Li Xiaoyao felt joy emanating from every cell of his body, a happiness that flowed from his blood. He never knew that within his bloodline there lay such immense energy.
"Why hasn’t it ended yet?" someone asked with a frown.
Nearly an hour had passed, and Li Xiaoyao’s bloodline awakening ceremony was still underway.
Normally, the longest time for other clan members to awaken took just forty minutes.
"After all, it’s a Ninth Grade bloodline. It’s normal for it to take a bit longer," someone reasoned.
This statement silenced the questioner; indeed, Li Xiaoyao was awakening a Ninth Grade bloodline they had never encountered before. It wouldn’t make sense to judge it by ordinary standards.
Li Chengfeng showed no signs of impatience and quietly waited outside.
Though somewhat restless, all forty-some clan members were there waiting.
A Ninth Grade bloodline—the Li Family had never seen one since the founding of their clan.
The awakening ceremony continued for seven hours, and as darkness fell, the array in front of the ancestral hall was still a beacon of crimson light, with a figure standing tall at the center of the formation.
In the eighth hour, the array finally started to weaken and gradually dispersed.
Nine blood-colored rings of light turned into wisps of spiritual energy, all rushing into Li Xiaoyao’s body.
As the array vanished, it revealed Li Xiaoyao standing in the midst, eyes closed.
Li Xiaoyao slowly opened his eyes, and a flash of blood-red light flickered from the depths of his pupils.
"My cultivation level seems to have broken through?" Sensing the aura within his dantian, Li Xiaoyao discovered that he had made a breakthrough during the bloodline awakening ceremony.
It was indeed an unexpected delight.
Bloodline awakening was not just a simple confirmation of one’s Li family lineage. More importantly, once the power hidden in the bloodline was awakened, it would greatly increase one’s overall strength.
After a careful sense, Li Xiaoyao was fairly certain that his current cultivation level was probably in the Fourth Rank of the Spirit Cultivation Realm.
An increase by three ranks?
His original cultivation level was at the First Rank of the Spirit Cultivation Realm, and just one bloodline awakening had advanced his cultivation by three ranks. Most importantly, this sudden boost did not make him feel any instability in his cultivation.
"Xiaoyao, come with me. Everyone else, you may leave," Li Chengfeng said, then turned and walked away.
Li Xiaoyao glanced casually across the faces of the crowd and noticed they looked at him with complicated and strange expressions.
"Xiaoyao, congratulations, congratulations," a middle-aged man whose name Li Xiaoyao could not recall suddenly came up to him, smiling broadly.
"Hmm," Li Xiaoyao nodded, and not two steps later, several more people congratulated him.
In the span of a few short meters, no fewer than thirty people expressed their congratulations. Yet Li Xiaoyao was utterly confused; he knew nothing about what had happened. He had simply awakened his bloodline.
Moreover, Li Tu had explained to him before that every member of the Li Family had to undergo a bloodline awakening ceremony at the age of ten. So why was there such a drastic change in their attitude toward him after his awakening?
Was it simply because he had proven himself a member of the Li Family? Was this their way of welcoming him?
If that was the case, Li Xiaoyao’s fondness for the Li Family indeed grew a little. But he was clear that things were probably not so simple.
Of course, he didn’t understand what a Ninth Grade bloodline signified. Even until now, no one had told him that he had awakened a Ninth Grade bloodline.
"Brother, you’re really awesome," Li Tu bumped Li Xiaoyao’s shoulder and winked at him.
"Hmm?" Li Xiaoyao frowned and asked, "Why are they treating me so…"
Li Xiaoyao didn’t know how to describe their attitude towards himself for a moment.
"Affectionate?" Li Tu smiled and turned his head to glance at everyone, saying, "They judge a dog by its appearance."
"Although I’m not sure how you managed to hide your true cultivation level, this behavior of yours resulted in being looked down upon by them most directly," he said.
"In their eyes, you were just a youngster who had barely entered the Qi Refining Realm, not worthy of their full attention."
"Now it’s different, the bloodline you’ve just awakened is a Ninth Grade bloodline. No matter your cultivation level, just the Ninth Grade bloodline alone is enough to earn their profound respect."
"Ninth Grade bloodline?" Li Xiaoyao frowned: "What’s that?"
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"Every member of the Li Family undergoes a bloodline awakening ceremony at the age of ten, and the rank of each person’s awakened bloodline is different. The lowest is First Grade, and the highest is Ninth Grade."
"Since the establishment of the Li Family, the highest rank achieved in bloodline awakening was Seventh Grade," Li Tu said with a deep look at him. "Now, do you understand how rare a Ninth Grade is? Because you are the first person in centuries to awaken a Ninth Grade bloodline within the Li Family."
"As for the benefits of the bloodline, you must have experienced them just now."
"Once the bloodline is awakened, depending on the rank of the bloodline, it will cause varying degrees of increase in a person’s cultivation level," he explained.
"Back in my day, my bloodline was of the Fifth Grade, and my cultivation soared from the third layer of the Qi Refining Realm directly to the peak of the Qi Refining Realm. As for you, with a Ninth Grade bloodline, the extent of your increase is probably several times stronger than mine."
Li Xiaoyao nodded lightly, indeed, although he appeared to have only ascended by three ranks. He had jumped from the First Rank of the Spirit Cultivation Realm directly to the Fourth Rank.
For cultivators in the later stages, it becomes increasingly difficult to raise one’s cultivation level. Advancing one rank in the Spirit Cultivation Realm is definitely harder than progressing from the first to the ninth layer in the Qi Refining Realm.
So, these three ranks might not seem like much, but in reality, they represent an extremely terrifying improvement.
Li Tu parted ways with him midway, and Li Xiaoyao followed Li Chengfeng to a side room.
As they entered the room, Li Chengfeng stood with his back to Li Xiaoyao, who looked at his figure with a complex expression.
The bloodline awakening ceremony had proven that Li Xiaoyao was a member of the Xuan Country’s Li Family, the son of Li Chengfeng.
The man in front of him was his father, yet Li Xiaoyao didn’t know what kind of attitude to take towards him.
"Hoo~" Li Chengfeng slowly turned around, his gaze gentle and tinged with a hint of guilt.
"Xiaoyao."
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Li Chengfeng opened his mouth, having a lot he wanted to say, but when the words reached his lips, he didn’t know how to express them.
The words were too light, just too light.
"Xiaoyao, I’m sorry, Dad... I’m sorry," Li Chengfeng said with a heart full of guilt.
"Mr. Li, you haven’t wronged me," Li Xiaoyao spoke calmly, his facial expression even calmer, but it was this calm that twisted Li Chengfeng’s heart with pain.
"I’ve said it before, you are you, and I am me."
"Even though I carry the Li Family bloodline in me, it doesn’t mean I am your son."
"I was born without parents, and as far back as I can remember, I’ve had none."
"So, you don’t need to feel guilty, nor do you need to apologize. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave now. I will leave this place tomorrow. You can rest assured, we won’t meet again in the future, so you don’t have to worry that I will covet the Li Family’s wealth."
With each word carefully placed, after saying this, Li Xiaoyao turned and left.
[Delivering this update in the wee hours of the morning, there will be more updates during the day.]