The Start of the Plot
After getting the 1000-year-old Earth Spirit Milk, Xue Bai would spend the rest of the day plundering the forest outside of Snowy Wind City, dry of all its opportunities.
It didn't even matter who they belonged to originally; they all indiscriminately ended up in Xue Bai's pocket by the end of the day.
And while this might change the course of the plot a little, Xue Bai wasn't too worried about it.
The Children of the Plane weren't chosen by their innate karmic values but instead by their potential. So Xue Bai stealing the chances of the other Children of the Plane wouldn't stop them from being chosen. At worst, it would just slow down their growth by a notch, but to Xue Bai, that was only a plus.
While he wanted to be sworn brothers with Huo Long, he still wanted to be the bigger voice in the relationship and possibly even have the protagonist at his beck and call. However, being stronger than Huo Long was necessary for that idea to pan out.
After a day of plundering back home, Xue Bai would eat the various natural treasures he stole and cultivate at an insane pace, not wasting a single moment. And thanks to the various potent tonics he found, his cultivation base would see massive improvements in a very short time.
Within a week, Xue Bai advanced to the true peak of the Blood Exchange Realm.
And this astronomical pace wouldn't slow down because of Xue Bai's overpicking of the forest near him. Xue Bai had knowledge of the entire Baishen Plane, not just the Southern Continent. So once the forest near him was picked dry, he would simply increase his scope.
Within the month, he successfully advanced to the Muscle Nourishing realm. Moreover, since they had broadened their scope, Xue Bai was also able to snag chances that were helpful for not only the Wang Twins but also his parents.
And with the Earth Spirit Milk and his Kidney Vein, Xue Bai had no worries that he would flood his body with impurities and consume natural treasure after natural treasure without worry.
So, with no repercussions, unlimited resources, and an iron-forged will, Xue Bai would cultivate at the fastest possible speed for as long as he wanted.
It was a dream situation that Xue Bai would be hard-pressed to find again, so he naturally took advantage of it.
Xue Bai felt like he had a fire below him, boiling him, and with the plot getting nearer by the day and every second he wasn't getting stronger, Xue Bai felt like a hand of death tightened the grip around his throat ever so slightly. So, with no immediate threats, Xue Bai would cultivate fast and calmly for another 17 months until the eve of the plot.
5th month of 975
Now halfway through age 13, Xue Bai had grown very well to a mature height of 156 cm, but sadly, he still had an androgynous beauty instead of a handsome one. However, after being in this body for five years, Xue Bai had long gotten used to it and was growing to like it.
Cultivation-wise, Xue Bai had reached his goal of reaching the Bone Strengthening realm before the plot's beginning. Not only that, he took it a step further and made it to the second stage.
When talking about his family, Xiaoer has also made leaps and bounds in the past 18 months. Thanks to the help of the 1000-year-old Earth Spirit Milk and other natural treasures, she had managed to go from the 4th stage of the Muscle Nourishing realm all the way to the Organ Tempering realm.
However, a 19-year-old Organ Tempering realm cultivator wasn't something to scoff at on the Southern Continent.
Besides Xue Bai and his maid, the Wang Twins also made steady progress, advancing to the 4th state of the Law Manifestation realm thanks to the resources Xue Bai gave them. They could've advanced further, but the twins decided to slow down their advancement pace and focus on both their foundation and deepening their comprehension of the Sword Law instead.
Unlike Xue Bai and Xiao'er, who could speed through the 5 physical realms without any care for an unstable foundation, the Wang Twins were in the Law Engraving realm. They had to worry about the foundation of the cultivation base and ensure that it was stable enough to continue cultivating before even thinking about advancing.
Cultivating was like building a tower. You couldn't just continuously go higher without care. You also needed to ensure your foundation was strong enough to support further endeavors before continuing to advance. One wrong step, and everything could come crashing down.
Since the Wang Twins were cultivation fanatics, they knew this rule well, so rather than consuming the natural treasures that Xue Bai found for them, they simply stored them for another, much better time.
The same was the case for Li Rou and Xue Feng, but their situation was a bit worse, as they only managed to advance two stages in the Spirit Awakening Realm within these 18 months.
However, their reasoning for this snail's pace had more complications than the twins.
After reaching the Xiantian Great Realm, one's cultivation style would have to switch. Instead of the body that they previously cultivated in the Houtian Great Realm, in the Xiantian Great Realm, they would have to start cultivating their soul. Moreover, they would also have to start absorbing something other than Spiritual Qi.
Spiritual Qi was the essence of the universe and facilitated the growth of all lifeforms, but that was it. It was basic and extremely weak in comparison to other essences found in the vast universe.
Other than slightly strengthening the body when absorbed, Spiritual Qi didn't do much.
So, when cultivation switched from the body to the soul in the Xiantian Great Realm, every human cultivator would find their cultivation speed screeching to a near-complete stop.
