Luxurious Gifts
Walking deeper into the cave abode, Xue Bai noticed that on top of the desk were a note and 3 Jade Slips.
Assuming this to be what the Azure Dragon God left for him, Xue Bai picked up the note first.
'Little Celestial Void Fox, since when you and Zhu Que arrived just as my remnant will was at the end of its lifespan, and I hadn't anticipated the arrival of someone else, I don't have much to prepare for you. So I left you some things I had looted from an enemy of mine who was at the Peak of the Immortal Great Realm, along with something special I left for you. And don't worry, each of the items in this cave abode, bar from the desk, is something that anyone in this mortal plane would kill for. So take them as my gift for looking out for Zhu Que.'
After reading the note, Xue Bai at first felt the Azure Dragon God was being cheap, but before he made any further assumptions decided to look at what exactly the Azure Dragon God had left for him.
And since Xue Bai needed to wait for Zhu Que to inherit the Azure Dragon God's mantle, he decided to learn what was left for him. And after picking up one of the Jade Slips, Xue Bai brought it to his forehead.
However, after he learned everything from it, a look full of shock appeared on his face.
The reason for this was because of the first item, the simple-looking gold meditation mat.
From the Jade Slip, Xue Bai learned that it was something named the 'Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus.' It was a meditation mat made primarily from a Natural Treasure named the Soul Sublimation Lotus, but the creator, to further enhance it during its creation process, used a high-grade Spiritual Ore named Starfield Ore.
And while Xue Bai knew neither of the two things used in the Jade Slip, the Azure Dragon God kindly explained that both items were of the Middle Earth-grade. However, when they were combined in the creation process, thanks to the skill of their creator, they were elevated to the High Earth-grade, creating the meditation mat that was in front of Xue Bai right now.
The Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus had two purposes, each thanks to its two core materials.
The Soul Sublimation Lotus was a Natural Treasure that specializes in healing soul injuries and resolving mental demons, while Starfield Ore was the core material of any Spiritual Qi Gathering Array Earth-grade and above.
So when combined and transformed into the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus it now created a masterpiece of a meditation that not only stopped any chance of mental demons appearing while cultivating and had a self-imbued Middle Earth-grade Spiritual Qi Gathering Array.
"Fuck! Isn't this too extravagant!" Xue Bai couldn't help but shout a curse.
Xue Bai always had a coarse mouth, but since he had to keep up his image in front of almost everyone, it rarely came out. But seeing such a treasure, it came out as naturally as water would from a faucet.
And it wasn't because the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus was too rare a treasure, and the bumpkin Xue Bai couldn't wrap his head around it. Xue Bai had Yggdrasil, a Natural Treasure that was so overpowered that no one even knew its grade, and a High Heaven-grade Bloodline.
The reason he cursed was because of how easy it was to get this thing. All he had done to receive them was swear a Dao Oath that didn't bind him whatsoever.
And thanks to that, he had gotten not only the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus but also there were still two other things that he had not checked out yet, that were most likely of equal value.
Realizing this, Xue Bai quickly grabbed the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus and placed it within his Spatial Ring, seemingly afraid someone would descend from the heavens and steal it for himself.
After that, he went back over to the desk and brought the second Jade Slip to his forehead, eager to find out the grades of the other two items.
The second Jade Slip was about the 'mattress,' but oddly enough, Xue Bai learned that it wasn't a mattress, but instead, a large piece of an unrefined Spiritual Ore called a Nine Serenties Jade.
At first, just by hearing the name, Xue Bai didn't recognize this item, but toward the end, Xue Bai was able to remember it.
Nine Serenities Jade belonged to a small family of Spiritual Ores, simply named the Serenity Jades. And in this family were nine different Spiritual Ores, with the Nine Serenities Jade being the rarest and arguably best.
The Nine Serenities Jade was a Spiritual Ore that was known as the best possible material for armor. This was also why the Nine Serenities Jade looked like a mattress, as while it was a Spiritual Ore at the Peak Earth-grade, it only gained its Peak Earth-grade defensive strength when Spiritual Qi was poured into it, and unless someone did, it was still malleable enough for someone to sleep on.
This way, it had both the advantage of heavy armor and light armor, making it a prime core material for any armor.
Finished with the memory transfer, Xue Bai placed the Jade Slip down with a slightly disappointed expression.
Even though it was such a good item to be gifted, Xue Bai couldn't do a thing with it!
How would he even go about refining a Peak Earth-grade Spiritual Ore? Let alone finding a flame strong enough to refine it, how would he even cut it? The mattress-sized piece of Nine Serenities Jade was 2 meters long and almost 1.5 wide.
