Chapter 278: Imprisoned Fireseed

Within the courtyard in the Western Point where all the disciples of the inner school resided, Bai Yunfei was currently in the basement of his own room.

In his hands were three different black space rings. At a primary glance, one of them was from the dead beast tamer, one from the Soul Refining School member, and the third was from Xiao Binzi. Since Bai Yunfei had killed the first two, the rings were, by rights, his ‘spoils of war.’

It was with disappointment that Bai Yunfei later put down the three rings. Of all the items in there, the only things of noticeable worth were:

Four soul armaments with the highest being only a mid-earth tier soul armament that was a broadsword—an item Bai Yunfei disliked using. There were also several mid-grade primal stones and a few low-grade soul crystals.

But nothing else in there was enough to really surprise him.

Not even a soul skill or secret training method could be found. This wasn’t a weird notion. Many people were forbidden to carry such items since soul cultivators killing another for their possessions was an everyday matter. If a lowly student were to stash a secret from their school and lose the item and their life to the hands of an outsider, it was possible the ‘secret’ would be no more.

After finishing his investigation, Bai Yunfei was far more disheartened than before. With no interest of inspecting the soul armaments or the worth of the primal stones, Bai Yunfei put everything away and started to calm himself down to try and go over the Art of Firebending.

As a further disappoint, Bai Yunfei felt no reaction from his essence fireseed. Like before, not a single iota of his elemental fire could be felt. Everyday aside from upgrading his equipment, Bai Yunfei would try and heal his essence fireseed. Despite using plenty of different methods, his essence fireseed felt as if it was hibernating or playing dead. No matter how hard he tried, not a reaction was to be had.

At one point, he even tried to materialize his essence fireseed outside, but it looked like a flame on the verge of being snuffed out, and he couldn’t draw in any more elemental fire to sustain it.

“Bang.”

One faint crack later, a fireball materialized over Bai Yunfei’s right palm due to the Ardent Sun Glove. Staring at the fireball for a decent amount of time, he extended his left hand out. Following a small swipe, Bai Yunfei’s essence fireseed was taken out of his body and placed within the fireball in his right hand.

Completely surrounded by fire, the essence fireseed looked as if it was a completely different element. Though both were of fire, the elemental fire and the fireball didn’t seem to mix at all. Minutes went by with absolutely no changes before Bai Yunfei sighed and dissipated the fireball. Several more attempts were made: with the flames from the Flameblade Bracer, the Fire-tipped Spear, and even the Cataclysmic Seal, but to no avail.

“Ugh… essence fireseed. Are you dead or what!? You’re acting no different than if you were completely gone…” Bai Yunfei thought sadly to himself as he watched the fire from the Cataclysmic Seal surround his essence fireseed.

As he was preparing to put the essence fireseed back into his body, a sudden flash of inspiration materialized in his head, “Hold on… the essence fireseed was damaged because I forced it to strengthen the Cataclysmic Seal. What if I…”

The light in his eyes flashed furiously as if trying to predict the possibilities of his deduction. Upon reaching a conclusion, he bit his lower lip, “Who cares? The essence fireseed can’t possibly get any weaker than it is now. Even if I’m wrong, I won’t lose anything more!”

Determined, Bai Yunfei pulled out his essence fireseed and transmitted it into the Cataclysmic Seal!

In an instant, the Cataclysmic Seal began to vibrate and cry as if excited about having the essence fireseed back in it. The fire around the soul armament swelled up several times in size and filled the room with an even stronger shade of red than before.

The eyes on Bai Yunfei’s face widened in terror and shock. He was wrong! The state the essence fireseed was in wasn’t the weakest state it could be in! When the Cataclysmic Seal started to vibrate, Bai Yunfei realized then that his essence fireseed was even weaker than before.

Right now, it was on the verge of collapse!!

