Chaper 554: Ruminations
Because of when Bai Yunfei’s fist clashed with the ice-type Soul King, a sliver of elemental ice had crept inside Bai Yunfei’s body as well, leaving his muscles and flesh to be injured somewhat. Those wounds were already healed back to normal levels so he could move normally, but the one thing that hadn’t yet fully healed was….his soul.
His soul was damaged.
He hadn’t really thought about it before, but now the consequences of it was very clear to him.
He felt empty. As if something in his body was missing. Something invisible, but there.
If he had to put the situation into material description, Bai Yunfei would say that there was a ‘gap’ in his soul. When he was hit with the Soul Refining Palm, his soul had been torn apart. But he healed sufficiently enough so that the torn parts of the soul could be mended back together. But….there was still a small sliver of a gap missing.
With that gap missing, Bai Yunfei felt confident that it’d mend over and be back to normal. But that would need time, and Bai Yunfei wasn’t confident about how long that’d take.
The more curious thing about this situation was that Bai Yunfei couldn’t tell the difference now that there was a ‘gap’ in his soul. He was still as strong as a mid-stage Soul Exalt, his body was operating like normal, and aside from the feeling of having a part of his soul missing, Bai Yunfei didn’t know what else there was to his body that was different.
Of course, the feeling of weakness was natural after being hit with an attack to the soul. Like if a commoner were to overexert their body, they’d need some time to themselves to rest and go back to normal.
Would the effects of the Soul Refining Palm be dismissed so easily with time just like that though?
Bai Yunfei touched at the Soul Sentinel Scarf on his head, “It’s all thanks to you,” he muttered in thanks. “If not for you, I definitely wouldn’t be as good as I feel now…..”
It was because of the Soul Sentinel Scarf that Bai Yunfei was able to shrug off the dangers of the two soul attacks from the Soul Kings. And after being hit by the Soul Refining Palm, the second effect of the Soul Sentinel Scarf had activated to protect him.
Equipment Effect 2: 200% Increase in healing from damage done to the soul.
The glow of light from the Soul Sentinel Scarf had been comforting. As if like some sort of miracle cure, the light flooded Bai Yunfei’s soul, allowing it to heal faster than normal.
“I guess the only ones to ‘benefit’ this time were the two fireseed essences….” Bai Yunfei thought. Right now in his body, the fireseeds were still circling around one another rhythmically. Each one pulsed a wave of gentle elemental fire along with the flashes of energy from the Soul Sentinel Scarf, warming his soul.
Soulforce and elemental energy. The two were not identical, but they complement one another. Soulforce can control elemental energy, and elemental energy could supplement soulforce.
Neither of the two fireseeds had left Bai Yunfei’s body ever since that battle three days ago!
This was a completely unprecedented event. The fireseeds would always remain in his body whenever he practiced the Dual Flame Arts, but only for that duration. After the battle was over, one of the fireseeds would usually come back out. But this time, both of them had remained where they were!
Even now, neither of the fireseeds were doing anything that would’ve let Bai Yunfei suffer from the backlash. It was as if the two had ‘mutually agreed’ that until Bai Yunfei was fully recovered, they’d work together to aid Bai Yunfei in his recovery.
It was his opinion that the two fireseeds underwent a ‘ceasefire’ as soon as his soul was attacked. If not that, then the fireseeds had suffered as well when his soul was attacked and lacked the energy to fight one another. As soon as his soul healed then, the two fireseeds would most likely go back to fighting one another.
But still, there was one thing that was known after this experience. The two fireseeds had grown closer now, and their effects were a lot easier to tell now whether in fighting one another or aiding Bai Yunfei’s recovery…..
……
Now that he was slowly letting his weakened soul heal, Bai Yunfei decided to think about the memories of what happened during the battle.
If he thought about it, the two Soul Kings were most likely after Zheng Kai since they never once tried to kill him and instead looked more like they were trying to grab him. But when Bai Yunfei thought about it a little more, he himself had been nothing more but an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.
Or perhaps. Bai Yunfei thought. Their goal was indeed to capture Zheng Kai and…..to kill him.
He had already killed several men from the Soul Refining School recently. In his mind, he was already an enemy of the Soul Refining School. He was careful when killing any soul refiners, though. Like when he saved the blue-eyes wyrm, Bai Yunfei made sure to change his appearance after that so no one would know who he was.
But nothing was sure in this world. It might’ve been better to say that there was nothing in this world that could be said to be guaranteed…..
“The Soul Refining School….why is it that there’s always one of them involved no matter where I go. What kind of group are they….” Bai Yunfei muttered. “If it happens once, it’ll happen again. They weren’t successful in their goals this time, but they’ll definitely try again with a more careful plan.
“In the end….I’m still not strong enough!” Bai Yunfei lamented, his fists tightening in his exasperation. “When will the time come when I’m strong enough to no longer fear them?”
He could say that he was able to kill two Soul Kings as of today, but at the same time, he hadn’t used his own strength to kill those two. He needed the permafrost mastiff to help kill the second Soul King, and even then, it was a cowardly tactic. In the end, he wanted to become even stronger. If he was stronger, he’d be able to fight even those on the higher realms of strength and fear no enemy or assassination plot.
Under the face of true strength, no other factor would be able to prevail. Any underhanded tactics would always fail. Unfortunately for Bai Yunfei, true strength was something that was still extremely far away from him….
……
Zheng Kai had told him that the academy had postponed classes for him by a week already. This meant he had three more days until he could decide to postpone again or go teach again. By this day, Bai Yunfei already felt more or less back to normal, and the damage to his soul would probably heal up by the week’s end. He only just wished that he’d be able to make it to class. He didn’t want to postpone it.
Bai Yunfei didn’t leave his room in the next few days as he tried to heal. All the while, he also tried to think about what he should teach next.
Aside from healing and thinking of his lesson plan, the three other soulbeasts of his were also in a state of ‘secluded’ meditation.
Because of the wounds it sustained from the battle with the Soul Kings, the permafrost mastiff required a decent amount of time in order to heal from it.
As for Xiao Qi and the blue-eyes wyrm, the two of them were trying to hone their minds and train--the last battle had weighed heavily on them, especially the blue-eyes wyrm. Having been frozen during the battle had been a heavy blow to the wyrm. It wanted to get even stronger so that it wouldn’t suffer this humiliation again.
But the both of them were at the peak late-stage class six level. To improve any more would be insanely difficult, and even after killing a Soul King, Xiao Qi wouldn’t have enough to breakthrough. That didn’t mean to say it had learned nothing from the battle, Xiao Qi did in fact have a decent amount of experience to go over.
Three days went by in a blur, and soon enough, it was the day for Bai Yunfei to return to class….