Xue Bai's 'Awakening'
The feast went on smoothly, but the gossip never stopped.
One of the biggest pieces of the talk was who the girl next to the Young Duke was.
Some of the more likely answers were a genius from the 100 Flowers Sect or a high-level noble from The Great Xuan Empire, while some of the wilder guesses were a hidden love child from the Duke or a Mistress being raised for Xue Bai.
Xiao'er heard most of them, and she didn't know what to say to them all. At first, she had wanted to clear up the misunderstanding but was dissuaded by Xue Bai.
Xiao'er had liked some of the guesses, with some of them calling her a Young Marchioness(Female Marquis). But some of them made her want to attack the person saying them.
The other major talk point was what grade Martial Vein the Young Duke would awaken. Unsurprisingly no one guessed that Xue Bai would be a cripple, as with parents like Xue Feng and Li Ruo. If he was unqualified to have one, then who would be?
The two guesses with the highest votes were either a Peak Yellow Grade or a Low Black Grade. And as for the Element, most people agreed that Xue Bai would follow his Father and awaken an Ice Element Affinity.
To this, both Xue Feng and his family and Yan Zhenyu and his wife laughed.
Soon enough, the two hours passed, and it was a few minutes shy of Xue Bai's birthday.
"Bai'er, go up the stairs and sit on the Heavens Bestownent Podium." Xue Feng spoke.
A Heavens Bestowment Podium wasn't a spirit tool that could help the chance of awakening but more of an item used to bless luck upon the person sitting on it.
The idea behind the Heavens Bestowment Podium was simple. It was a 15-step tall podium that was built to look up to the Heavens. As it was believed, the closer one was to Heaven, the greater their luck would be.
That was also why geniuses were sometimes called Heaven's Favorites or Children of the Heavens.
Nodding, Xue Bai walked away from his table and climbed the stairs of the Heavens Bestowment Podium. Though it was tall, with Xue Bai's cultivation, it didn't exhaust him, and he soon reached the top.
Seeing a meditation mat for him to sit on, Xue Bai walked over and sat cross-legged on it and started to meditate while he waited for his birthday to come.
After about 10 minutes of waiting, Xue Bai got a voice transmission from his Father, saying it was time.
Voice transmissions, like Spiritual Sense, were a fundamental ability for people in the Qi Sea Realm and above.
The natural phenomenon of a Martial Vein was very easy to mimic as all that happened during its awakening was a pulse of Spiritual Qi that spread out from the person who was awakening it. And depending on the grade of the Martial Vein, the damage caused by the pulse would go up. But if the Martial Vein had an Elemental Affinity, then the Spiritual Qi pulse would be of that Element.
So with Xue Bai's "High Black Grade Martial Vein," the damage to his pulse would be equal to about a full power attack from a late-stage Blood Exchange Realm cultivator. And would also have to be of the Fire Element.
Thankfully over the past year, Xue Bai's cultivation had advanced to the Peak of the 8th Stage of the Blood Exchange Realm.
So to create a wave of fire with the power of the Late Stage was simple enough.
Concentrating his mind, Xue Bai summoned the Fire Element Spiritual Qi from his Bloodline Core and propelled it out from him.
"Oh, my heavens! That was a strong propulsion, wasn't it?"
"Indeed, that was at least as strong as someone in the Blood Exchange Realm."
"Then that means that the Young Duke awakened a Low Black Grade Martial Vein?"
"Ha! I'm rich, Luo Fei. Pay up those thousand Spirit Stones!"
As the crowd was praising the Young Duke for his talents, an old white-haired Domain Lord Realm Cultivator stood up suddenly.
"That wasn't just a simple Early Stage Blood Exchange Realm pulse. That was at least in the Late stages."
At first, the crowd thought the man to be talking nonsense, but after they recognized the man, everyone was stunned into silence.
"Then Senior Ye, that means that the Young Duke awakened a High Black Grade Martial Vein?"
Though the old man named Senior Ye was annoyed that he was questioned, he still nodded at the question.
