Step 2
Step 2 of Xue Bai's ascension to becoming a god was to acquire a high-level bloodline. He already had the Martial Veins. However, as high in rank as they were, they were only half of his plan. He needed a bloodline equal to or higher than his Martial Veins to complete his plan, and this secret realm had one.
The paw print on the cliffside was the entrance to a secret realm made by an immortal-level cultivator who died in betrayal before reaching his full potential. So in order to find someone to avenge him, he created this secret realm with his bloodline as the reward. And Xue Bai knew how to get it without any trouble.
The immortal cultivator in question had a low Heaven-grade Nine-Tailed Fox bloodline. And just like the one from folklore, he was also gifted with fire manipulation and illusion skills. And that's what Xue Bai was after.
During his time in the game, he was a peak Black-grade Alchemist, and in order to utilize his skills, he needed a fire affinity. However, Xue Bai almost gave up on his space element Martial Veins until he remembered this secret realm.
Through this bloodline inheritance, he could be in control of two separate elements while also gaining extremely high talent in illusion arts.
So with the entire secret realm's layout memorized in his head, Xue Bai climbed the tallest tree near him to see where he currently was.
"I'm on the forest region's edge, so the secret realm's core shouldn't be too far from me." Xue Bai mumbled to himself.
Dropping down from the tree's canopy, Xue Bai ran out into the plain in front of him towards the sky-piercing mountain in the distance. The core, along with the Bloodline Inheritance, was there.
However, with reward came risk, and before Xue Bai could reach his destination, a 3-meter-long snake sprung out from the tall grass toward him.
Though slightly surprised by the sneak attack, Xue Bai didn't lose his calm. He pulled his Deep Glacier Sword from its sheath and slashed at the tail that was attacking him.
The beast was only in the Blood Exchange realm, so with his space element as the catalyst, Xue Bai's Deep Glacier Sword sliced through the snake's tail, separating it from the snake completely.
"Roar!"
Realizing that it had kicked an iron plate, the snake was terrified. But since it was more in pain than fear, it jumped back and curled up, scared of Xue Bai's second offensive.
Thankfully, Xue Bai didn't care about the snake, and after making sure it didn't test him again, he ran off.
Now, dozens of meters away, the snake constricted the muscles on its lower half to stop any more blood loss. Most demonic beasts and cultivators could control their bodily movements completely, so using muscles to stop blood flow wasn't hard.
Moreover, demonic beasts didn't have pills to heal injuries. So only after it made its muscles stop the bleeding did the snake feel safe, for now.
Still scared of Xue Bai, the snake raised its scaled head to find the assailant, only to see Xue Bai sprinting off, ignoring its presence.
Though Xue Bai could easily kill the snake, that would risk other beasts coming to pile on. Xue Bai wasn't afraid of one or two demonic beasts, but once dozens of them started to come, his life would be threatened.
Even with his space element, Xue Bai was still forced to use his sword as a catalyst to use it. However, he only had two hands, so no matter how strong his sword was, Xue Bai knew he couldn't defend himself against an entire herd of demonic beasts.
Also, killing the snake would net Xue Bai nothing, giving him even less incentive to continue the fight. Therefore, there was simply no reason to continue fighting.
Nothing in this secret realm mattered to Xue Bai except the Bloodline Inheritance.
Along the way, a few more beasts tried to swallow Xue Bai whole, but luckily, they were all in the Blood Exchange realm, allowing him to kill them in one slash or mutilate them before running away.
And none of the survivors chased after him as well. Most of them deemed a continued fight with Xue Bai not worth the costs. In one slash, he would be able to sever a limb. It would take at most two more slashes to kill them.
Finally, after almost half an hour of running, Xue Bai made it to the cave where the Bloodline Inheritance was. However, Xue Bai knew that nothing in this world came for free. As inheritance in the cultivation world worked, there would be a trial, so before entering the trial area recklessly, Xue Bai sat down and meditated.
