Bloodline Infusion
"How could I not know what a bloodline core is?" Huli Jing snorted. "If anything, I should be questioning why you, a mortal child in a mortal plane, know what a bloodline core is."
Xue Bai smiled at the question. Bloodline cores were another high-level Immortal World technique that the player who learned under Feng Huang posted on the forums.
Beast bloodlines, when in humans, often made the cultivator who possessed them more beastlike and savage while also bringing out the personality of the bloodline. However, by creating a bloodline core, you could avoid that side effect while keeping all the benefits.
"Then, Senior, do you know how to mutate a bloodline core?" Xue Bai asked another question.
Huli Jing nodded at this, but before Xue Bai could continue, his facial expression changed, and he looked disgusted, as if someone had just offered to destroy his most prized possession.
"No, why would I ever want to mutate my own honored bloodline?" Hulu Jing asked with disgust evident on his face.
Xue Bai sensed the man's pride and didn't think it was unwarranted. After all, there were a nigh-infinite number of people in the universe, and yet a very, very small select few had a bloodline at the Heaven-grade, let alone the middle Heaven-grade.
It was right for Huli Jing to feel honored in his own bloodline. He was at the top of the universe.
"Because it's weak, senior. Though it is in the middle Heaven-grade compared to the others in the same rank, it's weak. Moreover, the bloodline itself still hasn't even reached atavism yet. How can you even call it honored." Xue Bai replied coolly.
Xue Bai knew that unless a bloodline reached the atavism state, that meant that it still had potential and wasn't yet fully developed. So the fact that Huli Jing's bloodline was already nearing the pinnacle of the universe, yet it still hadn't reached atavism, spoke miles about its strength and potential.
But while it was great to have a bloodline with potential, it was still better to reach the end of that potential. And because of that, Huli Jing was often criticized for it.
Xue Bai's bringing that up made Huli Jing feel a bit of nostalgia while also feeling even more anger.
'A mortal child in a backwater plane called my bloodline weak? Does he think high and peak Heaven-grade bloodlines are like cabbages one finds on the side of the road?' Huli Jing was stuck between being infuriated and wanting to laugh.
In his mind, Xue Bai's words were as if a beggar made fun of a duke for being under the Emperor. It made sense, yes, but wasn't it better to look at oneself rather than compare the people standing at the peak of the world?
Eventually, Huli Jing positioned himself on the side of laughter, but since he felt like Xue Bai needed a stern humbling, he feigned anger.
"You are an interesting child that shouldn't be in a mortal world. However, don't think that will prevent me from killing you here. My remnant soul can survive another million years. I don't believe another prodigy won't stumble upon my secret realm." Huli Jing coldly spoke as he released some pressure on Xue Bai.
Huli Jing didn't have a physical body, but his soul was completely intact. And before he was ambushed and killed, he had taken half a step into the God Great Realm. All he needed to do was ignite his divine fire and prove his divinity to undergo his apotheosis.
Applying an ocean's worth of pressure on Xue Bai using just his soul was easier for him than drinking water.
Struggling to withstand the pressure, Xue Bai spoke, "Senior, I am doing it for you. Listen to my method."
"My patience runs thin, and other cultivators have entered the secret realm. Finish speaking your business or continue through my trial." Huli Jing spoke as he pretended to only get further angry.
In his mind, Xue Bai's low Heaven-grade Martial Veins had gotten to his head. And while he still didn't want to choose Xue Bai as his successor, he felt some fondness for the extremely talented youth.
A sense of humility was needed in any genius, and he wanted to facilitate Xue Bai's.
"Senior, do you know of the Celestial Void Fruit?" Xue Bai asked. After receiving a nod, he continued, "Then, Senior, do you know of a mighty figure with the Celestial Void Nine-Tailed Fox bloodline?"
"How can I not know of the Void Fox Emperor? He's the only surviving member of the Heaven Trampling Sect. And a figure at the peak of the God Great Realm." Huli Jing spoke with reverence in his eyes.
"Then do you think Senior Void Fox Emperor gained his bloodline naturally?" Xue Bai asked.
Hearing the question, Huli Jing couldn't answer truthfully, but putting together the clues from Xue Bai's words, he answered no.
"Correct, he also mutated his bloodline core! And you know how he accomplished this?" Xue Bai asked as he pointed at Huli Jing.
