Chapter 87: Middle Soul Sprite!!
With the end of the night came day. And the moment when the sunshine shined into the room, Bai Yunfei’s finger moved from its position on the bed and his eyes gradually began to open….
Slowly sitting up, Bai Yunfei looked over his own body for a moment before holding his right hand up to eyes. Studying it for a while, he seemed to be in looking at it pensively.
“That was too dangerous…. I didn’t think that uplifting myself a stage so crazily would result in this. I nearly lost my life just then. A technique to strengthen my soulforce like this may be a shortcut, but I can’t continue to use this in the future without fear of the consequences.” Thinking about his loss of control over the elemental fire and the unbearable pain it had brought, Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but feel some lingering fears on it. For that moment, he had truly thought that he was about to die then and there.
“It’s all thanks to big brother Hong Yin….without his help, then even if I saved my life, my life wouldn’t be as easy to become as strong as I desired. Would I even still be able to live on so carefreely?”
Bai Yunfei gave a look over on his body. The essence fireseed in his stomach was two times as big as it was the day before yesterday at around the size of a fist. It seemed to have wrapped around his heart and pulsated along with the rhythmic beat of his heart. Wisp after wisp of the elemental fire had flowed out with each beat and circulated along with his soulforce throughout his body. There was a surge of power that flooded his body, making him feel far stronger than he had ever felt.
“Middle Soul Sprite!!” Bai Yunfei’s eyes sparkled, “That whats-it called ‘fireseed spirit mushroom’ big brother Hong Yin gave me has such a miraculous effect! But, this also demonstrates the depths of his heart. I’m afraid this will be a hard favor to return…”
After a moment of thinking, Bai Yunfei sighed and gave up thinking about it. Getting down from the bed, he threw open the doors and walked out.
The clean air outside had assaulted his face, rousing his spirits quite high. At the same time as he walked out from his room, the neighboring room to his own gave a creaking sound before the doors opened and Hong Yin came walking out with a faint smile.
Bai Yunfei’s eyes flashed with emotions. He knew that Hong Yin had been worried for his wellbeing for sure by carefully paying attention to his situation.
Giving a nod to Hong Yin, Bai Yunfei spoke gratefully, “Big brother Hong Yin, it’s all thanks to you that I….”
“Haha, Yunfei, you speak as if we are strangers to each other, you don’t need to take this so seriously.” Hong Yin waved his hand dismissively at his words. “I saved you because you have made me believe it is worth it helping you. I know you will achieve many things in your future since you still have many secrets, isn’t that right?”
“That….” Bai Yunfei hesitated for a moment, unsure of how he should respond.
“Naturally, that is only my guess. You don’t need to tell me, but I think that you won’t disappoint me, correct?”
Bai Yunfei had looked a little embarrassed. After being silent for half a moment, he shook his head gently and spoke honestly to Hong Yin, “No matter the case, big brother Hong Yin saved my life this time. I will never forget this, I think that….”
“Eeeh? Big brother Yunfei’s fine! That’s great!” Just at that moment, an alarmed cry of joy could be heard from outside the courtyards. Turning around, Bai Yunfei could only see an emerald-green clothed Chu Yuhe come running towards him with a joyous expression. You Qingfeng, Mu Wanqing and even Qiu Luliu could be seen entering the courtyard behind her.
“Big brother Yunfei, are you okay? Are you completely better now?” Chu Yuhe scampered towards Bai Yunfei and asked question after question in concern.
Bai Yunfei looked at Chu Yuhe with a moved eye. When it came to this little girl, he didn’t have any idea on how to be a brother. It was only because of Mu Wanqing’s manipulations that he had carelessly recognized her to be his sworn sister. But Chu Yuhe had regarded him extremely highly and regarded him to be her actual older brother.
Nodding, Bai Yunfei smiled faintly, “Oh, Yuhe doesn’t need to worry. I’m fine, I’m all better now.”
Afterwards, he looked to Qiu Liliu behind Yuhe and nodded to her. Then he cupped his hands together towards You Qingfeng and Mu Wanqing. “Senior You, headmaster Mu, words cannot describe my gratitude. From today onwards, I will definitely find a way to repay your kindness!” He spoke cordially.
“Yunfei, you speak too much like a stranger. You are the sworn brother of Yuhe, helping you should be a given thing. Furthermore, we didn’t even help you much. It was Hong Yin that saved you; if you wished to repay someone, then it should be him.” Mu Wanqing shook her head with a smile.
“Yunfei, your strength….” Ever since You Qingfeng had walked into the courtyard, he had continued to stare at Bai Yunfei as if there was a question he was not sure about.
“En, not only has my injuries fully recovered, but I have fully condensed my essence fireseed and stabilized it. My strength has also reached the middle Soul Sprite stage as well.” Bai Yunfei nodded before letting loose the restraint he had to allow the others to feel his current strength.
“That’s….that’s utterly inconceivable! Big brother Hong Yin’s ‘fireseed spirit mushroom’ has that strong of an effect?!” Qiu Luliu stared in disbelief at Bai Yunfei. She couldn’t help but cry out in alarm before sighing and speaking in dejection, “Yunfei, let me say something here, okay? When I first met you, you were only a late Soul Apprentice. But now…even though I know you came across good fortune, this rate of progression from you is too much of a blow to me. And to think that I used to believe my own talent for cultivation was quite decent!”