From the Spiritual Qi tidal wave, Xue Bai had already reached the 6th stage of the Vein Transformation realm. But while waiting for the twins to break through and using the residual Spiritual Qi in the air, he had pathed out almost 70% of the way to the 7th vein, his lungs.
So with the two hours he had before the Emperor, the Dukes, and his father arrived, he planned to break through to the 7th stage.
And also, Xue Bai needed the lung vein to pass the trial, as he wouldn't be able to reach the trial area without it. It was a little annoying, but Xue Bai knew why the creator of the secret realm made it this way.
Dropping into a lotus position, Xue Bai pulled out two spirit stones and started cultivating.
–
While Xue Bai was cultivating, Wang Yichen, Yan Zhenyu, and Duan Zhen had gathered all of the juniors in the Muscle Nourishing realm and below.
However, seeing the members of the Wang Clan, Xue Feng was confused.
"Duke Wang, why isn't your son here? I heard that he had awakened a middle Black-grade Martial Vein a few years ago. Surely a secret realm like this would be something he shouldn't miss." Xue Feng curiously asked.
With his son's promise to wipe out the Wang Clan members who would enter, not seeing Wang Yichen's pride and joy, Wang Yu, here to die, disappointed Xue Feng. However, he didn't show it on his face.
However, Xue Feng's curious question brought a smile to Wang Yichen's face. Remembering his son, Wang Yichen let out a hearty laugh.
"Oh, that untalented bastard is preparing to break through to the Bone Strengthening realm, and I couldn't bear to pull him out of his closed-door seclusion." Wang Yichen said so dismissively, but anyone who heard his tone would think otherwise.
Though he was belittling his son with his words, he was obviously praising him. This year Wang Yichen's son, Wang Yu, would be 15, and with him preparing to reach the Bone Strengthening realm before 16 was definitely a heaven-defying speed.
Cultivation speed in the early stages was always extremely close. For example, children on the Southern Continent would take around 18 months to advance past the Vein Transformation realm, around 30 months for the Blood Exchange realm, and about four years for the Muscle Nourishing realm.
At that pace, the average time a cultivator would take to reach the Bone Strengthening realm would be around eight years, which means that most Bone Strengthening realm cultivators would be nearing their twenties.
Earlier, Xue Bai felt that Xiao'er was a prodigy for the Southern Continent, as she was already at the 4th stage of the Muscle Nourishing realm at 16 years old.
However, Wang Yu was about to reach the Bone Strengthening realm at only 15 years old. Such a pace was something that could only happen on the Central Continent.
And while 3 or 4 years may not seem like a lot to Wang Yichen or Yan Zhenyu, who were hundreds of years old, to a child, not even 20 years old, every year matters.
The older a person got, the more and more their bodies became fully developed. Of course, this wouldn't mean much in the later stages, but it meant everything during the 5 physical realms.
If it took a teenager three years to complete the Bone Strengthening realm, then it would take a 30-year-old man more than double that time!
Not because there was a difference in talent, but rather because the skeleton of the grown man was fully developed and set!
Being younger and still in your developing years meant that you were still growing and had future potential. But once you grew past 20, that would stop. You'd lose your youthful advantage and experience a massive halt in your cultivation speed.
This meant that it was best to complete the 5 physical realms before 20. This would ensure you would never slow down while also being able to lay down the strongest physical foundation possible.
The reality was cruel, however, and since the talents of the Southern Continent were poor, this rarely happened.
But now, with Wang Yu advancing toward the Bone Strengthening realm before he was even 16, the Southern Continent hoped that he could finally be the person who could achieve it!
However, Xue Feng didn't go to complement Wang Yichen as Yan Zhenyu or Duan Zhen did. Instead, he started to laugh inwardly.
'Look at your hubris. My son is still ten and at the peak of the Vein Transformation realm! He could reach the Bone Strengthening realm at 13 or even 12!' Xue Feng bragged mentally.
