Sneaking into the Yan Clan group
"Sister, can you tell me your relationship with Big Brother Long." When Xue Bai got close, Yan Fengxian asked with a smile.
However, instead of answering Yan Fengxian's question, Xue Bai dodged it and requested something.
"Fengfeng, can I ask you something first?" Xue Bai asked as she eyed the nearby Yan Clan members.
Understanding what Xue Bai meant, Yan Fengxian waved them away, leaving the two alone.
"What's wrong, sister? What do you want to ask me?" Yan Fengxian asked.
After Yan Fengxian spoke, she saw Xue Bai pull down the cloak from his head to show his face. And since Xue Bai had already gotten out of his hybrid form and looked like his normal human self, Yan Fengxian immediately knew who he was after pulling down his cloak.
"You! Xue Bai, how did you get into this Secret Realm? We didn't see you enter with us. Also, you can't even cultivate yet. Are you looking to die!" Yan Fengxian asked worriedly.
Ignoring all of her questions, Xue Bai pulled his cloak back over his head and spoke, "Nevermind that, I need to leave this Secret Realm and with your clan is the only plausible way. Will you let me follow you or not?"
Though Yan Fengxian was annoyed at being ignored, she still took a moment to think about Xue Bai's question.
"You can follow us, but what will be in it for us?" Yan Fengxian tried to bargain.
"I don't have anything of value on me. But after we leave, I can mention this to my father, and he'll surely give you something worthwhile." Xue Bai answered.
Yan Fengxian agreed. She also didn't carry many valuable things with her and believed that Xu Bai also wasn't, even though Xue Bai had a spatial ring full of things that could send the continent into war.
"Alright, put on this uniform. Wearing the cloak would only make you look suspicious." Yan Fengxian spoke as she handed him a set of robes with the Yan Clan symbol.
Thanking her, Xue Bai went to go and change quickly behind a tree.
"Young Miss, who is that girl you let stay with us?" After Xue Bai left, one of the Yan Clan members asked Yan Fengxian.
"She's a friend, and she's going to stay with us as we leave." Yan Fengxian answered ambiguously.
"But Young Miss, anyone who can enter this Secret Realm is a part of the Three Great Families. So why can't she just go along with her clansmen?"
Yan Fengxian was caught off guard at the question, but as a trained heir to a Dukedom, she kept her cool and answered, "She was caught in an inner strife. So she is hiding with us to lay low."
The Yan Clan member nodded and didn't ask any more questions. The lie that Yan Fengxian made up made complete sense for the situation.
Xue Bai quickly changed out of his set of robes and into the new ones, but he decided to leave the hood on. This was because his face was very well known throughout The Great Xuan Empire, so even if he put on a new set of robes, the heads of the Three Great Families would spot him.
Xue Bai only hoped that Yan Zhenyu would stop the other two heads from using their spiritual sense on his descendants.
Running back to the Yan Clan members, Xue Bai noticed Yan Fengxian squirming with a blush on her face. Curious, he ran over to see what she was so fidgety about.
"Xue Bai, you said that you learned about me from Big Brother Long, right? What did he say to you about me?" Yan Fengxian asked shyly
"Oh, that? I only assumed your relationship. Brother Long did mention you to me at his awakening banquet, but he only said he saw you as a junior sister. I just hoped that you didn't see him as a senior brother." Xue Bai replied.
Yan Fengxian was stunned for a moment before blushing even harder. 'This little brat tricked me!'
However, with so many people around, she didn't say anything aloud and humphed before walking away.
"Alright, my Yan Clan members, the Secret Realm will close in another 90 minutes. So we will first walk towards the exit. After that, you can all take advantage of the pure Spiritual Qi and cultivate before we leave." Yan Fengxian stood in front of the group of people and ordered.
Since throughout the Secret Realm, the purity of the Spiritual Qi stayed the same, Yan Fengxian wanted to be near the exit while they cultivated. Though she didn't know what would happen if they stayed longer than the 24-hour time limit, she didn't want to be a test dummy and find out.
