Bai Yunfei had been thinking of a plan ever since he unraveled the slave seal of the lightningfire wolf. His meeting with Hong Yin had endeared Bai Yunfei to the plight of a soulbeast puppet to the point of sympathy. He felt that the fates of these said soulbeasts were rather tragic. So if he could find a way to ‘save’ these soulbeast puppets, it would be an incredibly virtuous ‘achievement’.
It was said that even the Beast Taming School didn’t know how to unravel their own slave seal, as it never had been done before in the hundred thousand years or so. But Bai Yunfei knew of two different occasions in which that was proved wrong.
The first example was when he came across that eagle back in Gaoyi City. Back then, the Soul Ancestor beast tamer had ordered the self-destruction of the soulbeast, but Bai Yunfei was able to prevent it when it was halfway through the process. From there, a miracle appeared in the form that the eagle didn’t self-destruct and the eagle was free of the slave seal. It regained its ‘freedom’ and contracted with Ye Tianming’s father.
The second example was the lightningfire wolf. The methodology was slightly similar, but the circumstances were devastatingly different. Bai Yunfei had wanted to study the slave seal and had thus activated the self-destruction sequence of the seal. The lightningfire wolf had nearly self-destructed if not for the Beast Taming Ring and the other factors of Bai Yunfei and Xiao Qi preventing it. In the end, the slave seal was the only thing that was destroyed while the lightningfire wolf was able to completely regain its memories of before it became a soulbeast puppet.
These two examples were very ‘special’. The first one was due to a timely coincidence. A repeat of those circumstances wouldn’t even happen for another thousand years perhaps. The second example was also just as timely and special, but no hints were left behind for Bai Yunfei to follow.
Bai Yunfei could however, confirm one thing from these two examples. To save a soulbeast puppet, the slave seal had to be destroyed.
—But that was easier said than done. Anyone that wanted to do such a thing had to pay attention to a vital step, the step on ‘how’ to destroy the slave seal.
From the lightningfire wolf, it could be inferred that anyone that tried to ‘touch’ the slave seal would result in the activation of its self-destruction sequence. And with that, the soulgem would be destroyed as well.
In other words, there was a single order that took precedence over everything else in the slave seal: destroy the slave seal and explode the soulgem!
The next logical step was to do as such then. Let the slave seal be destroyed, but prevent the soulgem from exploding!
A step that sounded simple in theory, but impossible in reality. The self-destruction of a slave seal was something anyone could do, but the prevention of the soulgem from exploding wasn’t something even the beast tamers could do. Once the slave seal started to self-destruct, control over the soulbeast was gone. Who could stop the soulgem from exploding then?
And for that reason, no one had been able to find a way for the last several thousand years. As a result, the slave seal gained the notorious reputation as being ‘uncrackable’.
But this reputation was about to be broken by a single man and a soul armament.
Bai Yunfei and the Beast Taming Ring!!
His control over soulbeasts wasn’t dependent on the slave seal, but the Beast Taming Ring. And in this situation, the Beast Taming Ring had a far better use than anything else.
Because of that important distinction, Bai Yunfei could devise a very delicate plan: activate the self-destruction of the slave seal and use the Beast Taming Ring to stop the soulgem from exploding!
It was a simple plan, but it took Bai Yunfei the better part of two years to devise after the lightningfire wolf had healed before Bai Yunfei felt comfortable testing it.
Prior to that, Bai Yunfei simply didn’t feel confident in this plan.
Back with the lightningfire wolf’s self-destruction, Bai Yunfei knew it was mostly in part due to his soulforce and mental strength that he managed to succeed. If not for his control, then not only would his life be in danger, but also the life of the soulbeast puppet.
Right now, his soulforce was at the level of a late-stage Soul Exalt, and Xiao Qi’s was at the class seven level. There was a huge leeway for Bai Yunfei to attempt trying his plan.
But no matter what the case, Bai Yunfei didn’t want to try it on the permafrost mastiff. That’s why he chose the weakest soulbeast puppet, the class three soulbeast to try it out.
In the case that his experiment failed and the class three soulbeast blew up, Bai Yunfei would be able to take it.
……
Honing his mind onto the soulbeast in front of him, he approached the soulgem of the little python. On his shoulder, Xiao Qi stared anxiously at the snake in preparation to use the Beast Taming Ring.
Finally, Bai Yunfei was ready to put his plan into action. Touching the soulgem, Bai Yunfei reached the slave seal around it.
The slave seal activated at that moment. But unlike the time with the lightningfire wolf, none of the complicated runic markings appeared over the soulgem.
At the moment his soulsense touched the slave seal and the soulgem, the dim slave seal immediately started to shine brightly with ‘light’!
“Bzzzz…..”
The soulsense of Bai Yunfei felt a buzzing sound in the mindspace of the snake, as if the slave seal was starting to tremble. Simultaneously, Bai Yunfei felt a shrill hissing sound. Coiled around his arm, the small snake was suddenly larger in size to constrict around his arm with a brilliant glow of orange light.
A second later, the slave seal started to disintegrate!
“It’s here!”
Bai Yunfei’s eyes narrowed in preparation. Not taking the chance to relax, Bai Yunfei activated the Beast Taming Ring and directed it towards the inside of the snake’s body to the soulgem.
Already the soulgem looked like it was going to burst!
Another second later under the destruction of the slave seal, the soulforce within the snake’s body was starting to grow chaotic and explosive. Its soulgem was trembling violently as energy poured out from it. In the blink of an eye, the power was already enough to match with a class four soulbeast!
“Stop! Stop! Stoppp!!!”
Panic flickered across Bai Yunfei’s eyes. Even with him trying his best….there was no way he could stop the explosion! He did make the process slower, but….he hadn’t exactly ‘stopped’ it!
“Xiao Qi!”
He called out to Xiao Qi. The bird chirped once in response before its aura as a class seven soulbeast came into play. The light coming from the Beast Taming Ring grew even brighter now and covered the entirety of the snake with orange light. A source of soulsense stronger than Bai Yunfei entered the snake’s mindspace and immediately enveloped the cracking soulgem….
Bright light covered the entirety of Bai Yunfei’s right arm. Soulforce lashed out wildly from the snake as its body started to go out of control. Though it seemed like Xiao Qi’s strength was enough to stop the soulgem, Bai Yunfei’s forehead was still slick with sweat from his anxiety.
Would they succeed?