What are bloodlines?

This question isn't easy to answer for any cultivator, but it could be answered. Bloodlines could be regarded as a lineage inheritance, determined by the mixture of body and soul to produce your most primal energy during birth, and although bloodlines may be similar to each other, they are never the same. That's because no two souls born through natural means are the same.

Unlike a Dao, bloodlines aren't determined by experiences or enlightenment. Unlike conceptual laws, they do not need insights for progression. Unlike arts, bloodlines do not have a level of mastery.

Your bloodline is fully mastered, fully controlled, and fully known of its traits at discovery. The only thing your bloodline requires is strengthening by materials beneath and above the heavens that are compatible with it.

Yan Zaizen entered the swirling black hole manifested in his Meteor Ring. As he did, he felt an odd sensation in his heart. It was like hearing the voice of a scared child. The soundless resonance made his heart quiver with a protective instinct. As a male, this was an experience he'll have trouble feeling in his entire life.

Maternal instincts.

Inside the manifested black hole, Yan Zaizen saw nothing.

That wasn't true. He saw only blackness. It was reminiscent to the collapsed sub-dimensional space without light. It had an eerie feeling of endless nothingness, as if it had no beginning or end throughout.

With furrowed brows, Yan Zaizen pondered with each step he took. "It seems my theory is correct." As the possessor of the swirling black hole in his glabella, it wasn't like he never investigated it before. This was the exact feeling he felt when he did. Endless nothingness and perpetual devouring of all things.

However, unlike the swirling black hole, there was no suction or gravitating pull. This black hole even had an end and a beginning which he could reach with his senses, despite his instincts telling him otherwise. Essentially, this black hole was a fake.

"You're...a copy," was his deduction. A copy meant to hide itself from what it feared by converting into that very thing. All things considered, it was an interesting tactic.

"I have an idea what you are. What my bloodline is." His eyes flickered with an intelligent light, but there was no excitement. If his guess was correct, this bloodline will be troublesome to excavate if it truly decided to hide in defiance.

Pinaka observed Yan Zaizen entering the black hole, her thoughts were rapidly moving. After a while, her eyes lit up, "Use your Dao!" She shouted towards the black hole. In truth, the Dao and Bloodline had an intrinsic connection with one another. They both were linked with the body and soul.

Hearing this, Yan Zaizen softly nodded. In truth, he was already planning to do so to subdue this primal energy. His experience in handling situations had become increasingly cunning as he met situations like this. A soft dark-amber orb the size of a fist exited from his chest. A soft radiance emitted from the orb.

"What?!" Yan Zaizen was startled. The black hole started to suddenly quiver like it was going to collapse. This quiver didn't feel like it was filled with fear but happiness and relief. What Yan Zaizen didn't notice was that when his dark-amber dao orb exited his soul form, the swirling black hole at his glabella slowed in its rotation. It was so slight that even if Yan Zaizen was paying attention, he wouldn't have noticed.

However, it seemed the fake black hole did.

Immediately, it collapsed so quickly that Yan Zaizen found himself in the Meteor Ring's space with his Aurora illuminating his figure in its brilliance. As for the black hole, it disappeared completely.

Looking around, Yan Zaizen's eyes narrowed to a needlepoint. In front of him were two orbs of dark-amber that hovered silently next to one another. The size, aura, and radiance were exactly the same. If Yan Zaizen didn't have an intricate connection with his dao, he wouldn't be able to discern which was which.

"As I thought…" In the Yan Clan, during its thousands of years in existence, not a single person could discover their bloodline. This meant, since its founding, the Yan Clan has never had an Origin Core expert!

It seems this was why.

The bloodline could disguise itself to be exactly like anything else. You could be looking at it and never find it. What if it mimicked a cell? Mimicked a strand of hair? Mimicked a tiny trace of qi within one of your many meridians?! A part of your soul?! How could anyone hope to discover their origin. It's also why if it decided to hide, Yan Zaizen would be hopeless.

In truth, if it wasn't for Yan Zaizen's unique circumstances where it copied his black hole and hid from it, even with his many methods, this bloodline would be impossible to discover. This was not an exaggeration. Unless he reached a heavenly cultivation base, it would be impossible to discover it.

As for reaching a heavenly cultivation base, that's impossible without entering both the Origin Core and True Essence Realm. This was a horrifying dilemma. A conundrum that could not be solved.

"My bloodline originates from the Heavenly Law of Mimicry," he muttered with a soft sigh. When he cultivated and studied at the Anima Syndicate, he came across bloodlines that were known thanks to various methods but impossible to discover. They were: Heavenly Law of Concealment, Mimicry, Nothingness, and Time.

As for the first three, it was obvious why discovery was near to impossible. As for time, it had to do with discovery leading to a state of perpetual stasis, constant regression, or rapid aging. Discovering it was the same as death itself. Unlike decay, time was difficult to impede in any direction. As for decay or corrosion, they could be controlled and was rather harmless at discovery. Time...was not.

He recalled Bai Lufeng's Sword Bloodline and Tao's Cyclone Bloodline, their bloodline was far more normal and standard. From his understanding, a bloodline will affect your qi-essence and true-essence. He didn't know what benefits this mimicry bloodline will give him, but he felt that it shouldn't be too horrible.

After all, it was an Imperial Law!!!

Rivaling spacetime, rebirth, yin-yang, and eternity.

Retracting his dao orb, he reached to grab the mimicked orb. Surprisingly, it didn't resist. It allowed itself to be grabbed by his soul form. "Guess its true...primal energy doesn't have intelligence, but it seems to have instincts. At least, self-protective ones. I wonder...if it's because it originated from an Imperial Law." He remarked thoughtfully.

"Wait." His eyes flickered as he held the mimicked orb. "If the black hole on my glabella is a protective mechanism on my soul form, then what are my eyes?" This question left him bewildered. His soul form's eyes were completely black, not only that, it turns into swirling black holes when he absorbed soul essence. Also, it only happens when he absorbs soul essence, nothing else.

"Could it be...a soul-based bloodline?" He recalled what Tao informed him. Sometimes, bloodlines are soul or physique based. "I see. Haha," chuckling a little foolishly, he shook his head in defeat.

A dual bloodline, but he didn't even check the most obvious spot. Similar to how the Heavenly Law of Mimicry could take action before the Origin Core Realm, his black eyes were the same. He didn't even think that bloodlines were so damn complex. However, he would be lying if he said he wasn't excited.

It was truly important that he had a law-based bloodline. If he didn't, entering Origin Core Realm would've been impossible. Normally, only specific races or legacies have soul or physique-based bloodlines with different cultivation paths.

A law bloodline from the Yan Clan and a soul bloodline...the soul bloodline was likely developed during those two years in the Deep Mines. It should be artificial, hence he didn't receive any information about it. This meant he'll have to learn of its traits and abilities as he moved forward.

As for the black hole at his glabella, it was there since birth. It's possible that the black holes in his eyes were copied from or was an extension of the one in his glabella. That transformation caused miraculous changes to his soul and origin source, creating a secondary soul-based bloodline.

Quite interesting.

"Now, time to enter the Origin Core Realm!" After unearthing a few mysteries, he felt satisfied. With a mimicry-based bloodline, a soul-based bloodline, and his extraordinary qi foundation, he intended to use all this momentum and ascend in a single step!