Tia Truehaven was a lady with light, almost white hair with streaks of silver and gold. The irises of her eyes were a shade of brown, with pale features, quite unlike the golden, sun-kissed skin of her uncle, Nord Truehaven. She was skinny, and seemed a little malnourished in the ways her bones seemed to be a large part of features, though many would still consider her a beauty.

  But it was not her appearance that he remembered her for.

  The main reason he remembered her was because she was the main attacker during an assault by the Zuja on the Verdant Snow Sect about a few thousand thousand years from now. Tundra had to rush back from another battle, by then the sect was almost half destroyed.

  He lost many family, disciples and family that day, the few that survived managed to retreat back to their protective formations. He crushed her, but that didn’t bring back the sect and those that died at her hands. Somehow, after that, he even saw another version of her. The Zuja had some limited ability to replicate it’s favorite agents, the second version of her was much weaker, and didn’t seem to remember that they met the first time.

  As the memories came back, an image of a Zuja-corrupted version of the woman stared back at him, with her twisted purple and red eyes, half her face covered in bug-like appendages. There were brown, insect-like feelers and hair throughout her features.

  A potential avatar of Zuja, and for a brief moment, his soul emitted a chilling burst of killing intent. His reaction clearly caught both Tia Truehaven and Nord Truehaven off guard.

  “Lord Fox?” The branch leader asked.

  That snapped Tundra back to reality, and the juxtaposed image of the corrupted Zuja vanished from the woman’s face. He didn’t even know her name then, after all, Zuja agents rarely introduced themselves, but now that he did, he could then start to make connections. The Zuja had somehow infiltrated the Ancient Titans in the later thousands of years.

  “Ah. Nothing. My bad.” Tundra’s defensive instincts bubbled underneath, and he was immediately wary of the woman.

  His senses immediately searched for Zuja’s corruption. He found nothing, but his guard was not down. Was the woman hiding the Zuja’s eggs within her spirit roots or meridians? It could be that Zuja's presence was dormant within her.

  Or maybe it has not happened yet?

  She was one of those powerful agents in the 9th realm of the cult, a high ranked Zuja’s Avatar. Zuja’s Avatar were often chosen from those in the 4th to the 8th realm, with the Flaming Phoenix’s former sect master as one of the few exceptions.

  “Is there someone else that can teach the technique? I’m afraid inviting another lady to my already tense household is not something ideal.” Tundra decided to play up his home front, and see whether he could get her changed.

  Nord Truehaven shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Lord Fox. Tia’s one of the few who knows the bloodline transformations and transmission methods well, and I consider her to be well qualified to teach it to you.”

  Lies. But he wasn’t going to call out the Branch Leader, realizing that he would insist either way. Instead, Tundra looked at Tia, and Tia didn’t say a word. She was, at this point, in the low sixth realm, and from the way her eyes looked at him, she was judging him too.

  A lady in the sixth and seventh realm was a rarity in the Ancient Titans, likely she had a more yang-biased set of spirit roots. Not all women have yin-biased spirit roots, and not all men have yang-biased spirit roots.

  “I see.” The regressor looked at the woman that one day became a high ranking Zuja agent, and closed his eyes. He focused, breathed. She may not be a Zuja agent yet, there’s a few thousand years between those events and he will change that future. “Very well. Elder Truehaven, I thank you for your guidance.”

  She didn’t acknowledge him. “Know that I do it only because the Titan’s Council commanded me to.”

  ***

  “And so, we have this woman, who will be following us back to the Verdant Snow Sct for the next few years.”

  Tundra said. The woman, Tia Truehaven, barely acknowledged them. An elder of the Ancient Titans stationed in their sect was something that they had never imagined. The two wives traded glances, and then back at their husband.

  “So, let’s go. We’ve finished here and will leave once we arranged a ship to pick us up-”

  “We can leave today.” Tia Truehaven stopped the conversation before he could finish. “If it’s just the three of you, you’ll be able to fit on my flying ship.”

  “Your flying ship?” Celestia blurted out.

  “Yes. I have a flying ship. Two, in fact. Now get moving. Also, Tundra Fox, I will be living in my flying ship until suitable accommodations up to my standards are completed.”

  Tundra just shrugged. “Noted, Elder Truehaven.” The woman may be an elder, but she was clearly a privileged woman with multiple benefits from her powerful family. In other words, a young mistress.

  Based on the information he obtained, Tia Truehaven was a bit of an outcast as she came from a less powerful branch of the Truehaven family, unlike Nord Truehaven. The larger Truehaven family didn’t like her very much but she is an exceptionally talented alchemist and cultivator, so much so that the family had no choice but to acknowledge her. Still, the fact that Nord Truehaven got hold of her to use her in this manner likely suggested they viewed her as a problem to get rid of.

