A White Lie
A White Lie
With Big Wang's piloting skills and permission to fly at full speed, the originally 20-hour flight turned into a 15-hour flight.
This time Xue Bai was awake during their arrival, so Big Wang didn't have to wake him up.
After landing outside the estate, Xue Bai, after being let down from the mount, instantly ran to his room without even responding to the soldiers welcoming him home.
Nothing mattered more than to secure the Celestial Void Fruit. He had only just turned ten a month ago and had to wait almost a whole year to eat it. So he planned to hide it for the year before he could.
After he made it to his courtyard, he activated the protection and noise-canceling array behind him.
"YES! HELL YEA! EAT IT, XIAO MO! WHO'S THE REAL PROTAGONIST!." With no one able to hear his outburst Xue Bai released all the feelings he had held when he was with the Wang twins.
Only after his throat ran dry did Xue Bai stop his cheering.
After getting a drink to help his now sore throat, Xue Bai went into his room to hide the fruit.
After a few months of being reincarnated in the Baishen Plane, Xue Bai asked his father to build a safe, as he thought that hiding things under his bed was a little too childish.
The safe was covered in all types of formations, making it virtually impossible to open with brute force. And according to Xue Feng, it could even take a few blows from someone in the Spirit Awakening realm.
Of course, it was only a few blows. After all, no matter how skilled Xue Feng was at formation, he couldn't overcome the large gulf that was between the Houtian and Xiantian Great Realm.
But Xue Bai didn't care about it that much. If anything, he thought that it was a little too much for a temporary safe. The only thing that was inside the safe was a small journal he used to write down small details he wanted to remember.
So after placing the Essence Sealing Storage Box, which contained the Celestial Void Fruit in it, Xue Bai locked it up and turned on all the formations.
Only then did Xue Bai finally sigh in relief?
He had been tense the entire time.
Though he might've been too paranoid, Xue Bai felt like somehow some mysterious and heavenly force would take the fruit away from him.
Thankfully he was being paranoid, and it never happened.
Thanking the heavens, Xue Bai exited his room and was about to leave his bedroom, but the second he entered his center garden, his parents walked into his courtyard, both with serious faces.
'I guess the Wang twins already told them. Now, this is the hard part.' Xue Bai thought to himself.
Xue Bai wasn't stupid enough to think the Wang twins would keep the past week a secret, so he planned to tell his parents a white lie about his memories. Whether they believed his acting or not was only up to chance.
So taking a deep breath to prepare himself, he walked out of the room to greet his parents.
Xue Feng was the first to speak up, "Bai'er though we know to give you room to grow. The past week was something extremely odd even by your standard."
Li Rou nodded at that, continuing, "We don't need to know what that fruit is, but can you tell us how you know how it would be there? If someone told you, tell us because they could be plotting against both you and us with it."
After gathering his thoughts for a moment, Xue Bai first asked, "Mother, Father, do you guys remember when I fell and woke up doing something really embarrassing around two years ago?"
After seeing them nod, he continued, "While I was unconscious, I got these memories. But I was so confused after receiving them that I was questioning which life was real. That's why I acted so stupid for a while."
Xue Feng, hearing that had a look of enlightenment.
'No Wonder he didn't want to go to the Imperial Physician! He probably thought that the old man would see through that.'
Xue Bai saw his father's mental misunderstanding, but he didn't clarify. Instead, he continued speaking, planning to hit the iron while it was hot.
"But after I sorted them out, I realized that these memories are of a timeline that would happen if I didn't get these memories." Xue Bai said vaguely.
At this point, Xue Bai knew he was saying too much, but his parents would constantly be suspicious of him if he didn't give them something with real substance. So he gambled and pretended to tell the full truth only to be hiding the key details.
Li Rou and Xue Feng were stunned after hearing that. The two of them had only thought that Xue Bai had only gained the divination of two events. Not the memories of an entire timeline.
Curious and slightly scared, his parents decided to ask questions about the other timeline.
Divination was a mysterious skill. And while it was definitely heaven-defying, it also had many downsides.
Thankfully unlike most, this one was of a different timeline and not a future event, so the couple didn't have many qualms and asked.
"Then Bai'er, what happens in that timeline with us?" Li Rou asked curiously.
"Nothing actually, we live our life very peacefully. But there's one downside. Apparently, I'm a cripple. So I never awakened my Martial Veins in that timeline." Xue Bai answered simply.
Though there were many things he left out in the answer, it was true. It was just simplified to the extreme.
The first half calmed Li Rou down, but the second half terrified her.
"But you're so talented at archery and swordsmanship. How could you be a cripple?" Li Rou had visibly become saddened.
Xue Feng stayed silent, wanting to hear the rest of the story.
"No, Mother, it's actually good that I am crippled. If I had inherited my talent from you two, I would at most have a low Black-grade Martial Vein. But now, I can have something much greater with my memories." Xue Bai consoled.
The Celestial Void Fruit only worked for people without Martial Veins. Creating something completely new was very different from upgrading something, and also much easier.
For example, in cultivation novels, when a protagonist comes from humble beginnings, they would eventually find the body they were born in to be low class.
