Bloodline Evolution: I Can Choose Opposing Paths-Chapter 7: Azure Flood Dragon

Time passed strangely after the incident.

Classes blurred together, periods began and ended without him fully registering them, the ringing bell sometimes catching him off guard even when he was already seated.

Everywhere he went, he felt eyes on him.

Some were obvious, some students turned their seats, whispering just loud enough to be heard. Probably Clara’s group of fakes.

Others were quieter: teachers lingering a moment longer than necessary when handing back his papers.

Revenge.

The word followed him around everywhere in school. He was picking a fight with Wells Group’s heiress, the same one who fired his father.

Juicy gossip like this tends to spread like wildfire.

Aren had already waved it all away. He sat by the window during afternoon class, chin resting against his knuckles

He barely listened to the current lecture.

His attention was turned inward.

Not in full meditation, he couldn’t afford that during class, but just enough that he felt his Internal Canvas.

He was standing in a world full of white once more.

This time he noticed something else. Faint golden pathways spread outward in complex branching paths.

His ether channels, revealed clearly for the first time after awakening.

And between them—

Aren’s gaze sharpened.

Dark shapes drifted slowly through the Canvas.

They were formless at first glance, like smudges of ink suspended in water.

Aren guided ether toward his fingers.

A cool energy flowed along the golden pathways, but its movement was awkward—forced to dodge, weave, and bend around every dark mass that lay in its path.

At some intersections, the flow slowed to a crawl. At others, it leaked outward entirely.

A faint discomfort followed the circulation.

Aren clicked his tongue softly.

"Tch... impurities."

Leaving those impurities untouched would only cause more complications down the line. Each circulation would grind them deeper into his ether channels, eventually leaving a permanent stain in those paths.

There were several ways to cleanse impurities.

Aren knew all of them.

The most straightforward solution was also the safest: refining a Cleansing Pill. A low-to-mid grade one would be enough for his current condition, just enough to wash away the dark masses clinging to his ether channels without harming his foundation.

He already had the formula.

Aren could picture it clearly: the sequence of refinement, the temperature changes, the exact moment the impurities would precipitate out of the pill base. It wasn’t complicated. He’d refined far more difficult pills in his previous life.

The problem wasn’t skill.

It was everything else.

Aren leaned back slightly in his seat as he went through the list of ingredients in his head.

Yeah...there was no way he could afford them. Just spirit-cleansed water alone would cost upwards of 100 gold coins, simply money that he didn’t have.

His thoughts drifted, suddenly, to a familiar name.

Lily.

More specifically—

Her father.

CEO Wright had resources. Entire warehouses of processed materials. To him, the cost of a Cleansing Pill was insignificant. A single phone call would be enough.

Aren exhaled slowly.

It would be easy.

But with it, he’d have to make it public, and the Wells Group would never miss such an opportunity to strike at CEO Wright’s reputation, creating unnecessary conflict.

He couldn’t pull Lily into this.

Aren let out a slow breath and drew his attention inward again.

This time, he didn’t focus on the impurities.

He focused on the ether itself.

He guided a thin thread through his ether channels, watching carefully as it flowed along the golden pathways.

But Aren never focused on a crucial detail, one that was easy to miss yet could solve his dilemma.

His ether was colorless.

Not the dark green, like he was used to.

In his previous life, he had been forced to choose the Poison Snake pathway just to keep up with others, as poison was the only equalizing factor against talent.

Poison ether had been viscous, heavy. It stained everything it touched, clinging stubbornly to impurities instead of removing them. Back then, they actually helped him.

Now—

Aren’s gaze shifted deeper into the Canvas.

The Dragon stirred atop its calm pool, its massive body resting beneath the surface.

Aren held his Internal Brush in his hand as he hovered over the Canvas.

This time, his Bloodline was strong enough at a base level, so he didn’t have to compensate with Poison. So picking the right elemental path for his Dragon-type will definitely be important.