  After all, if a powerful Great Sect family member is to be deployed to a mid-tier sect located so far away, there is clearly some greater familial politics at play.

  But that could just be the ‘impression’ manufactured by the agents of the Truehaven family. It’s not exactly clear how much of their public image was manufactured to lull their enemies into a sense of complacency.

  In Tundra’s case, he had to move carefully. The Verdant Snow Sect was now home to Hana, a little girl that possessed the bloodline of the Golden Dragon. That was a secret he intended to keep, especially from a woman that later got involved with the Zuja.

  ***

  The flying ship, amazingly, flew itself and contained a guardian spirit rated in the 7th realm.

  “So, start.” Tundra said. He didn’t want to waste time on the 72 Iterations of the Bloodline Components, so, he walked to her room and insisted she start her teachings.

  “First of all, I will refer to them as the 72 Transformations. The real technique is part of a wider set of Bloodline techniques. I will recite their key principles now.”

  ***

  Bloodlines are theorized by the ancestors of the Ancient Titans, to be special qualities contained in our blood. It is replicated by a person’s bones. When supplied with energy, or in some cases, the blood themselves passively collect and contain energy, they can exhibit additional abilities and functions.

  Bloodlines actively influence the body, the mind, and stronger bloodlines also try to influence the spirit realm, to alter them and shape them into their own image.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The oldest bloodlines came from a marriage and breeding between ancient spirit beasts and men, and where those ancient spirit beasts then passed on a portion of their power through their blood.

  There are later bloodlines, where cultivators captured spirit beasts and forcibly extracted these spiritual beast marrows and added them into their own bodies, or those of their children, or via forced breedings through the use of various exotic substances in order to obtain their spiritual beast abilities.

  One of the key observations, through these forced extraction experiments, was the elemental alignment of both the host and the bloodline.

  ***

  Tundra felt like his mind immediately clicked. Seventy bloodline iterations referred to the five elements plus a sixth neutral element, and the twelve major spirit beast types, often based on the zodiacs.

  ***

  The ancients discovered that they could not just forcefully extract the bloodlines of spirit beasts and insert them into a recipient. It didn’t work almost all the time.

  But it worked, in a minority of cases, and so they had to check for something called elemental compatibility.

  In younger children where their spiritual roots are not yet mature, they do not possess their own cultivation, and their bones and spines have not hardened, the bloodlines could easily overwhelm the mortal’s bones, blood and spirit and impose their own print in them.

  For mature cultivators, it is not that implanting a bloodline is impossible, it is that additional compatibility tests must be made, to check which bloodlines can be inserted and received well.

  Incompatibility often resulted in backlash for the new host, and there have been multiple records of deaths.

  Thus, the seventy two iterations. The six elemental biases, of the twelve zodiacs. Most spirit beasts can be classified along these seventy two iterations.

  However, as the bloodline methods explained, this concept was just the first step. Improving the success rate of a bloodline transplant requires reverting certain aspects of the bloodline, through the use of various herbs and pills.

  ***

  The use of pills to soften certain aspects of the spiritual realm, that they could receive and properly assimilate a new bloodline wasn’t totally alien to the regressor. It was strangely familiar, and he suspected there was a link he didn’t properly consider.

  ***

  “So, that’s the first overview. Do you want me to repeat it?” Tia Truehaven said, the nonchalant expression on her face said that a part of her didn’t actually expect Tundra to get it.

  Tundra, however, is a cultivation genius, and he was silent not because he didn’t understand the message, but because he was busy trying to link its concepts with the other knowledge he had in his mind.

  There were many overlaps with existing elemental concepts and medical principles.

  He paused. “What’s next?”

  “What’s next?” Tia Truehaven repeated.

  “Surely, that is not all the text to the 72 Iterations. There must be more notations and commentaries by your ancestors. Examples. Comparisons. What else is there?”

  “You want me to regurgitate all of it?”

  “If it’s in the form of a book or scripture, I expect it to be perhaps six to ten books long with various examples and findings. But alas, Lord Truehaven sent you, and so I must insist that you share the full text of the technique. It is, after all, what I was supposed to receive.” Tundra said.

  “Today?” Tia Truehaven said.

  “I doubt you’ll be able to finish it in a day, but I believe a cultivator of the sixth realm like yourself should have no difficulties reciting the commentaries and notations for a few days without rest.”

  “No. I refuse.” The woman somehow panicked.

  “Then I must send you back to Lord Truehaven and ask for something else, or perhaps, a chance to read the actual texts. If the concern is me spreading the actual texts around, then I offer to read the books there and then.” Tundra had faith in his near-photographic memory when it came to cultivation-related matters. It was just one of his genius-like qualities, which is unfortunately focused specifically on cultivation. Tundra, naturally, taunted her, and wondered what was their game plan. They must have one.

