Chapter 270: Yun's Soul Ring

Bai Yunfei didn’t really know the best way to ‘use’ the upgrade stone, but if he had to guess, it’d have to be used at some point when he upgraded an item. The stone increased the chance of success when upgrading, so if he held the +12 ring and the stone together in one hand, he should be able to ‘use the stone’ if he thought hard about it.

As expected, a strange connection between him and the stone was created. Almost as if linking with his thoughts, the effect of the stone could be felt.

After confirming the stats of the ring, Bai Yunfei thought, “Upgrade!”

As per usual when upgrading, a strand of his soulforce was taken from him. The only difference this time was that the notification on the results didn’t immediately show up. Bai Yunfei could just barely sense that there was some sort of strange energy materializing in front of him, and in a split-second, the stone in his hand was immediately reduced to a small pile of white powder that flew into the ring in his hand!

Unconsciously, Bai Yunfei began to use his soulsense.

A never-before-seen notification popped up in Bai Yunfei’s head. When he used his soulsense to ‘look’ inside, he could see that the white powder, which used to be the upgrade stone, was being absorbed by the +12 ring.

Even more strange was the fact that his soulsense was being pulled in with this white energy!!

Hidden in there, Bai Yunfei could see a small ‘spot.’ In this spot was some sort of slow moving law of the world that came to a complete stop…

A notification flashed in Bai Yunfei’s mind, causing him to snap to attention. The strange feeling from before was gone now.

“What was that…” Bai Yunfei shook his head to clear his mind, “It… it actually worked!”

Whether it was the doubled success rate from the upgrade stone, the Heavens had listened to him, or it was because of the fact that he was the main character, he had… succeeded!

Impatiently grabbing the ring, Bai Yunfei looked at the stats with an extremely anxious look.

Elemental Affinity: None

Upgrade Level: +13

Additional Attribute: +189 Spirit

Soul Compatibility: 40%

+10 Additional Effect: Increase spirit by 60.

+12 Additional Effect: 3% chance of avoiding a spirit-based attack.

+13 Additional Effect: Recover 3 soulpoints every second.

Upgrade Requirement: 66 Soulpoints

When the notification for the stats appeared in his mind, Bai Yunfei was speechless for a second before his body began to shiver.

“It… it finally appeared!!”

He couldn’t help but scream this over and over in his mind, he could even feel tears start to well up in his eyes.

After trying so hard and experiencing despair so many times, he had finally gotten the effect he wanted!!

And this effect was… a lot stronger than what he expected!

Not only did it accelerate the regeneration of soulforce, it returned some every second!

What did that mean, though? Increasing the rate of recovery was dependent on how fast the person could regenerate their soulforce, but this effect was not dependent on that, it simply recovered soulforce at a steady rate!

Three soulpoints per second meant… thirty soulpoints in ten seconds. In one minute that was 180 soulpoints, and in ten minutes, that was 1800 soulpoints!!

Bai Yunfei was an early-stage Soul Ancestor, meaning he had less than six thousand units of soulpoints. Even if he used up all his soulforce, as long as he put on this ring, he’d be back to almost full capacity by thirty minutes!!

In his hands, the small milky-white ring looked like a piece of ivory. Adorned on top of the ring was a very common-looking crystal with engravings that blended in with the ring around it. With its remarkable craftsmanship, the ring looked a bit like a cloud.

“Xinyun… Xinyun has a chance now!!”

His heart skipped a beat at the realization. As though unwilling to hesitate or bother with the remaining +12 ring with him, Bai Yunfei immediately flew from his bed and out of his room.

……

From within Tang Xinyun’s room, Cang Yu smiled as Bai Yunfei came running in. “Yunfei, you’re here.” She warmly smiled.

In all honesty, Cang Yu had been unhappy with Bai Yunfei because of his reckless actions. Actions that had reduced Tang Xinyun to this state, but the past few days had altered her judgement. She could see that Bai Yunfei blamed himself each time he came in to see her. He blamed himself so much that he would ‘shut’ himself in his own room as if for penance.

With those actions, it was hard for her to continue blaming Bai Yunfei, so all that she could do was sigh and hope that this lesson would be enough for Bai Yunfei to learn the folly of his ways.

Bai Yunfei bowed to Cang Yu, “Third elder, how is Xinyun today?”

