Peak of the Vein Transformation Realm
Sitting down on his bed, Xue Bai turned his consciousness into Wang Mo's Spatial Ring. Since his own spatial ring was filled with the protection items his mother gave him, while Huli Jing's had more valuable items, Xue Bai placed all his gains from the Secret Realm into Wang Mo's.
Shifting through the contents, Xue Bai eventually found what he was looking for, the 5 Middle Yellow Grade Spirit Fruits. After eating these five Natural Treasures, Xue Bai was confident he could climb to the Peak of the Vein Transformation Realm.
Calming his mind for a moment, Xue Bai quickly swallowed the first two fruit. Then, very quickly, Xue Bai once again felt the sensation of a foreign ball of Spiritual Qi ball up where his dantian should be.
The next vein Xue Bai needed to path out was the brain. The Brain was usually the final vein that cultivators would path out, as it didn't give a direct combat power boost. Instead, what it did was boost the brain's capacity and functionality.
From boosting comprehension to bodily control, the Brain Vein gave you an overall boost in your intelligence. Pathing out the brain vein essentially gave you 100 IQ points in Earth terms. It could turn a retard into a Nobel Peace prize winner on Earth.
This was also why Xue Bai's character was such a famous scholar in the game's plot. Even without unlocking his Brain Vein, he could beat other scholars in debates and knowledge of Confucianism.
But the Brain Vein was also the most dangerous, as you could turn yourself into a retard with one mistake. Fearful of ending his cultivation journey early, Xue Bai carefully pathed out his vein with precision.
As Xue Bai was carefully pathing out his final vein, Xue Feng and Yan Zhenyu had finalized their alliance agreement. And Xue Feng was sending Yan Zhenyu off.
"Big Brother Yan, you are welcome to come back to our Dukedom at any time." Xue Feng spoke while laughing merrily.
The alliance agreement was heavily in his favor putting him in a very good mood.
"Brother Xue, you really milked my Yan Clan for what it was worth, didn't you." Yan Zhenyu said with a wry smile.
"Big Brother Yan, I can promise you in 10 years, everything will be worth it. Bai'er will be a dragon in this small land. This continent won't be able to hold him. When he goes to the central continent, you'll know that you made the right move. You know what they say, 'When an immortal ascends. Even the pigs and chickens ascend with him.'" Xue Feng said while patting the shoulder of the depressed Yan Zhenyu.
"Brother Xue, are you calling my Yan Clan pigs and chickens?" Yan Zhenyu's wry smile became even more profound.
"Ahem- Big Brother Yan, you know that wasn't what I meant." Xue Feng coughed awkwardly.
"I know what you meant, Brother Xue. It's just Nephew Bai reminded me of the old truth." Yan Zhenyu spoke with a melancholy voice.
"Big Brother Yan, us old men shouldn't compare ourselves with the younger generation. It will only hurt us." Xue Feng said with emotion.
From what he learned from Xue Bai, Xue Feng knew that the next generation was going to be filled with dragons and phoenixes, and he had no business meddling in it.
"Well, Brother Xue, we can have drinks another time. I need to head back to my Dukedom." Yan Zhenyu said as he released his airship from his spatial ring.
Xue Feng stayed out and sent Yan Zhenyu off until he couldn't see the airship anymore. After seeing him off, Xue Feng went to Xue Bai's courtyard to talk about what happened in the Secret Realm.
"Master, Young Master is in closed-door seclusion right now. He told me not to let anyone in." Xiao'er told Xue Feng as he came into the courtyard.
"What closed-door seclusion could that brat be in? He's still in the Vein Transformation Realm. At most, he's going up one stage. How long could that possibly take." Xue Feng was annoyed but still respected his son's decision and started waiting outside the room for him.
Meanwhile, back in Xue Bai's room, he had finally finished pathing out his Brain Vein and was inspecting the difference.
His head felt clearer, and he could almost control his movements perfectly.
Standing up to throw a punch, Xue Bai could feel every part of his body move along with his thoughts. From his fist balling up to his shoulder following through, it was almost like he could feel every muscle in his body move along with his thoughts.
After testing some other simple exercises, Xue Bai got over the excitement of advancing and sat back down to advance his cultivation again.
In the Realms before the Qi Sea Realm, you could continually advance your cultivation without worries about damaging your foundation. And Xue Bai, with his surplus of resources, would take advantage of this.