To counteract that, people like Duan Zhen and other tycoons of the Baishen Plane would use a variant of Spiritual Qi named Soul Qi to cultivate. But Soul Qi was extremely hard to obtain, as it could only come from natural Grotto Heavens, secret realms, or various natural treasures.
And as for Li Rou and Xue Feng, who had nothing of the sort, they could only cultivate with subpar Spiritual Qi, slowing down their cultivation speed.
However, since the two knew that they were already beyond their innate limit, they were only grateful to be in the Xiantian Great Realm and weren't very disappointed with their progress. To them, every stage of advancement was a blessing.
While Xue Bai and his family experienced a heavenly cultivation speed boost, the rest of the Southern Continent was surprisingly no different.
The previous 18 months, from what information Xue Feng had, were peaceful. And it was all thanks to one man, Wang Yu. Now almost 18, Wang Yu was a boulder that suppressed every possible genius or rising star of the Southern Continent.
After awakening his Martial Veins, Wang Yu ended up spending most of his days in the Soaring Sword Sect. Still, due to the sudden death of Wang Yin in the beast riot that engulfed The Great Xuan Empire and other various Wang Clan members who "randomly disappeared," he was forced back home.
The beast riot was, of course, created by Wang Yichen to cover up the death of his peak stage Domain Lord realm brother. Nevertheless, it served as a great smokescreen and perfectly fooled the continent.
After returning home, Wang Yu, however, seemed to be injected with chicken blood, and rather than slowing down due to the change in environment, his cultivation speed sped up as he shattered every single long-standing record of the Southern Continent.
Reaching the peak of the Bone Strengthening realm at 16 and 4 months. Entering the Organ Tempering realm a week later, Advancing to the Qi Sea realm at 17 and 7 months, and now at 18 and 2 months, Wang Yu was already at the 5th stage of the Qi Sea realm.
Even before, when he was at the Soaring Sword Sect, Wang Yu would often be compared to the Central Continent geniuses. But now, as his talent seemed to have awakened fully, he had broken the three views of everyone who had once judged him.
However, Xue Bai knew that this cultivation speed wasn't truly his own. Wang Yu had returned home and back into the embrace of the Blood Saber Sect. Obviously, he was being force-fed resources by them to ensure he remained the continent's strongest genius.
In fact, the only reason that Wang Yu was in the Soaring Sword Sect was for him to betray it at a critical moment and ensure the sect's destruction. They were planning on Wang Yu becoming the Holy Son of the Soaring Sword Sect and then, at a critical point, having Wang Yu unleash devastating damage on it before retreating.
This plotline happened in Xue Bai's personal playthrough of "Children of the Plane" and was definitely the most annoying one. While Wang Yu was a starting villain, he was the worst one of all. So even though Wang Yu was becoming a medicine jar, his strength was still the real deal, making him a pain to deal with.
However, Xue Bai, now in the Baishen Plane himself, was more than confident enough to deal with him. He only needed a few more years.
As Xue Bai was thinking about his relatively uneventful past 18 months, Xiao'er had sometimes snuck up behind him.
"Young Master, why are you on this cliff? Is there something you're waiting for here?" Xiao'er asked as she sat next to Xue Bai.
Currently, Xue Bai is sitting on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the very scene he has anticipated for so long. And now that there was another pair of eyes wanting to witness it alongside him, Xue Bai had no complaints.
"Xiao'er, just wait. At midnight, you'll see something you'll never forget." Xue Bai mysteriously replied as he waited.
The maid didn't believe Xue Bai fully, but since she enjoyed her young master's company, she didn't say anything. Pulling out a small towel to sit on, Xiao'er made herself comfortable next to Xue Bai and waited.
Thankfully, after only a few minutes of waiting, midnight struck.
However, as nothing happened for almost 5 minutes, Xiao'er was about to speak up until Xue Bai suddenly stood up.
"It's here!" Xue Bai yelled out fanatically.
Following Xue Bai's shout, a low rumble reverberated through the earth, hinting at the imminent arrival of an extraordinary phenomenon. Countless cultivators across the Baishen Plane felt something in the air change. Even the usually dense Xiao'er sensed something, and she couldn't help but look up at the sky.
Suddenly, the heavens seemed to split asunder, unveiling a rift that foreshadowed a realm beyond mortal comprehension. The celestial veil parts like a grand theater curtain, giving rise to a breathtaking spectacle.
However, before anyone could see too deeply into the Immortal World, five brilliant streams of pure, luminescent energy surged forth from the rift in the sky.
These radiant bolts of power resemble lightning, but their brilliance transcends anything ever witnessed by mortal eyes. Each bolt carries a distinct hue: one was a molten red, one was a celestial pure silver, one was jet black with hints of a demonic purple within, one was a light blue that soared throughout the sky like a dragon ascending the heavens, and finally, the last one was a pure ocean blue.
Each lightning bolt would take its own path, and each stroke would hit five different spots throughout the plane.
Two on the Southern Continent and one on the Eastern, Northern, and Western continents, each marking the locations where each protagonist started.
"They've been chosen."
In the sixth month of 975, the plot finally began.
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