Feeling where Xue Bai was leading him, Huli Jing guessed the answer, but since Xue Bai had a fanatical look in his eyes, he let the boy finish.
"With your bloodline and my Martial Veins. During the creation of his bloodline core, he infused the elemental essence from his Marital Vein into his forming bloodline core, mutating it into the Celestial Void Nine-Tailed Fox bloodline. Isn't that genius!" Xue Bai spoke excitedly.
Huli Jing didn't reply immediately, as he was thinking of what Xue Bai had said. Though it sounded crazy, after thinking it through, it was plausible. It was possible to remove all of the elemental essence from your Martial Veins, but it only served detrimental side effects.
The elemental essence in your Martial Veins was what granted you access to manipulate the element. Stripping your Martial Veins or the elemental essence would not only remove your affinity but also plant a time bomb in your body.
All that elemental essence needed a place to go. Having it sit in your body was insane.
But to go a step forward and take all of that chaotic energy without a home and pour it into your forming bloodline core was nothing short of madness.
One small mistake during the infusion could not only destroy your new bloodline and elemental essence, but rather than worrying about that, it would be better to worry about where the chaotic energy you just failed to fuse would go!
The energy you just evicted needed a new home to be stable, and failing to give that energy a home would create an explosion no inferior to a cultivator's self-destruction.
Such an explosion of that magnitude happening inside of your body was a death sentence, cut and dried.
No one could survive the aftermath of that.
However, Huli Jing realized something.
Which genius who managed to cultivate to the peak of the God Great Realm was sane? Which of them didn't take a hail-mary gamble during their lives? Which of them didn't have a screw loose somewhere?
None of them!
To be a genius was to defy the Heavens themselves!
Huli Jing knew that, and therefore he started to believe Xue Bai.
"Child, you're not lying to me, are you?" Huli Jing increased the pressure on Xue Bai to force out the truth.
"If I am lying, may the Heavens smite me down this moment." Xue Bai swore a dao oath to prove his truthfulness.
Words meant nothing. It was better to outright convince Huli Jing with actions than to use words.
And after waiting for almost five minutes with nothing happening, Huli Jing agreed.
"Follow me, child. I'll help you through the infusion process." As he spoke, Huli Jing walked toward a normal-looking wall.
Xue Bai, though confused, followed the apparition. And right before Huli Jing's remnant soul was about to walk into the wall, Xue Bai witnessed the wall in front of him fade away like an illusion to reveal a cave abode with only a meditation mat.
'He is a nine-tailed fox. It'd be weird if he didn't have an illusion set up here.' Xue Bai mused.
"Sit on the mat. And grit your teeth. This is going to be the most painful thing you'll ever experience, most likely." Huli Jing bluntly said.
Xue Bai sat down but was a little apprehensive about feeling pain. So before Huli Jing put his hand on his back, Xue Bai shyly asked, "Can you numb the pain for me."
Not even bothering to answer the question, Huli Jing pulled a bottle out of nowhere and handed it to Xue Bai.
"Swallow this, and you can inherit my bloodline." Huli Jing explained.
Inspecting the bottle for a moment, Xue Bai thought it looked alluring. The liquid in the bottle had a red hue, so clear it was almost see-through.
However, the longer Xue Bai looked at it, the more he could feel an innate connection with the bloodline. It was weird. It was like he was connected with it.
It was almost like he already had the bloodline once.
But Xue Bai knew he didn't have a bloodline himself. If he did, Huli Jing would've already sensed that. Moreover, how could he know he had a middle Heaven-grade bloodline?
He was slightly childish, not a blind bat.
Once he saw that Xue Bai was in a trance, Huli Jing got annoyed and gave the boy a slap on the back.
Xue Bai was stunned as to how the astral figure managed to hurt him, but the man gave him no time to think.
"Stop looking at my bloodline, and swallow it." Huli Jing berated from behind.
Back to reality, Xue Bai gave the familiar-looking blood another look before taking a deep breath and downing the bottle in one gulp. He knew it was going to be painful, so he decided to do it all at once.
And Huli Jing was right. Almost instantly, he felt his entire body start burning up from the inside. It was almost as if he was melting. His old human blood was boiling and evaporating while slowly being replaced by foreign blood, and the pain from it was driving Xue Bai slowly to insanity.