  The woman was here to spy on him, what he wanted to know is, what are they looking for, and what is good enough to throw them off guard?

  “No, no. I just need some time to remember it, uh-”

  “Elder Truehaven, where do you stand in your sect?” Tundra asked as he tried to form a plan in his own mind.

  He needed to know whether it’s possible to cut off Zuja’s access to this woman. He wasn’t sure whether she sought them out herself, due to certain insecurities within her own life, or whether the Zuja approached her. If she sought out that power on her own, that meant she would be compromised in the future.

  The question caught the woman a little off guard, and a little of her energies fluctuated, as if she prepared for a fight. “Whatever you are thinking of, I will not answer it, and I will not entertain such slights to my reputation.”

  “I mean none, Elder. In my mind, it does not appear to be a good thing to be relegated to a trivial task such as teaching a lowly one as myself.” Tundra prodded

  “Hah. Good that you know your place!” The woman countered. “I only did it because the Titan’s Council demanded that I made myself useful to them.”

  “Surely, they are not doing it to eliminate your influence? Since, once you are at the Verdant Snow Sect, you are far away from the center of your sect’s power. Your ability to influence the decisions they made will diminish significantly.”

  A little bit of her expression soured.

  “It is thus beneficial for you to quickly get your tasks here over with, and return to your sect with a successful mission.” Tundra said, as he sensed a little bit of vulnerability in her eyes. A part of him was still so unused to seeing the person who once butchered his sect in her current, rather vulnerable state. “So, Elder Truehaven, let’s make a deal.”

  Tia Truehaven looked the regressor in his eyes. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Simple, what are you here for, and what would constitute a success? I will help you with it. In return, I want your cooperation to fully teach me these Bloodline Techniques, pass me to actual texts, if you have them.”

  “What do you think I am here for?”

  “You’re a spy. That much is obvious. But what do you want to know?”

  “And you think I would betray a task from the Titan’s for it?”

  “Betray?” Tundra had a small laugh. The woman was not particularly smart. “Nothing like that. There is a piece of information that the Titan’s want to know. It has to be something that would validate your mission, and at the same time, necessitate your return to Ancient Titans. I believe the Titans did not dictate how you obtained that information, as long as you did. Negotiating for that information should be well within your ambit of possible pathways.”

  The elder of the Ancient Titans and the sect master of the Verdant Snow stared at each other, and to the elder’s surprise, it was her who blinked.

  “So what is it?”

  “Let’s not go too fast. You can stay around for two years, and I will ensure you return with a valuable piece of information. If you are willing to take my word for it, let me have the actual texts of the 72 Bloodline Iterations.” Tundra said.

  The woman looked at him, increasingly suspicious. “And why would I do so?”

  Tundra grinned, pleased that the woman was clearly taking the bait. The suspicion from her was quite close to what he expected. One of the things he needed to do was to ensure her attention was on him. “Is there a need to make everything so difficult, Lady Truehaven? Think about it.”

  ***

  The Verdant Snow Sect. Home.

  Tundra knew that the Ancient Titans suspected him. His pace of improvement has been so surprising that it was bound to invite questions. Inheritances was an easy way to explain it, and he knew he had to invent a solution to the problem.

  One of the things he could do, to throw the rest of them off, was to find a treasure of the 8th-9th realm, as a fake lead. He knew a few that could be useful for that purpose.

  There was an ancient alchemy scroll of the Old Ones that was fairly easy to reach. It’s contents was something he already fully comprehended, but it’s ironic that the value now was mainly to let Tia Truehaven feel like she got something that was worth it.

  That the families of the Southern Huan and Shurrish attempted to bribe Marin and Celestia was pretty much entirely predictable as well.

  He brought Marin and Celestia along to these faraway places, both to expand their knowledge and view, and also to observe their reactions to the Great Sects. He trusted Celestia, but more interestingly, he wanted to see how Marin, who he knew was always looking for a way out, behaved when given an opportunity.

  ***

  “Glad to have you home, Tundra.” Severian was there to receive them, as Tundra introduced their new ‘guest elder’ from the Ancient Titans, Tia Truehaven.

  That drew real gasps from everyone in the sect, and the family. Someone from the top 50 families was pretty much untouchable to them. Everyone was present at the hall, and they were all respectful.

  Tundra had to clarify that they were not in an alliance, but the guest elder’s presence was mainly to exchange some alchemy pointers and oversight on the new techniques he obtained.

  But he noticed the Princess’s personal elder, Grayne Fallows making moves of his own, and he could sense the man quietly checking on the elder of the Ancient Titans.

  Verdant Snow now has two elders both working for their own masters.

  One, with a big secret to keep, and one, looking for a big secret.