The matriarch clearly had the sa curiosity as well, so she let Alex continue. Alex kept pouring in blood, letting Xuan Luhei absorb more and more of it.
As ti continued, the sessions progressed and the snake's body was filled with blood once again. Alex stopped and moved away, letting the matriarch tell him about the changes.
The matriarch narrowed her eyes, scanning through his body. After so ti, she gave a single nod. "It happened," she said, her voice struggling to hide her shock. "His bloodline is stronger."
The words ca as a tidal wave to both the tortoises that were waiting far away. Xuan Luhei, the tortoise that had spent his entire ti cultivating for his brother, looked up with wide eyes, his expression one of nothing but shock.
Lingkai was of the sa mind as well. Her eyes wandered aimlessly as thoughts raced in her mind at a thousand miles an hour.
"Listen up!" the matriarch said suddenly, her words crashing onto everyone, including Alex, like a tidal wave. "Nothing you learned today will be revealed to the public. And I an absolutely nothing. Lingkai, make sure your sister knows this right away. If you two so much as make a peep about what transpired here today, I will kill you both." Lingkai gulped a little, nodding slowly. "I won't dare, matriarch."
The matriarch rely turned her eyes toward Xuan Luhei, and the tortoise imdiately spoke an oath to never reveal it to anyone.
The matriarch finally relaxed, turning back toward Alex. "I won't command you. I can't. But I hope you will keep this thing silent as well."
Alex nodded. "I have no intention of making myself the target of everyone with any evil intention," he said. It need not be said just what sort of burden he had placed upon the matriarch.
Should anyone find out that one could improve their bloodline using the blood of others of their kin, the only result would be the absolute destruction of their family. They needed only one beast with an evil intention to slay or enslave every other family mber and use their blood to empower his own.
The matriarch's face held a deep frown for a long ti as she
considered the consequences. She looked up after a while, turning to Alex. She gestured toward Xuan Luhei.
"Continue. Let us see how far it can go."
Alex nodded and did as she commanded.
For three more sessions, Alex continued pouring blood into the snake, and the snake cultivated, absorbing it all.
Alex ca to realize that this was the "small steps" he had been considering for Pearl to take on his approach to becoming an Azure Dragon. Slowly, he would improve his bloodline bit by bit.
He could try that with Pearl imdiately, but he wasn't sure how far he could help Pearl improve his bloodline this way. The main issue Pearl had that Xuan Luhei didn't was the fact that Luhei's soul was strong with the Black Tortoise bloodline to begin with.
anwhile, Pearl's soul was far from appropriate. All Alex could do was hope this worked. If not, he would have to find other thods.
After the three sessions, the matriarch finally made Alex stop. She let him conserve the rest of the blood and allowed Xuan Luhei to cultivate for so ti before asking him to stop as well.
"How do you feel?" she asked. "Your bloodline is stronger now. Close to what a fifth-generation Black Tortoise would have."
Xuan Luhei's eyes widened. He was only a sixth-generation beast, so his bloodline improving by an entire generation was quite good news for him.
"I can tell that you can continue to improve if I let you, likely until
you're close to a fourth-generation Black Tortoise, at which point your improvent will finally slow down," she said. "But I can't let that happen."
Xuan Luhei lowered his head with a slightly disappointed look.
"It's not that I don't want to let you, but I can't allow you to gain this much improvent all on your own without any credits," she said. "Furthermore, we do not yet know what issues it will bring when two brothers don't have the sa strength of bloodline, so we will need to figure that out as well."
Snake Luhei turned toward his brother, tortoise Luhei, for a mont before turning back toward the matriarch with a deep nod. "Thank you for your consideration, matriarch. I was so lost in my own improvent that I didn't even consider that."
She nodded slowly. "You two should return now. Go and rest. Your task here is done."
Luhei nodded, giving one look toward Alex before bowing toward him as well. "Thank you."
"You don't have to thank , senior Luhei. I did what I had to. Besides, I'm gaining sothing in return."
Luhei smiled. "Thank you anyway. And please just call Luhei from now on. Your strength and cultivation far surpass my own. I am no
senior to you."
Alex paused for a bit before smiling. "You will forever remain a senior to , so I cannot agree to your request. Rest well, senior Luhei. And let know imdiately if you sense anything wrong with your
blood."
The snake nodded. "I shall. Thank you."
Xuan Luhei walked out through the gate, leaving the other three behind.
The place remained silent for a while before the matriarch turned
toward Alex. "You must be tired as well. Why don't you rest for a few days, then we can talk in detail about what happened today? Once I understand it all much better, we can proceed toward the second test and see how well it works."
"The second test," Alex said. "That's the evolution one, is it not?"
"It is," the matriarch said. "Do not waste the blood you were given, as
you will be needing it."
Alex nodded. "I look forward to it."
Alex was finally done with the first test, a brilliant success, and
returned to his quarters.
"Rest well. I'll be back in a few days," Lingkai said before leaving.
Alex nodded, but he had no plans to rest.
He had another test to perform.
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