The Frostfeather Saint wasn"t even training anymore. He was too busy looking at Bai Yunfei"s "demonstration"—Bai Yunfei was already capable of absorbing chaotic energy!The Frostfeather Saint never expected Bai Yunfei to be able to do that, needless to say.
“His talent for training isn"t at the level of a genius, but to be fortunate enough to fall into Enlightenment…it must make one jealous to see how beloved he is by "fate". I wonder…what height will he be able to reach? What knowledge will he learn?”
A small smile graced the lips of the Frostfeather Saint. He was excited to see what Bai Yunfei would be able to learn.
There wasn"t even a need for him to "protect" Bai Yunfei anymore. The surrounding chaotic energy was no longer something that could do any harm to Bai Yunfei.
Time trickled slowly as the Frostfeather Saint watched over Bai Yunfei. He wasn"t impatient at all about how slowly it was taking Bai Yunfei. If anything, his excitement grew by the second by how much potential Bai Yunfei was showing…
Bai Yunfei"s ability was truly exceeding his expectations.
Sensing an abnormality in the area, the Frostfeather Saint leaped to his feet. The anomaly wasn"t Bai Yunfei this time, but…Xiao Qi!
“Has…has he grasped onto the concept as well?!”
This time the Frostfeather Saint couldn"t help but exclaim his thoughts out loud. At some point in time when he wasn"t paying attention, Xiao Qi went from being bored out of his mind to falling into a trance as well! A sliver of the chaotic energy was absorbing was also beginning to gather around the bird!
“The bond of their souls…has already attained such a perfect level?!”
The Frostfeather Saint was truly stunned. The bond between Bai Yunfei and Xiao Qi went beyond most—it was the level of a "perfect harmony"! Perfect harmony sounded exactly as it did, a bond between souls had to be so high that absolutely nothing could top it!
“Haha…these two are truly wonders to behold…” The Frostfeather Saint chuckled to himself. “I find myself excited to see how far you two will go. The path of "Ascension"...may be quite easy for you two…”
The Frostfeather Saint felt quite surprised to see two very-promising younglings right in front of him. And the longer he continued to wait, the more surprised he became…
“Bzz….”
Suddenly, the s.p.a.ce around the Frostfeather Saint trembled violently as if some kind of energy was affecting its flow. Rapidly, the small trickles of chaotic energy began multiple tidal waves that reaped havoc for a kilometer around the three of them!
Again, the Frostfeather Saint was stunned by this. Gaping as he observed the area, the Frostfeather Saint began to gasp, “The…The Law of Chaos?! A Law has appeared!!”
Focusing his soulforce, the Frostfeather Saint made sure he observed the area with it to ascertain his guesses. Hardly managing to control his emotions now, the Frostfeather Saint was now sure of what he was feeling.
“It really is…this is the Law of Chaos!
“But how? How was he able to come to understand that law?! How did he manage to do it?!”
The Frostfeather Saint grew alarmed. This wasn"t something Bai Yunfei should"ve been able to do! What Bai Yunfei did was accomplish what even a cla.s.s nine soulbeast couldn"t—calling upon the Law of Chaos!
He had been looking for it for so long, and now here it was! A large amount of energy was gathered right in front of Bai Yunfei!
Large in comparison to the chaotic energy here but tinier compared to what should normally be felt from a Law. But the Frostfeather Saint knew this was without a doubt the Law of Chaos!
Beings such as Soul Saints and cla.s.s nine soulbeasts tend to have already reached a level of complete mastery over their respective elements. As such, these beings would have to use chaotic energy for their training due to the raw amount of power held in them. The Frostfeather Saint, for example, was a master of elemental ice. There wasn"t anything else for him to do but pursue onto the Law of Chaos. If he could do that, then his ability to absorb chaotic energy would definitely be greater and he would also be a much stronger opponent to fight.
The Frostfeather Saint only had a small glimpse of what the Law of Chaos was like. He only meant to "guide" Bai Yunfei on what it was like to absorb chaotic energy! He didn"t think the Law of Chaos would appear instead!
