The Peak of the Vein Transformation Realm
As Xue Bai was carefully pathing out his final vein, Xue Feng and Yan Zhenyu had finalized their alliance agreement. And Xue Feng was sending Yan Zhenyu off.
"Big Brother Yan, you are welcome to come back to our dukedom at any time." Xue Feng spoke while laughing merrily.
The alliance agreement was heavily in his favor, putting him in a very good mood.
"Brother Xue, you really milked my Yan Clan for what it was worth, didn't you." Yan Zhenyu replied with a wry smile.
"Big Brother Yan, I can promise you that in 10 years, everything will be worth it. Bai'er will be a dragon in this small land. This continent won't be able to hold him. When he goes to the Central Continent, you'll know that you made the right move. You know what they say, 'When an immortal ascends. Even the pigs and chickens ascend with him.'" Xue Feng said while patting the shoulder of the depressed Yan Zhenyu.
"Brother Xue, are you calling my Yan Clan pigs and chickens?" Yan Zhenyu's wry smile became even more profound.
"Ahem, Big Brother Yan, you know that wasn't what I meant." Xue Feng coughed awkwardly.
"I know what you meant, Brother Xue. It's just that Nephew Bai reminded me of the old truth." Yan Zhenyu spoke with a melancholy voice.
"Big Brother Yan, we old men shouldn't compare ourselves with the younger generation. It will only hurt us." Xue Feng said with emotion.
From what he learned from Xue Bai, Xue Feng knew that the next generation was going to be filled with dragons and phoenixes, and he had no business meddling in it.
This reality did sadden Xue Feng a bit, as unlike Yan Zhenyu, Xue Feng still had his youthful arrogance. His childhood dream of becoming a world-class genius was still in him, just hidden under his fatherly obligations.
Even more so when Xue Bai brought Yggdrasil home, his previously dampening spirit was reignited. And Xue Feng now wanted to clash against the top geniuses of the world.
"Well, Brother Xue, we can have drinks another time. I need to head back to my dukedom." Yan Zhenyu said as he released his airship from his spatial ring.
Xue Feng bid the man farewell and stayed outside of the estate just long enough to see Yan Zhenyu, only returning home until he couldn't see the airship anymore.
After seeing him off, Xue Feng went to Xue Bai's courtyard to talk about what happened in the secret realm.
But just as he entered the courtyard, he saw Xiao'er sitting by the pond in Xue Bai's garden.
The girl also sensed his arrival, stood up from her lazy position, and ran over to him.
"Master, Young Master is in closed-door seclusion right now. Look." Xiao'er told Xue Feng as he came into the courtyard. And as she spoke, she pointed toward the door of Xue Bai's bedroom.
Curious, Xue Feng directed his Spiritual Sense to Xue Bai's bedroom, where he saw the boy sitting on his bed in a lotus position with his eyebrows knitted. He was concentrating very hard.
Seeing this, Xue Feng just nodded and didn't intrude.
Finding a nearby tree, Xue Feng sat down and rested his eyes.
"I'll stay here until he's finished then." Xue Feng told Xiao'er.
Xiao'er nodded and simply returned to her position by the pond. She liked to rest her bare feet in the pond. It felt good.
–
Xue Bai's breakthrough didn't take very long, and after just over a few hours, he had successfully pathed out his Brain Vein.
He could've actually done it in less than half of that time, but Xue Bai was far too scared of turning himself dumb, so he spent a much longer time breaking through to ensure his safety.
Now done with his breakthrough, Xue Bai started to inspect the differences.
The changes weren't felt immediately, but after he swept his gaze around the room, he started to feel the difference. It was like he went from 50 FPS to 300. His head felt clearer, and he could sense, understand, and comprehend his surroundings faster than before.
Moreover, once he stood up, Xue Bai felt like he could control his movements perfectly.
Standing up to throw a punch, Xue Bai could feel every part of his body move along with his thoughts.
From his hand balling up into a fist to his shoulder following through, it was almost like he could feel every muscle in his body and move them along with his thoughts.
Not only had his core processor been upgraded, but also his mainframe. It was an amazing feeling for the otaku Xue Bai.
After testing his new control with some other simple exercises, Xue Bai quickly got over the excitement of advancing and sat back down to advance his cultivation base again.
In the realms before the Qi Sea realm, you could continually advance your cultivation without worrying about damaging your foundation. But, of course, this didn't mean to speedrun the 5 physical realms.
The 5 physical realms were the foundation. Speedrunning through them wouldn't do anything to a cultivator, then. Only once you reached the Qi Sea realm would you feel the side effects.
Your physical body would be much weaker than your peers, your cultivation base would advance slower, and you would need far more resources for each breakthrough, and worst of all, you could cripple yourself.
Just because you could rush through the 5 physical realms didn't mean you should. Ensuring a completely firm and perfect foundation was the right way to go.
Xue Bai knew this, and even though he was rushing through the Vein Transformation realm, he knew that he was fine for now. And even if it weren't, the Liver Vein would help him out.
