Han De was speechless. He inferred that due to his bloodline not showing any awakening requirements, he could just awaken in when he needed it. How could he know that it was such an involved process?! The bloodline was applied in an instant! Why does it have so many strict requirements?!

He looked at the tentacles that were clearly fawning over him. Han De immediately got a bad feeling. If this thing had accepted him as its ruler, then what would happen next? He realized he needed to think something fast before this thing decides to take him home.

Long Xiu and Ming Emperor fought for nearly 30 minutes. Long Xiu looked completely fine, even her clothes were spotless. Ming Emperor however, was in his last steps. He attempted to increase the size of the Breach and distract Long Xiu, but that was a futile effort. Perhaps her confidence in her subordinates was simply that high. Or perhaps she didn't care about her son at all. Either way, she didn't show any emotions toward his attempts.

Finally, Long Xiu caught him by the throat. Her face looked absolutely expressionless. It was as if she wasn’t the one to fight him for the past half an hour.

Han De looked at the fawning tentacles in silent disgust. The only thing that came to his mind, was to bullshit his way through. He really didn’t want to end up as a concubine to this… thing…

‘If they are supposed to accept my rule, then I need to act like a ruler. I can’t show any weaknesses. How would a ruler act anyway? It should be close to an arrogant young master I guess? I got plenty of experience in that regard…’

Han De ignored his slowly healing wound. He fixed his posture and looked straight at the flagship crash site. A few thousand survivors seemed to have managed to restore half of a formation somehow and were using it for their last stance. Transcendent experts had stopped fighting each other and were trying to hold back the netherworld behemoths. Each of the behemoths was the size of a 2 story building.

“Enough.”

While ignoring the tentacles, Han De slowly steered his sword toward the battle. Tentacles shivered and all netherworlds demons stopped attacking. Cultivators had previously taken advantage of this behavior and cut them down, but now they could only step back to take a moment's rest.

The eyes, or the things that served as sensory organs turned towards Han De. He was far away, his chest was bleeding, and it spurted out some blood whenever he talked.

“You exist because I allow it, and you will end when I demand it.”

The demons started retreating. Han De thought the tentacles were now more respectful somehow. Unfortunately, he also realized the number of them was rapidly increasing. He was afraid he would break his character if he tried to confirm, so he could only ignore it.

The eyes of the Xin Meili, the matriarch of the Xin family shook when she looked at the distant figure. Xin Qiang, her personal disciple told her this man was Han De, the heir of the Starfall Mountain. Xin Meili had no idea what was happening, she only felt a strong sense of fear. She couldn’t detect the cultivation of the monster behind Han De. It was as if the tentacles were there, but not there at the same time.

The sect masters of the alliance also felt the same thing. Pure fear, terror, and dread. The demons they were fighting just a second ago retreated at the same time. Some of them even seemed happy! These sect masters were all based on the south-eastern side of the continent, it was impossible for them not to recognize Han De.

Everyone watched as Han De slowly flew towards the remains of the crashed spiritual boat. Han De himself was unsure of what to do. He had a really bad feeling about the tentacle monster thing behind him. His only hope at this point was his mother, perhaps she might have a way of dealing with it, but it was doubtful whether he would survive the process.

‘Actually, my mother coming here might be the worst thing that might happen. At least things are under control for the time being. I just need to bullsh-’

A rapidly approaching mass of spiritual energy interrupted Han De’s thoughts. Before he could even start swearing inside, his mother arrived.

“Little De, what is going on? What is… doing here?”

His mother’s face was full of worry. Han De was sure she almost said the name of this thing. He didn’t even know if he wanted to learn the species of it. Getting rid of it was his highest priority.

“Just a little helper…”

Tentacles convulsed with respect after Han De’s statement.

‘Wait, was that respect? How am I so sure it was respect?!’

“I-I see. Why don’t you come here then? I’ve missed you so much!...’

Long Xiu started approaching Han De, slowly. As she was getting closer the tentacles and the demons got tense.

“Enough, she is my mother. Disrespecting her is disrespecting me!”

Tentacles bowed with respect and begged for his forgiveness. Han De nodded dismissively, tentacles immediately turned joyful.

‘F#$%! I need to get away from this thing, quickly!’

He didn’t even dare to send a voice transmission. Things could turn very ugly very quickly. Now that they were already jubilant, Han De tried to make his ultimate move. Flattery.

“This limited plane isn’t well suited for you, but you have done satisfactorily regardless. One day, I will allow you to take your rightful place, but before that day comes, I am giving you an important mission. Watch! Watch over this pitiful plane. Once your day comes, I will allow you to surpass the cycle. Now. Go. And carry out my will.”

Tentacles froze. Han De didn’t know if his gamble was going to work, but this was his best shot. As seconds passed by, he felt unsure. Nearly a half a minute later, he was starting to regret it. After a minute, if he wasn’t a body cultivator, he would’ve started sweating profusely. But on the outside, he looked just fine.

