“Planar Laws? What are you talking about, Xiao Fang?”

Having been caught up in his thoughts, Bai Yunfei was jolted out from them in surprise when Xiao Fang cried out.

“You...you...were you using the Planar Laws? How is that possible?!”

Incredulous, Xiao Fang asked Bai Yunfei a question it itself could hardly believe.

“Oh?” Bai Yunfei quirked an eyebrow, “What was that? What’s this ‘Planar Law’?”

“You don’t know it?!” Xiao Fang grew even more incredulous at his response. “I clearly felt the Planar Laws in that one moment! So the power you were using to ‘upgrade’ me was coming from the Planar Laws! I almost missed it at first, but I caught hint of it in that last time...that was definitely the Planar Laws! But...I don’t see how you can even use the Planar Laws! You’d have to be a Saint...no, no. This is impossible, but clearly, you’ve done the impossible. How?”

The more it spoke, the more Xiao Fang’s voice quivered with uncontained emotions as if it was starting to doubt the validity of its own perception.

“The Planar Laws...so that is what the Upgrade Technique lies on?” Bai Yunfei thought. “I guess I finally know what kind of ‘power’ I’ve been using then...

“This ‘Planar Law’ you’ve been talking about, what exactly is it? How do you control it?”

“Planar Laws are what constitutes this world. The fundamental principles and roots that create and govern this world to make what is common sense, well, common sense. From how wood can catch fire or how water extinguishes fire. Or how objects that go up must eventually come back down. Or the feeling of hunger and the need to eat. How people grow old and die of old age...everything. These are all stipulations of the Planar Laws.

“These Planar Laws also govern how you soul cultivators cultivate soulforce, manipulate elemental energy, and the basis of supremacy between the five elements and subsidiary elements. Everything you could possibly know stems from the fact that these ‘Planar Laws’ made it such.” Xiao Fang explained.

“But ‘control’? That’s laughable. An Emperor wouldn’t be able to do such a thing. The only ones that could comprehend the Planar Laws on a substantial level are the Saints, let alone make ‘use’ of them. Saints are the ones who can truly understand the Planar Laws and walk the Way of the Law of Truth.”

“The root of the world?!” Bai Yunfei cried out. It absolutely stupefied Bai Yunfei that such a thing could exist—Emperors and Saints...no wonder Xiao Fang was a spirit of the armament. Even its words was shocking to hear.

“Are you sure that the energy you felt when being upgraded was because of these ‘Planar Laws’?” Bai Yunfei asked just to be sure.

“Absolutely. When I traveled with Tianhun, I met many Emperors and Saints that made use of the Law of Truth. I was even there when Tianhun started his studies on the Law of Truth and managed to make use of a little of its powers. That was without the Planar Laws.” Xiao Feng spoke with absolute confidence. “But brat, what kind of art is this ‘Upgrade Technique’. And how can it call upon the Planar Laws?”

“Tianhun...” Bai Yunfei repeated the name with reverence. He knew that this was most definitely referring to the progenitor and founder of the Tianhun Empire, Wu Tianhun. A legendary figure beyond all else and previous owner of the Ten Great Regalia. The one who unified the warring continent and become something like a god to all humans that lived now.

He had to admit, Bai Yunfei was extremely curious about what Xiao Fang said to be the ‘Law of Truth’ Tianhun was supposedly dabbling in. But that was a matter for another time. He had more important matters to attend to, such as becoming the master of the Core Stone.

Eyeing the hologram of the stone, Bai Yunfei said, “I’ve finished upgrading you, Xiao Fang. I’m sure that the space within the Core Stone has grown by at least a tenth of what it was before, right? Will you recognize me as your master now?”

“Ah...”

Xiao Fang looked hesitant.

“Well that does seem to be the case...but why did we have to stop? If you can somehow use this energy, then you should keep on upgrading me until I’m thirty or forty percent bigger than before. Or maybe even double my original size, I’d definitely approve of you then...”

“Thirty or forty percent? Or double?!” Bai Yunfei’s eyes flew wide open. “Aren’t you being too greedy here? Don’t you see how ridiculous something like that sounds? The Core Stone has already been upgraded ten times; that’s the highest we can go while remaining in the ‘safe zone’. If I try to upgrade you and fail, then it won’t be an issue of you dropping a level, it’d mean your total destruction! Failure from this point onwards means the disintegration of the soul armament. I’m not even confident about what will happen to a Regalia since I’ve never experimented on it before.

