"You followed me?"
Tian Hao turned his head. If it wasn't Bibi Dong, who else could it be?
"Who followed you? I was just curious and went to take a look."
Bibi Dong retorted. She absolutely hadn't been tailing him!
After walking for a while earlier, her legs had gone so weak she really couldn't continue—especially in high heels—so she had rested by the roadside. Later, she saw the bastard speeding off in a carriage, so she hired one as well and followed behind. After that, she even blended into that household and watched the entire process unfold.
She could naturally tell that his method of helping the fetus correct its position had been done with Spirit Power, but that required extremely high-level control over Spirit Power.
Even if she disregarded attribute effects and used pure Spirit Power control alone, she couldn't guarantee not harming the fetus. After all, a fetus was far too fragile.
"Buy some balloons and fill them with water. Use Spirit Power to stir the water inside, making it rotate or form different shapes. In the end, discard the balloons and directly control the water to train yourself.
"There's no trick to it—just practice makes perfect.
"I forgot to close the door earlier. I'm in a hurry to get back. Bye!"
He tossed out those words casually, then bolted at full speed, decisively shaking off the leg-weak girl.
As the Saintess of Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong was watched by many people. He didn't want to have too much contact with her, lest he draw attention to himself as well.
"Like I'm going to eat you!"
She puffed her cheeks and glared, then began pondering that training method, finding that it actually made some sense.
Usually, she focused mainly on cultivating Spirit Power—especially after mastering the method passed down by her teacher—but she hadn't paid much attention to control.
She knew quite a few methods for training control, but what that bastard mentioned was extremely simple and could be practiced anytime, anywhere.
"Should I try it?"
Somewhat tempted, Bibi Dong decided to give it a shot first.
Tian Hao, of course, had no idea what was going through the girl's mind. He sprinted all the way home, then endured an interrogation from his parents.
It took great effort to finally escape their clutches and return to his room.
"Hopefully it's just as I thought."
Taking out the cells collected from Bibi Dong's body, Tian Hao stored them in his Martial Soul's spiritual sea. Using the Martial Soul's ability, he shrank his mental consciousness down to an infinitesimal level and entered the interior of the cells to observe.
It felt as though he had entered a room. Tian Hao headed straight for the nucleus and studied the bloodline power attached to the chromosomes. As expected, he made a discovery.
Within his mental perception, there were two clearly distinct bloodline powers inside the nucleus, both extremely powerful.
One gave him the sensation of being able to corrode everything, while the other felt like a bottomless abyss capable of devouring all things.
"The one that corrodes everything should be the bloodline power of the Death Spider Emperor. The one with the devouring sensation must be the bloodline power of the Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor."
As he sensed and observed the states of these two bloodline powers, Tian Hao became increasingly convinced of his earlier hypothesis.
The humans of this world were structurally similar to humans from his previous life—at least in terms of cellular structure.
The difference lay in the presence of a mysterious energy on the chromosomes. This should be what this world referred to as bloodline, and it was also the source of Martial Soul awakening and power.
After all, people in this world were also born from the fusion of special cells from both parents, so the origin naturally lay in inherited genes.
In addition to tangible genetic material, there was also energy attached to those genes—the bloodline power. Only through the combined action of the two did Martial Soul inheritance occur.
"As expected, my hypothesis was correct. Everyone has the potential to awaken a second Martial Soul."
After comparative research, Tian Hao grew even more excited.
As an obstetrician, he didn't just assist women with smooth deliveries. During pregnancy, he could also help check fetal position and development. During this process, he would use the umbilical connection to draw a tiny, nearly undetectable amount of fetal blood cells from the placenta for study. By shrinking his mental consciousness to a microscopic level with his Martial Soul and entering the cells for comparison and analysis, he finally uncovered the underlying mysteries.
During fetal development, the Martial Soul bloodline powers inherited from both parents would, under normal circumstances, see the stronger side suppress the weaker one, absorbing nearly all of the energy to strengthen itself. If nothing unusual occurred, this would continue throughout gestation.