Since what Yan Fengxian said was accurate, and she was the leader of the group, no one had any objections, and they all followed Yan Fengxian to the exit. Along the way, Xue Bai stayed next to Yan Fengxian and avoided any conversation that the Yan Clan members tried to initiate.
Soon, with the help of a marker that Yan Fengxian placed down when they first entered, the Yan Clan members quickly found the exit and set up a small camp around it. And after setting up a few detection arrays around themselves, the Yan Clansmen started cultivating.
The Secret Realm's Spiritual Qi was more than five times as pure as the outside world, and they wanted to take advantage of their last hour inside it.
Xue Bai also wanted to break through to the 8th stage of the Vein Transformation Realm, but he did not want to create a big commotion, so he moved away from everyone before cultivating. The weakest person in this Secret Realm was at least in the middle stages of the Blood Exchange Realm, so if Xue Bai revealed his Vein Transformation cultivation, everyone would notice it.
Finding a small cave nearby, Xue Bai set up a concealing and a detection array to protect himself.
"I have an hour before the exit opens. That should be enough time." Xue Bai muttered to himself.
Pulling a Middle Yellow Grade Spirit Fruit, Xue Bai quickly gobbled it down and began to path out his Heart Vein.
The Heart Vein was the most vital vein of the nine in the Vein Transformation Realm, as it could do every single job and its own. Not only could it help your regenerative abilities, but it could also help strengthen your body.
Blood was the foundation of a strong body and flowed all throughout the body. So with the Heart Vein, you could constantly funnel Spiritual Qi into blood, helping to strengthen your body from the inside.
Calming his thoughts, Xue Bai quickly found his Heart and began to path out the vein. Though Xue Bai felt the searing pain again, since it was the 8th time he felt it now, he could bear through it without a frown.
The process was fast and without any troubles, so after 30 minutes, Xue Bai completed his breakthrough successfully.
Feeling the new power within him, Xue Bai tried to test his regenerative abilities. First, taking a short knife out of his spatial ring, Xue Bai slashed his finger. Then circulating Spiritual Qi into his Heart, Xue Bai saw his wound heal at a pace visible to the eye.
"This is so cool." Xue Bai muttered softly before he realized the time, "The Secret Realm exit should be appearing soon. I got to get moving."
Exiting his cave, Xue Bai ran toward the Yan Clan camp. As he was close by, it didn't take long to reach the camp after 10 minutes of running. When Xue Bai arrived, he witnessed the Yan Clan members all awake from their cultivation sessions.
"Only I could cultivate here a little bit longer. One more hour, I could reach the 7th stage of the Muscle Nourishing Realm."
"Hahaha! I finally reached the Peak of the Muscle Nourishing Realm! Grandfather will surely be proud!"
All of the Yan Clan members had various emotions about the end of the Secret Realm, but nonetheless, they were all happy they were allowed to come here.
Besides the Yan Clans camp, about 200 meters away, the Duan Clan members had also set up their own and were waiting for the exit to open. But Xue Bai didn't know any members of the Duan Clan, so he left them alone.
Shifting his gaze back to the Yan Clan camp, Xue Bai quickly found Yan Fengxian and ran up to her.
"Xue Bai, you're back." Yan Fengxian said as she spotted him, "Where were you? I was just about to send Yan Yang to go and look for you."
Yan Yang was the strongest Yan Clan member who had entered the Secret Realm. So her sending him to look for Xue Bai showed how caring the girl was.
"I felt that I should hide a little further away after all your clansmen think I am a girl from the Wang Clan. If I stayed with them, they'd eventually find out something was wrong." Xue Bai answered.
"Sigh~~ Still, why did you even enter a Secret Realm? You can't cultivate yet. I can't even guess how you survived for so long." Yan Fengxian sighed
However, much to Yan Fengxian's annoyance Xue Bai once again dodged her question.
"Sister Yan, how long until the exit opens?" Xue Bai asked, ignoring her question.
Annoyed at Xue Bai dodging her question again, Yan Fengxian was going to chastise him, but before she could, space behind her trembled, and a spatial gate 5 meters tall and 5 meters wide opened in the air.
"I guess it opens now." Xue Bai commented.