But this was an opportunity the Frostfeather Saint wasn"t going to give up. Now that he knew what it was, he quickly calmed his heart and began to meditate.
His plan was to help the younger generation learn something new about the mysterious chaotic energy. Instead, it was the younger generation helping him learn…
And so, Bai Yunfei, Xiao Qi, and the Frostfeather Saint were all silent in meditation…
“Boom!!!”
A loud explosion destroyed the silence in the Ninth Heavens a while later. All chaotic energy within a kilometer of Bai Yunfei and the two soulbeasts was voided at once, flowing upwards like a geyser of water.
Within the geyser, Bai Yunfei, Xiao Qi, and the Frostfeather Saint could all be seen with their eyes wide open.
“Phew…”
Bai Yunfei was the first to sigh a breath of relief. As he tentatively clenched his fist, Bai Yunfei looked quite dumbfounded about his own strength.
Snapping out from his stupefaction, Bai Yunfei turned to face the Frostfeather Saint. “This junior cannot thank senior enough for this once-in-lifetime opportunity!”
The Frostfeather Saint looked quite happy as well. “All I did was show you the way. Anything else beyond that was done by your own strength…I should be the one thanking you, in fact. I have learned plenty from this experience today myself…”
Indeed, the Frostfeather Saint learned plenty today, far more than he expected to learn. He never thought he"d be able to come into contact with the Law of Chaos like this.
For Bai Yunfei, what happened today was definitely a great source of "good fortune". Not only did he managed to grasp the concept of chaotic energy, but he was also able to understand a bit about the Law of Chaos!
This meant plenty for Bai Yunfei. He was a great deal stronger in battle now that he could use chaotic energy and he was able to train with chaotic energy now!
Training with chaotic energy was meant to be something only Saints could do. But now he could do it!
That meant Bai Yunfei would be able to train far faster than any of his contemporaries!
And the one to benefit most was Xiao Qi! Because of his bond with Bai Yunfei, Xiao Qi was able to learn how to absorb and refine chaotic energy as well. Whether it was by killing people for experience or by absorbing chaotic energy, Xiao Qi was now capable of a level of growth far beyond anyone else!
———————
Now that he was capable of understanding the Law of Chaos, Bai Yunfei felt fully satisfied with his return to the Soulbeast Forest. After staying behind for two days to see how Yao City was settling, Bai Yunfei decided to bring Tang Xinyun with him out of the forest.
Everyone from the Yao clan, Dan Teng included, was to travel with Bai Yunfei this time. Long Lan was still with the Blue-eyes White Dragon King to train. Bai Yunfei didn"t know how long it would be until the two met again, but he was sure that the day would come soon.
And so Bai Yunfei, Tang Xinyun, Xiao Qi, and Xiao Bai traveled by themselves. The journey was far more silent now that their regular travel partners were all gone.
All of the Beast Taming School"s treasure was practically given to Bai Yunfei to use. All the soul armaments, soul skills, primal stones, soul gems, and other noteworthy resources were for him to manage how he wished, though Bai Yunfei felt disinclined to do so. It"d be better for him to return to the Crafting School so they could manage it instead. Any of the soulbeast puppets were, of course, given back to their respective soulbeast clans to be unsealed. All of the soulbeast puppets excluding the Interdimensional Phantasm. That one was the only one no clan "claim"ed, and thus, Bai Yunfei kept it for his own personal usage.
With everything done, Bai Yunfei was determined to return to his school at last. Excited about it, Bai Yunfei made sure to plan a direct trip back to the Great Plains Province at once…
As per usual, word of mouth always surpa.s.sed the rate of physical travel. News of the Beast Taming School"s destruction traveled far faster than Bai Yunfei did and sent waves all throughout the continent!
The Beast Taming School—gone!
This wasn"t any regular school; this was one of the Ten Schools!
People all over the continent were amazed by what they heard. Bai Yunfei of the Crafting School, alive! And he was the one leading an army of soulbeasts—an army that contained well over a dozen Soul Emperors, over a hundred Soul Kings, and an immeasurable amount of cla.s.s six soulbeasts—to storm the Beast Taming School!