Bloodline power grew fastest during pregnancy. After birth, its growth rate slowed, and by around six years old, it would basically reach the limit of what the bloodline could contain. Then, during Martial Soul awakening, the stimulation of Spirit Power would guide out the accumulated power absorbed by the dominant bloodline, forming the Martial Soul and innate Spirit Power. That was why Martial Soul quality was directly proportional to innate Spirit Power.
Aside from the dominant bloodline suppressing the weaker one, if the two sides had a high degree of compatibility, fusion could occur. This situation appeared in people with mutated Martial Souls.
He had studied the bodily cells of those with mutated Martial Souls and discovered that the bloodline powers within had fused together, leaving only a single bloodline power.
Beyond these two cases, there was a third possibility: oppositional coexistence.
The two bloodlines could not fuse, yet they were of equal rank. Neither could overpower the other. They competed for nourishment and energy while growing together, and in the end, both awakened.
Bibi Dong was precisely this type. The two opposing yet balanced bloodline powers within her confirmed his hypothesis.
"Just like genetic inheritance, there are dominant and recessive traits. When a Spirit Master awakens their Martial Soul, it's simply the dominant bloodline power being awakened into a Martial Soul. The weaker one doesn't disappear—it remains within the body the entire time.
"My mutated Martial Soul, the spiritual sea, comes from my father, but the dogtail grass Martial Soul bloodline from my mother still exists. It's merely being suppressed. What I need to do now is nurture and strengthen this half of the bloodline, then awaken it as a second Martial Soul."
Tian Hao was highly confident in this theory, because when he was young, he had read his father's notes on Martial Soul awakenings. He had discovered that, on occasion, a Martial Soul awakened that didn't originate from the explicit Martial Souls of either parent, but instead from those of a grandparent.
This was called atavistic inheritance. In essence, it meant that the recessive half of the Martial Soul bloodline from both parents was passed down to the child and then awakened.
Such cases were rare, but they were enough to prove that recessive Martial Soul bloodlines could indeed be awakened.
"What method should I use to nurture that dogtail grass Martial Soul bloodline?"
Withdrawing his mental consciousness, Tian Hao stroked his smooth chin in thought.
That bloodline had already been suppressed into a recessive state. Nurturing it, strengthening it, and eventually awakening it would not be easy. At the very least, he would need to use a compatible force to forcibly nurture it—and ensure it wasn't absorbed by his father's bloodline power.
"If my mother had a Domain, that would be perfect. Using her Domain to strengthen and nurture a same-origin Martial Soul bloodline would definitely work… Wait, a Domain. Using the Blue Silver Domain might actually be quite suitable."
Tian Hao suddenly thought of another woman as foolish as Bibi Dong—someone who had essentially doomed herself: the true Blue Silver Emperor, Ah Yin.
Dogtail grass and Blue Silver Grass were both grass-type plant Martial Souls with extremely high compatibility. Using the Blue Silver Domain might just succeed.
As for whether the half of the bloodline inherited from his mother was also recessive, that wasn't a concern. Everyone in his mother's village had weed-type Martial Souls. Even if what he awakened came from her other recessive Martial Soul bloodline, it wouldn't matter.
For him right now, the most important thing was awakening a second Martial Soul. Exactly which weed-type Martial Soul it turned out to be wasn't important.
"To obtain the Blue Silver Domain, I'll have to think of a way through Ah Yin. If that doesn't work, I'll have to head to the Blue Silver Forest and try my luck with the Blue Silver King. I remember that the Blue Silver Overlord Spear Spirit Ability can carry the Blue Silver Domain. I wonder if Ah Yin has that Spirit Ability—or something similar that can carry the Blue Silver Domain.
"Sword Douluo's dad, when are you finally going to come to Spirit City to challenge the Grand Worship? I'm just waiting for you, my dear!"
As he thought about it, Tian Hao couldn't help but think again of Sword Douluo's father—craving his blood even more, and coveting that Seven Kill Sword Intent.
Sword Douluo's dear father: I have never seen such a shameless individual in my life!