Healing the Muscles, Breakthrough

Also wanting to leave, Xue Bai quickly told the sparrow where the Profound Gold Divine Fruit was and what the person coming would be wearing.

Xue Bai guessed that it would be Eunuch Lu to come over here since Feng Fei didn't have many loyalists left. However, on the chance his guess was wrong, he also told her a phrase that the person who would come would know.

He planned to tell Feng Fei the phrase when he returned.

"Alright then, you can leave MeiMei. After the person gets the Profound Gold Divine Fruit from you, come and find me. I'll need your help, most likely." Liu Mei warmly said to the sparrow as she petted its head.

The sparrow responded well to Liu Mei's petting and didn't resist. She even took the chance to push her head deeper into Liu Mei's palm to further appreciate the care. But after a minute of heaven, it eventually left Liu Mei's comfort and flew off.

If it were a permanent goodbye, the sparrow named MeiMei would be reluctant to leave so early, but since Liu Mei said she could find her in just a month, MeiMei was obedient and left to accomplish her orders.

After MeiMei, the sparrow, left, Xue Bai grabbed the 1000-year-old Tree Heart and turned away.

"I need to refine this. We can leave after I do." Xue Bai said as he pulled out the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus and sat down on it.

Liu Mei was surprised at seeing such a high grade treasure, especially in a Mortal Plane, but after she remembered Xue Bai's 'identity,' she shrugged it off.

"How long do you need? I have long gotten sick of this cave. The sooner I leave, the better." Liu Mei said as she sat down next to Xue Bai.historical

She could see all of the Spiritual Qi that the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus was producing and wanted to leech some of it.

Though she didn't need to cultivate and could just wait till adulthood to become unrivaled, it didn't mean that she couldn't.

Plus, she could sense that there was too much Spiritual Qi than Xue Bai could handle on his own.

"I don't know how long exactly, but I'll be done within the day. So just guard me, please. I'd like to not die in a cave on the side of a ravine." Xue Bai sarcastically replied.

Liu Mei only rolled her eyes.

'What creature would dare enter my cave? And even if they did, how could they attack you? Your bloodline suppression effect is out.'

Of course, she didn't say her thoughts but just closed her eyes and started to cultivate alongside Xue Bai.

On the other hand, Xue Bai had already sealed his senses and started to scan his internal injuries.

Putting aside his shriveled-up Martial Veins and the lack of blood essence, Xue Bai's muscles and other viscera had started to weaken and decay.

From the lack of Spiritual Qi funneling to them, the muscles he possessed had started to eat at him from the inside.

They needed Spiritual Qi to not only strengthen themselves but also to function. So when they go without Spiritual Qi for too long a time, they start to find fuel in other ways.

So now almost every vital organ in Xue Bai, from his muscles to his liver, was fighting and devouring each other.

'Thank god for Liu Mei. Another few days, and they would've done some irreversible damage.' Xue Bai inwardly sighed in relief.

Knowing that delaying his healing would only cause more damage, Xue Bai brought the 1000-year-old Tree Heart to his mouth and took a small lick.

Usually, in order to refine such a treasure, one would need to just absorb all of the wood element Spiritual Qi inside until the Tree Heart ran out.

However, because of his shriveled-up Martial veins, Xue Bai couldn't do that just yet. And if Xue Bai took a bite, he might just explode from the excessive amount of Spiritual Qi. So until he healed them back to normal, he could only take small licks from the Tree Heart like a lollipop.

But the 1000-year-old Tree Heart was a natural treasure in the low black-grade, while Xue Bai was still in the Bone Strengthening realm. So the second he licked the Tree Heart, he instantly felt the effects.

A serene and pure mist of wood element Spiritual Qi flowed all throughout his body, slowly healing all of the hidden sequelae that his body had.

And within an hour of absorbing the wood element Spiritual Qi and healing, Xue Bai's body started to change for the better.

His weakened body was slightly strengthened, his Marital Veins were revitalized and unshelved, and even his previously sunken cheekbones regained some of their shape and sharpness.

Overall Xue Bai was instantly rejuvenated and went from looking like he was half a step into the grave to just looking like a sick and malnourished youth.

All he needed to do now was to find a way to restore his lost blood essence, and he could finally return to full strength.

'My muscles are still atrophied, though.' Xue Bai thought as he looked at himself internally.

This was something he couldn't do much about and could only fix himself.

Staying unconscious and motionless in the void for 30 months would make any cultivator in his cultivation realm lose their normal bodily functions. So his muscles undergoing atrophy weren't really out of his expectations. However, it was still annoying since, in order to fix it, simply healing it with the Tree Heart wouldn't do much.

Xue Bai needed to actually work them out and get them back into the habit of working and being used.

'However, before that, let me test my Martial Veins.'

Once again commanding his Low Heaven-grade Martial Veins to absorb Spiritual Qi, Xue Bai felt the familiar feeling again and started to absorb the Spiritual Qi in the cave wildly.