Long Xiu was completely frozen. She had no idea what her son was talking about. She wanted to take him away but even leaking a tiny amount of power was risky. How old was that thing? Where did it come from? Why did it come here? It shouldn’t even be able to exist at this side? How?!

Tentacles finally convulsed, once. Han De understood it. He just nodded. Tentacles left with great speed and demons returned to the other side and the Breach started closing. However, Han De couldn’t relax.

‘What the F#$% do you mean by stopping the false ruler that is coming?! F#$%!!! Be more descriptive!!’

Of course, Han De couldn’t ask what this ‘false ruler’ really was. It would just break his facade. He needed to communicate less and let people… or entities… come to their own conclusions. This was a double-edged sword, but there was no alternative.

Long Xiu woke up from her stupor and flew directly to Han De.

“My little De! Who dared to hurt you?! I will make sure the- No! Later!”

Long Xiu ripped a high realm talisman to heal her son. She didn’t have any healing techniques, but one good thing about the Han family was their healing talismans. The light element really shined when it came to healing.

“Alright, now, tell me, who did thi-”

Long Xiu looked at the still bleeding wound in confusion. Was it a poison? Was it a curse?! Unacceptable!! She checked out the wound with her spiritual sense but couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Perhaps it was…

Han De saw his mother’s face go through a variety of emotions. Before she could jump to some insane conclusion, he told her the truth about his body constitution. His mother looked at him with undisguised bafflement. Han De could only weakly smile. He took out another high-quality healing pill and swallowed it. This time, he could meditate and guide the medicine.

Under Long Xiu’s weird gaze, the wound closed up with great speed. This was something inconceivable. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. While she was considering the implications, she detected some movement with her spiritual sense. This area came under her spiritual sense the moment she arrived. She only gave one look at the alliance leaders and those that tried to escape stopped at once.

Surviving Han family experts started sealing the survivors of the alliance. Long Xiu spotted Xin Meili and Xin Qiang. They were both heavily wounded. Long Xiu nodded. They were mother and daughter. She sent a voice transmission to both.

Han De opened his eyes. The healing process only took 10 seconds. The wound was completely healed. If it wasn’t for the entry and exit holes on his clothes, it would be impossible to tell he was wounded in the first place. This pill was truly a miracle pill. He was reminded of his earlier bullshit about the human body. At the time that was just a convenient excuse, but perhaps these pills truly worked that way.

Yao Qing and Jin Shu woke up. They were trapped in some kind of trance, but they were finally able to slip away from that state. They greeted their master, only to see a hole in his clothes.

Unfortunately, Ning Bi was still unconscious. Han De had no idea what happened to her after the ship crashed. He could only keep her close and run away. Frankly, it was a miracle that she didn’t die from the sneak attack. All 24 life-saving items on his body were disintegrated with a single strike. If that thing had even grazed her, she probably would’ve died on the spot, even with life-saving items!

Long Xiu was completely baffled as the last of the Breach closed from the other side. She looked at her son, hoping for an explanation.

Han De gave her an explanation but omitted the bloodline stuff on purpose.

<Mother, is the Breach really closed now?>

<Yes… It can still be opened from this side, but… No. Maybe… No. It can’t be opened from the other side. No, it can’t.>

Han De dubiously looked at his mother. He nodded and immediately used a removal token.

[Bloodline Removal Process Invoked]
[Gathering statistics]

[Calibrating...]

[Process failed]

[Privilege level insufficient]

‘... What?! What do you mean insufficient?! F#$%!! Didn't you remove the bloodline on Jin Shu?!’

For the first time in a while, Han De was truly angry at the System. Removal of this bloodline was imperative to his continued survival! If that thing one day realizes it was duped and comes back for revenge, finding him through the bloodline was super easy! That’s how these things worked in Xianxia! A bloodline is both a blessing and a curse. If the curse part turned unmanageable, it was better to remove the thing altogether!

Han De took a deep breath. There was no way of doing it now, but that was only the case for right now.

‘Temporary, yes. This is temporary. I just need to dupe some stupid MCs and increase my privilege. That’s how it works right? I just need to fill up the quota. I won’t end up as a concubine to a tentacle monster. Nope, there is no chance for that. Absolutely no chance…’

Han De’s face darkened. Nope, that wasn’t a flag at all.

Old Peng approached Han De and gave a report after a respectful bow.

<Young Master! Of the 1987 experts that came with us, 1279 remains. Losses were mainly on the lower realm sides.>

From the look of the battlefield, Han De thought these numbers shouldn’t be that surprising, but he was still shocked nonetheless.

<Weren’t our people carrying life-saving items?>

<Y-Yes, most of the survivors are alive because of them, y-young master...>

Han De didn’t expect a loss of life this great. Once again, he was made aware that this was a Xianxia world. 2 people died for every 5 he brought.

