Baishu Village, Huji Prefecture, Yan Kingdom.
Shu Yang paced outside the bedroom nervously. The screams from inside caused him to clench his fists in hopelessness.
'I should have bought more blood and qi nourishing pills! Even if I have to sell the fields, I should have done it.'
He couldn't help but worry. Shu Yang knew that the delivery of children in this era was a lot more risky than in his previous life.
Unlike anyone else Shu Yang had met, he could remember his previous life. But that life was lived out in a completely different world, where technology ruled rather than personal power.
He died young in his previous life; he was only a 20-year-old college student studying botany. Who would have thought that it would all come to an end just because he happened to pick up a strange seed when he was out in the forest during an excursion?
The strange seed he picked up burrowed into his body for some reason, and after that, everything became dark.
Shu Yang didn't remember his previous life as soon as he was born. He would only have a few flashes of his previous life come to mind in his early childhood, and it wasn't until he was about 7 years old that he finally remembered everything, including the strange seed that killed him.
"Aaah!"
Shu Yang heard his wife's painful scream and couldn't help but rush to the door of the bedroom.
He opened the door slightly and called inside, "Is everything alright? I have a few more blood and qi nourishing pills here. How is Qianyue?"
"Everything is fine as long as you don't disturb us!" An angry shout sounded from Ma Rue, who helped with the delivery, as she slammed the door shut again.
"Stay in the hall and don't bother us," She instructed through the door.
'For what reason can't the husband stay with his wife when she is delivering? This is torture!'
Shu Yang didn't dare disobey, however. He had no knowledge of delivering babies despite his memories of a previous life.
And Ma Rue had delivered over a hundred babies in the village over the years.
Before the mother and baby were safe, Shu Yang didn't dare act against the advice of the professionals.
'They still have three blood and qi nourishing pills inside. It should be fine.' Shu Yang thought, trying to comfort himself.
But he was still nervous. In this life, his mother died giving birth to him. He knew the risks weren't small.
'I somewhat understand how my father felt now. I can't imagine what I'd do if Qianyue dies.'
His father had taken the death of his mother really hard. Shu Yang had heard that his father used to be known as a handsome, cheerful, and hardworking person in the village. But from his own memories, his father was always haggard and depressed and spent most of his days drinking.
When Shu Yang was 12 years old, his father passed away due to his declining health from years of drinking.
Shu Yang didn't take it particularly hard. The two of them were never close, despite being father and son, and he had long since recovered his memories of his previous life by that point.
But now, he couldn't help but think back a little more fondly of the old man.
'I'll go visit my parents' graves with my child later and pay my respects. Hopefully, the two of them can be reborn just like me and stay together longer in their next life.'
"It's a boy! It's a boy! Both mother and son are safe!" A loud voice came from inside the bedroom, along with the sound of a crying baby.
But Shu Yang didn't need anyone to tell him that he now had a son. He could feel it clearly.
His blood was rushing, and he felt stronger and more energetic all of a sudden. Closing his eyes, he could see a small sapling inside his sea of consciousness, seemingly gaining a small boost of vitality.
This is Shu Yang's golden finger in this life. The small seed that had killed him in his previous life seems to have taken root inside him.
When Shu Yang first noticed its presence inside him, he was ecstatic. He was about 8 years old and had been worrying that he would have to spend his life as a poor farmer. But when he saw something so mystical inside of him, he had hope that this world was a lot more mysterious than he had first thought. It might actually be a world of immortal cultivation!
Unfortunately, Shu Yang never noticed any special abilities. He was just like everybody else. He even seemed to be less talented in martial arts than the average person.
Shu Yang refused to believe that the sapling was useless, however. So he began meditating while focusing on the small sapling and trying to uncover its secrets.
It took him years. But slowly, he began to gain a sense of the abilities this small sapling gave him.
It was actually some kind of bloodline tree. He could feel that there seemed to be some kind of ethereal roots spreading from his sea of consciousness into his physical body. It didn't give him any abilities as it was, but Su Yang could feel that something should happen as long as his bloodline spread.
He wasn't entirely sure, however. The tree didn't give him any information; it was all deduced from years of close examination.
But now it was confirmed! With the birth of his son, Shu Yang could feel that his bloodline seemed to have gained a small boost. He just wasn't sure what the exact effect was.
'I'll study it in detail later. I have to comfort Qianyue.'
Walking into the bedroom, he saw his beautiful wife raising her head tiredly and smiling at him. Her long black hair was stuck to her face, wet from sweat.
"Husband, look at our son," Qianyue said, looking down at the baby in her arms.
Shu Yang felt strange. This was the first time in both lives that he had a child. He couldn't help but feel a heavy weight of responsibility land on his shoulders.
Shu Yang took a deep breath and smiled in relief.
'Everything will only become better from now on.'
"Ma Rue, thank you," Shu Yang said and handed the woman a small bag of silver coins he had already prepared.
"I'm happy to help. I'll leave you two alone," Ma Rue said with a slightly tired smile and left the room.
Shu Yang lay down on the bed next to his wife and kissed her on the forehead. "You've worked hard."
"It's okay," Ren Qianyue said with a bright smile. "Husband, what should we name him?"
"How about Tianren?" Shu Yang asked with a smile. He had already thought of a name long ago. Not only that, as soon as he thought the power of the sapling was related to his offspring, Shu Yang had prepared the generational character for the next hundred generations of the Shu family. Before he grew up, all he could do was plan for the future.
'Tian' would be the character of his children's generation.
"Shu Tianren," Ren Qianyue murmured softly as she looked down on the baby, "It's perfect."
Qianyue leaned her head against Shu Yang's shoulder, looking extremely tired.
"Have you taken all the blood and qi nourishing pills? I have a few more here; you should take one to regain your blood loss," Shu Yang said.
