Once he confirmed that his bloodline was greater than that of an ordinary person, Li Ye was secretly delighted.
"At the very least, if I have all these, I'd have some ability to survive in this world."
He knew that the people at Cloudveil Continent had much better constitution than people on Earth, though he wondered if it was because of the environment or because there was a presence of some trumped-up spiritual energy from the earth and sky. Any random, healthy young man would be able to challenge three or four of Earth's young men.
Under the heavily-laden spiritual energy from the natural surroundings, those who did not cultivate and lived a short life still managed to live up till a hundred years.
Nothing more could be said about cultivators who activated their bloodline and gained their bloodsoul.
Li Ye spent an entire night trying to familiarize himself with the effects of the 'power of the night'.
If it was said that his normal strength was equivalent to three to five times of normal person, that strength would only increase once nightfall came! It would increase at least seven or eight times more!
His strength increased twofold when it was nighttime.
The only unfortunate thing was that he needed to test out his second gift—the strength of his spirit.
"Where can I test this spirit, hm?"
Aunt Yun? Ah, the beautiful and gentle Aunt Yun, if only…
Although Li Ye was aroused and had an evil desire coming from within his heart, Li Ye rid himself of that thought quickly. He was still a principled person and would not act recklessly when it came to someone like Aunt Yun, who was practically family to him.
Seeing as Aunt Yun was not an appropriate subject, he naturally shifted to other targets.
At that moment, the darkness outside his window began to disappear as dawn crept over the horizon. He could feel the power from his originally strength-filled body slowly drain away, prompting him to shake his head.
"In the daytime, my strength is equal to someone of Martial Spirit Level One at most. Well, maybe it's slightly stronger, but I definitely can't be compared to someone at Level Two."
According to the memories embedded in his brain, Levels One and Two were the commonest in the tiny prefecture city of Wu. Many mercenaries, however, were often much stronger than that.
"Even those inferiorly-talented members of the Li clan had Martial Spirits at Level Two or Three. As of now, I still can't take those people head-on."
Fusing with another soul could be considered inheriting part of that soul. The soul had a deep obsession with the clan, thereby affecting Li Ye's line of thoughts.
"Coming into this world, I'd have to integrate myself in it too. Let me fulfill your heart's desire on your behalf."
He seemed to be talking to himself when, after he finished speaking, a sudden surge rose from the recesses of his mind. It appeared to extirpate itself in gratitude.
Finally, the last traces of that soul remaining in him dissipated into the land.
…
A few days had passed since he transmigrated into that world and Li Ye was already more or less familiar with his new body's status.
He was a piece of garbage within the Li clan, one of Wu Prefecture City's Three Great Clans. Clearly, he was not the first useless person from the Li clan and he would certainly not be the last either. As a great clan that made so much advancements in the last thousand years, all those who were detected to be incapable during that time were banished.
Cruel though it was, there was nothing anyone could do about it. A great clan could not sustain too many descendants, and resources must be given to those who could help the family progress, not to some useless piece of trash.
Without a doubt, Li Ye was nothing but trash in the eyes of his clan.
Nevertheless, the clan would send a certain amount of money to him every month, but it was simply on account of acknowledging that he was the only son of the clan's missing patriarch.
"I need to go back to the clan and let everyone know that I, Li Ye, am not the trash they think I am but someone that the clan needs."
On that day, Li Ye decided to test out the gift of his bloodline enhancing his spiritual strength—he wanted to know what effect it had.
"I have no idea whether it would have much of an effect over those martial cultivators."
Generally speaking, martial cultivators who activated their bloodline and possessed a bloodsoul would have much more spiritual strength than normal people. The higher their states, the stronger their spiritual strength would be.
Just as he was wondering whether he should find an opportunity to test it out on a martial cultivator, someone presented themselves to him.
"Li Haoran? Why are you here?"
The person appearing before Li Ye was upward of twenty-year-old. He was a young man with a handsome yet overly drunken look, and his complexion was suffused with white. Facial features alone did not show much similarity between him and Li Ye but he was Li Ye's older male cousin and the grandson of the Li clan's Third Elder.
Li Ye's expression turned cold upon laying eyes on the young man. Li Haoran may have been close to him in terms of family relationships but Li Haoran bullied him frequently over the years. Li Haoran's presence prompted Li Ye to chuckle coldly deep in his heart.
"Hey, trash! Why aren't you dead yet?"
Li Haoran was quite surprised to see Li Ye standing before him in one piece.
Li Ye caught sight of Li Haoran's change in expression. Just days earlier, Li Ye suffered tremendous injury and was carried back by a few people. He was bashed until half-dead but did not know who it was that beat him up.
Many believed that he would not survive, and it was supposed to end that way. Unfortunately for them, Li Ye had transmigrated and possessed that body to be reborn again.
The Li Ye currently looking at Li Haoran's surprised mien was not the same Third Young Master of the Li family, at least not like before. At that point, Li Ye understood a few things.
'This guy doesn't seem like a good person. He's involved in this from behind for sure.'
