Curtis Morgan stood with his hands behind his back, his expression cold as he looked at Marshall Morgan with disdain.
"But Marshall he..."
Penny Lawson wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Marshall Morgan.
"Mother, we don't need to beg him, let's just move out," Marshall said.
"Marshall, but your injuries haven't healed yet. It's late at night, what if you catch a cold?" Penny worriedly said.
Marshall stubbornly shook his head and said, "Mother, I'm fine. Let's move out. One day, we will move back. The Family Head Manor is the place where you and father married, no one can take it away."
"Alright then." Penny sighed and called Autumn Adler to help pack their things.
Curtis Morgan sneered as he watched, scanning around until his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Wait a minute, you can't take that sword with you."
Curtis approached Penny, who was holding a sword.
Penny's face turned pale, and she instinctively held the longsword tightly, pleading, "This sword is the only keepsake left by Marshall's father, it's meant for Marshall's future use. You can't take it!"
"Since it was left by the former Family Head, you can't take it. It belongs to the Morgan Family; it should be confiscated. Besides, Marshall can't even cultivate True Qi, what's the point of keeping the longsword? To waste it?"
Curtis snapped, his eyes revealing his excitement. He knew this sword was extraordinary, a Spiritual Weapon.
"No, Curtis, I beg you." Penny held onto the sword, unwilling to let go.
Curtis's eyes turned cold as he sneered, "You're asking for it the hard way."
"Curtis!"
A loud shout.
Marshall's eyes were red, and his clenched fists made a cracking sound.
"Curtis, you can take the sword, but remember this: someday, I will personally reclaim what is mine, tenfold, a hundredfold."
Marshall's gaze was icy cold as he stared at Curtis.
Being stared at by Marshall, Curtis felt a chill run through his body but then he sneered, "Marshall, a useless person who can't even awaken his bloodline thinks you can demand tenfold or a hundredfold from me? Haha, I'll be waiting."
For the past three years, Yara Morgan had been secretly adding Yama Flower Powder to Marshall's drinks, which suppresses bloodline awakening. As a result, three days ago, Marshall failed to awaken his bloodline in front of everyone, and only then did Yara and the Great Elder make their move.
"Mother, give it to him!" Marshall said.
Seemingly moved by Marshall's determined gaze, Penny reluctantly handed the sword to Curtis.
After packing their things, Penny supported Marshall as they walked out of the main gate of the Family Head Manor.
Marshall looked back at the Family Head Manor.
"One day, I will return."
...
At a small courtyard in the east wing, originally a place for servants with three rooms and a small yard, Marshall and his family moved there.
In the dead of night, the cold was bone-chilling.
Marshall sat in the yard, his fists clenched tightly.
"Power, in this world, power determines everything. It's because I lacked power that Yara and the Great Elder took my bloodline. It's because I lacked power that I couldn't protect the Family Head Manor or my father's longsword."
"In this world, without power, you can only endure humiliation and can't resist. Now, I can feel my bloodline slowly rebirthing. Even if rebirthed bloodline is low-level, as long as I work ten times, a hundred times harder than others, I believe I won't be inferior. One day, I will truly control my own destiny and protect my loved ones."
Footsteps came from behind, and Penny draped a long robe over Marshall, saying, "Marshall, it's cold outside. The room is ready, hurry and go in to rest."
"Mother, you should rest early too," Marshall smiled.
Returning to his room, unable to sleep, Marshall sat on his bed.
"When will my bloodline fully rebirth and grow?"
Marshall pondered, then focused his mind towards his spine.
He wanted to carefully feel the state of his yet-to-grow bloodline.
At this time, a tingling sensation arose in his spine, and a dim red light flickered, within which was the faintly visible image of something finger-sized, like a small insect.
But it was indistinct and unclear.
"My bloodline hasn't fully grown, but it can already manifest?" Marshall was surprised.
Normally, only fully awakened bloodlines can manifest.
"Since it's able to manifest, let's see if it can cultivate like a normal bloodline." With this thought, Marshall began practicing the Basic Cultivation Technique known by all in the Morgan Family, the Qi Gathering Technique.
Promptly, spiritual energy from the surroundings converged towards Marshall's body.
"The speed at which it absorbs spiritual energy is comparable to that of a Level 2 Bloodline."
Feeling the concentration of spiritual energy gathering around him, Marshall was overjoyed.
In the Lands of Aethelgard, martial artists are divided into ordinary martial artists and bloodline martial artists.
However, ordinary martial artists can't compare to bloodline martial artists. Bloodline martial artists awaken the bloodline within them, not only enhancing combat power but also greatly accelerating cultivation speed beyond ordinary martial artists' capabilities.
Nevertheless, bloodline martial artists are extremely rare, with not even one person awakening a bloodline among dozens.
Now, Marshall's bloodline hasn't fully grown, yet its absorption rate matches a Level 2 Bloodline. What will happen if his bloodline fully develops? What kind of effect will it have?
Marshall's heart filled with anticipation.
Spiritual energy continuously gathered, absorbed by Marshall, seeping into his body.
An hour later, Marshall opened his eyes.
After an hour of cultivation, he felt his injuries had slightly improved, and the frail and sickly condition of his body had also been somewhat ameliorated.
"At this rate, in a few days, my injuries will completely heal, and my physique will gradually improve. By then, my cultivation speed will also increase."
Marshall pondered, involuntarily touching his neck, where only a thread remained; the bronze pendant was missing.
"My bloodline rebirth might be related to that bronze pendant. Now it's relocated to my brow, I wonder what effect it will have?"
Thinking this, Marshall's mind focused on his brow attempting to sense it.