Most thought the news to be fake at first. Hardly any part of those initial reports felt even plausible enough to be real. But once those reports were verified by multiple other sources, the entire soul cultivator world began to explode with chatter…
Many soul cultivators cheered at the Beast Taming School"s destruction. A few lamented. Either way, the name of Bai Yunfei traveled like wildfire throughout the soul cultivator world.
Three years ago, Bai Yunfei destroyed a high-powered clan as a Soul King and then caused havoc within the Soul Refining School.
Hardly anyone could believe their eyes when they first heard that bit of information three years ago. It was like a storm of shooting stars with how awed they were hearing about it.
And now. Three years later. The very same man appeared out of nowhere as a Soul Emperor and…destroyed the Beast Taming School at once!
This was a completely unheard of way of reintroducing oneself to the world!!
Some found it so hard to believe that even the crafters in the Crafting School thought the world was talking about an entirely different "Bai Yunfei"...
The Lost Swamp. Inside the Soul Refining School…
“Brother Mo…my school is gone and I have no place to go anymore. You"re the only one who can help me! That…method you talked about before, the one where you can get stronger fast, tell me it! I don"t care about the price, I"ll definitely get stronger! I"ll definitely kill Bai Yunfei and avenge the Beast Taming School!”
A long-haired male snarled from on top of a large mountain peak. He was one of the two figures standing on top of the mountain. The junior headmaster of the Beast Taming School; Lin Dongxiao!
He wasn"t dead!
Standing in front of him was a figure in black. This figure was looking off in a distance as his long-white hair flowed in the wind behind his head—it was Mo Ni!
Three years had changed Mo Ni. The most telling sign was his hair since it used to be black before…
The Mo Ni of three years ago had a calm and refined look to him before. The Mo Ni hadn"t any of that. He looked as dark as the night almost.
He turned around to face the furious Lin Dongxiao. A faint smile could be seen on his lips.
“Brother Lin, please think carefully about this. What you said is true, this method can indeed help you become strong quickly. You could even become a Soul Emperor if all goes well. But you"ll lose almost as much as you gain—are you prepared for the risks?”
“Lose as much as I gain?” Lin Dongxiao gave a harsh laugh, “Haven"t I lost enough? What else do I have to lose now?”
The ire in his eyes intensified, “I don"t give a d.a.m.n about the price! Have it all! Whatever the costs, I"ll…I"ll make sure Bai Yunfei dies a painful death! A painful death!!!”
——————
In another part of the world. Standing above the clouds, a gray-robed elder observed the world beneath him like a deity of some kind observing his own creations.
Bai Yunfei definitely would"ve been excited to see who this person was. This was the person responsible for changing his life—Ge Yiyun!
Both of his eyes had a faint light to them. His hands twitched at the fingers as if he was counting something.
“The Beast Taming School is gone, and the soul cultivator world will have yet another shock. The greatest "upheavel" begins now…
“Chengfeng went to Beast Taming City and met with Bai Yunfei. He has become a partic.i.p.ant in this matter, then…
“The time for our Fate School"s troubles is fast approaching. Have I done enough for our school, I wonder…”
In an unknown city. Inside a small inn.
Seated in a small corner of the inn, a middle-aged man hidden partially by the shadows held a cracked gourd of wine in his hand. He looked deep in thought for a while as he drink, a small smile soon appearing on his face.
“Gathering that many soulbeasts to destroy the Beast Taming School…It appears I"ve underestimated you, my junior disciple…I won"t make the same mistake as I did in Formagua City then…
“Master…you must think this person will bring glory back to the School, don"t you? You"ve found a good disciple…
“But I"m sorry to say…you"ll be disappointed. The Crafting School will soon share the same fate as the Beast Taming School…”
In an unknown forest, deep within the belly of a mountain.
A shriveled man in white sat on top of a prayer mat. Silent, he listened to a male in black robes give a report. This second male wore an unsettling golden mask.
Bai Yunfei met both of these people before. One of them was someone he saw the day he fought Nether"s avatar—Yao Tang. The other was Yao Tong"s master.
