Chapter Forty-Four: The First Shaman's Bloodline
“I didn’t expect it to add up to so much!” Upon hearing this from the system intelligence, Lin Fan’s earlier melancholy vanished, replaced by a faint excitement. When he had challenged the young prodigies, he had only accumulated a little over three hundred sixty thousand. Afterwards, Qin Longyue appeared, and Lin Fan was eager to beat him; Qin Longyue kept delivering negative emotion points, raising the total to nearly three hundred eighty thousand. The other young prodigies, seeing him defeat Qin Longyue, contributed a bit more, pushing the sum to around four hundred thousand.
These were all the negative emotion points he had previously known about. Later, he was ambushed by six Qi Pulse Realm experts from the Zhang family. The first time he evaded their attacks, he gained a wave of negative emotion points; after another failed attack, another wave followed. As he began to flee, the points kept coming, and when he finally decapitated them all in one strike, yet another surge was added. Because he hadn’t entered the system, he was unaware of the exact total.
Now, discovering it had reached over four hundred fifty thousand, his mood soared once more! At this stage, if he were in his previous life’s game, he’d be a jungler at level fifteen, fully developed.
“Purchase six Vitality Fruits, and use the remaining one hundred fifty thousand negative emotion points for the lottery!” With the advantage of the system intelligence, one command sufficed to handle everything smoothly.
Vitality Fruits could be retrieved in reality. These six fruits would increase his Vitality Threads by sixty; for others, that would be about six thousand threads. Once he consumed them, his strength would double again. If he used the Wind and Thunder Force, his power would multiply fivefold; in terms of pure vitality, he could already crush Qi Pulse Realm experts who had opened three apertures.
Of course, the Qi Pulse Realm posed no threat to him; once he mastered Intent, he was invincible among his peers. What mattered most was the growth of his Vitality Threads, for only by reaching a certain level could he attain the Qi Pulse Realm. Perhaps then, relying solely on vitality, he might even overpower the Tongmai Realm.
His main concern now was what he might win in the lottery; each draw cost two thousand negative emotion points, so with one hundred fifty thousand, he could spin seventy-five times.
At his command, the system intelligence swiftly purchased the Vitality Fruits, then began the lottery.
Ding!
“Congratulations, host, no prize!”
Ding!
“Congratulations, host, no prize!”
Ding!
“Congratulations…”
With high expectations, Lin Fan watched as fifty-two consecutive draws yielded nothing but “no prize.”
He blinked, already familiar with the system’s quirks. Last time, he won repeatedly; this time, he figured the odds were low. No matter, though—he was waiting for the breakthrough after this blank streak. Usually, a string of wins was followed by a dry spell, and vice versa; this was the pattern he’d observed.
Ding!
“Congratulations, host, you’ve won a Vitality Fruit!”
Ding!
“Congratulations, host, you’ve won a Divine Breaker Crossbow!”
Finally, on the fifty-seventh draw, the system announced a Vitality Fruit win, jolting Lin Fan’s spirits—just as he’d expected, after a run of losses, the winning began!
Ding!
“Congratulations, host, no prize!”
Ding!
“Congratulations, host, no prize!”
Ding…
But before Lin Fan could fully rejoice, the system returned to announcing “no prize,” continuing all the way to the end without awarding a single item. In total, he spent one hundred fifty thousand negative emotion points, winning only one Vitality Fruit and a Divine Breaker Crossbow.
It was decent, but not what he’d hoped for. If he hadn’t used the points for the lottery, he could have bought three more Vitality Fruits. The Divine Breaker Crossbow was certainly valuable and powerful, but he already had one. What he wanted were novel items—miraculous fruits, powerful weapons, or anything unexpected.
Yet the lottery results didn’t match his desires; perhaps this was the system’s frustrating nature.
“Never mind. I’ll consume the Vitality Fruits, raise my Vitality Threads to one hundred seventy-three, then take the Primordial Witch Bloodline!”
Lin Fan gritted his teeth. Although the lottery hadn’t given him much, he now had seven Vitality Fruits, enough to advance his strength by a significant leap. As for the Primordial Witch Bloodline, it was his trump card against the Tongmai Realm. Though he didn’t know its exact effects, anything called a bloodline was extraordinary. Even in this world, bloodline power was synonymous with strength and awe. Despite the system’s pitfalls, he trusted the items it produced.
