Chapter 41 Experimenting

Experimenting

Since his body was still weak from his coma, Xue Bai slept that day until noon.

Xue Feng had thought of waking him up early, but he kept thinking of how tired his son looked. So he let Xue Bai sleep.

At noon when Xue Bai woke up, he sent a message to Xiao'er to bring him some nourishing food along with some water to freshen up.

It didn't take long for Xiao'er to arrive with the aforementioned items, but both of his parents had come along with her.

"Bai'er, you come and eat outside, and we'll talk while you do." Xue Feng spoke.

"Yes, Father, just let me freshen up. I still haven't washed my face." Xue Bai answered while quickly going through his morning routine.

After brushing his teeth with some mints, Xue Bai left his room and went to the main area of his courtyard, where Xue Feng and Li Rou sat. Xiao'er was also there, but she was kicking her feet in the pond on the side.

"Why did you guys both come here? I thought only father would come." Xue Bai asked as he sat down at the small table that Xiao'er brought for him to eat his food on.

"He was, but I decided to come here and supervise since I don't trust him not to overwork you." Li Rou answered.

Confused, Xue Bai looked at his father for an answer, but Xue Feng only shrugged.

Xue Feng had promised not to overwork Xue Bai three times, but Li Rou insisted on coming. At this point, Xue Feng was thinking she was only using this as an excuse to watch her son.

And Xue Feng was right. She was. To Li Rou, this was as important as Xue Bai's first steps. This would be his first time using Spiritual Qi, and she wanted to see it firsthand. But if she said her true thoughts, Xue Feng would laugh at her, so she used the excuse of watching over Xue Feng.

Not knowing how to continue that conversation, Xue Bai quickly ate his food while they overwent the plan from yesterday. With Xue Bai's knowledge of the Secret Realm, trapping the Wang Clan members was easy. And with Xue Feng's coordination from the outside, it was almost guaranteed that the plan would succeed.

After Xue Bai finished his food, Xiao'er took away the table she had brought and cleared the surrounding area for him.

"Alright, how are we going to test my strength?" Xue Bai asked while doing some stretches.

"By fighting, of course. How else would you?" Xue Feng said with a smile, "But don't worry, you won't be fighting me. Instead, you'll be sparring with your lovely maid, Xiao'er." Xue Feng announced.

Stunned, Xue Bai asked precautiously, "But Xiao'er is a mortal. Wouldn't that be overkill?"

Xue Bai loved Xiao'er personality and wouldn't even play rough with her, let alone use her to test his new-found strength. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he injured her.

"Young Master, I am not a mortal. Look!" Xiao'er on the side spoke out.

As she finished speaking, she took off the cultivation-concealing artifact she always wore. Letting her aura unleash to the fullest.

Xue Bai was stunned. He didn't know that Xiao'er could cultivate, and seeing her aura, she didn't appear to be weak for her age. Xue Bai couldn't even attempt to gauge her cultivation. So she had to at least be in the Blood Exchange Realm, but even so, she had to be high within it.

"Are you in the late stages of the Blood Exchange Realm?" Xue Bai prodded.

"Higher." As Xiao'er said this, she had a smug look on her face.

"The Peak of the Blood Exchange Realm?"

"Higher." Xiao'er smile became even smugger as she said it the second time.

"You're in the Muscle Nourishing Realm?" Xue Bai asked with some shock.

"Yes, I am in the fourth stage, to be exact," Xiao'er announced as she let her aura subside. "So I am perfect for you to test your strength."

Xue Bai was shocked, to say the least. Xiao'er this year was only 16, and to be in the Muscle Nourishing Realm at her age was something rare.

Huo Yao was 17 when he first came to the Dukedom and was only at the 7th stage of the Blood Exchange Realm. And it was only because of the resources he won from the soldiers he was able to reach the Muscle Nourishing Realm. If not for that, he would've probably reached it at 19.

Yet Xiao'er was only 17 and 3 stages higher than him. That already rivaled some of the fastest geniuses on the Southern Continent, yet she was his maid.

"Why are you my maid then? Wouldn't you be a great prodigy in our Dukedom?" Xue Bai asked suspiciously.

Pouting a bit at the question, Xiao'er responded, "Why can't a prodigy be your maid? I wanted this job, and I fought hard for it too."

'Yes, you can be a maid, but you'll be a maid. Don't all prodigies have arrogant hearts? Not bowing down to even the heavens. So why would you want to be a maid?' Xue Bai thought but, scared of offending the girl, kept it to himself.