“But if you’re really interested in me upgrading you and you don’t care about potentially being reduced to dust, then by all means...”

“What?! Disintegration?! Turned to dust?!” Xiao Fang shouted.

“You’re telling me that if you upgrade the Core Stone and fail, I’ll be destroyed?!”

“That’s my most likely guess, yes...” Bai Yunfei nodded. He took out an ordinary piece of equipment he had already upgraded to +10.

“Allow me to demonstrate. This is a soul armament I upgraded to +10 already. And...upgrade.”

He used the Upgrade Technique.

Upgrade Failed

Equipment Destroyed

Just as he expected, the upgrade failed. The dagger in his hand immediately turned into dust and was blown away into the wind.

“It...it broke apart?!” Xiao Fang let out a sound that was filled with disbelief. He didn’t see Bai Yunfei do anything that might suggest anything underhanded, but the dagger had indeed disintegrated as he said it would.

‘Fear’ stroke at Xiao Fang’s mind at the thought of it sharing the same fate...

“It’s a very weak pulse of energy, but that is without a doubt the Planar Laws. He’s right. As I thought, there was a limit to this ridiculous art of his...”

“So, Xiao Fang. Want me to continue upgrading?”

Bai Yunfei’s question came ringing into Xiao Fang’s mind as it was muttering to itself.

“Forget it. We can stop things here then...” Xiao Fang declined. Now that it knew that this ‘Upgrade Technique’ had something to do with the Planar Laws, Xiao Fang wasn’t willing to risk its life on this chance even if it was confident on its sturdiness as a Regalia.

Bai Yunfei grinned. This was the response he expected. He would’ve refused to do the upgrade even if Xiao Fang said yes. He was even more reluctant to take on the risks than Xiao Fang.

“Now then...tell me. Are you going to accept me as the master of the Core Stone now?” Bai Yunfei asked again.

“Haha fine. I won’t make things hard for you anymore.” Suddenly, Xiao Fang’s voice started to sound a great deal more amicable than before. “You found me after all, that’s more than enough to be considered my master for this generation. I’m only the spirit of the Core Stone, and the Core Stone is a soul armament. If a strong soul cultivator wants to use it, then I won’t refuse them to be my master unless I disliked them.”

It took a pause here.

“I can feel that the unity between the Core Stone and you has already reached thirty percent or so. You could easily become its master if it was just a little higher, but leave it to me. Send some of your soulsense into the Core Stone along with a bit of your essence originseed.”

“Ah? Oh, alright...” Bai Yunfei was a little slow on the uptake, but he quickly did as Xiao Fang said.

“Bz...”

A buzzing sound immediately erupted from the very depths of his soul the moment Bai Yunfei allowed some of his soulsense into the Core Stone. A mysterious sensation floated from within his mind into the Core Stone, and from there, he could sense something living inside the Core Stone. That was most likely Xiao Fang. The presence in the Core Stone wrapped around the sliver of his essence originseed as if fusing with it. Then like if properly catalyzed, the presence quickly started to branch out into a myriad of complex lines to form a matrix of sorts...

“Ahh!!!”

The pain to his soul came abruptly. Like if it was being poked by a sharp needle, Bai Yunfei’s soul was being pulled at by something with such great pain that forced Bai Yunfei to cry out from it. But just as quickly as it came, the pain went.

“What’s wrong, Yunfei? Are you alright?” Xiao Qi gave a concerned chirp from the rafter he was. He had been watching Bai Yunfei this entire time in dumb shock.

“Ah, I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Bai Yunfei nodded at the bird before turning back to the floating image of the stone in front of him. “What did you just do, Xiao Fang?”

“Swearing fealty, what else?

“You are now the master of I and the Core Stone and will remain to be until the day you die.”

“Uh...it’s done already?! It’s that simple?!”

“Were you thinking of something else?”

Bai Yunfei blinked. He looked down at the physical stone in his hand. Indeed, there was now a special connection he was feeling between him and the stone. It was a familiar feeling, just like...the feeling of a soulbound armament!

“Has...has the Core Stone become my soulbound armament?!” Bai Yunfei’s eyes widened wide open. “Oh right, the stats!!”

Again, Bai Yunfei’s eyes widened, but this time with the light of impatience as he quickly tried to look at the stats.

In the next second, a series of information started to flow into his mind...