Then, a thought stirred something in his mind.

A memory.

Aren frowned slightly and let his focus drift.

There was a senior in his first life.

He wasn’t famous or a genius. Just a cultivator a few years ahead of him, one who had chosen the Lightning Element and struggled early on because of it.

Lightning was violent. Unstable. Most people with it either burned themselves out or advanced slowly, too cautious to use their full power.

But that senior had been the luckiest man alive.

Aren still remembered his exact words.

"It happened suddenly. A bad storm came by. I accidentally guided my ether into my sword while training, and then—boom."

"I was unconscious for a day. Thought I was dead."

"But when I woke up, it felt like I broke through my bottleneck. When I drew my attention inward..."

"All my impurities were gone."

It was a crazy plan.

Even suicidal.

Aren knew that better than anyone.

But he couldn’t stop thinking about replicating it.

Not the result, but the principle behind it.

That senior had taken the lightning head-on. His body had been the endpoint, forced to absorb everything in a single violent instant.

Aren wouldn’t do that.

He would be a path.

If lightning struck him, he wouldn’t try to hold it. He would let it pass through—using his ether channels as temporary channels, guiding the excess outward instead of forcing his body to bear the full impact.

With this method, he wouldn’t gain the raw lightning energy that helped that Senior break through.

But if the choice was between a weaker result and death—

Aren’s eyes hardened.

That trade was more than worth it.

So the obvious choice was to pick the Lightning Element Pathway, right?

But he thought about it again. Lightning was one of the least efficient elements to refine, as most natural sources of it are gatekept by rich families or sold at insane prices.

In his position, he’d be stuck just trying to get scraps.

Aren shook his head.

Then, he thought of a crazy, almost diabolical plan that might just make everything work.

The Water Element.

It was common enough that resources were accessible, but that wasn’t his aim. Water has healing properties, and Aren was going to abuse it to the max.

He was planning to heal his ether channels using the water, as it is being fried by the lightning that cleanses his impurities.

This was the only way he’d survive and get what he wanted.

The only downside was he couldn’t choose the Fire or Lightning element afterwards, as they are naturally opposed. But this was a small price to pay.

Aren nodded and picked up his Internal Brush, breathing slowly before committing.

On the Canvas, he drew a lake, raging as a flood passed through and swallowed everything around it.

The Dragon started glowing, its scales changing and shifting a hue as water came out from between each plate. Then with a bright flash, everything changed.

Aren covered his eyes, yet once he looked back, he knew he’d made the right choice.

His Dragon Bloodline was now shimmering, its scales were now a majestic blue color, looking even more magnificent against the white expanse of his Canvas.

The name of his Bloodline echoed in his head softly.

Azure Flood Dragon.

But something else caught his eye as he checked his records once more, confirming a suspicion that he had.

When a cultivator selected a pathway, the Canvas would normally respond immediately.

Opposing branches would dim.

It was due to the natural limit of bloodlines. Why elders repeatedly warned new Mystics to be sure of their choice.

Fire and Water could not coexist. Lightning and Earth would reject one another. Even Traits followed the same rule. Flying could not be refined alongside Burrowing.

Once chosen, incompatible evolutions sealed themselves.

However, Aren realized a crucial detail.

All his options were still open, even after he had chosen the Water element.

For a moment, he wondered if he had misread the Canvas.

But every sign pointed to it being true.

Aren realized something that would undoubtedly get him on a lab table if it got out:

The fundamental law of bloodline evolution did not apply to him.

Other cultivators advanced by narrowing themselves.

By cutting away incompatible possibilities.

But he could take them all.

Aren exhaled slowly and left his Internal Canvas.

The final bell had already rang. His peers were already starting to pack up.

Aren did the same, even if his mind was racing at the thought, he tried his best to keep calm and focused forward.

The next step was clear...to refine his Water element.

And hopefully not die.