<Cultivation of the 34 survivors are crippled. 5 of them have destroyed their roots during the fight, s-senior Treebeard is included. Meridians of the 29 were completely destroyed.>

This hurt Han De more than he thought it would. Treebeard was his highest cultivation lackey, but also he was the one most trustworthy. Even more so than the fighting maniac Old Peng.

‘Perhaps I can use a Spiritual Roots Healing Token on him? I never tried activating tokens on another person. Would it even work on non-disciples?’

Han De gestured to Old Peng to indicate he wanted to visit the survivors. He and his disciples followed Old Peng. Lackeys’ faces were solemn. They went through a lot and lost a lot of colleagues. Han De thought at least they were all in one piece. While he was worried about the chances of tokens working on outsiders, he was completely oblivious to the lackey’s thoughts upon seeing him.

Treebeard was sitting in the lotus position. His cultivation was ruined, so it was just meditation for peace of mind. When he opened his eyes and saw Han De, he immediately stood up and bowed.

“Young Master. It is good to see that you are well. I apologize, my useless self was unable to follow you and protect you. And in the process I even became invalid. My onl-”

“Enough.”

Han De disrupted Treebeard before he demanded something stupid. Cultivation was everything for these people, and losing it was worse than death. Treebeard's spiritual roots were destroyed completely. Han De could sense that its destruction was complete. He tried to activate a random bloodline token just to see if it was possible to use a token on an outsider.

[Tokens can only be activated on the host’s disciples, or on the host itself]

Han De sighed.

‘I figured as much…’

‘The roots are destroyed, but the spiritual energy is still there. He just can't add or hold on to any more spiritual energy. It will slowly dissipate and can never be replaced.’

Han De glanced at Yao Qing. This girl had mentioned many times that she had regrown her roots.

Yao Qing felt the gaze of her master, and she understood his intentions.

<The blood sacrifice chamber under the Brass Stallion city could be used for defying the heavens. However, the price is high. It needs the blood and soul of twenty Transcendent experts to satisfy the chambers. Regrowing my roots was only a side effect. I was at the right place at the right time. I am not sure of the true purpose of those chambers. They were destroyed by the Heavenly Tribulation, along with the city.>

Han De thought about it. Twenty Transcendent experts. Fortunately, his mother had a lot of those at the moment. Han De wasn’t going to care about the lives of the enemies that hurt his people. Not to mention the fact that the killer of the cultivation idiot was also among them, and he was giving orders. There was no need for mercy.

Convincing the Brass Stallion city however, was a different affair. Those chambers seemed pretty important to Tan Renshu, the patriarch of the Tan family. Plus, its real purpose was also a mystery. But Han De felt he had to try. These people gave up their lives and their futures because of him. A city or some chambers could always be rebuilt. It was just money in the end. Besides, he had Yao Qing with her OP anti heavenly tribulation bloodline. Perhaps the damage wouldn't be as great as before.

[Name: Treebeard]
[Race: Human (100%)]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 1171]

[Cultivation: - ]
[Constitution: None]
[Bloodline: None]
[Roots: Wood (Destroyed - 34%) - Earth (Destroyed - 31%) - Metal (Destroyed - 33%)]

[Potential Points (Total: 28)]
-------------------------------------------
[Will: 8]
[Talent: 5]
[Comprehension: 8]
[Luck: 7]

[Cultivation Methods]
-------------------------------------------
[Still Mind Scripture (Mortal)]
[Power: Extremely Weak]
[Mastery: Advanced (41/48)]
[Stage: - ]

[Martial Arts Methods]
-------------------------------------------
[Serene Debate (Mortal)]
[Power: Extremely Weak]
[Mastery: Advanced (38/46)]

[Expand to view more...]

[Fate]
[Virtuous Sage]

[Notes]
[Good Potential. Would be an exemplary elder of a sect.]

When Han De saw that Treebeard reached the late-stage Immortal Realm at the age of 1171, he knew his talent was pretty good. Normal people would require 2000 at least. Of course, even the normal of Immortal Realm was once a genius among geniuses during the Qi Condensation realm.

Although he was nurtured by the Han family from the ground up, the talent factor should still be there. Han De was truly baffled to see a talent score of 5. Was this caused by his roots being destroyed? Han De doubted that.

When parasitic bloodline was reducing Jin Shu’s potential, there was a separate indicator by the System that showed her true stats. In the cockroach’s notes section, there was a mention of talent attribute increase upon gaining high-quality roots. There was no such thing in Treebeard’s status.

‘Just with a talent value of 5, you become a monster of this level? With just 5?!’

While he was deeply thinking about the true value of Potential Points, he realized something.

‘If I accept him, then restore his spiritual roots, will I get an Immortal Realm disciple?!?!’

While Han De was thinking about the possibilities with a stupid smile, he spotted a trembling figure with the corner of his eye. This was the immortal chef his mother brought him. She was walking towards him with great difficulty.