Upon hearing Yao Tong"s report, the shriveled man in white began to cry out loud with laughter!
“Haha!! What a world this is! I personally witnessed that Bai Yunfei fall into a spatial fissure…and he still isn"t dead!? And defeating the Beast Taming School after three years? Hah! What news!!
“Now, my disciple…should a chance arise for him to come destroy the Soul Refining School…should we give him a "helping hand"?”
The annihilation of the Beast Taming School was only the prelude for Bai Yunfei"s return. What other waves would the world of soul cultivators experience now that Bai Yunfei is back?
--------------------------------------------
End of Book Nine
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It took all my strength to make this chapter long enough for two. So much strength in fact, that I feel like I"ve written for so long my head is starting to feel dizzy…
The last part of this book felt extremely taxing to write. But I can finally take a nice two day break now that Book Nine is over…
I"ll talk more about the conclusion of this book later. For now, I"d like to just say one thing:
Thank you to everyone that has been supporting me so far!
—————————
Book Nine"s Ending Remarks
This book many days of painful suffering, but I finally managed to finish off Book Nine. After having released my most recent chapter last night, this author can finally let out a sigh of relief.
All in all, I feel quite satisfied with this book. I was very excited to write the majority of the first part of Book Nine. Some days I"d find myself writing three chapters, and other days maybe four. I"m sure you readers must"ve been equally happy, having all those chapters to satisfy your cravings. There were some circ.u.mstances behind my sloppy writing towards the later chapters of this book, but I hope everyone will understand.
Earlier last month I said I"d try my best to release three chapters a day. My guarantee was two chapters a day, with a third being a reward of sort for my grateful readers. In the end I only managed to last for about half the month. I"d like to apologize for that. I won"t make any excuses about that in the future, but please allow me to make up for those missed chapters once I recover.
I would also like to talk about my future release rate. While I was very enthusiastic about posting three chapters today, I have come to realize I cannot fulfill such a goal. Releasing even one chapter felt extremely challenging some days. Releasing three chapters a day was a reward for some of my readers, so I have never promised to release more than three since I knew I wouldn"t be able to honor it.
After calculating all the bonus red packets, monthly packets, and recommendations I"ve accrued, I"ve estimated that I owe a little over twenty—let"s make that twenty-five chapters. And if I include the additional bonuses from some readers, then the total comes to fifty. I"ll definitely be making up for those chapters, so please keep an eye out for chapters with a t.i.tle of [Owed chapter x/50] in the future. And if I don"t finish it in this book, there will be another book after this to finish the debt.
I have reached the three million character landmark by this point. I never thought I"d be capable of writing that many characters when I first started. Writing even half that amount was already a large accomplishment. The me of that time felt like two million was a good stopping point. Then when I wrote two million characters, I felt like 2.5 million was the next best stopping point.
And now here I am…three million characters. Perhaps it"ll take 3.5 million characters to finish (I hope it won"t take four million characters)...
Truth be told, I feel like my strength is leaving me now. A newcomer author should avoid writing a very long first book, but I"ve somehow found myself at the three million character landmark. This led to a result that could"ve been avoided had I the experience I do now. The more one writes, the harder it is to keep one"s story in control…
The plot of this story has long since deviated from my original storyboard. I had plenty of ideas of what should take place when a certain point in the plot was reached. But now that I am here, I"ve realized that the planned developments I had before are no longer suitable, leaving me with no other choice but to think of other developments. This is yet another example of what inexperience can cause…
For example, I introduced several people in the story for the sake of developing the plot later in the story. The more I wrote, however, the more I realized there wasn"t a point for any of those characters to even appear anymore. They became irrelevant without the proper context for them to appear. Some even became plot holes, so their appearances no longer have any meaning. To try any further would only mean forcing the issue and worsening the quality…
As such, I am at a crossroads. Should I edit out those points now? Or should I find an acceptable compromise to patch those holes without rus.h.i.+ng the ending?