Sitting down cross-legged, Xue Bai pulled out the remaining three Middle Yellow Grade Spirit Fruits. The final stage of the Vein Transformation Realm was called the Dantian Opening stage. And like its name, you had to connect all of the Veins you had pathed out and combine them at your naval and open a dantian.
But because of its complexity, it usually took twice as much Spiritual Qi as any other stage in the Realm to ascend to this stage. So to be safe, Xue Bai took out the remaining fruits.
After calming his mind, Xue Bai gobbled down the last of the fruits and began to connect all of his veins. The Baishen Plane version having only five veins to link would make this easy. However, Xue Bai was cultivating the Immortal Worlds version, so it took much more concentration and knowledge of the human body. Thankfully being born in the 21st century, Xue Bai knew the human anatomy very well and was able to connect the veins successfully, creating a complete circuit.
Now, all Xue Bai needed to do was link them all at his navel, and form a Dantian, absorb a wisp of Spiritual Qi, and he could be called a Peak Stage Vein Transformation Cultivator.
With his knowledge of the game from his previous life, Xue Bai was easily able to connect them to his navel. Then with excess Spiritual QI from the second Middle Yellow Grade Spirit Fruit, Xue Bai started to form a Dantian.
A Dantian, or Elixer Field, was where the Spiritual Qi was collected and stored. It was also the most vital spot to a Cultivator, as even in the late stage of cultivation, one could recover from a crushed heart or severed head. But if your Dantian were damaged or even destroyed, you'd have to cultivate again from the beginning, no matter how strong you once were.
The process of opening the Dantian didn't take long as, after an hour, Xue Bai finally felt it form at his naval.
"This feels so weird but also so strong." Xue Bai spoke aloud, "I feel like I could fight dozens of times longer than before."
Xue Bai's observation was accurate, as before opening your Dantian, you could only fight using the excess Spiritual Qi lingering in your veins or the Spiritual QI you absorbed from the air during the battle. However, neither was sustainable in an extended fight.
But now, with a Dantian, Xue Bai could hold hundreds of the amount of Spiritual Qi than he could before.
Curious about how a complete circuit worked with a real body, Xue Bai tried circulating his Spiritual Qi throughout his body.
'From the Dantian, up to the liver, then the kidneys, into the lungs, then finally the heart.'
With a complete circuit, Xue Bai's spiritual Qi could reach every vital body part and help it. So, for example, if he needed to help heal a wound, he could send Spiritual Qi into his heart. Or if he was poisoned, he could send it to his liver.
But if he only had the 5 Veins in the Baishen Plane version, he would only be able to strengthen his limbs to make himself stronger.
"Thank the heavens I didn't do the degraded version." Xue Bai sighed.
After saying so, Xue Bai finally looked outside his window and noticed how late it was.
"Xiao'er must be tired from watching so long." Xue Bai said as he ran out of his room to relieve the maid of her duties.
However, after opening his door, he saw both of his parents sitting outside waiting for him.
"Father, Mother, why are you guys here?" Xue Bai asked confusedly.
"You brat, you've made us wait for some time, huh?" Xue Feng greeted as he opened his eyes.
Li Rou, on the other hand, was gentler with her greeting.
"Bai'er, how was your first seclusion? Was it successful?"
Ignoring his brute of a father, Xue Bai went over to his mother and explained to her what he had secluded himself for.
"So what you're saying is that you've already opened up your Dantian?" Li Rou asked as she covered her mouth in shock.
Xue Feng, on the side, had a smile full of fatherly pride after hearing that.
Lifting his shirt a little, Xue Bai said, "You can go check if you'd like."
"No, that's not what I meant, Bai'er. Mother believes you. It's just a little shocking. After all, you've only been 10 for a few months, yet you're already stronger than some 13-year-olds." Li Rou said as she shook her head.
Xue Bai had a smile of pride until Xue Feng came from the side and knocked him on the head.
"Enough of that. What happened in the Secret Realm? Though Duke Yan and the others couldn't tell, we can see your appearance change. You look even more beautiful and feminine than before." Xue Feng spoke.
Holding his head in pain, Xue Bai looked at his mother for help.
Seeing his eyes, Li Rou sighed and then pulled Xue Bai into her lap while rubbing his head to soothe the pain.
"Xue Feng, you have to stop smacking him on the head. What if he becomes stupid one day?" Li Rou admonished.
"I didn't put that much force into it anyway." Xue Feng replied.
Shaking her head, Li Rou looked back at Xue Bai in her lap and asked, "But still, he's right. You look very different than before. What exactly happened in there?"