My Core is the Boss

The assembled Eastern Alliance Martial Lords exchanged glances in silence.

The male head expression shifted and he sighed. "What a pity. Some are selfish and mostly want to reap what others sow."

To maintain and accelerate the Mountain-Sea Scroll, the Martial Lords of the alliance regularly poured their own blood qi into it.

The female head said, "We'll settle accounts with them after the Dawn Chime. Now is not the time for war."

For the moment, surviving the Dawn Chime was everything.

Fat Egg looked up. "Dual Phase, what is the Mountain-Sea Scroll's current progress?"

The others turned toward the one called the Dual Phase. As a Titled Martial Lord’s child, he knew more about the scroll's progress than any of them. "Forty percent have entered their respective scenarios. Forty percent are still in active engagement. Twenty percent have failed."

A collective breath of relief moved through the group.

"As long as we can clear another twenty percent before the Dawn Chime, we can survive!"

"We still have three thousand years! That is pretty manageable!"

The male head said to Fat Egg, "You've worked hard these past hundred years, pouring blood qi into the Mountain-Sea Scroll."

Fat Egg made a face like a bitter gourd. "I'm completely spent. I don't have a single drop of blood left."

He had once been a Titled Martial Lord. However, after suffering grievous injuries in the great war, he had fallen to the second rank of Minor Martial Lord. Feeding blood qi into the scroll at regular intervals without losing further ground was already something to be grateful for.

The bamboo-pole man was prideful. Before the Great Catastrophe, Fat Egg had been someone he looked up to. Now, the once-exalted figure had been reduced to his subordinate, obeying his commands.

"Well then, since—" His eyes went wide, snapping to Fat Egg. "What's happening to you?!"

The other Martial Lords looked too, equally stunned.

Fat Egg had turned a blazing red until his veins were starkly visible. Crimson light spread across him like a tide, and golden blood moved through him as his aura surged.

The others recognized this phenomenon instantly.

"A bloodline leap!"

"That's a bloodline leap!"

"How is that possible?!"

Every Martial Lord knew it well. When a Bloodline Ancestor advanced one rank, their descendants would undergo a corresponding bloodline leap. Still, how could a first-generation ancestor like Fat Egg experience a bloodline leap?!

The other Martial Lords stared with wide eyes.

Fat Egg looked just as confused. "I had a bloodline leap?"

A Martial Lord asked carefully, "Fat Egg, don't tell me you're not actually a first-generation Bloodline Ancestor, and you've secretly had a father this whole time?"

This defied all conventional logic. All this time, it had always been the descendants whose bloodlines evolved, and never the founding ancestors.

Fat Egg quickly shook his head. "Impossible. I was born of heaven and earth. How could I have a father?"

A Martial Lord questioned, "Then how do you explain your bloodline leaping? Or did a descendant of yours broke through to the Martial Lord rank and become a second-generation founder? But that’s just impossible.

"Martial dao has collapsed in the Land of Death. The only Martial Lords are within the outposts. Even the peak Martial Kings there can't break through without entering the Origin Land and receiving the blessing of Ancestral Blood."

The requirement turned breakthroughs to the Martial Lord realm into a monopoly. The fact that the outposts had yet to connect to the Origin Land made it impossible for anyone to break through. Hence why, the most likely explanation was that Fat Egg wasn't a first-generation ancestor at all.

"Your father must be hiding somewhere!"

"Wow, as expected of a Titled Martial Lord, finding a father without telling anyone..."

"Maybe it's not just a father, but a whole ancestral line!"

The Martial Lords chattered and laughed, some casting envious glances at Fat Egg, envious that he still had a father who advanced. In today's Origin Land, Martial Lords who could still advance were exceedingly rare.

Fat Egg sat amid the teasing, wondering, Could it be that I really have a long-lost father?

***

Within one page of the Mountain-Sea Scroll, Wang Niang stood frowning, her expression knotted and complex.

A man's voice came from nearby, low and measured. "Wang Niang, how are you progressing?"

"Young Mistress has not developed feelings for Tu Kongming."

"What? That won't do. She and Tu Kongming must fall in love! Only then will this painting return to the correct world-line, and our mission will be complete. Something has gone wrong somewhere. We have to identify and fix it immediately!"

"Young Mistress seems rather attached to one of the Bloodline Bearers..."

The man frowned. "A Bloodline Bearer? Go speak with him. Tell him to stay away from the young mistress. We'll help him complete his mission in exchange."

"This Bloodline Bearer has a somewhat unusual mind. The young mistress has been at his side for years now, and I'm afraid she's been influenced. Even if he keeps his distance, it may take her some time before she could develop feelings for Tu Kongming."

The man insisted, "If persuasion won't work, use rougher measures. Drug her. Make it a done deal. Willing or not, she'll have no choice. Don't feel guilty. Remember, it’s for the sake of saving the world. We aren’t taking her life, but making a necessary sacrifice.

"Besides, in the original world, the young mistress and Tu Kongming were together of their own accord. For the sake of the world, we must be prepared to sacrifice anyone, even destroy this entire page of the Mountain-Sea Scroll if necessary."

To save the Origin Land, he was prepared to pay any price. Sacrificing a few people was nothing but arithmetic.

The hesitation in Wang Niang's eyes vanished, replaced by resolve. "Understood. I know what I must do."