I feel conflicted, truly. The more I write now the more taxing it feels. And the longer I procrastinate on the matter the more it weighs on my mind. As hard as it might be to understand, but it"s a chaotic affair to try and find an acceptable compromise. In the chaos of heavy brainstorming, it"s maddening to find a proper solution. If not for the st.u.r.dy quality of my mechanical keyboard, I"m sure I would"ve broken a few keyboards by now…
But rus.h.i.+ng the ending is not an acceptable answer either. Everyone has become accustomed to reading USAW, as I have become accustomed to releasing these chapters on the back-end of the site. To me, USAW has become something like a child to me. Every day I write to weave the story of my child"s growth. I don"t wish to see my child grow up too fast.
It"s always hard to write the ending remarks of a Book. And I don"t ever wish to see people comment on this novel saying that each book has a "weak ending". I simply hope to see that I"ll be able to give USAW a proper ending…
Yunfei has become a Soul Emperor now. There is only the Soul Saint level left, so I don"t wish to hurry the pacing anymore, since it wouldn"t make sense for him to "level-up" another two or three times after that. But on the other hand, it wouldn"t do to drag out this story either, since that"ll only dilute the quality of this story.
My plans are to write about Bai Yunfei"s journey as a Mid-stage Soul Emperor and Late-stage Soul Emperor in Book Ten and have him attain Sainthood by Book Eleven. Perhaps a Book Twelve will happen afterward, but I can"t guarantee that. Only time will tell…
I know many readers have mentioned about how there"s so many powerful people now. “The Soul Emperors are as numerous as dogs and Soul Kings roam the world in numbers even greater than that”. Is a common sentiment I"ve seen, but frankly, I don"t think this is a fair criticism to make.
Let"s say for example you are someone without much money. To you, a person with a few hundred dollars would be a person beyond your reach. Then when you have that much money, you"ll come to realize there are people with even more money than that. A few thousand maybe. Then when you reach a few thousand dollars yourself, you"ll again realize there are people with tens of thousands of dollars. Once tens of thousands of dollars are reached, someone with hundreds of thousands of dollars will appear, etc etc…
Or let"s have another example. A town will have the town elder. A district might have many town elders and then a mayor of the district. Then a county might have multiple mayors and a single county executive. A province will then have multiple county executives and a provincial mayor. And then there"ll be a single nation to lead the provinces and their provincial mayors. Does it make sense have multiple provincial mayors now then? And if that"s not enough, there"s the United Nations which is made up of multiple nations. If the leaders of multiple nations gathered, would that devalue their worth?
The circ.u.mstances will always be different depending on which circles a person travels in. Now that Bai Yunfei is a Soul Emperor, he is making contact with even more Soul Emperors in the world. What"s so strange about having multiple Soul Emperors appear now then?
This of course means more Soul Saints will appear when Bai Yunfei becomes a Soul Saint. By then, Soul Emperors will be a done deal as well and the Soul Kings will become irrelevant. Inversely, would there be a point in having Soul Kings as opponents when Bai Yunfei becomes a Soul Saint?
Lastly, I"d like to give thanks to all my readers. Those readers who have tirelessly given my novel red packets, monthly packets, and subscriptions, I thank you. Similarly, I"d like to thank those who comment frequently on this novel. [Luo Yuxian]. [Wait Before You Hurt Me], [V Master Ouyang V], [ypy1998], [843536607], [Bubbly Clouds], [danter123], [Chilvarous and Tender], [bluem], and the most active reader [mushroommy], thank you all so much. There are far too many readers for me to even write down here, so please don"t take offense if I didn"t mention your name.
Truly, I feel thankful for everyone"s support. Because of you, I was able to write for three million characters. Thank you so much.
If possible, I hope everyone will leave behind a comment or two later. It"s because of your continued support that I can find the strength to continue writing. There are many times when I feel like I can"t write anything. But when I read your comments, I feel myself renewed with energy. So please, please leave your comments down below so I can see your continued support.
Other than that, there is one more piece of good news I"d like to say: I, Yunhai, have finally left the ranks of a single bachelor. I now have a wonderful girlfriend, haha! Thank you very much…
And so without further ado, please look forward to Book Ten. Until next time~~
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