Having no time to regret his previous decision, Bai Yunfei tried his best to rein in the essence fireseed in the Cataclysmic Seal. His teeth were clenched so hard in his concentration that they began to creak slightly under the pressure, “Don’t fall apart! Don’t fall apart! Bring it together! Reform! Reform!!

“Reform! Reform dammit!!”

His furious roars gave pause to the Cataclysmic Seal. Almost as if understanding what its master was trying to do, the brilliant flames began to shrink down into the soul armament. Even the red eye-piercing light was lessening in intensity like it was attracted to some sort of magnet in the Cataclysmic Seal.

The panicked expression on Bai Yunfei’s face froze for a moment before being replaced by a gleeful one.

“It worked! It actually works this way!”

He could distinctly feel that the essence fireseed, which had been on the verge of collapse, was growing stronger bit by bit because of the changes to the Cataclysmic Seal!!

……

If the essence fireseed could be siphoned into the Cataclysmic Seal, the reverse should surely be possible as well!

It was a notion that had slipped Bai Yunfei’s mind until now. Thinking about what should have happened, putting his essence fireseed into the Cataclysmic Seal should have resulted in it being used up again, but Bai Yunfei had no other choice. With this ‘possibility’ now fresh in his mind, he was sure that he had succeeded!

Zi Jin, Xiao Binzi, and the others had all thrown up their hands at this topic. Would he really be the one to find a solution? Did… none of the others owners of a lifebound armament ever think of this method before?

But that didn’t matter now. This accidental discovery of how to heal the essence fireseed filled Bai Yunfei with no small amount of joy. Each sliver of restoration made him shiver with anticipation.

Bai Yunfei’s loss of strength had been the source of extreme frustration for him. Determined as he was, Bai Yunfei still couldn’t help but feel discouraged in the days leading up to today. Now that he had finally found a way, how could he not feel excited?

There was no way that man-made walls would be able to obstruct the flow of elements. The vast elemental fire in the world began to flow into the room. Flowing into the Cataclysmic Seal, the elemental fire began to be absorbed by essence fireseed, revitalizing it. In both intensity and warmth, the essence fireseed was growing stronger.

Time went on in this fashion. Bai Yunfei almost went without blinking the entire night as he stared at the Cataclysmic Seal. Each time he felt a change in the fluctuation, Bai Yunfei’s heart skipped a beat. It was a long process, but he wasn’t feeling tired just yet.

It wasn’t until he heard the noises of several other students that Bai Yunfei realized it was noon of the next day.

After careful consideration, Bai Yunfei decided to call it quits. He’d go see Tang Xinyun, Zi Jin, and the others before coming back to pick up where he left off.

He willed his essence fireseed to come back into his body, but when nothing happened, a look of sheer shock appeared on his face!

His essence fireseed wasn’t… it wasn’t coming back!!

It was as if it was being imprisoned by the Cataclysmic Seal. There was no way out!

“What’s going on… what’s going on!? Why is this happening!!” Bai Yunfei despaired. In his flummox, he tried to recall the essence fireseed into his body several more times, but to no avail. The Cataclysmic Seal was now a trap and the essence fireseed was its prisoner.

Nearly a dozen minutes passed before Bai Yunfei finally gave up. Looking at the still-floating Cataclysmic Seal, Bai Yunfei didn’t know what to do.

Several minutes had been needed before he finally calmed down. Sighing, Bai Yunfei looked at the soul armament in confusion, “There’s still a connection, and the Cataclysmic Seal doesn’t seem to be absorbing any of the elemental fire. It’s still regenerating the essence fireseed, but it won’t let it go… but why? Did the two… combine?

“It’s healing sure, but it’s very weak.

“Or maybe it’s better to say that… it’s too weak to even leave the Cataclysmic Seal? Do I have to wait until it’s strong enough to call it back then?”

He shook his head wistfully, “I may have found a way to recover my essence fireseed, but is this a good thing or a bad thing, I wonder?”