On the outside, though. he had ignored Wang Yichen's bragging and had already started mounting his Bear Griffin, ready to guide the three groups to the secret realm.
Duan Zhen, Yan Zhenyu, and Wang Yichen had already boarded their airships and started to follow Xue Feng as he flew toward the secret realm.
The four groups were extremely fast, and with their modes of transportation, they reached the border of the Myriad Beasts Forest quickly, arriving at the forest's edge within 10 minutes.
But to the other groups' confusion, Xue Feng didn't continue flying above the forest but instead stopped at its border.
"You all stop here. The rest will be on foot." Xue Feng said while ordering his mount to lower itself to the ground.
"Xue Feng, I speak for the rest of us when I say that walking would lower our standing." Wang Yichen spoke rudely.
They were three of the Great Xuan Empire's strongest and most influential people. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that any of them could cover the skies with a palm and create waves of chaos with just an order.
Walking through a forest that was publicly reserved for hunters would only be insulting their image. Besides Duan Zhen, who had a low Black-grade Martial Vein, Yan Zhenyu and Wang Yichen were men at the limit of their potential.
At their age, the fact that they could no longer advance their cultivation bases' meant that their face and reputation were everything to them.
Though Duan Zhen and Yan Zhenyu didn't say anything, they agreed.
But Xue Feng cared little for their resistance and merely continued to fly down to the ground.
"The Myriad Beasts Forest is the best hunting ground near Snowy Wind City. If I land Xiao Xiong and you all land your airships, that would make most of this hunting ground a dead zone for any demonic beasts." Xue Feng spoke indifferently.
"So you'll all walk with me or not come at all."
Ever since he had consumed the Yggdrasil fruit and was given a chance to potentially reach the Xiantian Great Realm, he had regained his youthful confidence.
He no longer had to resign himself to the same fate as Yan Zhenyu or Wang Yichen. With Xue Bai and Yggdrasil with him, Xue Feng knew that he had a great future. The Xiantian Great Realm was already within his grasp, and while he didn't want to believe Xue Bai's proclamation, he couldn't help but think that the Immortal Great Realm wasn't far away either.
And the three noticed that, but how could they know what Xue Feng had encountered? They merely guessed that he was getting cocky after breaking through to the 7th stage of the Domain Lord realm.
So with the confidence that Xue Feng was showing and the realistic probability that Xue Feng wouldn't guide them if they didn't get down, the three heads looked at each other and nodded.
Making their airships descend from the sky, Duan Zhen, Yan Zhenyu, and Wang Yichen made their younger generations exit.
"Alright, you brats, you'll be walking the rest of the way. Follow Duke Xue, and make sure not to lose sight of any of the four of us." Duan Zhen yelled out authoritatively.
In the Great Xuan Empire, each Duke had a different personality. For example, Xue Feng had a confident and youthful style, Wang Yichen had an arrogance and disdain for the mortal world, and Yan Zhenyu was sly and a slick businessman, but Duan Zhen was the Emperor.
Since his birth, he had been trained and taught to ensure that the wild men stayed under his control. And over the years, Duan Zhen made sure that the Empire knew he had the authority and skills to keep them serving under him.
So with one order to the clan juniors of each group, Duan Zhen made sure to instill a sense of submissiveness in them.
'This is as much as Father can buy you, Bai'er, ' Xue Feng thought as he led the group toward the secret realm Entrance.
Meanwhile, as they landed outside the forest, Xue Bai's eyes opened. Then, exhaling a breath of turbid air, Xue Bai felt different.
He had broken through once more!
7th stage of the Vein Transformation realm!
Now that he had the lung vein, the air he breathed was purer and even filled with Spiritual Qi. So now, even by just breathing, Xue Bai could improve his cultivation, albeit by a negligible amount.
"Time for the trial." Xue Bai spoke to himself as he entered the cave.
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