Li Haoran would not personally commence any action, of course. As the grandson of the Li clan's Third Elder, he needed only let slip a few hints for people to understand what he wanted. Li Ye was well-known throughout Wu Prefecture City for being a worthless son born of a great father. He was the butt of jokes in Wu Prefecture City and even if someone really beat him to death, would the Li family really look into it?
"Why do you care if I die? Could you have had a hand in what happened?"
As soon as those words were said, Li Haoran's expression changed drastically. His eyes glowed slightly, but he dared not look Li Ye in the eye. He feigned ignorance and said, "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!"
'Such an idiot!'
Li Ye had already expected Li Haoran to show some idiocy. In his recollection of events, the Third Elder's grandson was an ignorant, incompetent, and hedonistic son. Li Haoran was over twenty years of age but his Martial Spirit was cultivated to Level Three at most. He was considered to be one of the more inferior members of the entire Li family.
Li Haoran would long have been disowned if not for his grandfather being the Third Elder.
"Enough! Li Haoran, we all know what happened and it's pointless to talk about it. But I'm warning you, don't think that I'll just grin and bear it. You best be thinking properly before deciding to do something next time! Don't wait till it's too late to regret."
Li Ye was no longer the frail and useless person that he was before. Even if nightfall had not arrived yet, he did not fear Li Haoran in the slightest despite the latter being at Martial Spirit Level Three. Most of all, when he looked at Li Haoran's drunken demeanor and wobbly looking feet, Li Ye suspected that a Level Two cultivator could easily defeat Li Haoran.
Li Ye's attitude stunned Li Haoran completely. From what he remembered, Li Ye was a yes-man, a temper-less character, someone who submitted to humiliation and was too cowardly to make his thoughts known. That was partly the reason people bullied him. By right, no one would dare to do so because he was the patriarch's son—even if the patriarch went missing, his influence remained!
At that point, Li Haoran was too shocked for words when the weakling—whose voice was like that of mosquito and never dared to look up—dared to utter such remarks against him.
He snapped out of it in a flash and began cursing out loud!
"TRASH! You've grown balls, is that it? How dare you talk to me like that! Believe me, I'll let you spend the rest of your life on the bed. Our clan wouldn't object to it anyway, as long I don't kill you!"
As he said that, Li Haoran instantly delivered a backhand slap. Although drunkenness had set into his body, his cultivation was nevertheless at Martial Spirit Level Three. If the slap landed on a normal person, he or she would have to be bedridden for at least ten to fourteen days.
Seeing Li Haoran making a move, a flash of iciness glimmered across Li Ye's eyes.
In his memories, Li Haoran wielded status and bullied Li Ye countless times. Severe beatings even occurred on a few occasions. Li Haoran was smart though; he never hit Li Ye's face, but directed his blows to clothed areas so people noticed nothing.
Following precedent, Li Haoran aimed his punch at Li Ye's stomach. With his Martial Spirit Level Three strength, a casual punch was enough to split open solid granite. If Li Ye received that blow, serious internal injury was bound to happen.
"Li Haoran, you're asking for it! I had my doubts at first but since you're courting death, I will not hold back!"
In all honesty, the Li Ye of several days earlier—the worthless weakling in everyone's eyes—would surely lose half his life as of then.
Things had changed since then.
Li Ye's body was seen to flicker and he dodged Li Haoran's punch immediately. Although Li Ye had no bloodsoul and was unable to utilize the spiritual energy of his surroundings to cultivate, the reactive speed resulting from his then constitution was sufficiently quick. Also, Li Haoran delivered his punch casually without making use of much force, thus making it easy for Li Ye to evade the attack.
"Eh? A piece of trash like you reacting much faster than before? You really think you can dodge my attack! Since you were brave enough to talk to me like that, things will only get worse if I don't show you who's boss today!"
Though Li Haoran may be surprised that his blow failed to hit the target, he did not feel as though he was stepping into dangerous territory. The seriousness in his eyes flashed briefly and he heightened his strength threefold. He delivered another blow, one that had enough strength to end an ordinary person's life!
"LI HAORAN!"
All of a sudden, Li Ye shouted at Li Haoran, and both young men's eyes subconsciously made direct eye contact with each other.
The next second, Li Haoran felt as though he was looking at a blood-red world with his state of mind dragged deep into it.
Seeing Li Haoran freeze and halt all movement, Li Ye breathed a sigh of relief and felt overjoyed!
"So, it works!" Moments earlier, Li Ye's strong spiritual energy was released. Li Haoran was sent into a stupor, as though Li Ye's gaze had scared the hell out of him.
At that precise moment, Li Haoran's saliva began trickling out. His face was frozen in an extremely lewd expression as if he was in the midst of some really arousing dream.
Li Ye could not help but feel slightly disgusted after seeing how Li Haoran looked. It was obvious that Li Haoran's brain was filled to the brim with obscene thoughts.
"Well, well! It just so happens that I'm dying to find out what benefits I'll get after devouring someone else's bloodline. Li Haoran, you're gonna be my guinea pig!"