Just as his mind sank into the space between his eyebrows, a halo emitted from that spot, which then transformed into a vortex.
The vortex grew larger, enveloping Curtis Morgan's entire body.
The next moment, everything spun around, and Curtis Morgan found himself in another place.
Curtis Morgan was shocked and quickly started to look around.
At this moment, he was standing on a flat stone platform, about ten meters in length and width. In three directions from the stone platform lay void and chaos.
Only one direction had a row of stone steps, slanting upwards with a total of ninety-nine steps.
Beyond the ninety-nine steps was another platform, and beyond that platform was another row of stone steps.
Layer upon layer, the number was unknown, but at the very top of the stone steps and platforms was a palace.
Due to the great distance, Curtis Morgan couldn't see clearly, he could only vaguely see that the palace's grand entrance seemed to be open, and within the mist, there appeared to be a figure sitting cross-legged, with a chanting voice emanating from the palace.
The chanting sound entered his ears, making Curtis Morgan feel spiritually uplifted, all worries seemed to vanish, his mind and body sank into an ethereal state, and his mind became extraordinarily clear.
"What is going on? Why am I here? And where is this place? Hey, there's a stone tablet and a black iron box over there."
On one side of the platform, there was only a stone tablet and a box.
The stone tablet had four characters: Supreme Divine Temple.
Apart from these four characters, there was nothing else.
Then, Curtis Morgan turned his gaze to the black iron box.
The box was not large, less than half a meter in width, and less than a meter in length.
Curtis Morgan opened the box and found three books and a jade bottle inside.
On the jade bottle, three characters were written: Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill.
"Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill? It's actually a Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill?"
Curtis Morgan was overjoyed and quickly opened the lid of the jade bottle, instantly a rich medicinal fragrance hit his nose. Inside the jade bottle was a fiery red pill, the size of a fingertip, glistening and clear.
The Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill is said to cleanse and purify, allowing one to be reborn, greatly enhancing a martial artist's physique. This is a rare Spirit Pill, hardly seen in Ignisport in a thousand years.
"With the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill, wouldn't my weak and sickly physique and the clogged meridians be greatly improved?"
Curtis Morgan's heart was filled with intense excitement and anticipation.
He took a deep breath, carefully capped the jade bottle, placed it aside, and then picked up the three books and began to read.
These were three cultivation techniques and martial techniques books.
"Battle Dragon True Technique," "Flame Dragon Fist," and "Dragon and Snake Step Technique."
Curtis Morgan first opened the "Battle Dragon True Technique."
"Battle Dragon True Technique," a divine-level cultivation technique, when mastered to its peak, possesses the might of a battle dragon, unmatched combat power, sweeping across the land.
"Divine... divine-level technique?"
Curtis Morgan's eyes widened, his breathing grew heavier.
Cultivation techniques and martial techniques are generally divided into five levels: Heavenly, Earth, Mystical, Yellow, and Unranked.
And each level is divided into upper and lower grades.
The Heavenly grade is the highest, with Unranked being, as the name suggests, the lowest, not included in the grades.
Yet above the Heavenly-level techniques, there is actually another level: the Divine-level.
But the Divine-level is just a legend, Curtis Morgan had never heard of anyone possessing divine-level techniques or martial skills.
To his knowledge, the highest cultivation technique of the Morgan Family was only a Yellow-level top-grade.
But now, a divine-level technique was laid before Curtis Morgan. How could he not be shocked? How could he not be excited?
The unfortunate thing was, this "Battle Dragon True Technique" only had the mental method for the first layer, which only allowed cultivation to the Meridian Passage Level, and progressing to the next realm required the second layer of the technique.
The second layer of the technique was located at the second platform beyond the ninety-nine steps, where there was also a box.
Curtis Morgan flipped through the pages, and on the last page, he found a line of words.
'To cultivate the second layer of the "Battle Dragon True Technique," one must open three Divine Veins, otherwise, forcibly cultivating the second layer will result in exploding meridians and death.'
Curtis Morgan took a deep breath; the cultivation requirements were too high.
Martial Artist cultivation is divided into Meridian Passage, Warrior Realm, Martial Master, Great Martial Master, Martial Lord, Martial King...
The Meridian Passage Level is the foundation of a martial artist's cultivation, and also the easiest.
The human body has nine meridians and eighty-one acupoints.
The first three are called Human Veins, the middle three are called Earth Veins, and the last three are called Heavenly Veins.
By opening the 'Heaven, Earth, and Human' nine meridians, a martial artist can break through to the next realm, the Warrior Realm, and become a true martial artist.
But above the nine meridians, there are three more called Divine Veins.
Yet only very few can open the Divine Veins.
Yara Morgan, by opening just one Divine Vein, alarmed the entire Ignisport, leading the Senate of Elders to immediately decide to let her lead the Morgan Family, a testament to its rarity.
"For the divine-level technique, I must open three Divine Veins."
Curtis Morgan clenched his fists and continued reading the other two manuals.
The other two were one fist technique, a Yellow-level lower grade martial technique, and one movement technique, also a Yellow-level lower grade martial technique.
Even though they were Yellow-level lower grade martial techniques, even the Morgan Family didn't have many of them.
After setting down the martial techniques, Curtis Morgan picked up the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill again, opened the bottle, and swallowed it in one gulp.
The potent medicinal effect dissolved within him, permeating Curtis Morgan's muscles, bones, and internal organs, beginning to improve his physique.
Curtis Morgan could even hear the vibration of bones within him, and the sound of his muscles contracting, his whole body was heating up, as wisps of black impurities were expelled from his body.
His body continued to grow stronger, and the previously blocked and withered meridians began to become lively and active.