"I can tell what you're thinking, Young Master. Why would I want to be a maid as a genius? It's simple. I don't like fighting. So as your maid, not only do I get as many resources as if I join one of the three great sects. I also don't have to partake in infighting, plotting, fights, or even bootlicking. And I even get to be myself and get to serve a cute Young Master like you. What more could I ask for!" Xiao'er spoke proudly.

Xue Bai was somewhat impressed with her thinking. Xiao'er didn't like any of the aspects of joining a Sect, so she instead found a cushy job that fit all of her demands but allowed her to get the same amount of resources if she joined a Sect.

"You're smarter than you look, Xiao'er. You have my praise." Xue Bai complimented.

Just as Xiao'er was going to respond to that. Xue Feng finally spoke.

"Alright, enough of that, you two. Bai'er, you need to find out how your powers work. We are also curious about how your Space Element works."

Li Rou and Xiao'er nodded at this.

The different affinities worked simply. For example, Xue Feng had an Ice Elemental Martial Vein, and when he was in the lower realms, he could do simple things like creating icicles and lowering the temperature. But when he reached the Law Manifestation Realm, he could create blizzards on command.

"I don't know where my limits lie, but I can do this." Xue Bai then coated his hand in a purple-colored Spiritual Qi. Then, slashing his hand into the empty air, he created a spatial tear.

Though it was quickly healed by the Plane, it still gave no small amount of shock to the three.

"How was that?" Xue Bai asked

"Bai'er, that spatial tear, where does it lead to?" Xue Feng asked after he composed himself.

"I don't know. Had wanted to crush the mints, but I found it too hard, so I used some Spiritual Qi to help me out, but instead of crushing them, I had diced them into dust." Xue Bai explained awkwardly.

"This is going to take longer than we thought." Xue Feng sighed.

Xue Bai, in the game, had a Fire Element Martial Vein as he wanted to be an alchemist. So he knew nothing about the Space Element, much less did the three people with him.

So they decided that they would spend the rest of the day testing various ideas with the Space Element. And then have Xue Bai spar with Xiao'er on the second.

The first thing they tested was where did his spatial tear lead to. But since they were terrified of the void, they tested it out with a rock.

Slashing open space once again, Xue Bai opened a tear in the air. And behind him, Xue Feng stood ready with a small rock and threw it into the void before the tear healed itself. However, the rock never appeared again, to their confusion.

They were thinking of various places it could have gone to until Xiao'er said, "Young Master, do it again. Maybe it also needs an exit point, and the first tear is only an entrance!"

Since it seemed like a reasonable idea and they had nothing to lose, Xue Bai did it again. And Xiao'er was right. As soon as Xue Bai made an exit, the rock exited. However, it came out in a powdery state. The rock couldn't handle the void of space.

"So I can't transport anything unless they are strong enough to withstand the void. But how strong is the void, and what is the minimum amount of durability something needs to survive in there?" Xue Bai thought aloud.

"We have a few MIddle Yellow Grade Swords you can use to test it. But that's the highest you can use. Unfortunately, high Yellow Grade Weapons are hard to come by for us." Xue Feng offered.

Nodding, Xue Bai took the sword from Xue Feng's hand and proceeded to do the experiment once more. And the same as last time, the sword came out in a powder.

"So, Middle Yellow Grade is still too weak, huh?" Xue Bai spoke.

"It probably needs a minimum of the Black Grade to survive in the void." Li Rou imputed.

"This also isn't a very reliable move, as creating the tears needs me to be there. So in order for me to use this effectively, I need to at least be in the Law Manifestation Realm." Xue Bai said.

Agreeing with what Xue Bai said, his parents continued to test his Element throughout the night, only leaving when Xue Bai had completely run out of Spiritual Qi.

Thinking it was a good spot to finish, Li Rou and Xue Feng made their leave. But before they left, Xue Feng reminded, "Bai'er, you can cultivate now, so you should probably get used to cutting out sleep. So this night, I want you to cultivate throughout it instead of sleeping."

And without waiting for a refusal, Xue Feng left.

Though Xue Bai loved to sleep, he knew the best time to cultivate was during the night. So he agreed and went to his room and followed the instructions.

Closing his eyes and sitting cross-legged on his bed, Xue Bai tried to sense the Spiritual Qi around him. And with his Low Heaven Grade Martial Veins, it didn't take him very long.

Confident, Xue Bai then began to absorb all the surrounding Spiritual Qi. However, while he did so, he discovered that his Martial Veins were vacuuming the entire surrounding Spiritual Qi.

'So this is why protagonists cultivate so fast. You'd have to be brain-dead not to cultivate fast with talent like this!' Xue Bai was enlighted.

However, he didn't let his concentration slip and continued to cultivate throughout the night.