How it chose its successor was not mentioned, but what was mentioned was one of those seven cultivators managed to gain its recognition and with it, its entire fortune including a life and soul essence baptism in which the red maple spirit poured everything that constituted it, into its successor, all the insights, all its traits, everything was poured into one of the seven cultivators, who had their entire body, spirit, essence and soul transformed by the baptism.

In every essence, it was like they had become a progeny of the red maple spirit, gaining the bloodline of the red maple spirit. Yang Qing wasn't sure of how factual it was but after the life soul baptism, less than three months later that cultivator broke through to the palace realm.

The name of that cultivator was Duan Qui, who eventually became the first Empress of the Red Maple Empire. As for the remaining six cultivators who accompanied her while they were not fortunate to be chosen by the red maple spirit as its successor, the red maple spirit in consideration of their relation to its chosen successor.

They received thirty percent of all the wealth and resources the red maple spirit had accumulated in its life which considering how long it had lived and the strength it had, the wealth and resources it shared were more than enough to support a young rank 3 family, be it in terms of quality and quantity.

Mo Li, Chen Fu, Gui Ling, Zhang Ren, Gong Zhi, and Deng Wei were the six cultivators. Five of them ended up creating families of their own which grew into the five noble clans of the Red Maple Empire, while the remaining one didn't form a clan of his own but instead married into one by marrying Duan Qui.

Mo Li, Chen Fu, Gui Ling, Zhang Ren, and Gong Zhi were the ones who ended up creating their own families which persist to date as the five noble clans while Deng Wei was the one who married Duan Qui, adopting her family name as his own.Of all seven cultivators, Yang Qing found Deng Wei to be the most intriguing. When the history of the Red Maple Empire is talked about, little is mentioned about Deng Wei other than the fact he married Duan Qui. Other than that, nothing else is known, with some even saying he was unworthy of being considered as one of the founding seven. Countless historians believed that his consideration was out of face for their founding empress, Duan Qui.

lightsΝοvel He was nothing more than a live-in son-in-law who was lucky enough to hug the right thigh, elevating his status in life.

If he had any abilities, why did he not start his family like the others? Countless historians and scholars surmised that the only reason he did that was that he realized his inadequacies and Duan Qui having a tender heart, took him as her partner making Deng Wei an object of contradiction as he was both envied and mocked by most.

What intrigued Yang Qing wasn't that contradiction, but something else. With nothing but time during his vacation, Yang Qing dug into everything he could about those seven cultivators, pouring through countless accounts and pieces of information and one of them had a unique account compared to the rest.

That account gave a completely different tale when compared to the others and that difference was Deng Wei. That account said Deng Wei had been the pillar of that group. The reason they were able to survive long enough as explorers with no background to lean on was because of him, and when that rank three clan pursued them, the only reason they were able to survive long enough was because of him, even decided to venture into the territory of the red maple spirit was because of him.

From the way that account portrayed it, the other founding members did not want to go there and it was only because of his insistence that they did, and once inside, the person the red maple spirit chose as its successor, Duan Qui, it only chose her because of its admiration and awe of Deng Wei.

The author of that account said Deng Wei had the bloodline of the treefolk, it was unknown which, but he had one which was why he was so insistent of going into the territory of the red maple spirit. To others, that place was a death trap, but to him, thanks to his bloodline, that place was a sanctuary.lightsnovel

Treefolk just like dragons, and phoenixes, were descendants of the ancients. Their bloodline was just as noble and a treefolk would be treated as sovereign by spiritual plants that gained sentience, similar to how dragons and phoenix would be treated by other spirit beasts.

When Deng Wei entered its territory, the red maple spirit instantly recognized his treefolk bloodline which was why they were not kicked out when they came in and how it decided its successor so quickly. Even at its prime without the threat of death looming over it, the red maple spirit would still have welcomed that group gladly, as long as Deng Wei was within their midst.

When it came to spirit beasts and spiritual plants, they cultivated to achieve perfection in their states which they equated to achieving nobility, which was why to spirit beasts, the soul formation realm was known as the sovereign realm.

Their end goal was to achieve a bloodline or an essence that was similar to the dragons, and phoenixes, and in the case of the spiritual plants, their aim for the peak was to reach the standards of the treefolk.

To the red maple spirit, being around one with a treefolk bloodline was no different than meeting its ancestor who had reached the absolute peak of what it was aiming for. Even with a higher cultivation base, in front of Deng Wei, it was no different than a junior.

That account said the red maple spirit didn't choose who its successor would be, but instead left that choice to Deng Wei. As a treefolk, he didn't need it, so when asked to choose, he chose Duan Qui whom he felt would be the right fit as the successor among the six of them. Whether his feelings for her had anything to do with it was unknown, but Duan Qui became the red maple spirit's successor.

No matter how outlandish it seemed, with no other accounts matching it, Yang Qing was inclined to believe that story for a couple of reasons, the primary one being, from all stories of the Red Maple Empire, it was already clear, the red maple spirit didn't think highly of humans and as such even if it was close to death, there was little chance it would use the life soul essence baptism and transfer over everything it ever was to a human.

Leaving your entire inheritance down to the very essence of your being to a race you did not trust at all, was something Yang Qing struggled to believe it would do, even under fear of death. In its shoes, even on his deathbed, Yang Qing would not leave his wealth to those he distrusted, he would rather leave it to someone he trusted, even if they did not show much potential, he would rather risk it.

He had doubts the red maple spirit would act differently. Only one thing would make it react the way it did, and that was at the request of someone it revered, and to an awakened spiritual plant, it would deny the request if it was made by a dragon, but not a treefolk.

But if Deng Wei had such a powerful bloodline, how come he was never mentioned at all other than being the partner of the first empress and scorned by later generations because of it?

What happened to him? Sadly that account never mentioned it, and Yang Qing could never find anything related to him other than in that one account.