“Train?” Xiao Fang responded. “Of course you could. That’s one of the main points of the Core World. If I concentrate, then I can have the entirety of the elemental energy in the Core World amplified and brought here. It’ll definitely make training a lot faster than in the outside world. It’s not as fast as if you were using the Nephrite Throne, but still…”
“Really?! Why didn’t you say that earlier…”
Bai Yunfei’s eyes were wide-open at that, his face shining with radiant joy at the information he had just heard.
“There’s too many things to even say, how am I supposed to say it all so concisely?” Grumbled Xiao Fang, “I was going to tell you the next time you were planning to train.”
Excited, Bai Yunfei clenched his fists. He could hardly contain the beating of his heart as he thought about the implications of this. So he could train here in the Core World at an even faster rate!
Bai Yunfei hadn’t a use for most of the ingredients in the garden right now. Most of them were rare strains he had no idea how to even use, and Bai Yunfei figured that since Xiao Fang was going to nourish the place, he may as well leave them here and let it continue growing for a little longer. Xiao Fang said it’d remind Bai Yunfei when the time came at any case.
He had more or less a good idea of what the Core World was and its finer points now. The rest of the things could be explored or looked into at a future point in time. There were more important matters to attend to.
Although Xiao Fang did say that the Extreme King Pill fragrance would linger for a few days longer, Bai Yunfei was still in a hurry to get started. Things like this were always better to settle sooner rather than later, and Bai Yunfei wanted to start training as soon as possible.
As much as he wanted to start now, Bai Yunfei knew that there was still one more thing he had to do before he could start. He’d have to leave the Core World and say a few words to the first elder and the other people from the Underworld School before he could start.
Making an excuse wouldn’t be very hard. Since he did take part in the fight for the pills, Bai Yunfei could easily state that he needed a few days to go over what he had learned in solitude.
……
Back in Bai Yunfei’s room, a single person suddenly materialized out of thin air onto the ground. It was Bai Yunfei. Xiao Qi was perched right on top of his shoulder looking as though neither of the two had even left from their room to begin with.
“Whew…”
Bai Yunfei eyed the Core Stone on top of the table with a relieved sigh. He felt like a lot had transpired in such a short amount of time, and a lot had been gained from it. Even now, he was still feeling the excitement from it. Bai Yunfei felt like a winner now after his trip into the Core World.
“Eh? It’s already morning?”
Judging from the hourglass situated on top of a shelf, Bai Yunfei concluded that it was already the morning of the next day. Looking out the window told him very little as the clouds were still obscuring the skies so that the place still looked as dark as night.
Securing the Core Stone in his robes, Bai Yunfei took it and Xiao Qi with him outside to head to the room Long Lan was staying in.
“Yunfei, what were you…doing last night? I couldn’t sense your auras at some point, why was that?” Long Lan asked both him and Xiao Qi as soon as the three were together.
“Hehe…we went to place you’ll never be able to guess!” Xiao Qi chirped secretively.
“You went out?!” Long Lan sputtered, “Impossible, I didn’t sense your auras come out from your room before you two disappeared…”
“Haha, I’ll tell you about it later. Let’s first head on over to the others. Call Zheng Kai for me, I’ll go meet with the first elder, Song Lin, and the others.”
“Oh…” Long Lan nodded, realizing that now wasn’t the time to be asking any questions. “Zheng Kai already went out a while ago. He was here for about an hour to wait for you most likely, but he left after thinking you were training. He told me to tell you that he’d be with Xu Ran and the others.”
“Oh, let’s get going then. He’s probably going over to talk about ways to absorb the Extreme King Pill fragrance.” Bai Yunfei remarked as they walked.
“Hey, Long Lan. I’ve a question I’ve been meaning to ask. Back when you were watching me fight those people in Crushed Stone River, what was with that look on your face? Did you see something?”
Bai Yunfei suddenly asked Long Lan as they walked together on the road.
“What?” Long Lan looked a little surprised at the question.
“I don’t really know myself actually. But when I saw the old one in black robes, the aura I felt coming from him was unbelievable. It was as if it was penetrating deep into my soul to a level I couldn’t even defend against…”
“Oh?” Bai Yunfei blinked. How strange, what kind of aura would it take to inspire that much fear in Long Lan as he was now?
