"Don't look so surprised," Kulas chuckled at Tian Yang's reaction. "To ordinary people, the Immortal Clans are the pinnacle of power. Anything above that is simply beyond their understanding. However, for those of us in the Immortal Clans, we have to be aware of their existence even if we don't want to."
Ren Xia then spoke, "You know the saying 'a frog in a well'? In this case, you're the frog, and the Immortal Clans are the sky you see above. But there's still something beyond the sky—the Starry Sky."
"Who exactly are these people?" Tian Yang asked.
"They are known as the Three Pillars of Heaven," she explained. "They were the pioneers of cultivation. The first to discover the existence of spiritual energy and the fact that it could be absorbed through technique."
"How can there be three different families, though? Did they all discover cultivation at the same time or something?" Tian Yang inquired.
Ren Xia shook her head. "No. They were originally a single background. But they grew so powerful that they eventually had to divide their strength into three branches."
Kulas continued, "The Three Pillars of Heaven consist of the Ji Family, Tian Family, and the Sun Family." "Did you just say the Sun Family?" Tian Yang looked at Kulas with wide eyes.
Kulas looked puzzled by Tian Yang's reaction, but he quickly realized something.
"Don't tell me you think that Elder Sun of yours is related to the Sun Family? It's a very common surname in the Divine Heavens, and there's no way someone from the Sun Family would be working as a sect elder in a place such as the Immortal Monastery."
"That's…" Tian Yang had no response, as Kulas had hit it right on the nail.
After a moment of silence, he sighed. "Although she never told me her background, she would occasionally allude to coming from a prominent family. I think I even overheard her mentioning the Holy Continent in the past to another elder."
"Wait. The Holy Continent? That is where the primary families of the Three Pillars of Heaven are located." Ren Xia said.
"Also, if we're talking about surnames, you have one of theirs as well—the Tian Family's surname. What if your parents came from there?" she continued.
Tian Yang looked at her with a bitter smile, "It's just a coincidence. Even though I never met my real parents, there's no way they'd be from such a place. After all, why would they abandon me in that backwater village?" "So your adoptive parents named you Tian Yang?" Kulas suddenly asked.
"That's… I don't know. However, they definitely didn't have the same surname. In fact, they were surnamed Guan."
"And you never found that weird?"
"I never really even thought about it."
Chao Shuying then spoke, "Nobody in this world but your parents can tell you why they abandoned you, but I can tell you with certainty that you have a Divine-grade bloodline."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Ren Xia asked, "What are you going to do now?"
"What even is there for me to do?" Tian Yang shrugged. "Even if my real parents are truly from the Three Pillars of Heaven, my connection with them was cleanly severed the moment they abandoned me."
"With that being said, I still refuse to believe that my real parents are from such a place."
"In that case, let's wrap things up here," Chao Shuying said. "Although you don't have a unique physique, you possess a Divine-grade bloodline, something arguably even rarer, and that may very well be the reason behind your abnormal pill absorption rate."
"Wait a moment," Ren Xia suddenly said. "We've confirmed he has a powerful bloodline, but is there any way to identify which one? If we knew that, we could take advantage of it."
Chao Shuying shook her head. "Not with the tools we currently have. This crimson needle was created only two years ago. It can measure the grade of a bloodline, but that's all. However, if you can somehow bring me the blood of someone from the Tian Family, I can compare it with Senior Tian's and determine if there's a match."
"Blood from the Tian Family? That's easier said than done. At this point, I'd have better luck getting phoenix blood." Ren Xia sighed.
"Then we can only make use of what little information we have—that he is capable of absorbing pill effects far more efficiently than most. Does the Tian Family have this trait within their lineage?" Chao Shuying asked.
"Unfortunately, even the Immortal Clans have very little information on the Three Pillars of Heaven," Ren Xia replied.
"Does it even matter what bloodline I have? I already know what it's capable of, and that's more than enough for me." Tian Yang interjected.
"Although I'm confident that it's the work of your bloodline, we cannot be certain until we do some testing," Chao Shuying said.
"More tests, huh?" "It'll be quite simple. We just need to feed you some more pills and see what happens."
"Alright."
And so, Tian Yang began experimenting with his bloodline, taking all manner of pills—some that heightened strength, others that increased cultivation speed. Ren Xia and Kulas also took part in the tests to compare themselves with him.
Unsurprisingly, the results were exactly as expected. Every pill Tian Yang consumed produced a much stronger effect than when either of them took the same pill.
"You should know, I was raised in a privileged environment. Envy isn't something I'm prone to," Chao Shuying said. "Yet I can't help but be deeply envious of your talent right now."
"Is it really that big of a deal?" Tian Yang said. "It just makes pills work better, doesn't it? Without the money to buy them, it's useless. No wonder I never noticed it in all these hundreds of years."
Chao Shuying rubbed her eyes with a weary sigh.
"You honestly have no idea how terrifyingly powerful your bloodline is, do you? Others aside, even I would kill for such a talent."
Kulas laughed and said, "You may have learned about it late, but better late than never, right? Hahaha!"