“Eh, Luliu, what words are you saying? I only had good luck, that’s all. Plus, it was all thanks to big brother Hong Yin. I nearly died, just how amazing could I be after that?” Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but laugh.
Hong Yin had only looked at everyone before saying, “Let’s not continue to stand in the courtyards and head into one of the rooms….”
…………
After an hour, You Qingfeng and the others had finally left. Mu Wanqing was the leader of a school after all and thus had many things to busy herself with.
Mu Wanqing had told Bai Yunfei that the Glacial School had already left Cuiliu City. Their two elders had been injured by Bai Yunfei, Zhang Zhengshan most especially. His ribs had been fractured in several places, and his internal organs had been ruptured. It would take several dozen days for his wounds to completely heal.
After sending them off, Hong Yin looked pensively at Bai Yunfei. “Yunfei, what’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re worried about the Glacial School taking revenge? Don’t worry then. They won’t be seeking trouble with you for a good while. Even more so, with your current strength, you don’t need to fear them either do you?”
Hearing that there was something else applied in his words, Bai Yunfei was rather stunned, “Big brother Hong Yin, you overestimate me. Today, I am a middle Soul Sprite, but I am still nowhere close to being able to go head to head with the headmaster of a school….”
“Haha, I’m just joking.” Hong Yin gave a secretive laugh before abruptly changing the subject. “Ah, Yunfei. The bracer I gave you for your battle against Zhang Zhengshan, could I have it back now?”
“Ah?” Bai Yunfei’s face went rigid. He had no idea that Hong Yin would suddenly speak about such a topic and couldn’t respond to it for some time afterwards. But after lowering his head in silence, his face changed slightly and sighed. With a wave of his hand, the crimson bracer appeared in it. Bai Yunfei placed the bracer onto the table and forced out a smile, “En, this was big brother Hong Yin’s item to begin with, I should return it to you….”
Hong Yin’s lips curled into a smile at Bai Yunfei’s clearly pained expression. Trying his best to pretend to be calm, he could no longer help but let out a chuckle and teased Bai Yunfei, “Yunfei, I was just joking with you. You really are serious, just what type of person do you take your older brother Hong Yin to be? I clearly said that I had given it to you, just how could I take it back like that? Haha….”
Bai Yunfei was stunned. “That….”
“Haha, I only wish to see just how much you’ve ‘transformed’ this bracer….” Hong Yin held out an arm towards the bracer, and the moment it touched his head, the smile on his face had immediately vanished. Turning flabbergasted, he looked at the bracer in his hands and circulated his soulforce into it, causing the bracer to glow red.
“High-grade earth rank!” Even with his earlier preparations, Hong Yin still couldn’t help but gasp, “How is that possible? When I gave it to you before, it was definitely a high-grade human-ranked soul item. How could it just jump three tiers and into the earth rank….”
Hong Yin had been thunderstrucked for a moment before his head snapped to Bai Yunfei with sparkling eyes, “Yunfei, are you from the Crafting School?”
“What?” Bai Yunfei had been glad that he didn’t need to return the bracer back, but at the same time, he had to think of a way to explain how the bracer had ‘upgraded’. Hong Yin’s question had stunned him however, and he replied with his own question, “Big brother Hong Yin, how could say if I am from the Crafting School? Don’t you know of my situation? From the very beginning, I was taught by senior Ge Yiyun….”
Hong Yin’s eyes stared strangely at Bai Yunfei for some time before finally regaining his wits and shaking his head. “I know that you are tied to the Fate School, that’s why I asked. Otherwise, I would have thought you to be an inner disciple of the Crafting School….”
“En? Why do you say that?” Bai Yunfei’s eyebrows raised up in confusion.
“This bracer’s transformation is truly too inconceivable. I can only think of one way that this is possible, and that is if you are a disciple of the Crafting School. A disciple that understands the way to use the essence fireseed to refine and create a soul item!”
“People say that the Crafting School has a secret method for when they advance in soulforce, they can use the condensed essence fireseed and the strengthened amount of pure elemental fire to craft a soul item. They can upgrade this soul item, and because of the essence fireseed that has harmonized with their own body, they create a special connection between their soul and the soul item. From this, they can bring out the true power of their soul item, and so the men of the Crafting School call them ‘Personal Soul Items’.”
“Naturally, this is something only the people of the Crafting School is willing to do. Other soul cultivators with the essence fireseed are very reluctant to do so. The more they have, the less they are willing to waste some of it to craft a soul item. After all, there is only one time to condense the essence fireseed, and the more it grows, the far smoother the path of cultivation will be for them in the future….”
“I’d guess that this bracer’s transformation was definitely because of your advancement that it grew, correct? That must be the reason why you only had half of the essence fireseed as well. But, you really aren’t a disciple of the Crafting School, so how was it that you are able to improve the bracer to such a degree like this….”
Bai Yunfei’s head drooped down as he quickly processed the information given to him by Hong Yin. His eyebrows furrowed together as his eyes sparkled with light.
Gradually, there was a light of understanding that flashed through his eyes….