“It’s been fifteen days, why hasn’t there been anything at all yet...”

The bored chirpings of Xiao Qi could be heard from within Bai Yunfei’s room. Xiao Qi was currently resting on top of the stone table, his two eyes staring with boredom at the small stone on the surface.

For fifteen days Xiao Qi had been standing guard in the room. Very rarely did he even stray away from the stone, let alone step out from the room even once.His bond with Bai Yunfei had weakened a bit ever since Bai Yunfei stepped into the Core World, though that was because of the Core Stone dampening their bond. He was still able to sense that something mysterious was happening to Bai Yunfei and that his strength was slowly, but surely, growing.

He knew that Bai Yunfei was meditating with the use of the Extreme King Pills. Because of that, Xiao Qi was afraid of going into the Core World and disturbing Bai Yunfei. For that same reason, Xiao Qi decided against trying to see what was going on inside the Core World or try talking to Xiao Fang to see what was up. He would serve as a guard bird in the outside world.

“Oh? Seems like...something stopped?”

Xiao Qi’s eyes suddenly lit up as he received a new sensation from his bond with Bai Yunfei. The pause he felt was signifying that Bai Yunfei was done with his training.

A while later, Bai Yunfei suddenly felt something invisible wrap at his being. There was a single thought that was transmitted into his mind before he realized what was going on and relented to the sensation.

In the next moment, Xiao Qi’s figure was gone from the room.

......

“Wow! This is some intense elemental fire!!”

Xiao Qi chirped in surprise the moment he landed into the Core World. The entire world had been a crimson red when he stepped in, and the air was hot like the desert. The most noticeable aspect was the white clouds in the sky, which were now dyed red in hue.

Xiao Qi was unable to stop himself from drawing in a deep breath. Inhaling, he took a large amount of the red light into his own body. Sighing in content as it entered, Xiao Qi looked down to the mountain where Bai Yunfei was.

“Yunfei! How’re you feeling?!” Xiao Qi zipped on down over to Bai Yunfei to chirp excitedly at him.

Bai Yunfei was at the moment seated on the surface of the mountain with an expression as normal as ever. He nodded when Xiao Qi flew on down to him. “Everything went as planned, it was a great success.”

“Really?! That’s great!” Chirped Xiao Qi, “How strong are you now then?”

Xiao Qi was already checking Bai Yunfei over when he asked the question. He froze up when Bai Yunfei’s aura registered to him, “Wha?? But...you’re still a Late-stage Soul Exalt? You didn’t change at all!”

“Haha, I used Realm Accretion, remember? My current strength is the exact same as before. Any increase of strength I had a moment before has been sealed away to mature. When I undo the seal, I’ll have an instantaneous burst of power then.”

“Oh....” Xiao Qi nodded in understanding, “How much power did you store away then? Just how strong will you become afterward? Will you be able to breakthrough to become a Soul King?”

“Of course.” Bai Yunfei nodded. “I’d be a Soul King even if I undid the seal even now. But there’s no way I’d do that now. There’s still a large portion of the Extreme King Pill fragrance I haven’t digested yet. I’d lose all of that if I undid the seal. I’ll have to wait until then before I even think about undoing anything, but you can expect when I do, I’ll become a lot stronger! Maybe I’ll be able to become a Late-stage Soul King in one go!!”

“A Late-stage Soul King! Really?!” Xiao Qi chirped, “From a Late-stage Soul Exalt to a Late-stage Soul King?! That’s...that’s ridiculous isn’t it?”

“What’s ridiculous about it. It’d be a waste if the Extreme King Pills couldn’t do something like this to begin with.” Xiao Fang’s voice spoke out just then. “Still, it’s only theoretical that the Realm Accretion can get you to being a Late-stage Soul King. It won’t be a cakewalk and should definitely take a while to figure out.”

“Yes, of course. How long do you think it’ll take before I become a Late-stage Soul King then?”

“How should I know that? I’ve never seen anyone use Realm Accretion before. All we know so far is that the initial stages of Realm Accretion will be the fastest and most noticeable. In normal situations, we know that the usage of the Extreme King Pills would take several months at the very least. You’ve only been at it for several days. Let it mature for now, accretion will take some time before a significant enough of a boost can be seen. I’m pretty sure it’ll take several months before you can become even a Mid-stage Soul King. Maybe it’ll take a few years to become a Late-stage Soul King...”

“Ah, yes, that’s what I’ve been thinking too...” Bai Yunfei nodded. From what he had seen from his studies of Realm Accretion, Xiao Fang’s estimation was in line with his own.

“It’s already a speed far beyond what’s to be expected. Becoming an Early-stage Soul King would take at least a dozen years at the very minimum. And that’s not mentioning the bottleneck when an Early-stage Soul King tries to become a Mid-stage Soul King. I can skip over that problem all thanks to Realm Accretion, and that in by itself is an incredibly perverse ability.” Bai Yunfei muttered to himself.

“Me using the Dual Flame Artes will become a new variable in how strong I become. I’ll definitely get a lot stronger a lot quicker the more I use it. By the time I reach the full maturity of what Realm Accretion can handle, it won’t be impossible say it won’t take that long to become a Late-stage Soul King...”

“That training style of yours is already very peculiar in that it uses two fireseeds. Even I’ve never heard of something like that before.” Xiao Fang pointed out, “But don’t be too proud of yourself. It’s good and all to grow stronger, but there’s danger in growing too strong too fast. The scroll itself said that the burst of power from undoing the seal will cause a heavy strain on the body. If you neglect yourself, then you’ll explode from the resulting energy and die. And don’t forget, if your mind isn’t up to par with your body, then you’ll suffer even worse side-effects on your mind than your body. You’ll go crazy, and if you do, then all that newfound strength of yours will be pointless.”

“I know that, I won’t be undoing the seal anytime soon. I’ll definitely be sure to prepare myself for the future and any of the possibilities.”

Bai Yunfei was confident in his ability to weather out any potential storms. When it came to power, Bai Yunfei was confident no one was stronger than he was in his level group. As a Peak Late-stage Soul Exalt, he could become as strong as a Soul King if he used Berserk Mode, and that was all in thanks to the Dual Flame Artes. Aside from that, Bai Yunfei wasn’t afraid of losing himself as Xiao Fang mentioned. His willpower was unordinarily strong first of all. Second of all, Bai Yunfei had his equips that could boost his ‘spirit’. This was his second advantage over others. And lastly, he had the Soul Sentinel Scarf with its ability to stabilize his soul by 100%. That was detrimental in keeping his sanity.

“But the only thing that worries me is that I have to keep being a Peak Late-stage Soul Exalt in the meanwhile...” Bai Yunfei clenched his fist with a sigh.

From now to until he undid the seal, Bai Yunfei’s strength would remain unchanged.

“Oh stow it. That’s what’s worrying you? Don’t think everything goes as well as you plan. Patience is a virtue. And if you can’t handle that, then just undo the seal and become a Soul King right away.” Xiao Fang harrumphed in annoyance.

“Haha, I was only just making a small remark.

“Xiao Qi, has anything happened on the outside?”

“Nope. Long Lan came by two days ago saying that Song Lin, Xu Ran, and even Zheng Kai are all done with their meditation. He said that the rest should be done soon.”

“Oh? That fast?” Bai Yunfei blinked. “Then I guess I’ve no reason to stick around here. Let’s head out and see what else has to be done...”