“If I had to guess, that person was probably of the dragon race…” Long Lan murmured, “His blood is far purer than mine as well. It was his blood that the pressure originated from. I felt the same thing from my master once before, but that person…he…the pressure he gives off is even stronger than my master!! And for some reason, I…I feel like I ‘know’ this person somehow. I don’t know why or even how, but that’s the feeling I’m getting…”
“Pressure that originates from the blood?!” Bai Yunfei raised an eyebrow. He had heard before from Xiao Qi that the elder was a class seven soulbeast in human form and even a descendant of the ancient dragon race, but the fact that he was stronger than Long Zhen was a new piece of information. If that person was as strong as Long Lan said he was, then…didn’t that mean his dragon blood was even purer than Long Zhen?!
“That old man…has to be the soulbeast partner of the young man in black. But to have a soulbeast partner as strong as that…” Bai Yunfei sighed, his fear of the young man growing by a large amount.
Now that he was thinking about the young man he fought, Bai Yunfei grew a little gloomy. He grew quiet and didn’t say much to Long Lan or Xiao Qi after that.
The group wasn’t even inside the courtyard before they could feel the auras of the others. A few words of conversation could also be heard, and each one of the speakers were sounded very familiar to Bai Yunfei and the other two. It was Zheng Kai, Song Lin and Xu RanBai Yunfei”
“Ah, Bai Yunfei, you’re here. Come in.”
Zheng Kai was the first to notice Bai Yunfei’s presence and quickly called out to him.
Smiling, Bai Yunfei walked a little faster to enter the courtyard. In the center of the peaceful courtyard was a stone table with a group of people seated around it. Zheng Kai, Song Lin, Li Tiechui, Lian Lingmin, Xu Ran, and Han Yue were all right there.
“Were you hurt from your battle with that one person, Yunfei? You alright?”
Again, Zheng Kai was the first to speak out to Bai Yunfei, this time out of concern. He thought that Bai Yunfei had been hurt before and was in the middle of healing, hence why he was in isolation earlier.
Noticing the looks of concern on everyone’s face, Bai Yunfei smiled. “Haha, I’m fine. I learned a few things from that battle actually, and lost track of time when I was meditating on those thoughts.”
“Learned a few things?” Zheng Kai repeated in admiration, “Tch, so you can get stronger so quickly after a fight like that? Aren’t you a little too ridiculous?”
“Brother Song Lin,” Bai Yunfei took a seat next to Zheng Kai, “where is the first elder?”
“The first elder is in the next room over. He’s talking with the elders of the Underworld School.” Song Lin pointed to one of the rooms to their right.
“Ah.” Bai Yunfei nodded his head. Any matter their seniors were discussing was naturally not a matter the juniors should be worrying or even thinking about.
“Brother Song Lin, brother Li, how do you two feel now? Have you absorbed the Extreme King Pill fragrance? I’m sure you’ll be needing some meditation time soon, right?”
His casual bring up of the Extreme King Pills startled Song Lin and the others. Everyone had agreed beforehand to not bring up the matter around Bai Yunfei so as to avoid making things awkward. They all thought Bai Yunfei would feel sad by his missed opportunity, so no one expected to see Bai Yunfei be the one to first bring it up. Seeing that Bai Yunfei looked completely fine with the topic, Song Lin decided to reply, “Ah, yes. You’re right. The first elder is prepared to let us stay in the Underworld School for a while to meditate. We’ll head back to the Crafting School after we absorb the Extreme King Pill fragrance and then go into meditation there. Hopefully, we’ll become Soul Kings soon enough…The elders of the Underworld School have the same plan with brother Xu and sister Yue.”
“That would be the best approach.” Bai Yunfei nodded. “The Extreme King Pill fragrance will dissipate from the body if it isn’t properly absorbed. Devoting all your time to absorbing it into your body and meridians would be the best choice.”
“Brother Song Lin, Ah’Kai, brother Xu Ran…it won’t be long before you all become Soul Kings with the help of the Extreme King Pill fragrance. I’d like to extend my congratulations.”
“Ai, we’ve only managed to get a few steps further than others. We’re bound to become Soul Kings sooner or later in any case.” Zheng Kai waved his hand airily, “Brother Song, I recall you saying that in the Crafting School, there’s…”
The group of soul cultivators soon started to chatter and gossip once again. With each one of these well-known figures talking, time quickly went by before several footsteps could be heard. Turning their heads, everyone saw the elders of the Crafting School and Underworld School come out into the courtyard.