Chapter 3522: Cousins?

The Deerkin Elder looked in shock before saying, "That should be even more impossible. No human has ever managed to do that. That bloodline is hard to assimilate, and even if they assimilate it, they will die due to its abilities by falling into a long slumber."

The serpentkin elder’s pupils constricted into thin slits as he stared at the inverted triangular sigil on the spectral bear’s chest. "I have only seen that mark in ancestral carvings. Even our oldest bone tablets speak of them as legends."

Murmurs spread among the elders.

"An apex among apexes..."

"A slumbering calamity..."

"A Great bloodline..."

The Bear King himself remained silent for a moment longer, eyes locked onto the towering image behind Lin Mu. Then, slowly, something unexpected happened.

He smiled.

On a human face, it might have been warm. On a bear’s broad, furred visage lined with fangs, it looked downright ferocious. But there was no hostility in it. Only astonishment, and something deeper.

Amusement.

The Bear King let out a low chuckle that rolled through the hall like distant thunder. "Then why," he asked, his voice rumbling with mirth, "did you deny having beast lineage?"

Lin Mu blinked, momentarily caught off guard. "Because... I was not born from it. I assimilated the bloodline."

For a heartbeat, the elders stared at him.

Then several of them burst out laughing.

The boarkin elder slapped his knee. "Humans."

The apekin elder shook his head, grinning. "Always drawing strange lines."

Lin Mu looked between them, clearly confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

The apekin elder waved a hand dismissively. "You humans love to separate things. Born this way, acquired that way. Blood is blood."

He leaned forward slightly, eyes sharp. "As long as a beast bloodline flows within you, you belong to that lineage. Whether it was inherited, awakened, or seized from the heavens themselves."

The Bear King nodded in agreement, his massive arms crossing over his chest. "To us, that makes you kin."

Lin Mu raised an eyebrow. "Kin?"

"But I am not a beastkin," he said honestly.

The Bear King laughed, a booming sound that shook loose dust from the ceiling beams. "You think beastkin were always born as they are now?"

Lin Mu hesitated. "Weren’t beastkin created from unions between beasts and humans in ancient times?"

The Bear King nodded. "That is true."

Then his eyes gleamed. "But it is not the whole truth."

He took a slow step forward, the stone floor creaking beneath his weight. The elders listened attentively, their earlier shock giving way to solemn focus. This was not something their king spoke of often.

"In the ancient ages," the Bear King continued, "many humans sought power through bloodline assimilation. Beast bloodlines. Divine bloodlines. Monster bloodlines."

He snorted. "Most failed."

"Some died immediately," the serpentkin elder added quietly.

"Some lost their minds," the wolfkin said.

"And some," the Bear King went on, "survived."

His gaze fixed on Lin Mu. "But survival came at a price. Their bodies changed. Their blood overpowered their human origins. Fur replaced skin. Claws replaced nails. Fangs replaced teeth."

"They became beastkin," the apekin elder said. "Not by birth. But by transformation."

Lin Mu’s eyes widened slightly.

The Bear King nodded. "Many of our ancestors were once human. They crossed the line and did not return."

He shrugged his massive shoulders. "Humans call it failure. We call it rebirth."

Lin Mu absorbed that in silence.

So beastkin were not merely descendants of ancient unions, but also the remnants of those who dared to force power into themselves and survived the consequences. It was a perspective he had never considered, and yet, it made unsettling sense.

"But that is not the only reason," the Bear King said, his tone shifting subtly.

Lin Mu looked up. "There is more?"

The Bear King’s grin returned, wider this time. "Much more."

He placed a heavy hand against his own chest. "You see, your bloodline is... special to me."

Lin Mu frowned slightly. "How so?"

"I am," the Bear King declared, his voice echoing through the chamber, "a Dark Moon Night Bear."

Several elders straightened at the title.

Lin Mu felt something click into place, but before he could fully grasp it, Xukong’s voice echoed within his mind.

’No wonder,’ Xukong said, a rare hint of satisfaction in his tone.

Lin Mu mentally turned inward. ’No wonder what?’

’Dark Moon Night Bears are cousin species to the Great Slumber Bear,’ Xukong explained. ’Their origins diverged long ago, but they share a fundamental link.’

Lin Mu listened intently.

’Like the Great Slumber Bear’s Well of Slumber, Dark Moon Night Bears possess an innate sleep-related ability. It is known as the Embrace of the Dark Moon.’

’Sleep?’ Lin Mu thought.

’Yes. But it is weaker,’ Xukong continued. ’It does not force prolonged, uncontrollable slumber lasting decades or centuries. Instead, it allows controlled hibernation, usually lasting months or a year at most.’

Lin Mu glanced at the Bear King, remembering how deeply he had been asleep earlier.

’In exchange,’ Xukong went on, ’their cultivation gains and recovery during sleep are inferior to the Great Slumber Bear’s. Their potential ceiling is also lower.’

Xukong paused briefly before concluding.

’An inferior branch, but a legitimate one.’

Lin Mu exhaled softly.

That explained everything. The familiarity. The resonance. The instinctive reaction between their auras.

He looked back at the Bear King and nodded slowly. "Then... we can be considered cousins."

The Bear King threw his head back and laughed, a booming, joyous sound that shook the entire Main Nest.

"That is right!" he roared. "Cousins!"

He turned abruptly toward the elder council and slammed a fist into his palm. "Prepare a feast!"

The elders jolted, then grinned.

"A feast?" the boarkin elder repeated eagerly.

"Bring out the reserves!" the leopardkin added.

"Call the hunters back early!" another shouted.

The Bear King spread his arms wide and declared, his voice carrying far beyond the chamber walls, "Kin has come from afar!"

Outside, the Dark Bear King Sect stirred. Word spread rapidly through roars, howls, and calls that echoed through the rainforest canopy.

A Great Slumber Bear bloodline bearer had arrived.

And the forest itself seemed to listen.

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