Qianyue rolled her eyes and huffed, "I took one already, I feel fine. I already told you that I can't handle more than that, no matter what. But you just had to go buy a full ten pills, emptying our savings. What are we going to feed the baby? Blood and qi nourishing pills?"
"Well," Shu Yang scratched his head awkwardly. It was certainly way out of their family's budget to buy so many pills. But Shu Yang didn't want to take any risks.
"It's fine. It's almost time for harvest, and the fields are more abundant than ever. Don't worry about it," Shu Yang comforted. "But the pills are bought, and you do look a little pale still. How about just having one more?"
"That's a waste," Ren Qianyue said, shaking her head, "I'll be fine after resting."
Shu Yang didn't want to give up, however. He was afraid of leaving behind some hidden injuries that might become a problem later. It was better to be a little extravagant.
"Just have one," Shu Yang said, pushing a pill into his wife's mouth. "It's better to recover sooner, so we can work on giving a sibling to Tianren."
Qianyue blushed and looked at him with an angry pout. But she still took the pill in the end.
The two continued whispering until the exhaustion of the eventful day caught up with them, and they both fell asleep without realizing it.
When Shu Yang woke up, it was just early in the morning. He had been working in the fields for years, so it had become a habit to wake up early. Looking to his side, he noticed that Qianyue was already gone with the baby.
Shu Yang rubbed his eyes and got out of bed, feeling unusually energetic.
'I need to find some time to see the effects the birth of Tianren had on the Bloodline Tree.'
Stepping out into the kitchen, he saw his wife making breakfast while holding the baby in her arms.
Shu Yang smiled. Sometimes he felt like he was dreaming when he looked at his wife.
She was 19 years old, and had long been famous as the most beautiful girl in the village. The number of men who were interested in her could be imagined. There were even a few fairly wealthy young masters from the nearby Chunsi Town who came to propose marriage. But she turned them all down, and instead ended up with an ordinary farmer like Shu Yang.
Shu Yang walked up to his wife and son and hugged her from behind.
"You just gave birth yesterday. You should rest and let me handle these things for a while."
"How can I rest with all the blood and qi nourishing pills you've fed me? Don't worry about it. Sit down and wait, the food will be ready soon. The workload will be heavy during this time, so you need to eat well and rest when you can."
"Alright, alright," Shu Yang said. His wife did, in fact, look healthy and full of energy, so he didn't bother worrying too much.
Shu Yang sneaked out into the courtyard and found himself an old chair to sit down on. He closed his eyes and focused on the Bloodline Tree.
It hadn't grown a lot; it was still a small sapling, but it was definitely taller. As for the specific effect…
Shu Yang calmed his breath and started meditating while feeling the effect of the Bloodline Tree. He had years of experience, and he could quickly tell what had happened.
'Slight talent for martial arts!' Shu Yang exclaimed in his mind. He could clearly feel that his son Tianren had some talent for practicing martial arts. And that talent had been fed back to Shu Yang himself.
'It's just like I theorized! My children will feed back their bloodline to me, making my bloodline stronger and more diverse for every child that is born.'
Even if Shu Tianren hadn't ended up being born with any particular talent, his birth would still feed back some power to Shu Yang. It might not be to the extent of doubling it. Far from it. But it would be a slight increase.
With enough descendants, it will add up eventually.
And that wasn't considering that as Shu Yang's bloodline increased in power, his children would also grow more talented as they inherited part of his more powerful bloodline. It's a positive feedback loop!
'I feel somewhat sorry for Tianren. His future younger siblings will probably only grow stronger and stronger, despite Tianren himself being the first contributor to the family bloodline's increase in power.'
'I have to make sure to treat him well, and do my best to make sure he can keep up with his younger siblings.'
Shu Yang rose to his feet and couldn't wait to start his martial arts practice to see the effect of his improved talent.
His poor talent had always bothered him. Ever since he regained his memories from his previous life, he realized that this was a world where the one with the bigger fist made the rules. He was desperate to improve his strength. But unfortunately, even after years of practice, he was still stuck at a bottleneck, and even with the help of blood and qi nourishing pills, he couldn't advance to become a 3rd-grade martial warrior.
At the moment, he was just a strong, normal person, far from even being the strongest in the small Baishu village.
'Let's see if I can finally take that step today.'
Shu Yang started doing the postures and exercises that he had inherited from the Bloodline Tree.
Yes. After he first got a chance to study a low-grade martial art, he noticed that something inside wanted him to move differently than the martial arts manual instructed. He had a pretty good feeling for the Bloodline Tree by that point, so he could feel that it was the small sapling that seemed to guide his blood, nudging him in the right direction.
After months of trial and error, he finally figured out the martial arts that the Bloodline Tree guided him toward. It was only enough for him to reach the level of the 3rd-grade martial warrior, but even so, the martial art was so exceptional that Shu Yang felt that he could fight against some weaker 3rd-grade warriors without even having reached that level himself.
Shu Yang knew that it was far from a Heaven-defying martial art; it didn't come with any special abilities or anything like that, and it was only impressive when compared to the martial arts available in this small village. It was more like it was the martial art most suitable for Shu Yang to practice. With his current talent, anything too powerful would be useless, since he wouldn't be able to practice it.
So Shu Yang was very happy, even though it wasn't the most impressive martial art. In the future, as his talent grew, he would surely be able to deduce more powerful martial arts to practice.
Shu Yang went through the movements one after another, and incredibly, after just a quarter of an hour, something inside him changed.
'I actually broke through!'
Shu Yang could feel how his blood flowed, nourishing his skin, bones, and organs. He had never felt so powerful before.
Shu Yang clenched his fist and couldn't stop an excited smile from bursting out.
'The future has never been so bright!'