After waking up on the second day, Bai Yunfei felt ‘comfortable’ for the first time in a while. His soulforce was back at peak capacity, and his mind was completely refreshed. The only thing that Bai Yunfei felt sad about was that the abundantly warm feeling of elemental fire still couldn’t be felt.
Rather than throw himself back into upgrading, Bai Yunfei left his room to go find Tang Xinyun.
He knocked on the door prior to entering, but as soon as he did, Bai Yunfei realized that Tang Xinyun was already awake and conversing with Cang Yu, who was seated next to her bed.
As soon as she saw Bai Yunfei, Cang Yu greeted him with a smile. Then, as ‘per usual,’ she stood up to walk out of the room, “Have a nice talk with Xinyun, Yunfei. I’ll be going back to rest.”
Bai Yunfei respectfully bowed to her, “Thank you, third elder. Please have a good rest. I’ll look after Xinyun…”
As soon as Cang Yu left, Bai Yunfei sat down on the stool next to Tang Xinyun’s bed. Upon seeing her rosy, beautiful face, Bai Yunfei asked her in concern, “Xinyun, how are you feeling?”
Nodding her head, Tang Xinyun smiled warmly at him, “I feel much better now. Thank you for worrying, Yunfei.”
Bai Yunfei said nothing in return, choosing to stay silent for a few seconds in shame. “Xinyun, I’m…”
“Don’t say sorry.”
Tang Xinyun cut into his words first. “I chose to throw myself in front of you that day out of my own volition. There’s no need for you to apologize…”
Having no idea that Tang Xinyun would respond like that, Bai Yunfei was quiet. “Xinyun…” He started again.
“Don’t say thank you either.” Tang Xinyun interrupted again. “You saved me once before, so it was my turn to save you. Take this as me returning the favor, so don’t say thank you…”
Again, Bai Yunfei said nothing. He continued to stare at Tang Xinyun blankly and in confused silence.
Seemingly embarrassed by how Bai Yunfei was staring at her, she stammered, “Wh—why are you so quiet now?”
“What I want to say, you won’t let me say. I’m waiting for you to tell me what I can say.”
Surprised by his response, Tang Xinyun thought earnestly for a moment. Tilting her head as soon as she had thought of something, she smiled, “Then how about you talk about something else…
“Like this… ‘Yun’s Soul Ring’?”
His heart stopped for a second.
“Xinyun, how did you…?”
“How do I know its name?” Xinyun winked an eye with a smile. “I was actually somewhat aware of my surroundings yesterday. I wasn’t fully awake, but I managed to hear a bit of your voice…”
Lifting her left hand up for both to see the ring on her ring finger, she said, “Was it because of this ring that I managed to get better?”
It was one shock after another. He didn’t think that Tang Xinyun would’ve been able to hear what he had said yesterday, but he didn’t think he’d be able to keep the secret from her either.
It was on her finger after all. There was no way she would not notice its effects.
However, Bai Yunfei had already planned an excuse for this situation.
Since Bai Yunfei was being unresponsive, Tang Xinyun smiled, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell master about it… she thinks I woke up because of the Violet Soul Ring.”
Relieved, Bai Yunfei immediately thanked her, “Xinyun, thank you…”
“Why are you thanking me? You saved me, I should be thanking you.”
“Thank you for keeping my secret.” Bai Yunfei confessed.
Shaking her head, Tang Xinyun said, “If you don’t want to let anyone else know, I won’t talk about it. But… Yunfei, where did you get this strange soul armament? The Violet Soul Ring master gave me is one of the most precious rings around and the only soul armament that has the ability to let me recover soulforce, but you have a ring that’s much better than it….”
“A senior once gave me this ring a very long time ago. He said to not let anyone know I had such a ring, so I never told the first elder or anyone else. You were hurt because of me. There was no way I’d let you stay hurt. We were lucky that the ring was useful enough to save you…
“Thank the heavens you woke up, Xinyun. If someone were to happen to you, I’d never be able to forgive myself…” Bai Yunfei gave an ‘explanation.’
“Haha, I’m fine now. You don’t need to blame yourself anymore.” Tang Xinyun gently laughed. “Don’t worry, if you don’t want to let anyone know, then I’ll help you keep this secret. Once I get better, I’ll give the ring back to you…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Bai Yunfei shook his head, “Xinyun… keep the ring. I’ve already named it the Yun’s Soul Ring, so it’s yours now.”
“What?” Xinyun responded. Bai Yunfei giving her such a magical ring to save her was something she could understand, but to have her keep it? She was astonished… didn’t he realize how precious this ring was?
Even someone who didn’t understand the world of soul cultivators knew that if this ring were to be exposed, the entire world would massacre itself for the ring.
Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but smile when he saw her thunderstruck expression, “Xinyun, I said I’d give it to you, so it’s yours. Be careful and don’t let anyone know how special it is. There will be trouble if someone finds out.”
“But…”
“Don’t ‘but’ me. Xinyun, don’t worry about it for now. Just make use of the ring and get better. Once you get rid of the corrosive energy, you’ll truly be out of danger.”
“Oh…” She replied in a daze, but when she thought about something, her face darkened in color. “Whether I fully recover or not isn’t important. I can no longer train in elemental fire…” She sighed.
A stab of pain shot through Bai Yunfei’s heart. The most worrisome topic finally came to hand.
The fact that Tang Xinyun’s essence fireseed had been used up was the biggest change.
“Xinyun, don’t worry. There’ll definitely be a way to regain your essence fireseed. If there isn’t, you can train in the other elements. Don’t feel sad. You’re still young, you’ll definitely get better!”
“Yunfei, you don’t need to comfort me. I already know that…” Xinyun sighed. “Master already told me that I might never be able to use elemental fire again. She advised me to train in another element and said that the headmaster has a daughter in the Water School. She said that I could go join them…
“But… I don’t want to! It took everything I had to join the Crafting School! I have the talent, and my master looked after me so much! I’ve seniors who care for me, and there’s Xiao Rui too…
“I’ve only known them all for half a year, but the Crafting School feels like family to me. I don’t… I don’t want to leave them…
“I want to train in elemental fire! I want to craft! I want to get stronger! I… I want to protect my mother…”
The more Tang Xinyun spoke, the more she began to sob. She was a strong woman, but the weight of her emotions finally proved too much for her to bear.
For once, she showed Bai Yunfei a vulnerable side to her.
Her tears caused Bai Yunfei to freeze up. This wasn’t something he thought would happen.
He wanted to reach a hand up to wipe away her tears, but that didn’t seem appropriate.
He wanted to say something to comfort her, but he realized that he had somehow been thrown into a period of mute silence.
When Tang Xinyun’s head leaned against his shoulder to cry on, Bai Yunfei went as still as a statue. He didn’t dare move even a muscle as he sat there, allowing her to wet his clothes with her tears and listen to her cries.
With each sob, Bai Yunfei’s heart ached even more.
After a while, the sounds of Tang Xinyun’s sobs grew fainter and fainter before Bai Yunfei finally realized that she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Her anguish had sapped her of her strength.
Returning the girl back to the bed, Bai Yunfei pulled the covers over her and wiped away the tears on her face. He stood up from his stool and walked out of her room. When he had returned to his room, his eyes were filled with a warm-hearted tenderness.
But that was replaced with a look of determination like never before…
“I’ll definitely help you get better, Xinyun. I’ll definitely make sure that you’ll be able to regain your essence fireseed!”
“If she can’t do it herself, then maybe… the fireseed spirit mushroom can!!”