Like a thirsty man who was on the verge of death, Xue Bai's now healed Martial Veins madly absorbed the extremely pure Spiritual Qi produced by the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus as if it were trying to make up for the time it had lost.

On his left, Liu Mei could also sense Xue Bai starting his cultivation session and cleverly stopped cultivating and let the boy cultivate.

She was in the Spirit Expansion realm, and if she wanted to cultivate, she would absorb all of the Spiritual Qi that the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus would produce, which would leave Xue Bai with nothing.

Of course, this didn't mean that Liu Mei was stronger than the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus, but instead, Xue Bai couldn't bring out the true strength of his treasure.

When Xue Bai's cultivation base increased, so would the strength of the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus. But until then, only he could cultivate using its Spiritual Qi. And when he finally became strong enough to refine the treasure and bind it to himself, he could finally bring out the true strength of the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus.

'This cultivation speed? Does this boy have a Heaven-grade Martial Vein?!' Liu Mei, at first, wasn't planning on paying attention to Xue Bai, but after she noticed the Spiritual Qi mist lose more than a third of its Spiritual Qi instantly, she couldn't help but notice.

If she didn't notice such a phenomenon, it would be weird.

'Maybe he wasn't bragging about his talent but rather being humble. A high Heaven-grade bloodline and a low Heaven-grade Martial Vein is something that even my Ancestor couldn't contend with.' Liu Mei was starting to feel more proud of her previous choice.

If she had trusted her gluttonous stomach and eaten Xue Bai while, maybe she could've advanced her bloodline slightly, but she knew deep down that it wouldn't give it much of a boost.

However, now with Xue Bai alongside her, maybe reaching her long-desired reach of atavism wasn't far off?

But since Xue Bai was cultivating, that meant that he couldn't hear Liu Mei's thoughts, nor the fact that he had unintentionally gained her trust and hope.

Yet the shock that Liu Mei felt wasn't done because just as she thought she had a grasp on Xue Bai, she felt the Spiritual Qi mist in the air lose another 1/4th of its size.

'Breakthrough!'

Between the nourishing wood element Spiritual Qi that he had absorbed from the Tree Heart and the sheer amount of pure Spiritual Qi he absorbed from the Soul Sublimation Golden Lotus, Xue Bai, in fact, had enough Spiritual Qi to break through several cultivation stages.

Sadly most of the Spiritual Qi he absorbed went to his withering insides and atrophied muscles, which left him with less than a third of the Spiritual Qi. But since the amount he absorbed was so large, Xue Bai still had enough to break through a stage.

11th stage of the Bone strengthening realm! Perfection stage!

Instantly, Xue Bai felt the nostalgic feeling of his skeleton being tempered and perfected. However, this time it was different.

Once Xue Bai advanced to the 11th stage of the Bone Strengthening realm, he sensed that his bones were now almost perfect. The remaining, if there were any, impurities were almost none, and the strength of his skeleton was worlds apart from what they were before in the Muscle Nourishing realm.

They were harder, denser, and even more flexible and malleable. It was as if they could not only take a beating but also bend back like a bowstring should Xue Bai want them to.

Xue Bai also felt this feeling when he completed the Blood Exchange and Muscle Nourishing realms previously.

When he completed the Blood Exchange realm, Xue Bai had sensed his blood had thickened and turned so potent that if a drop of it was used on a mortal, it could be used as a panacea and bring them back from the dead.

While in the Muscle Nourishing realm, it instead sent all of the excess Spiritual Qi into not only his muscles but also his tendons and even his nerves and veins, giving them a pseudo Heaven and Earth Blessing as one could receive it after breaking through to the Xiantian Great Realm.

Such a thing was reserved for only powerful cultivators since in order to reach those small and minor places within the human body, one either needed a profound cultivation base and strong Spiritual Sense or a natural treasure for those specific small and minor areas.

Without either of those, the smaller and minor parts of the body would stay weak and fragile until the Xiantian Great Realm, when a cultivator underwent the Heaven and Earth Blessing one would get after breaking through a Great Realm.

This was another one of the many valuable benefits of cultivating the Purification Stages.

However, Xue Bai was used to it, so after noting down the experience and benefits mentally, Xue Bai stood up from his cross-legged position.

"You're done?" Liu Mei's lazily opened her eyes as she noticed Xue Bai finally exit his cultivation state.

"How long was I out?" Xue Bai asked, ignoring her question.

'Of course, I'm done. If not, why the hell would I stand up? To stretch?'

"Not long." As she looked outside to the skies above, Liu Mei said, "About 14 hours? The day changed, and the sun is about to rise."

"That's fine. We still have another three days to pillage the continent." Xue Bai said as he stretched.

His skeleton made a few popcorn-popping sounds as he got rid of all the air bubbles in between his bones.

"Pillage the Continent?" Liu Mei raised an eyebrow.

"Ignore that. It's a saying where I came from." Xue Bai waved away her curiosity, "Let's go, Liu Mei. I need to get some resources."

"Finally! Alright then, where to next, Xue Bai?" Liu Mei stood up and flashed a bright smile.