Sitting back down in the lotus position, Xue Bai pulled out the remaining three middle Yellow-grade spirit fruits.
The final stage of the Vein Transformation realm was called the Dantian Opening stage. And as its name suggests, you had to connect all of the veins you had pathed out and combine them at your naval and open a dantian.
But because of its complexity, it usually took twice as much Spiritual Qi as any other stage in the realm to ascend to this stage. And since Xue Bai was cultivating the Immortal World version of the Vein Transformation realm, that meant he had more veins to link together, meaning that Xue Bai also needed much more Spiritual Qi.
So to be safe, Xue Bai took out all of the remaining fruits.
Before swallowing the spirit fruits, Xue Bai swallowed a Soul Stabilizing Pill to calm his mind.
Calm and ready for his final breakthrough of the day, Xue Bai gobbled down the last of the fruits and began to connect all of his veins.
This process was the hardest, but thankfully Xue Bai had a rather strong soul that helped him slightly with his internal vision, and because of this, he was able to link all of the nine veins together and create the full circuit.
Finished with the first part, all Xue Bai needed to do was link them all at his navel, form a Dantian, absorb a wisp of Spiritual Qi, and he could be called a peak stage Vein Transformation realm cultivator.
Thankfully, he had already completed the hardest step of the breakthrough, and after another careful and intense hour of linking, Xue Bai finished. Then, using the excess Spiritual QI from the spirit fruits, Xue Bai started to form a dantian.
The process of opening the dantian didn't take long, as, after an hour, Xue Bai finally felt it form at his navel.
"This feels so weird but also so strong." Xue Bai spoke aloud, "I feel like I could fight dozens of times longer than before."
Xue Bai's observation was accurate. Before opening your dantian, you could only fight using the excess Spiritual Qi lingering in your veins or the Spiritual QI you absorbed from the air during the battle. However, neither was sustainable in an extended fight.
But now, with a dantian, Xue Bai could hold hundreds of times more of the Spiritual Qi than he could before.
It was like going from a bike to using a car engine. It was barely even comparable.
Curious about how a complete circuit worked with a real body, Xue Bai tried circulating his Spiritual Qi throughout his body.
'From the dantian, up to the liver, then the kidneys, into the lungs, and finally the heart.'
With a complete circuit, Xue Bai's spiritual Qi could reach every vital body part and help it. So, for example, if he needed to help heal a wound, he could send Spiritual Qi into his heart. Or if he was poisoned, he could send it to his liver.
It was to ensure no part of his body stayed useless and without Spiritual Qi. This was also why a cultivator who used the Baishen Plane version couldn't ascend to the Immortal World.
Their mortal organs that hadn't been blessed by Spiritual Qi would haunt them and ultimately cause their failure.
"Thank the heavens I didn't do the degraded version." Xue Bai sighed.
After saying so, Xue Bai finally looked outside his window and noticed how late it was.
Content, Xue Bai nodded approvingly before stepping out of his bedroom. He had been holed up for almost half a day now, and he was rather hungry.
However, after opening his door, he saw both of his parents sitting outside, waiting for him.
"Father, Mother, why are you guys here?" Xue Bai asked confusedly.
"You brat, you've made us wait for some time, huh?" Xue Feng greeted as he opened his eyes.
Li Rou, on the other hand, was gentler with her greeting.
"Bai'er, how was your first seclusion? Was it successful?"
Ignoring his brute of a father, Xue Bai went over to his mother and explained to her what he had secluded himself for.
"So what you're saying is that you've already opened up your dantian?" Li Rou asked as she covered her mouth in shock.
Xue Feng, on the side, had a smile full of fatherly pride after hearing that.
Lifting his shirt a little, Xue Bai said, "You can go check if you'd like."
"No, that's not what I meant, Bai'er. Mother believes you. It's just a little shocking. After all, you've only been 10 for a few months, yet you're already stronger than some 13-year-olds." Li Rou said as she shook her head.
Xue Bai had a smile of pride until Xue Feng came from the side and knocked him on the head, sending him tumbling to the ground.
"Enough of that. What happened in the secret realm? Though Duke Yan and the others couldn't tell, we can see your appearance change. You look even more beautiful and feminine than before." Xue Feng spoke, "Moreover, the look in your eyes changed. Something happened."
Holding his head in pain, Xue Bai looked at his mother for help.
Seeing his eyes, Li Rou sighed and then pulled Xue Bai into her lap while rubbing his head to soothe the pain.
"Xue Feng, you have to stop smacking him on the head. What if he becomes stupid one day?" Li Rou admonished.
"I didn't put that much force into it anyway." Xue Feng snorted.
Shaking her head, Li Rou looked back at Xue Bai in her lap and asked, "But still, he's right. You looked very different than before. What exactly happened there?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every little thing helps - https://ko-fi.com/slarbi123.
There is now a discord for this novel. However, be warned. It is rather bare bones. I suck at Discord. The link is in the synopsis.
Also, if you like this novel, you can check out my others!