Mutating the Bloodline
Creating a Bloodline Core was simple, as all you needed to do was to gather all of your Blood Essence into one spot and condense it as hard as you could. And like diamonds, under immense pressure, it starts to crystallize.
But the hard part was to infuse the Elemental Essence into it while keeping it stable. Thankfully Huli Jing was next to him to help him throughout the process, as just the Middle Heaven Grade Bloodline was as tough to control as a bull. But making his Low Heaven-grade Spatial Element stay still in the same spot with it was almost impossible.
Directing his consciousness inside of himself, Xue Bai found the many drops of Blood Essence throughout him and managed to corral them in a spot opposite from his heart.
"Senior Huli, I've gathered them. Help me keep it stable while I gather my Elemental Essence." Xue Bai asked.
Nodding, Huli Jing easily controlled the rowdy Bloodline within Xue Bai.
Gathering his Spatial Essence was more complicated than finding his Blood Essence, but it didn't take long as, within ten minutes, Xue Bai managed to bring it to where Huli Jing corralled his Bloodline.
The next step was to fuse the two together. And with Huli Jing's powerful soul, the infusion process was as smooth as possible to the point where they combined as if they were originally one.
Finally, the last step was to give it enough pressure to crystallize into a core.
"COMPRESS!" And with a loud shout, Huli Jing started to compress the newly fused Bloodline.
The process happened quickly, and within an hour, Xue Bai finally mutated his Bloodline.
"You're right. It didn't hurt at all!" Xue Bai spoke with a smile.
"Why would I bother to lie to a child." Huli Jing humphed.
Smiling at the man, Xue Bai ignored his muttering and went to the mirror to investigate his new appearance.
His eyes and hair before were entirely purple like his hair. But after his new Bloodline mutation, his hair, eyes, ears, and even his tails, were a shimmering purple as if a Nebula were contained within them.
"This is so beautiful." Xue Bai muttered softly.
After staring at his eyes long enough, Xue Bai tore his eyes away from the mirror to look at Huli Jing, only to see him flickering as if he would dissipate soon.
"Senior Huli! What's happening to you?" Xue Bai asked with concern.
"I have already found someone to inherit my legacy. Therefore, there is no point in my remnant soul staying here any longer." Huli Jing answered.
"But you said it could stay here for another million years? So how are you going to die already?" Xue Bai asked with confusion.
"I never said I was dying, fool. I had prepared a physical body in the Immortal Realm in the situation that I would die prematurely. The body has been ready for around 10 thousand years. Now I merely need to enter it with my remnant soul." Huli Jing explained.
Xue Bai took a sigh of relief. Huli Jing was the first person besides his family he felt close to. Having him die a day after he met him would leave a sour feeling in his heart.
"Before I leave, this Secret Realm is going to collapse in on itself in ten hours. There isn't anything of value to you here, so you should tell those other children in here to leave alongside you." Huli Jing spoke while Xue Bai was thinking.
"Wait, Senior Huli, I have a request." Xue Bai remembered what he needed to do before he left.
"I only have an hour. Say it quickly." Huli Jing responded impatiently.
"In this Secret Realm, there should be four groups of people. Can you find all the people with a devil claw branded on their attire?" Xue Bai asked.
"Yes, easily. There are currently 20 of them in here. And they are all mostly in the Muscle Nourishing Realm. Why? Are they your companions?"
"No, the opposite. I need to kill them. Can you do it for me, Senior?"
"I am an Immortal. Though I have lost my physical body, I am still strong enough to flatten this entire plane should I wish to. And you want me to kill a group of kids?" Huli Jing didn't know whether to be angry or laugh at such a request.
"How am I supposed to kill them? I'm only at the Vein Transformation Realm." Xue Bai cried out.
"You have a High Heaven-grade Bloodline, for heaven's sake. So go and find a few Peak Muscle Nourishment Realm beasts and coerce them into being your lackeys." Huli Jing berated.
"You're right!" Xue Bai forgot his new Bloodline and was thinking about how to face the Wang Clan members head-on.
