New Allies
Back in the Dukedom, Yan Zhenyu and Xue Feng sat across from each other, drinking tea. Xue Bai and Yan Fengxian were also there, standing behind their respective fathers.
"Sigh, Brother Xue, never could I have imagined that you would be able to let your son cultivate a year early." Yan Zhenyu sighed.
Though Xue Bai's cultivation concealing artifact could block Yan Fengxian from seeing his cultivation, it couldn't block Yan Zhenyu's senses.
"It was just a fortuitous encounter Bai'er encountered. There is nothing that could surprise Older Brother Yan." Xue Feng said humbly.
Of the three heads from the Three Great Families, Yan Zhenyu was the most amicable. And after Xue Bai told him that he was the most likely person to ally with in the coming future, Xue Feng wanted to build an early friendship with the man.
"While being able to start cultivating a year early isn't something I would want as I was able to cultivate peacefully, some people don't have that luck, and being able to get stronger a year faster would be something they would kill for. Moreover, a year earlier would have allowed any young genius to become one of our continent's rising stars in the future." Yan Zhenyu sighed again.
This was right. What happened with Xue Bai was certainly extremely amazing, but it wasn't very helpful to some people.
Yan Zhenyu was born to the Yan Clan's previous Duke and, because of this, was born with a gold spoon in his mouth.
He had all of the resources of a duke behind him, the teachings of his father, and many other things that paved his future.
Being able to cultivate a year earlier wouldn't have done much for him. At most, it would've given him more popularity during his early years. But for Yan Zhenyu, who was over 400 years old, a little bit of popularity meant nothing.
All he wanted to do was help his daughter.
"Oh right, forgive me for asking this, but what grade Martial Vein did Nephew Bai awaken?" Yan Zhenyu suddenly asked.
If Xue Bai awakened a set of Martial Veins lower than peak Yellow-grade, it would severely damage his stock in Yan Zhenyu's mind. But if he awakened anything above peak Yellow-grade, it would do the reverse.
Hearing this question, Xue Feng smiled.
"Big Brother Yan, you must surely know that some things are better left hidden. What if the wrong people heard it? It would be catastrophic." Xue Feng spoke ambiguously.
Though Xue Feng's words were ambiguous and had multiple meanings, with how astute Yan Zhenyu was, how could he not understand what Xue Feng was implying?
"Brother Xue, don't worry. My Yan Clan will be a great ally to your dukedom." Yan Zhenyu swore as he patted his chest.
Smiling, Xue Feng looked over at Xue Bai and motioned for him to speak.
"Senior Yan, my Martial Veins are high Black-grade with a fire element affinity." Xue Bai spoke clearly.
Dumbstruck, Yan Zhenyu couldn't reply for a moment. Even Yan Fengxian was stunned.
'Father and I only have a peak Yellow-grade. Even Big Brother Long, who is being groomed as a potential High Elder, only has a low Black-grade Martial Vein!'
"Nephew Bai, surely you ain't joking with this old man?" Yan Zhenyu finally forced his mouth open after a few seconds of silence.
Xue Bai knew that actions served better than words, so, from his hands, he summoned a small ball of fire, which shocked everyone, even Xue Feng.
Since they left the forest and arrived back at the dukedom, Xue Feng hadn't had time to talk to Xue Bai personally, so he had no idea of his son's gains, even his cultivation.
To the untrained eye, it only looked like Xue Bai was at the 5th stage of the Vein Transformation Realm, even though he was at the 8th.
'Looks like Bai'er gained some valuable things in the secret realm.' Xue Feng thought,
"Sigh. The younger generation will always surpass the older. Brother Xue, you have a wonderful son. Don't forget this old man when you rise to the heavens." Yan Zhenyu seemed to age a little as he spoke.
"Older Brother Yan, don't worry. As an ally, my dukedom will always be willing to send a hand to help whenever you need one." Xue Feng said with a smile.
What Yan Zhenyu was seeing was only the tip of the iceberg, yet he was already feeling so melancholy. If Xue Bai had revealed all of his strengths, Yan Zhenyu might just have had a heart attack.
"Brother Xue, would you like to discuss the conditions of our partnership?" Yan Zhenyu asked after his face regained its color.
"Yes, we can do it here. Bai'er, go and show Niece Yan around our dukedom." Xue Feng shooed out his son without care.
Pouting a little at his father's rudeness, Xue Bai walked away with a lowered head.
After the kids walked out of the main hall, Yan Fengxian finally couldn't hold her curiosity anymore.
"Xue Bai, how did you start cultivating a year early? I don't know of anyone in the Baishen Plane that has ever done that. If I could cultivate a year early, I would already be in the Bone Strengthening realm. And then, not even that demon Wang Yu would be my opponent. I wouldn't have to endure that lustful gaze and could send him flying with one palm." Yan's tone was half-inquisitive, half-entertaining.
Yan Fengxian was a girl with a vibrant personality. After she realized that Xue Bai would most likely be an ally of hers in the future, she didn't have any qualms and revealed her true personality.
Xue Bai was paying attention to her words in the beginning, but after her third sentence, his brain shut off, and only one thought was in his mind. 'This woman is a chatterbox!'
