Zhou He roared in a fit of rage before calming down temporarily and spoke to Zhou Xinqiu, "Disregard his words. Qiu'er Ill explain what he means after the ceremony ends. For now please enter the pool." He smiled at her and watched her enter the pool before looking back at the elder from the golden pupil faction. "LIU ZHAN ARE YOU AN IMBECILE!?" Zhou He dashed towards Liu Zhan, the elder who spoke previously, grabbed his throat, and lifted his body into the air.
Gasping for air, Liu Zhan spoke, "Zhou He put me down, I did not say any lie!!" He moved his hands to his throat trying to escape Zhou He's grasp.
"HAHAHA, YOU ALL ARE SO BALLSY RECENTLY!" Zhou He made a fist with his other hand and punched straight into Liu Zhan's stomach as he spat blood out and a tear appeared in his eye while he struggled to breathe. "I saved each one of you during 'that' time. Yet now so many of you think you can defy my words with your puny factions!? After all I did, I asked one thing of you all. Do not tell Qiu'er about her background." Zhou He tightened his grip on Liu Zhan's neck before staring into his eyes and ruthlessly throwing his body onto the ground dead.
Hei Xie cleared his throat before looking up at Zhou He, "Zhou He, after all these years, you are no longer the only one in the soul transformation stage." Hei Xie and Liu Huai rose into the sky to face Zhou He before dark purple and golden souls emerged from their bodies respectively.
Zhou He laughed at the scene, "You're still too immature Hei Xie, while you tried to reach this stage, do you think I sat around staring at the walls all day?" Zhou He's soul appeared from his body, but his soul seemed to have a stronger aura and was brighter than Hei xie and Liu Huai's soul combined.
----
Zhou Xinqiu swam to the depths of the pool where she then folded her legs in a meditation position ready to cultivate the energy within the pool. However, Qin Gong's soul appeared disrupting her focus. "Xinqiu, this matter can no longer be kept from you. What that man said up there is true. You have the blood of demons coursing in your veins."
"I- I don't know how to react.." Zhou Xinqiu's face was rapidly switching back and forth from despair and confusion.
"We don't have the time for you to react. I need you to suppress your emotions temporarily and listen to me or else something very troubling could happen."
"okay I am listening" she nodded.
"In that battle previously, before you collapsed, do you remember feeling anything out of the ordinary?" Qin gong asked.
"I remember very little except seeing a red glow"
"Well, before the end of that battle, your demon bloodline had begun awakening. Your bloodline looks to be extremely pure. To the point where it would have destroyed the entire Zhou Valley if it had awakened back then. Therefore I temporarily sealed it."
"Bloodline?" Zhou Xinqiu was extremely confused and had no idea about what anything Qin gong was saying meant.
"The Demon race is extremely powerful in comparison to the human race. One reason of this is because of their demonic bloodlines. similar to the bloodlines of spiritual beasts in the human realms, Demonic bloodlines have the ability to grant the user with fascinating abilities. Of course all of this depends on the purity of one's bloodline along with its level." Qin gong explained.
"so this bloodline can make me stronger?"
"Yes, one sure ability of extremely pure bloodlines like yours is the ability for one's Qi to be denser than normal in their cultivation realm. so you would be able to battle those that are a couple realms higher than yourself. It would be boosted even more if you had access to demon qi... unfortunately demon qi is only in the demon realms. But, extreme yin qi is quite similar to demon qi and you might be able to use it to substitute demon qi to activate about 3/4 of your bloodline's abilities." Qin gong explained in more detail about all the things she would need to know in the future and Zhou Xinqiu had a ton of questions as well.
"Now, the seal won't hold any longer, and it would be ideal if you reach the Qi circulation stage first before we awaken your bloodline" Qin gong continued.
"Why..?"
"Aiyah so many questions. if you awaken your bloodline at the body tempering stage then you will have to waste time to raise its level to the qi circulation equivalent stage. However, If you awaken it in the qi circulation stage it will already be at that stage. In fact, I read that some higher up demons even have techniques to seal bloodlines till the soul transformation stage which gives them high talent in the area of cultivating their bloodlines. Unfortunately, I don't really know those techniques heh.."Qin gong rubbed his nose and laughed. "Nevertheless it is better than nothing. Prepare to breakthrough now. I can't hold on much longer"
"Yes Ill try my best!" Zhou Xinqiu closed her eyes and began to absorb the qi saturated inside of the pool. A young woman and soul spirit sat cross legged in front of each other while a vortex spun in the palms of the girl's hands, sucking in the qi of the world. A hardening sensation appeared inside her organs as if they had suddenly grown stronger. Simultaneously, a subtle glowing aura released from within her body. She had reached the 9th and final level of the body tempering realm.
The vortex grew bigger and more violent as ripples slowly began to ring out in the pool. The small ripples turned into shockwaves that shook the rocks on the pool floor. The veins and arteries in her bodies hardened forming permanent Qi pathways. Qi began pushing itself slowly inside of these newly formed pathways. The resistance within them began to fade away and the Qi circulated smoothly within her body. A light then surged from her core which lit the entire area of the pool she was in. After all the preparations and battles, she had finally achieved the Qi circulation realm.