"That's slightly worse than the mediation mat since I don't even know where to find someone strong enough to refine such a high grade Spiritual Ore." Xue Bai thought aloud.
But since the gift was still more than luxurious, Xue Bai wasn't picky and placed it into his Spatial Ring.
'It's fine. Worst comes to worst, I can just use it as a brick.' Xue Bai mused.
He was a transmigrator, after all. How could he be without a brick?
Keeping his hopes high, Xue Bai picked up the final Jade Slip and brought it to his forehead.
And very quickly, Xue Bai learned that this Jade Slip was the most valuable, and as more and more information poured in, the shock on his face became deeper and deeper.
Not truly accepting what he was told, Xue Bai quickly opened the drawer of the desk and, true to the Jade Slips instructions, inside were four different Jade Slips!
The last gift was a body tempering art! And not just a normal one, but it was the body tempering art that made the Azure Dragon God the powerhouse that he was!
Stunned for a moment, Xue Bai didn't know how to respond to such an exorbitant gift.
Body tempering arts were something much rarer than normal cultivation techniques. Since unlike for Spiritual Qi cultivation, body tempering didn't require a corresponding art for one to advance.
Like when Xue Bai was a child, as long as one used enough medicinal herb baths or other Natural Treasures to temper their body, it would naturally grow in strength.
But that didn't mean body tempering arts were useless. If anything, it meant the opposite. When body tempering blindly without an Art, one could only strengthen their body to the bare minimum.
While with a body tempering art, they could, depending on how advanced the technique was, strengthen their body many folds stronger per realm.
If without a body tempering art, when advancing one stage, they could gain 100 pounds of strength, then by using a body tempering art, they could gain 1000 or even 10,000 pounds of strength per stage!
This was also why Xue Bai was slightly hesitant to start body tempering. Though he knew of many chances that held a body tempering art, many of them were of low quality and wouldn't give Xue Bai the advantage he wanted. And like cultivation techniques swapping between different ones, while possible, were too dangerous. So he held off until he could find a body tempering art more suitable for himself.
However, the body tempering art that the Azure Dragon God gave him was not only something ahead of its class, but it was something to kill for, even in the Immortal World. Because not only did this body tempering art give its user the physique of a Dragon, but it also could, should its user not have one, be able to give a high-grade noble Dragon Bloodline!
This was why Xue Bai was so stunned. In order to gain a bloodline, there were only two ways.
The first was the easiest and most common, being born with it. However, for many talented cultivators who were born in a less-than-capable clan, there was the second way, which was to have the bloodline of your choice infused into your body, thereby gaining it for yourself.
However, now the Azure Dragon God told Xue Bai that just by cultivating according to the Body Tempering Art he just gave him, he could gain such a noble bloodline. It was normal to be floored.
But while Xue Bai was touched by receiving such an exorbitant gift, he soon realized the words that the Azure Dragon God used.
"Isn't the red thread of fate for marriage?" Xue Bai mumbled, "I'm fated to marry Zhu Que?"
In the Jade Slip, the Azure Dragon God mentioned that while he couldn't divine anything about Xue Bai when he divined Zhu Que's future, he managed to see her connected with an illusory figure with nine tails by a red thread.
And from there, it didn't take a detective to connect the dots that Zhu Que and Xue Bai were fated.
This was also the only reason why he decided to leave the Body Tempering Art to Xue Bai.
Xue Bai didn't know how divination, fate, or karma worked, but the Azure Dragon God obviously did. And while mentioning this as a lie would be a smart idea and would make Xue Bai care for Zhu Que even more, Xue Bai didn't think it was a lie.
So, hearing that he was fated to marry Zhu Que, Xue Bai stayed mum for a moment, not knowing how to process it fully.
Being able to marry such a beautiful and talented 'Child of the Plane' would surely be the dream of countless bachelors in the Baishen Plane, and it was also beneficial for Xue Bai, but it still left an odd taste in his mouth.
"Never mind," Xue Bai shook his head, "Even if we are fated, we're still young. Just take it one step at a time."
Done with what the Azure Dragon God gave him, Xue Bai grabbed the four Jade Slips in the drawer and left the cave abode to check on Zhu Que. It hadn't been long since he went in, so Xue Bai guessed that she still should be in the process of accepting the bloodline. And true to his guess, she was.
Seeing she still hadn't even started mutating her bloodline, Xue Bai knew she would be busy for a while.
So to pass the time, he decided to start reading the body tempering art that he had just received.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sorry for the late chapter. Was out with family for longer than I thought.
Anything is helpful!
https://ko-fi.com/slarbi123