“She hasn’t improved yet,” Cang Yu shook her head regretfully, “we aren’t sure when that corrosive energy will start to spike again either. The first elder and I have decided that we will return to the Crafting School tomorrow with Xinyun. Hopefully senior Zi Jin will know of something.”

“We’ll be heading back just like that?” Bai Yunfei’s eyebrows knit together, “But… didn’t the first elder say that it’s best not to move Xinyun?”

“We’ve no choice. To continue and stay here would be useless. It would be better to risk the journey home and seek treatment there.” Cang Yu shook her head.

“...” Bai Yunfei was silent for a moment, “Third elder… may… may I be alone with Xinyun for a moment?”

“Very well,” She nodded and smiled, “I was getting tired, so I’ll be returning to rest first. I’ll leave Xinyun with you for now.”

After Cang Yu left, Bai Yunfei took a seat next to Tang Xinyun’s bed and looked at the still sleeping girl. Her pained expression served as a source of pain to Bai Yunfei himself.

Without time to waste, Bai Yunfei took Tang Xinyun’s left hand and slipped the +13 ring onto her left ring finger.

As he placed her icy-cold arm back on the bed, Bai Yunfei murmured softly to her, “Xinyun, don’t worry. You’ll be fine. I’ll call this ring ‘Yun’s Soul Ring.’ A ring that was made because of you. It’ll help you fight the corrosive energy…”

Maybe it was because of Bai Yunfei’s comforting words—though most likely because of the Yun’s Soul Ring—but Tang Xinyun’s eyebrows seemed to unfurl just slightly.

But it wasn’t a big enough change to be noticed.

“Eh? What’s going on?” Bai Yunfei was surprised. He had expected to see the +13 ring have some sort of effect by now. As a late-stage Soul Warrior, it’d take less than ten minutes for Tang Xinyun to fully recover her soulforce. However, it had been a whole minute since he had put the ring on, yet Tang Xinyun hadn’t reacted in the slightest.

Tang Xinyun’s rate of soulforce regeneration was roughly the same as the rate the corrosive energy was moving, so with the ring giving her 3 soulpoints per second, there should’ve been an immediate turn for the better already!

“Ngh…” The soft sound of Tang Xinyun’s voice broke Bai Yunfei’s train of thought. Snapping his head down, Bai Yunfei realized that there was a change overcoming Tang Xinyun’s face…

She was looking even more pained than before!

As if breaking out of the hibernation it was in, a wisp of black energy suddenly burst out of her body and into the air above!

Though he knew that it was because of the ring that this happened, Bai Yunfei was still alarmed by what he saw. He was just about to cry out for Cang Yu, but before he could even open his mouth, the door to Tang Xinyun’s room burst open. Both Xiao Binzi and Cang Yu flew into the room and landed right beside Bai Yunfei; due to their relative strength, even the slightest of fluctuations of energy could be felt, especially since they were already paying close attention to the source.

“Yunfei, what happened?!” Panicking, Cang Yu questioned Bai Yunfei and began to look over Tang Xinyun.

There was no way that Bai Yunfei would say that the reason why this had happened was because of the upgraded ring he had put on Tang Xinyun, but even knowing that he was extremely worried and replied to her without delay, “I… I don’t know either. It just happened out of nowhere, is the corrosive energy having another outbreak!? First elder, third elder, please take a look! Is… is Xinyun alright?”

Xiao Binzi had already been looking at Tang Xinyun before Bai Yunfei had even asked him too. “Hm?” He uttered, “The… corrosive energy has gotten weaker? No, that’s not right. Xinyun’s soulforce is recovering far faster than before! But how?”

“It really is! Xinyun’s soulforce recovery is triumphing the corrosive energy! What a relief! Xinyun can be saved!”

As if a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders, Bai Yunfei let loose a sigh of relief. He continued to look at Tang Xinyun’s face with both of his hands clenched tight enough for sweat to start to pool inside.

Roughly half an hour later, the black aura that was around Tang Xinyun’s face finally dissipated before some semblance of color returned to it.

“Unhh…” There was a slight groan from Tang Xinyun’s mouth and a tremble from her eyelashes before her eyes slowly fluttered open.

Tang Xinyun was finally awake!!