"Do you have any more questions before I leave?" Huli Jing asked impatiently.
"Yes, how can I hide my tail and ears? They are too eye-catching."
"Just focus hard enough on your Bloodline Core. This should be second nature to you." Huli Jing answered.
Listening to the man Xue Bai once again focused his consciousness within himself and willed his Bloodline to suppress itself. And after a minute of concentration, the extra details disappeared.
Now, as his Spatial Elemental Essence was transferred into his Bloodline Core Xue, Bai's eyes and hair had returned to their normal hue. However, he still kept the beautiful transformation and seductive aura, sadly.
"Thank you, Senior Huli!" Xue Bai thanked him with a sincere bow.
However, Huli Jing waved his hand dismissively, "It was a give and take. If you knew who killed me, then you wouldn't be thanking me."
"Senior Huli, who killed you?" Xue Bai asked before the man left for good.
"I wrote it in the spatial ring on the desk. Besides the note, there are also enough resources for you to cultivate to the Xiantian Great Realm smoothly. But after that, you'd be on your own. Also, there is a seal on the note, and you can't break that seal unless you had a cultivation matching mine when I passed. So if you can't even reach my peak, then you shouldn't bother to know." Huli Jing answered before he finally faded away.
Saddened at the disappearance of Huli Jing, Xue Bai once again gave a deep bow before preparing to leave the cave abode.
Picking up the spatial ring and walking out of the cave, Xue Bai's eyes become cold.
"Wang Clan members, I hope you wrote your wills." Xue Bai spoke aloud as he jumped into the pond once again to leave the trial area.
The swim out of the Trial area was faster than entering it, and after about ten minutes of swimming, Xue Bai exited the pond and arrived back in the cave he started in.
Now with a Fire Element affinity, Xue Bai dried his soaked clothing by conjuring a small fire in his hand.
Though Xue Bai didn't know much about the Space Element, the Fire Element was his strong suit. In the game, he had cultivated to the peak of the mortal world with a Fire Element affinity, Martial Vein.
After drying himself, Xue Bai left the cave and climbed the mountain above the cave.
Now with his stronger soul, Xue Bai remembered everything about the Secret Realm, and the strongest beast in it lived at the top of this mountain. So after subduing it and the rest of the beasts who lived alongside it, he should have enough power to wipe out the Wang Clan members.
Before Huli Jing left, he gave Xue Bai the locations of the Wang Clan while leaving a small soul imprint on each of them. And Xue Bai was the only person who could sense the imprints.
From what Huli Jing sensed, of the 20 Wang Clan members who entered the Secret Realm, four were at the peak of the Muscle Nourishing Realm, while all but one of the rest were at various stages in the Muscle Nourishing Realm. But one person.
Usually, in Secret Realms, groups split up and go search for fortuitous encounters on their own. However, the group of 20 from the Wang Clan stayed together as a unit, protecting one person who stayed in the center. And this person in the center was the anomaly.
From what Hulu Jing told him, the person being protected was only in the Vein Transformation Realm. But he was at the peak of it, just one step away from entering the Blood Exchange Realm.
"It shouldn't be Wang Yu. That Demon spawn would be in the Bone Strengthening Realm this year. And the only other person in the Wang Clan that would be able to order this many people but being this weak should be the Grand Elders grandson." Xue Bai thought to himself.
"Well, it just makes my job easier to do."
Climbing to the top of the mountain didn't take very long, but with less than 10 hours left before the Secret Realm closed, Xue Bai climbed as fast as he could.
After wiping out the Wang Clan members, Xue Bai planned to search the Secret Realm himself. He knew where a few Natural Treasures that could help his cultivation were located.
As Xue Bai planned for the future, he realized he had finally reached the top of the mountain. The peak of this mountain was odd, and unlike most mountains, this one's peak was utterly flat and was covered in trees that towered over the clouds giving him a sense of awe.
But he wasn't given a moment to appreciate the scenery as within a minute of reaching the top, a hawk with an almost 2-meter wingspan flew out of a tree and charged at Xue Bai.