Chapter 46: Tampering with it.

Hejian Xing Clan.

"1020 Ma! Officially advanced to the Eighth grade!" Xing Yuanzhi's bloodline concentration immediately stunned the surrounding clan members.

"Yuanzhi's bloodline potential has improved, right?" The current head of the Xing Clan, a fifth grade supernatural Xing Shuhe, asked the second elder Xing Shuming seriously after looking at the data results.

"Yes." Xing Shuming said with satisfaction, "The current rating result has already been upgraded to a guaranteed fifth grade."

A guaranteed fifth grade meant that she was certain to reach the fifth grade in the future. Considering that Xing Yuanzhi was not yet twenty, her existence alone could ensure the Hejian Xing Clan's aristocratic status for at least the next fifty years.

This news was a significant and joyful one for the Hejian Xing Clan, so much so that the family distributed extra red envelopes to all clan members that day, and everyone wore joyful expressions.

Xing Yuanzhi, however, was very calm. After all, there wa always a bloodline detector under her pillow, and she tested it every morning, so she was mentally prepared for this result.

More importantly, as long as she could maintain this upward trend in bloodline concentration, even if the family later had doubts about her frequent absences, at most they would tentatively inquire rather than forcefully prevent her from leaving — who would dare to offend such a future core member destined to become the clan leader?

Back home, Xing Yuanzhi greeted her father Xing Wenxing, who said:

"Ah Zhi, today your third uncle from next door came to ask if you are engaged to anyone..."

"Father, please decline for me," Xing Yuanzhi said.

"Alright." Xing Wenxing nodded.

He still remembered that his daughter had originally planned to break off the engagement with the Cheng family, but later said she needed to "consider it," and ended up staying at their house. He wondered what she had concluded.

Given his daughter's strength, character, and extreme cleanliness, he wasn't worried about any serious transgressions. However, the rumors of cohabitation before marriage were not pleasant to hear.

Now that her guaranteed fifth grade bloodline talent had been revealed, more people in the family would likely take an interest in her. It was urgent to finalize the engagement — even though he hadn't managed the family affairs for a long time, he still had to care about his daughter's future.

Yes, he would request a meeting with the clan leader tomorrow.

Back in her room, Xing Yuanzhi suddenly felt a strange sensation.

Even though it was the room she had lived in for more than ten years, it felt unfamiliar this time.

Her maid took her veil and gloves to put away, and was about to draw her a bath when Miss Ah Zhi said:

"No need, I'll do it myself."

Maid: ???

Suddenly, she felt that the young lady had grown up.

The family's massage bath was larger than the bathtub in Cheng Jinyang's old house. However, for some reason, Xing Yuanzhi felt it was a waste of water; actually, the bathtub was a more suitable size.

The bath was so large that it took too long to fill with water.

After what felt like an eternity, the already impatient Xing Yuanzhi finally saw that the bath was filled enough.

She undressed, rinsed off under the shower, and then stepped into the bath and soaked comfortably.

Only bathing still brought the same warm comfort.

Hmm, I wonder what Jinyang is doing now...

——————

On the other side, in the old house in Wujiang Town.

Without Ah Zhi and Miss Qingqing, Cheng Jinyang began to let his thoughts wander:

If there were a parallel world where I was the live-in son-in-law of the Taiyuan Wang Clan, the situation would be similar to now. I sleep on this side, Wang Wanrou sleeps on that side.

Even though we share a bed, my wife wouldn't let me touch her, and I would be looked down upon by my father-in-law, with no status in the family.

Yet outside, my secret identity is actually the War God of the Great Jin Kingdom, commanding millions of soldiers of the Northern Army, directly or indirectly controlling assets worth billions, enough to buy half of Jiankang City.

So, the question arises: why would someone of my status still suffer in this family? Of course, it would be for my beloved wife Wanrou...

"Wanrou," Cheng Jinyang asked curiously, "Do aristocratic families have the concept of live-in son-in-laws?"

"No," Wang Wanrou said.

"Really?"

"The naming rights of children are related to bloodlines," she explained patiently, which was rare for her. "For example, if you married into another family and the child had a strong gravitational bloodline, would the Shendu Cheng Clan let it go? That would mean the bloodline was leaking out, seriously shaking the foundation of the family."

"Similarly, if your wife had a child with her family's bloodline, her clan wouldn't let it go either. So, whether marrying in or out, there's essentially no difference."

"What about commoners marrying into aristocratic families?" Cheng Jinyang continued to ask.

"If the child has an ability, they take the aristocratic surname; if not, they can take any surname," Wang Wanrou answered. "Even if they completely abandon the aristocratic surname, if future generations awaken with a sufficient bloodline concentration, the aristocracy would arrange for them to rejoin the clan, so it doesn't matter."

"In other words, the ability bloodline has replaced the surname as the bond maintaining the family ties," Cheng Jinyang pondered, "and the surname has become a symbolic representation of the ability itself."

"Correct," Wang Wanrou said. "The glory of the Taiyuan Wang Clan essentially comes from the 'Mind Steel Seal' bloodline, not the surname 'Wang.' It's the same for the Shendu Cheng Clan, the Hejian Xing Clan, the Yangdi Chu Clan, and other ability families."

However, the ability bloodline can only be inherited through genetics. Fortunately, the technological ceiling in this world is high enough, otherwise, it would easily turn into a world where the strong prey on the weak, with high-ranking ability families ruling everything while low-ranking families and commoners are at their mercy, Cheng Jinyang thought to himself.

Technology and abilities represent two different routes of power. If I were a commoner with no bloodline, the quickest way to gain power would be to become a mercenary, complete missions to earn money, undergo self-modification, and continue the cycle to get stronger;

But since I have an ability bloodline, my path is set: focus on "enhancing bloodline concentration."

"Shall we sleep?" Cheng Jinyang suddenly said.

"I want to read a bit more," Wang Wanrou refused.

"Then I'll sleep first," Cheng Jinyang thought to himself, I'll go find Xiao Li first, and then deal with the demons when Miss Wang comes in.

He pulled up the covers and slowly sank into sleep.

About twenty minutes later, Wang Wanrou closed her book and placed it on the bedside table.

Then she turned and gently placed her hand on Cheng Jinyang's temple.

"Dream Analysis," she said softly.

Dream Analysis, one of the Mind Steel Seal algorithms, functions to capture current subconscious mental information. The specifics are complicated... If Cheng Jinyang's dream were compared to an online game, what Wang Wanrou was doing now was trying to hack into the game's login portal instead of logging in normally.

Of course, the Mind Steel Seal itself needs the target's consent to imprint, and Dream Analysis works similarly, requiring the target's "non-rejection" to continue analysis, so it has to be done when the target is asleep or unconscious.

Soon, more mental information than usual cascaded before Wang Wanrou like a waterfall.

Next, she would attempt to modify it.