The jade bracelet that had been in Bai Yunfei’s hand disintegrated into powder. Sighing, Bai Yunfei stored the powder into his ring.
“That makes the eighteenth one. I’m in bad form tonight…”
He was somewhat disappointed by the results. It wasn’t easy for him to accumulate so many +10 accessories, and he wanted to get one of them to a decently high upgrade level. If not +13, then at the very least one or two +12 ones, but unfortunately, not a single one of the eighteen accesories had reached +11!
Just as he was deciding on whether or not to stop upgrading and take a break, a stab of pain surged through Bai Yunfei’s body, turning his face pale.
Like a maelstrom, the soulforce in his body started to surge violently out of his control!
“It’s here!!” Bai Yunfei realized with a start. This was the biggest concern he had when overusing the Upgrade Technique!
Raising the hand with the Ardent Sun Glove on it, Bai Yunfei shot out a small fist-sized fireball by activating the glove’s effect for a fireball strike.
“Boom!!”
The fireball slammed into a table in the middle of his room, exploding it into pieces and ashes almost instantly.
This was meant as a warning and message to everyone else. As soon as Bai Yunfei shot the fireball, he blacked out.
There was actually no need for Bai Yunfei to use this as a signal. As soon as his soulforce went out of control, the surge had alerted everyone.
When the soulforce of an early-stage Soul Ancestor went loose, people would be hard-pressed to ignore it.
“Bang!” The doors to Bai Yunfei’s room slammed open as Xiao Binzi came flying in like a tornado to Bai Yunfei’s bed.
Because of Bai Yunfei’s warning beforehand, Xiao Binzi had decided to keep a close watch on the area for any fluctuations, hence his quick arrival.
“Yunfei!” Upon seeing the shape of Bai Yunfei, Xiao Binzi’s hand flew to his head. Xiao Binzi began to push his own soulforce into Bai Yunfei’s body.
“What is happening!?” As soon as his soulforce entered Bai Yunfei’s body, Xiao Binzi could immediately see what was going on inside. Like a flood, Bai Yunfei’s soulforce was surging out of control, attempting to tear Bai Yunfei’s body to pieces!
“Perhaps… the weakening of his essence fireseed caused this reaction? Or did the men from the Soul Refining School leave something in Bai Yunfei’s body without me noticing!?” Two different ideas popped up into Xiao Binzi’s mind for consideration, but he hadn’t enough time to really think about it. Swiftly bracing Bai Yunfei, he pressed a palm to Bai Yunfei’s chest and pushed his soulforce into his body to try and restrain Bai Yunfei’s soulforce!
Being able to restrain and control the soulforce of a Soul Ancestor without causing injury required two factors. One was an incredible strong amount of soulforce, and the other was an incredibly precise amount of control. As a late-stage Soul King, Xiao Binzi fulfilled both requirements, but Cang Yu did not.
The pattering sounds of footsteps made itself known as several people ran across the courtyard and into Bai Yunfei’s room. Jiang Nan and Song Lin were the first to appear through the doorway, but Xiao Rang and Xiao Xin weren’t far behind. Xiao Er came puffing past the doorway a moment later as well.
“First elder, what’s going on? What’s happening to Yunfei? And why now?” Song Lin exclaimed in panic as soon as he saw the state Bai Yunfei was in.
A grave expression settled on Xiao Binzi’s face, “I’m not certain either, perhaps it has to do with the injuries Yunfei had received. It’s fortunate that I can contain his soulforce, however.”
As he spoke, a wave of red light flowed out of Xiao Binzi’s body as his elemental fire began to enter Bai Yunfei’s body. Since Bai Yunfei had no elemental fire, there was no reaction from his essence fireseed, causing Xiao Binzi to sigh. If Bai Yunfei had any, treatment would’ve been far easier.
Another set of footsteps could be heard shortly afterward, prompting everyone to turn their heads to the door. This time, it was the pale-faced Tang Xinyun and Cang Yu, who was accompanying her. The look on Tang Xinyun’s face was frantic as she ran to Bai Yunfei’s bed, “First elder… what’s happening to Yunfei?” Panicking as she asked.
On the other side, Song Lin tried to console her, “Junior, don’t worry. With the first elder here, Yunfei will be just fine.”