Being a natural-born treasure seeker, and finding hundreds of treasures to upgrade one's talent, wasn't sustainable. And eventually, most protagonists would try and gain a better, much more talented body, maybe by using an avatar, possessing another much more talented body, or even reincarnating.
Xue Bai knew this very well, so unlike his parents, he thought that being born a cripple was a blessing in disguise. If he weren't, his future plans would've been much harder.
Though his parents were hurt by hearing such blunt words, they also agreed. Talent was usually inherited. Xue Bai would almost certainly follow in their footsteps for someone with peak Yellow-grade Martial Veins like theirs.
"Then that fruit that you picked from your memories, what rank Martial Veins would it give you." Xue Feng asked curiously.
If their son was looking down a low Black-grade Martial Vein, then it must mean that the one this fruit gave him was much better.
"Middle Earth-grade." Xue Bai lied as easily as he breathed.
The Celestial Void Fruit would give him a spatial element low Heaven-grade Martial Vein.
However, even then, Xue Bai's lie made his parent's eyes bulge.
Xue Feng even had a bigger and more dramatic reaction, and in shock, he grabbed Xue Bai by the shoulders.
"Son, you're not lying to us, right? Our old hearts can't take this." Xue Feng's eyes were about to pop out.
Xue Bai rolled his eyes at this.
'Of course, I am lying to you.' Xue Bai thought.
But his words were much different, as instead of confessing, he spoke, "When have I ever lied to you two about something this serious?"
It was gaslighting at its epitome.
Xue Feng and Li Rou believed it.
"Then why haven't you eaten it already? With talent like that, you could become an Immortal!" Xue Feng's eyes, at this point, had almost turned into stars.
"Father, I would die. I'm not eleven yet. My body couldn't handle the awakening process of the Martial Veins."
Xue Feng smacked Xue Bai on the head after hearing that.
"Then what do you think those medical baths you've been soaking up for the last two years do!" Xue Feng spoke angrily.
Aggrieved, Xue Bai held his head in pain as he looked at the culprit. But once Xue Bai saw the look in Xue Feng's eyes, he answered obediently.
"They strengthen my physique. But what does that have to do with me being ten still?" Xue Bai spoke through tears. Xue Feng put some strength behind that smack making his head sting.
Frowning at what her husband did, Li Rou pulled over Xue Bai and held him gently, "That is exactly the point, Bai'er. They strengthen your physique. Why do you think some children awaken their Martial Veins at eleven while others can only do so at 15?"
"A talent issue?" Xue Bai guessed.
He truly didn't know.
But after he said that, he realized that there was a problem with that. There were scores of people who awakened their Martial Veins late but were still extremely talented.
The female Child of the Plane on the Southern Continent awakened hers at 14, yet she had a peak Earth-grade Martial Veins. If she was untalented, then who was?
"No, it's because their bodies aren't strong enough to bear the awakening process. And usually, if a child has eaten enough during their growing years, they should have a strong enough body to bear the awakening process at 11. But some children grow up impoverished and malnourished. However, no matter how malnourished, the 15-year-old body should be strong enough to bear the awakening process. So if you haven't awakened it at 15, then it means you don't have Martial Veins." Li Rou explained.
Xue Bai didn't argue as he found what Li Rou said extremely reasonable.
Li Rou saw her son nod, and so she continued.
"But you're different, Bai'er. You have been soaking up in medical herb baths since childhood. So your physical body at this point should be as strong as someone who just reached the Blood Exchange realm. So you're well over the minimum strength to awaken Martial Veins." Li Rou finished.
"Then I can start to cultivate already?" Xue Bai's eyes lit up as he started to look excited.
Xue Bai transmigrated into this world in the second half of the 969th year. And since he was born in 962, that meant that he would turn eleven at the beginning of 973.
That would give him a little under a year and a half until all the Children of the Plane would awaken in 975.
However, if he could start to cultivate almost an entire year in advance, he could prepare so much more in advance.
Right now, it wasn't even 972, and it was still in the last month of 971. Being able to cultivate almost a year in advance would give Xue Bai a huge advantage over his peers.
Before his competitors could even start cultivating, Xue Bai could already be in the Blood Exchange realm or maybe even the Muscle Nourishing realm.
Seeing his parents nod, Xue Bai ran back into his room and pulled the Celestial Void Fruit out of the safe before sprinting back to his parents.
"Father, how strong of a formation can you make? I need you to conceal my phenomenon when I awaken." Xue Bai spoke.
Eating this thing would create a huge phenomenon that would look almost apocalyptic. And while Xue Bai knew his father was nowhere near strong enough to suppress it completely, as long as they could isolate most of the Spiritual Qi suppression it created, then that would be fine.
Thinking for a moment, Xue Feng answered, "If I have time to prepare, I can create a middle Black-grade formation. However, it won't have any defensive purposes. It will just be purely an Isolation Formation. It will drop the grade down one if I give it any offensive or defensive purposes."
"That's good enough, then. Set up a concealing array in my courtyard. I don't want the world to know about what's going to happen next."
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