cross-legged facing the Taoist, feeling curious about what kind of bloodline his body had awakened.

"Got it! I found it! This half of the blood pattern is exactly the same as yours… Hmm, the bloodline you awakened should be the ‘Iron Eating Crocodile’ power," said Chongyun, his eyes suddenly lighting up as he flipped through the book.

"Iron Eating Crocodile? Is this demon beast very strong?" Wang Yu asked with some anticipation.

"According to the book, the Iron Eating Crocodile is considered a low-level demon beast. It’s not very powerful itself, but the talents awakened from this demon beast are very useful. For example, the most common talent is ‘Copper Skin, Iron Bones,’ which allows the awakened person to have tough skin and makes training the Body Forging Technique much easier. Another talent, ‘Stone Armor,’ allows control of stones to attach to the body, forming a natural armor… You can take a look yourself," said Taoist Chongyun, getting more pleased as he spoke and handing the book to Wang Yu.

Wang Yu took the book and looked at it carefully.

On the opened page, there was a clear image of a blood-red blood pattern. The left side matched the blood pattern on his forehead perfectly. Below this pattern, there were many small words; half described the habits and abilities of the Iron Eating Crocodile, while the other half talked about the various talents that a person with this demon beast bloodline might awaken.

According to what was written, besides the two common gifted talents that Taoist Chongyun mentioned, the Iron Eating Crocodile bloodline had two other rare talents: one called "Blood Fury," which is a power that allows the user to go into a frenzy using their blood; the other called "Gold Sense," which is simply the ability to faintly sense metal deposits.

Wang Yu carefully remembered that bringing back this supernatural information to the Blue Star world was a great achievement.

"Okay, just take a quick look at what’s here. For the Iron Eating Crocodile’s talent, I hope you can awaken either ‘Copper Skin Iron Bones’ or ‘Stone Armor.’ The other two are just supportive and will not significantly increase your strength; in fact, they might even have some negative effects. For example, the ‘Blood Rage’ talent will likely affect your sanity during battles, and the last one, ‘Gold Touch,’ is even less useful. Nowadays, there are many ways to locate metal reserves, so who would want such a useless ability? You should first try to activate all the bloodline powers; only then can you awaken one of the Iron Eating Crocodile’s talents." When Taoist Chongyun saw that Wang Yu had read enough, he spoke up to stop him from looking further.

"Master, after officially awakening the bloodline, can I only have one talent? What about when I suddenly became stronger after awakening?" Wang Yu reluctantly returned the book to the Taoist and asked, thinking of something.

"Most demon beasts have strong bodies, and the Iron Eating Crocodile is considered tough even among low-level demon beasts, so when you awaken, your body will naturally get a significant boost. But this enhancement is only temporary and doesn’t count as a true gifted talent. As for whether you can awaken more than one talent, that’s not always the case, but usually, you will only awaken one ability. It’s rare to awaken multiple abilities. Now, don’t think too much; let me take the silver needles out of you." The Taoist explained a bit and then lightly tapped Wang Yu’s shoulder.

"Whoosh" "Whoosh"

Wang Yu felt a shock, and the silver needles embedded in his body instantly shot out. The blood flow inside him slowed down quickly, the blood markings on his forehead faded and disappeared, and his face returned to normal.

The Taoist’s hands moved swiftly, grabbing all the silver needles and placing them back into a wooden box.

Wang Yu was amazed by this skill and couldn’t help but admire it in his heart.