Xiao Binzi nodded as well, “Yes, don’t worry. I’ve already restrained most of his soulforce. He won’t be in any danger.”
Xiao Binzi’s words comforted Tang Xinyun, but they weren’t enough to fully cure her of her concerns. Right next to Bai Yunfei’s bed, Tang Xinyun’s lips could be seen quivering as her eyes stared persistently at him.
With the help of Xiao Binzi, the out-of-control soulforce in Bai Yunfei’s body slowly began to calm down and return to its original state. The more it calmed down, the more Bai Yunfei’s face began to regain its color. His breathing wasn’t as rough anymore, and by the time Xiao Binzi drew back his hand, Bai Yunfei was back on his bed deep asleep.
The side-effects from overusing the Upgrade Technique hadn’t been as violent as the first time. Bai Yunfei had been far too weak at that point and was also at a very important juncture of becoming a Soul Sprite. Thus, the effects had been far more life-threatening, but not this time. He had Xiao Binzi helping him so nothing bad would happen.
In time, Bai Yunfei soon found himself awake on his bed again, but there was a warm feeling on his face as if someone was wiping his face with a towel. Reaching a hand up, Bai Yunfei could feel the soft but warm touch of someone’s wrist.
“Ah! Yunfei, you’re up!?” Someone’s very gentle voice was registered by Bai Yunfei’s ears.
Struggling to open his eyes, Bai Yunfei could just barely make out the sight of a young but pretty woman staring back at him with joy.
“Err… Xinyun?” Bai Yunfei tentatively asked as he tried to sit up on his bed. Shaking his head to shake off the remaining drowsiness, he asked, “What are you doing here? This is my…”
Taking a seat herself, Tang Xinyun asked, “How’re you feeling? If you’re not comfortable still, lay back down. I’ll go get the first elder and see how your wounds are doing…”
“Ahh… don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Shaking his head again, Bai Yunfei was now finally awake. When he thought about just why he had fallen unconscious, Bai Yunfei decided to take a look at his current condition. Upon inspecting himself, he sighed in relief; he wasn’t in as bad a condition as he thought.
He looked back up, but the only other person he could see in the room was Tang Xinyun. “Xinyun, how… how long was I out for?”
Tang Xinyun herself looked relieved to see that Bai Yunfei was doing fine, so she didn’t get up to go find Xiao Binzi or anyone else. “Not very long, just one whole night, that’s all.”
“Oh…” He nodded sensibly, but then halfway through the motions, his head flew back up, “Hold on. Xinyun. Did you… were you looking over me the entire night?”
Reddening in the face, Tang Xinyun said, “I… I didn’t feel comfortable having the Xiao family look after you, so I…”
“Miss Tang, how is brother Bai faring? I’ve brought him a spare change of clo—” Someone’s voice suddenly called out a moment before the door was pressed open to reveal Xiao Er.
As soon as he saw the two people, he froze where he stood. For one whole second, he was still, and then he turned about and pushed through the half-hinged door to walk out. “Who said this door was broken?” He muttered to himself, “Who told me to fix it? Really now, I wasted a trip here…”
As he grumbled to himself, he closed the still half-broken door after him as if he hadn’t noticed the two people inside the room.
A drop of sweat fell down Bai Yunfei’s head. What an utterly terrible improvisation, using the broken door as an excuse…
“Yunfei… please… please let go…” A barely audible whisper came to Bai Yunfei from the side. Turning his head, Bai Yunfei could see Tang Xinyun’s tomato-red face as she tried to move her left hand.
Upon lowering his head, Bai Yunfei realized that his own hand had been holding her wrist this entire time! Tang Xinyun had forgotten Bai Yunfei had grabbed her since she had been excited to see Bai Yunfei awake. It wasn’t until Xiao Er came into the room and saw the two ‘holdings hands and whispering sweet nothings’ that he realized he shouldn’t be intruding.
Letting go, Bai Yunfei shook his head apologetically, “I… I didn’t mean to do that…”
But his fellow crafter stood up anyway. Still red in the face, she said, “I… I’m going to get the first elder and master. Don’t… don’t move, okay?”
And just like that, the young woman fled the room in a hurry. Bai Yunfei scratched his head in embarrassment before sitting back on his bed without any further movements.