"Not only that, but it was a pulse of Fire, meaning that it also has a Fire Element Affinity."
After hearing the confirmation, the crowd instantly erupted.
Wang Yu, known as the greatest prodigy in the Southern Continent's history, only had a Middle Black Grade Martial Vein. And it didn't even have an Elemental Affinity.
So Xue Bai awakening a Martial Vein one grade higher and with an Elemental Affinity had stunned the crowd.
After the initial chatter died down, many attendants left the party early, each with different excuses. But Xue Feng excused them all with a smile. He knew that they were leaving to relay the news to their respective parties.
'The more the news spreads, the more allies we can sucker in.' Xue Feng thought as he waved off the guests.
Xue Feng knew that the Wang Clan would also get the news, but after the death of the Grand Elder and his and Li Rou's Cultivation increase, there was no need to fear them. Though the Wang Clan had a much higher population and average cultivation, wars in the cultivation world weren't won by numbers but by the strength of the leaders.
After all, even if there were a thousand Qi Sea Realm cultivators, Xue Feng would be able to wipe them all out with his Domain.
Also, the Wang Clan would never be able to fully declare war on his Dukedom as long as Duan Zhen was alive, giving Xue Feng even more confidence. All Xue Feng needed to do was to protect Xue Bai for another 10 years until he reached their level.
As Xue Feng was off in his own thought, Xue Bai stood up from the meditation mat and started to walk down the stairs of the Heavens Bestowment Podium.
"Father, Mother, your child has successfully awakened his Martial Veins." Xue Bai spoke as he reached the bottom.
"Hahaha, of course, you did. You're my son. If you couldn't, then who could?" Xue Feng laughed as he patted his son on the shoulder.
"If only you had awakened my Element." Xue Feng sighed.
Xue Bai winced as he pushed his Father's hand off his shoulders. Even though they were pretending, Xue Feng had put a lot of force into the shoulder pats. Most likely slightly annoyed that Xue Bai hadn't gotten his Element.
"It's not my fault I didn't get your Ice Element, don't take it out on me, old man." Xue Bai whispered.
Ignoring his son's remark, Xue Feng turned back to the crowd and spoke, "Guests, the party has finally reached the end. I need to start to teach Bai'er about cultivation, and I know you all would like to go back to your clans and rest, so you may all do so."
pαпdα-ňᴏνêι·сóМ Though Xue Feng's words were ambiguous, all of the attendants knew that Xue Feng didn't want them here anymore. Also, adding on to the fact that they needed to go back to their clans and report the breaking news, the rest of the attendants still in the Main Hall left as fast as they could.
Soon the Main Hall was empty except for Xue Bai's family and Yan Zhenyu and his wife.
"Brother Xue, I will also be taking my leave. Fengfeng has just come back from Wushen Academy, and I would like to accompany her. She's been in the dumps lately." Yan Zhenyu spoke as he stood up.
Yan Zhenyu had only come to the ceremony to show his stance as Xue Feng's ally. Now that the ceremony was over, he didn't need to stay any longer.
"Then take care on your return journey Big Brother Yan." Xue Feng bid the man farewell with cupped fists.
After seeing Yan Zhenyu, Xue Feng ordered for the servants to clean up the Main Hall. The Main Hall was used for other things and was needed for tomorrow.
"Father, I am going to go back to my courtyard." Xue Bai spoke up.
Xue Feng didn't care much about what his son said and waved him off. The only point of this ceremony was for the outside world. So Xue Feng didn't care what Xue Bai did after it.
Getting permission, Xue Bai grabbed the petite hand of Xiao'er and went back to his courtyard.
Back in his room, Xue Bai called out to Xiao'er, "Xiao'er, help me get this carpet off me. It's way too uncomfortable."
"I think it suits you well, Young Master," Xiao'er commented as she went over to help.
"It's because of my beauty, not the outfit, Xiao'er. Remember that." Xue Bai responded arrogantly.
"Yes, yes, my Young Master is the most beautiful person in all of the Baishen Plane." Xiao'er sarcastically spoke.
"As long as you know."
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