Bai Yunfei appeared high above the skies in the Core World. So high, in fact, that neither the Fate nor Crafting Schools could be seen. But above him stood a ball of prismatic light that made the fake daylight in the world seem almost dim.

Like a dazzling sun, the ball of light exuded four different rays of light to represent the elements of fire, lightning, wind, and wood while also drawing in an equally steady stream of it into itself.

The raw amount of energy was simply astounding to the senses, and Bai Yunfei could sense it still increasing!

“This…is Xiao Qi going to breakthrough?!”

Bai Yunfei grew elated at the possibility. This was surely a pleasant surprise!

Xiao Qi was in the center of that ball of light! He was definitely on the verge of becoming a late-stage class eight soulbeast!

Multiple days had been spent by the soulbeast in an attempt to breakthrough. Half a day ago, Xiao Qi wasn’t even close to it, but now…he was on the cusp of it!

The reason was without a doubt because of Gu Lianhun!

Bai Yunfei knew killing Gu Lianhun would be good for Xiao Qi, but he just never imagined the amount of experienced Xiao Qi gained would be enough for him to become a late-stage class eight!

Normally speaking, becoming a late-stage class eight soulbeast would take several dozen years of training in a chaotic space like Bai Yunfei. But after killing Gu Lianhun…Xiao Qi was able to skip all that time!

The ‘experience’ of killing a Mid-stage Soul Saint was truly shocking!

This way, Xiao Qi was able to ‘skip’ portions of training. By killing Saints, Xiao Qi could gain an ocean of experience and level up!

……

“Yunfei!”

Several streaks of light appeared in the sky. Originating from the ground, several figures from the two schools took to the skies to approach Bai Yunfei. Even a few Soul Kings were here now.

They were all astounded by the power radiating from Xiao Qi and flew to Bai Yunfei the moment they saw him there.

Greeting everyone as they approached, Bai Yunfei turned his attention next to Chu Yintian. “Senior, what has happened to the one I threw in here?”

“Worry not, he has been captured and prevented from self-destructing.”

Chu Yintian’s eyes remained on the dazzling ball of light in front of him. “Yunfei, Xiao Qi is…becoming a late-stage class eight soulbeast?”

“Ah, yes. It seems killing Gu Lianhun was a good thing for him.”

“I…” Everyone figured that was the case earlier, but it still boggled the mind to hear the extent of Xiao Qi’s power-up. Killing a Mid-stage Soul Saint to become a Late-stage Soul Emperor? What a dumbfounding sentence to think about!

What would happen if he killed another Mid-stage Soul Saint, would he simply become a Saint then?

Of course, this was just a hypothetical. Killing a Saint was no easy matter, and a Mid-stage Soul Saint was an even harder prospect.

Xiao Qi breaking through was a good thing. Everyone was excited to see that, especially Bai Yunfei. Together, the group waited for Xiao Qi to finish with bated breaths.

“Eh?!”

They didn’t wait long. After a while, Bai Yunfei noted something different starting to take place around Xiao Qi.

The red light radiating from Xiao Qi was starting to pick up in intensity. Elemental fire was pouring out from Xiao Qi’s body and circling around him faster and faster as if to cocoon him inside a bubble of both that and soulforce!

“This…” Bai Yunfei was the first to react. He realized what had happened at once and and began to smile with glee!

The others realized as well, once they saw Bai Yunfei’s expression. “Eh? Your face, Yunfei…” Chu Yintian’s eyes widened.

“Haha! What a great success!” Bai Yunfei barked with laughter, “Everyone! I’ll be training now!!”

A pillar of fire exploded forth from Bai Yunfei as he took to the skies. He shot towards Xiao Qi, his soulforce beginning to increase in intensity. In an instant, the surrounding elemental fire exploded in amount to an exponential degree and began to converge around him.

In just moments, the skies were ablaze with a second maelstrom of elemental fire not unlike the one around Xiao Qi!

At the center of it, Bai Yunfei manipulated his soulforce in a way similar to Xiao Qi. Their energies were roughly equal to one another as if the two were working together toward the same goal!

Yes!

Bai Yunfei was making use of this moment to try and breakthrough as well!

……

A bond between soul cultivator and soulbeast is often a great one for both sides involved. Its greatest benefit was allowing for a soul cultivator to break through a bottleneck at the time of the completion of a contract. Some waited when they were at the cusp of becoming a Soul Exalt, others when they were Soul Kings, and fewer later on.

Hardly any soul cultivator could resist the urge to form a contract at later stages, however. Gu Lianhun was one of the few that managed to wait until he was on the verge of Sainthood before forming one of his own. In annals of history, he was most likely one of the only few who managed to succeed.

Other than that, a soul contract also offered a soulbeast and soul cultivator a ‘connection’ similar to that of soul compatibility. For most, the connection between both sides would often be superficial.

Once the ‘connection’ reached a certain degree, however, intents and thoughts could be shared across the sides: a rare and ‘harmonic’ bond! Upon reaching such a degree, one could gain a proportion of power when the other trained. Of course, such a deep bond was very rare to find.

—Bai Yunfei and Xiao Qi were definitely one such pairing!

When Shen Pojun ascended to Sainthood, Bai Yunfei was there to gleam some insights and allowed Xiao Qi to breakthrough. Right now, Xiao Qi was doing the same! After killing Gu Lianhun and gaining the ‘experience’ to become a late-stage class eight soulbeast, Xiao Qi was giving Bai Yunfei an opportunity to learn as well!

Bai Yunfei was just a step or two away from becoming a Late-stage Soul Emperor. It wouldn’t take him long to reach the level without Xiao Qi there, but at least time would be saved now.

……

It was a mystical feeling. Bai Yunfei could feel a plentiful amount of energy be transmitted through the bond and into him. Like a bridge, his connection with Xiao Qi was feeding him an ‘endless’ amount of energy and strengthening his originseed and soulforce to greater heights.

Activating the Dual Flame Artes, Bai Yunfei was doing his best to wholeheartedly meditate and train…

Time slowly ticked by with everyone waiting impatiently. They watched as the auras of Bai Yunfei and Xiao Qi climb again and again while the elemental energies of the world were drained into the two of them.

Half the day went by before a substantial change could be noted. Under the joyous eyes of many, the two suns condensed in size, decreasing more and more until the light could no longer be seen.

“It worked!”

Chu Yintian roared with joy. He could distinctly sense that the two auras were much different than when the two first started out!

They were both Late-stage Soul Emperors!!

……

“Hahaha!! It worked! We did it! Yunfei! I’m stronger now! Haha!!”

High above the skies, the loud and happy cries of Xiao Qi could be heard as he crowed to Bai Yunfei.

Feeling the powerful energy that ran through his body, Bai Yunfei smiled and gave his avian companion a nod. “Haha, let’s go back down first…”

Together, the two descended from the skies to the crowd. But on their way, Bai Yunfei noted something strange!

And before the others could react, Bai Yunfei disappeared from the Core World!

Bai Yunfei reappeared outside of the Core World right beside the giant stone gate. From his position, he looked up and to the right at an empty spot of space.

He felt the aura of someone powerful flying rapidly toward him. Though his eyes couldn’t see who it was, and his soulsense couldn’t make out who they were, Bai Yunfei could at the very least tell that this person was a Saint!

But who?

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