8 Family Tensions and Deadly Creations

"The casualties of the last quarter have indeed seen a significant increase," Chen Wang said impassively as he held the information scroll in his hand.

"Well, there's not much we can do; the other two clans are trying to incapacitate us with all their might," Chen Liang, a man with a rigid appearance conveying the aura of a veteran, spoke to Chen Wang, who had a stern and irritated expression as he looked at him.

"Father, besides, you know that the new guerrilla tactics they're implementing are extremely effective," the man speaking to Chen Wang was his son and Chen Wei's father, one of the logistics leads of the clan concerning the war, Chen Liang!

"These cowardly bastards, instead of fighting like men, set traps focused on causing debilitating injuries to young gu masters," Chen Wang spoke with burning anger in his eyes, but he knew this was the smartest tactic, and he would do the same in their place, perhaps even worse.

"Of last year's students, one in every ten is incapacitated, with a missing arm or leg, or their cultivation potential injured," as he said this, Chen Liang looked at his own missing right arm while thinking about his talent, which was now barely C-grade.

Despite this, nobody who knows him or sees him feels a sense of melancholy or pity for himself; all they see is a man determined to serve the clan to the best of his ability despite his injuries.

"And with each passing year, this rate increases. In fact, of the generation from the academy seven years ago, when the war began, only six out of ten are still fit for combat." At this point, most veteran gu masters on both sides want to end the war, but neither side wants to give in.

"Changing the subject, little Wei came to present this gu to me. What do you think of it?" He handed Chen Liang a gu that looked like a miniature scarlet flower.

"He named it Blood Transfusion Gu and told me that it can potentially advance for both attack and healing purposes simultaneously," Chen Liang took the gu and began to evaluate it, pondering the impressive potential this gu must have for his father to bring it up in the middle of this important discussion.

"Both healing and attacking at the same time? What kind of gu would have two effects? This would be the first of its kind that I've seen or heard of," Chen Liang looked at the gu in his hand with shock on his face; he didn't doubt the truth of the information, as Chen Wang was not one to joke around.

"Of course, it doesn't have two effects; that would be impossible. But it has one that can accomplish both," Chen Wang clarified what he meant by both attack and defense, and began to explain the gu's effect.

"From what little Wei explained to me and from my own experiences testing the gu, it can transfer blood from one person to another while healing the recipient. However, the one donating the blood weakens, possibly even dying," Chen Liang looked at the gu with admiration, pondering how useful it could be for the clan's healing power as a whole, given the many prisoners of war they could use as walking blood bags.

"There's just one problem: it doesn't have a constant effect; in most cases, it causes damage to both gu masters involved, rather than just the one whose blood is drained," Chen Wang sighed, as without this flaw, this would be an extremely useful gu for war, especially considering its excellent healing effect, easy refinement, and low primeval essence consumption.

"Little Wei is currently conducting tests using prisoners under my orders, and he told me he thinks it has something to do with blood type, although I'm not sure what that means," Chen Wang spoke calmly as he continued to analyze the war casualty data and imagined how much smaller they would be with this gu in use.

"Using prisoners! You sent my 15-year-old son to conduct experiments using prisoners of war!" Chen Liang shouted angrily as he looked at his father. Despite appearing as a good old man now, he knows the kind of cruelty this man is capable of.

"Don't raise your voice with me, boy, or I'll teach you a lesson just like when you were young. Besides, I only suggested it; it was Chen Wei who agreed without hesitation," he spoke, looking at Chen Liang with a cold gaze, not caring about his son's opinion.

"I've told you before that if you treat one of my children like you did to me and my brothers, I would personally make you regret it, so don't even think about it," he threatened his father with apparent anger, as despite mostly focusing on his responsibilities and showing respect towards Chen Wang, he harbors deep resentment against him.

Chen Liang is reminded of his childhood, which was spent mostly being forced to train by his father while suffering from lack of affection and recognition.

But this wouldn't be much, as many people go through the same, but the worst was when, after becoming gu masters, their father, to create gu masters prepared to kill for the clan, forced them to cold-bloodedly kill an innocent mortal each one of his sons had to do it.

The tearful and pleading eyes of those mortals haunt him to this day, and it doesn't stop there; when he's starting to remember more of his father's cruel treatments, he is taken out of his thoughts by his father's voice.

"Calm down, I won't do that to the boy, and you must have noticed by now that he has a killer instinct in his eyes," Chen Wang spoke as he tried to calm the tense atmosphere, but he didn't do a good job of it.

Chen Liang looks at him with hostility, but at the same time, he knows what his father is saying is right, as he also has the same feeling when he sees his son, and this feeling has been there since he was a child.

And his son's latest creations in the blood path only confirm this thought, as having the idea of a healing gu that is basically an attack at the same time, as it heals by stealing vitality from others.

In addition to this blood path he's trying to create having a clear killing inclination, even though this gu hasn't shown itself in his hand yet, it's already the beginning.

While the two are in a moment of tension, Chen Wei is in one of the clan's dungeons with a smile that given the situation he's in seems to be macabre.

In the dungeon where he is, there are six gu master prisoners of war from the clan, as well as various carcasses of animals like rats, cats, and dogs scattered throughout the room.

"Hmm, so my theory proves correct; blood transfusion follows the same logic as in my world and requires compatibility," Chen Wei has an excited look as he sees the prisoners writhing in pain on the floor as a result of the experiments he conducted.

"Ah, unfortunately, it's not possible to do transfusions between different species... hmm, I wonder if the same goes for variant humans," although he wants to test this, he can't since all the variant human slaves of the clan have already died, as they were the first flesh shields in the war, and the caravans no longer come to sell on the mountain because of the war as well.

"This girl was very useful in proving my theory; she probably has O-negative blood like mine, so that ensures it's a matter of blood type," Chen Wei looks at the prisoners with a complicated look because despite feeling sorry for them, he still thinks it's necessary to save more lives from his own clan.

"Now, how do I solve this problem? Perhaps a gu that can determine blood type, but that would only avoid the problem, not solve it," Chen Wei starts his experiments again because he is really focused on making this gu of his work as quickly as possible.

But even trying his best, he still fails several times and doesn't see an effective way to solve the problem, so he has to be content with trying to develop a gu that determines people's blood types.