However, whenever Xue Bai thought he would lose his grip, a cool feeling would flow into him from his back, numbing the pain.
Huli Jing was soothing his soul to make sure Xue Bai wouldn't go mad. And this was slowly tempering Xue Bai's soul.
The soul was something untouchable for any cultivator under the Xiantian Great Realm and would only ever increase in strength alongside your realm. But through this torture, Xue Bai was strengthening his soul before the Xiantian Great Realm.
This process of destruction and healing of Xue Bai's body and soul continued on for another three hours until Xue Bai felt his body cool down.
"Senior, why must you be so petty? Is it because I called your bloodline mediocre?" Xue Bai asked bitterly.
Throughout the entire way through, Xue Bai wanted to pass out. However, Huli Jing never let him go unconscious once and made him stay awake through the whole ordeal.
"If you passed out, you would have missed out on the golden opportunity of the soul tempering. Don't you feel everything is clearer now? Your soul originally was already as strong as someone two realms higher than you. But now it's almost as strong as the average cultivator in the Qi Sea realm." Huli Jing commented.
Unconvinced, Xue Bai opened his eyes, and true to the man's words, everything looked clearer. He could see everything in front of him clearly. Even how many cracks were in the wall of the cave abode was apparent. He could see them as clearly as they were right before him.
The memories of his previous life that had become blurry were as clear as if they had happened yesterday.
"Then can I snuff out people's souls with a glance? Or maybe even turn people into slaves with a command?" Xue Bai's otaku nature came out as he asked.
"Nonsense, where did you even get those ideas from? You can't even use your soul as a weapon until the Soul Fusion realm. Until then, the only advantages a strong soul will give you are supplementary. With comprehension or adaptability in battle. Those things you mentioned are possible, but you aren't strong enough to do them yet." Huli Jing lectured.
"Then what about the bloodline? Was the infusion successful?" Xue Bai asked curiously.
"Look at yourself in the mirror before you say, was the infusion successful?" Huli Jing replied sarcastically.
"Look in the mirror?" Xue Bai muttered confusedly before walking to the mirror and witnessing his new appearance.
"Oh my god, I'm even hotter!" Xue Bai exclaimed. "No, this is bad. Before, people would back off after hearing I was a man, but now, some people might even kidnap me knowing I'm a man."
Before, Xue Bai was undoubtedly beautiful with his full red lips, long eyelashes, and pale jade-like skin. But now, every aspect that made him beautiful was magnified a few times, and he even gained a seductive aura.
His lips were now almost blood red, his eyelashes batted themselves even if he didn't do it manually, and somehow his skin looked even more jade-like. Each strand of his hair was glossier and flowed down his back like a waterfall.
But the most eye-catching of all were the snow-white fox ears and the nine tails that had become a part of him. His tails pointed upward, unwilling to touch the ground, as if they were royalty walking on a red carpet. And his ears twitch ever so slightly, giving someone the urge to rub them.
As Xue Bai was dumbfounded by his new looks, Huli Jing, in the back, sighed, "Child, this is the fate of the holders of this bloodline. We are cursed to be beautiful forever."
"Was it like this for you, too, Senior Huli?" Xue Bai asked as he found a brother in arms.
"Too much so, child. I had been hunted down by dual cultivation and demonic sects for more than half of my cultivation journey. Even if I could prove myself to be a man, they still wouldn't let me go. Not only men but also women were interested in me. Women in the Immortal World are surprisingly bold, just coming out and declaring me to be their boy toy. It was a new experience for me when I first experienced it." Huli Jing sighed while reminiscing about the past.
"Well, enough of me. It's time to create your bloodline core. The faster we do this, the less your personality gets warped by the beast bloodline." Huli Jing spoke seriously.
Afraid of going through the pain once again, Xue Bai asked, "How much is this going to hurt compared to the Bloodline Inheritance?"
"It shouldn't hurt at all." Huli Jing responded, "However, you need to be focused the entire way through. One slip-up and you could detonate your bloodline and waste your elemental essence. With me, you shouldn't die, but you'd either lose the essence and bloodline or, worst-case scenario, become a cripple outright."
Nodding seriously, Xue Bai sat back down on the meditation mat, ready for the final step of his ascension to godhood.
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