But this was an important character in the Southern Continent's future, so rather than being rude and angering her, he sighed in resignation before attempting to answer the question he was asked.
"As my father said earlier, it was a fortuitous encounter I found one day. So, unfortunately, I can't replicate the situation." Xue Bai answered plainly, much to Yan Fengxian's disappointment.
"Then how are you so strong and so fast? You're already at the 5th stage of the Vein Transformation realm!" Yan Fengxian's curiosity knew no bounds as she asked.
"My father gave me a Vein Transformation Fruit." Xue Bai replied plainly once more.
After receiving two indifferent replies, much of Yan Fengxian's curiosity had dimmed, and she now felt like Xue Bai wasn't a fun person. Bored, she turned around and left, leaving Xue Bai alone.
'I don't know how Big Brother Long got along with this ice statue.'
Xue Bai had no desire to continue speaking with Yan Fengxian either, and he simply let the girl leave.
Right now, all Xue Bai wanted to do was close up and reach the peak of the Vein Transformation realm as soon as possible.
Xue Bai was given the amazing blessing of being able to cultivate a year earlier than everyone else, and he wanted to establish a lead that would make it so that no one his age could ever catch up to him.
Even though a year wasn't much for people like Yan Zhenyu and Wang Yichen, Xue Bai was destined to be much different than those two.
Xue Bai would reach the Qi Sea realm before age 18, the Law Manifestation before age 20, and the Xiantian Great Realm before age 25. So every single year mattered to him.
The geniuses of the Central Continent were something that this backwater continent couldn't even imagine. Xue Bai needed to create a gap that would be impossible for his peers to catch up to.
Xue Bai's goal was to reach the Bone Strengthening realm before the plot began in 975, and he had a little less than three years to complete it. But with his potential, it wouldn't be too hard as long as he didn't run into any significant problems.
But to reach that, Xue Bai needed to cultivate like a madman. Crossing three realms in 3 years was almost impossible, even with his low Heaven-grade Martial Veins. Thankfully, with Huli Jing's spatial ring, Xue Bai wouldn't be lacking in resources to help him get there.
After seeing Yan Fengxian turn a random corner and exit his line of sight, Xue Bai went to his room and tried to prepare for his first experience with closed-door seclusion.
Wang Mo's and his loot combined contained more than enough spirit fruits for him to be able to reach the peak of the Vein Transformation realm. It only matters how fast he would do it.
Xue Bai's courtyard was empty, but from how clean the garden was, he could assume that Xiao'er had been here not too long ago cleaning.
However, since the maid wasn't anymore, Xue Bai simply entered his room.
Sitting down on his bed, Xue Bai turned his consciousness into Wang Mo's spatial ring.
Since his own spatial ring was filled with the protection items his mother gave him, while Huli Jing's had more valuable items, Xue Bai placed all his gains from the secret realm into Wang Mo's.
Shifting through the contents, Xue Bai eventually found what he was looking for—the five Middle Yellow-grade spirit fruits. After eating these five natural treasures, Xue Bai was confident he could climb to the peak of the Vein Transformation realm.
There were only two more stages between him and the peak of the realm, after all.
Calming his mind for a moment, Xue Bai quickly swallowed the first two fruits.
He didn't think it would take more than two to break through each stage.
Swallowing both fruits with large and swift bites, Xue Bai immediately felt their effects.
A small ball of pure Spiritual Qi started to flow down his throat before it eventually rested right below his navel, where a cultivator's dantian would usually be.
Having already experienced this a few times, Xue Bai knew what to do with the spare Spiritual Qi that was inside his body and started his breakthrough.
The next vein Xue Bai needed to path out was the brain. In both the Immortal World and Baishen Plane versions, the Brain Vein was the final vein that a cultivator would path out.
There wasn't a specific reason why, but it was usually because the Brain Vein gave no distinct advantage to a cultivator who was in the Vein Transformation realm.
The abilities it gave were mentally related. From boosting comprehension ability to processing power, it was a tool made for cultivators beyond the Qi Sea realm, not the Vein Transformation realm.
Also, it was out of the way and further from the other nine veins, making it the stage requiring the most Spiritual Qi to break through.
Combined, all those quirks made it the last vein a cultivator would path out.
The existence of the Brain Vein was also why Xue Bai's character was such a famous scholar in the game's plot.
Xue in the game couldn't cultivate and therefore didn't gain the intelligence boost that the Brain Vein gave. And the intelligence boost that it gave was not small. In Earth terms, the Brain Vein could give a person 100 IQ points easily, possibly even more.
But even without unlocking his Brain Vein, Xue Bai's base intelligence could still beat other scholars in debates and knowledge of Confucianism.
It was an amazing talent and one of the reasons why Xue Bai was looked upon so highly in the original timeline.
People often sighed and thought about how talented Xue Bai would've been as a cultivator if he had Martial Veins.
On the other hand, while being the hardest vein to path out, the Brain Vein was also the most dangerous.
One mistake, and you could severely damage your brain and turn yourself into an imbecile incapable of thought.
Fearful of ending his cultivation journey early, Xue Bai took another Soul Stabilizing Pill to calm his mind and ensure his safety before carefully starting to path out his vein with precision.
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