Lin Fan consumed the Vitality Fruits one by one. Violent vitality surged through his meridians, gathering in his dantian, condensing thread after thread.
One thread!
Five threads!
Ten threads!
In the blink of an eye, over thirty threads had formed, the pace accelerating further.
In less than half a cup of tea’s time, Lin Fan’s eyes snapped open, thunder crackling in his gaze—his Vitality Threads had reached one hundred seventy-three.
Do not underestimate this number; compared to ordinary people, it was a terrifying seventeen thousand three hundred. The abundance of vitality was unimaginable.
Yet, Lin Fan cared little for this surge in cultivation—it was all within his expectations.
“I wonder what kind of transformation the Primordial Witch Bloodline will bring me. I hope it doesn’t disappoint.”
He pondered, retrieving the small vial of Primordial Witch Bloodline from his storage ring. As he took it out, a deafening roar seemed to erupt; his mind went blank as an ancient, primal aura enveloped him, smothering him completely.
Within it were threads of killing intent, battle spirit, hot blood, wildness, and more.
After a while, Lin Fan came to his senses, gazing at the flowing scarlet liquid in the vial, a slight smile curling his lips.
This was the Primordial Witch Bloodline he’d purchased, costing him one hundred thousand negative emotion points—a price that stung. Still, from the spectacle upon its appearance, it seemed he hadn’t lost out.
He hadn’t consumed it before because he was either at home or in Qingxue County City—neither environment was suitable. He’d thought to wait for a journey, find a mountain cave, and take it then.
But plans couldn’t keep up with change. To contend with the Tongmai Realm expert, he had to use it ahead of schedule.
If even this Primordial Witch Bloodline couldn’t help, he’d have to disregard his frail body and use soul power for a spiritual attack to obliterate the Zhang family’s Tongmai Realm expert.
At that point, once he unleashed the spiritual attack, killing a Tongmai expert would be easy. But he didn’t wish to use it—the cost was too great. His body was still weak, not sturdy enough for such techniques. If he did, while he might destroy the enemy, his own body would likely collapse instantly. Though he could forcibly reconstruct it with soul power, the injuries would be so severe that recovery would take years.
Moreover, these wounds would shake his foundation; for years, his cultivation wouldn’t advance, but regress to the Body Tempering stage. How far he’d fall would depend on fate.
In any case, he wouldn’t fare well.
So, unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t use such a formidable spiritual attack. Now, he could only hope the Primordial Witch Bloodline would bring a pleasant surprise—even if it merely made his body several times tougher, it would lessen the severity of the wounds after a spiritual attack.
If it could make his body as resilient as the Tongmai Realm, combined with his Intent Blade, everything would be simple.
With these thoughts, Lin Fan hesitated no longer. He uncorked the vial and drank the scarlet liquid.
Boom!
As soon as the liquid entered his mouth, it erupted like blazing fire, searing hot and vast as it poured down his throat.
Crack!
Bones shattered with explosive sounds; Lin Fan’s face turned deathly pale. In that moment, his flesh and bones felt as if smashed to pieces, waves of pain crashing through him. Sweat poured down his cheeks in large drops.
Though it was only a single drop, the Primordial Witch Bloodline within him transformed into a sea of blood, strengthening his body—shattering bones, burning tendons, boiling blood. Even the marrow and brain found themselves besieged, gradually breaking down.
Lin Fan was being remade from the inside out, the inhuman agony relentless.
“Come on, I’m not afraid. Come—!”
Lin Fan bit his lip, drawing blood; his eyes burned with determination.
The Primordial Witch Bloodline was powerful. If the Body Tempering Fruit had refined his body gently, like a warm spring, then this bloodline was breaking down every bit of flesh, tendons, and bone—forcefully, fiercely, remorselessly smashing his body and then rebuilding it.
Drip, drip…
Beads of blood began to seep from Lin Fan’s skin, quickly evaporated by the heat. He was soon shrouded in misty blood vapor.
Through the haze, his body could be seen warping—sometimes shrinking, sometimes swelling—as if bloated rodents were burrowing through his veins.
More and more blood oozed out, until finally, his skin split, and white bone fragments began to protrude.
At first, just a few; as time passed, a considerable amount of old bone was expelled.
[End of Chapter 44: Primordial Witch Bloodline]