A dream. That was what Jing Mingfeng would’ve thought if he didn’t confirm the sight in front of him over and over again. But even then he found it almost impossible to believe…
Ten seconds ago, Jing Mingfeng watched as Bai Yunfei went from being a Late-stage Soul Emperor to being a Peak Late-stage Soul Emperor and then skyrocketing beyond that!
This wasn’t some kind of technique Bai Yunfei was using to artificially boost his strength; he was naturally getting stronger!
It was as if dozens of years of training was being compressed all at once inside Bai Yunfei’s body for his aura to spike this much!
If one was already at the Peak Late-stage Soul Emperor and their soulforce was still rapidly increasing, then there was naturally only one assumption one person would make…
“Ascension?! Damn really! No way!? He’s becoming a Saint? Are you trying to scare me, Ol’Bai?!”
Only after a while did enough shock fade away for Jing Mingfeng to think. “I’m guessing…Ol’Bai really did get the Supreme Saint’s Inheritance! But how? He’s not moving at all! Tch…so the Supreme Saint’s Inheritance was something immaterial after all…You’re ‘fate’ is undeniably jealousy-inducing, Ol’Bai!!”
As complicated as his feelings were, Jing Mingfeng wasn’t so jealous that it bordered on anger of any kind. Bai Yunfei was someone who managed to obtain the combined knowledge of the Saint of Fate and Gu Lianhun. It was only right by fate that he’d be able to throw open the door and obtain the treasure beyond it. Yes, Jing Mingfeng was jealous, but he was undeniably happy. Bai Yunfei was a brother of his, and it made him happy beyond belief that his brother was able to obtain the Supreme Saint’s Inheritance.
“You made me worried for nothing then…”
Jing Mingfeng groaned after a while and sat down. The heat of the moment had caused him no small amount of panic and left him rather tired.
……
On the other side of the door.
A world where only souls could enter.
Half of the Supreme Saint’s Inheritance was already absorbed by Bai Yunfei’s soul. By now, his soulforce was already encroaching on the level of a Saint!
Once someone’s soulforce capacity was at such a level, the soul cultivator would have to have an understanding of chaotic energy so they could absorb and use it to consolidate their soul and truly ascend to Sainthood.
But that didn’t matter at all to Bai Yunfei. Chaotic energy was a concept he grasped a long time ago when he was only just a Soul King and his originseed already had chaotic energy in it. Thus, he passed the ‘criteria’ for becoming a Saint and was still rapidly growing!
His ascension was like a dam unblocked; his path forward was unimpeded!
Bai Yunfei’s soulforce continued to climb even though he was already an Early-stage Soul Saint. It only paused briefly so his soul could get used to all the power before gradually picking up speed again.
The Supreme Saint’s Inheritance was without a doubt beyond powerful. In such a short amount of time, Bai Yunfei was able to go from being a Late-stage Soul Emperor to an Early-stage Soul Saint. Every single successor of the Supreme Saint’s Inheritance was able to ascend to Sainthood, but not in one step like this.
————————
As the flow of energy died down, Bai Yunfei awoke from his meditation and slowly ‘opened’ his eyes.
The passage of time felt different to him. What took place in just a few minutes at most felt like years to him as if he had actually been closed off in meditation for so long. He didn’t feel unwell after this explosive increase in power either. His strength felt natural to him as if it was meant to be. The Supreme Saint’s Inheritance, as expected, was a powerful and magical thing.
It wasn’t just an increase in soulforce. During that time he spent meditating, Bai Yunfei came into contact with many aspects of knowledge. The majority of that knowledge was about how to use chaotic energy, something that would still help Bai Yunfei even after he became a Saint.
He also learned something similar to the Accretion Artes he learned a long time ago and managed to store up the remaining energy into his soul for later. It wasn’t going to be possible to become a Supreme Saint even after he absorbed this energy, but it’d definitely help him later on. Like a miracle pill, using the remaining energy would help him do twice the work for half the effort.
“Should I stockpile the rest of it? Or should I…”
He didn’t move to do that just yet. Instead, another question began to catch his interest.
“Sealing these into my soul will definitely help me in the future, but…it’ll decay by a considerable amount in the future too…I don’t have a choice, I have to use it all today!”
Resolved, Bai Yunfei began to go through a series of handseals. Whatever technique it was, his soul was beginning to fluctuate with a strange frequency.
The surrounding white light around him continued to flow into his soul, but it wasn’t being added to his reserves to be used for training. Instead, some other mysterious technique was at work to send it circulating around his body.
Gradually, his soul began to take on a startling change: like it was static, his soul began to flicker before growing ‘hazy’!
The sight was bewildering, but not as much as when his soul began to be pulled in two directions. As if undergoing osmosis, his soul was beginning to look like it was diving itself in half…
That was exactly what was going on!
Bai Yunfei’s soul was being turned into two!
Two Bai Yunfeis, identical in shape, size, aura, and soulforce. The only difference was that one of the Bai Yunfeis was distinctly stronger than the other. One was the same as before while the other had the strength of an Early-stage Soul Emperor. But the weaker ‘Bai Yunfei’ was still at the center of the whirlpool and had both eyes closed. He was manipulating the energy around him into his soul so his strength could climb again!
This was…an avatar!!
After coming so far, Bai Yunfei decided to finally make and train his avatar!
Avatars were something only Mssemps could make, but the process wasn’t an easy one. There was a very real possibility that making one would influence the training of the original, so not many soul cultivators opted to make one.
It wasn’t that Bai Yunfei was afraid of negatively harming his future potential if he made an avatar. It was simply only due to a lack of time that he refrained. But today under these strange circumstances, Bai Yunfei decided to create an avatar to make the most out of the Supreme Saint’s Inheritance!
An avatar, simply speaking, was a subdivision of one’s soul and made into a vessel that could live independently of the original. But if something went wrong in the process, then one could easily cause irreparable harm to their soul.
But the process Bai Yunfei was going through was something special he learned from the Crafting School. After countless of his predecessors refined the technique, Bai Yunfei was able to successfully create an avatar with his own power in a short amount of time.
Once he made this avatar, he immediately had it absorb the rest of the Supreme Saint’s Inheritance to improve its own strength.
His goal was to make use of the time available to create an avatar that was as strong as he used to be!
Generally speaking, an avatar could also accumulate strength, but only after enough time and experience. That’s why most avatars were always weaker than their original self. Gu Lianhun, for example, was a Saint, but his avatar was only a Peak Late-stage Soul Emperor.
Right now, Bai Yunfei still had the Supreme Saint’s Inheritance in front of him. His main body wasn’t able to absorb any more of it without diminishing returns, but…his avatar wasn’t under that same restriction!
No other Supreme Saint had ever been mentioned on record of doing something similar. What Bai Yunfei was doing was unprecedented and unbelievably daring.
But the most important thing was that…he was succeeding!!
The increase in strength of his avatar was actually faster than when Bai Yunfei started out. In an instant the avatar went from being an Early-stage Soul Emperor to a Mid-stage, then to a Late-stage, then a Peak Late-stage, and then...
Sainthood!!
……
Outside the stone door.
Four hours had gone by since Bai Yunfei’s soul was taken beyond the door. Two hours ago, Jing Mingfeng noted that Bai Yunfei’s aura stopped at the level of an Early-stage Soul Saint, but he never regained his consciousness after that. Not knowing what was going on still, Jing Mingfeng could only continue to wait.
It was around this time when Jing Mingfeng suddenly flew to his feet to stare off to the right.
“Who’s there?! Friend or foe?”
He glanced quickly to Bai Yunfei and then back to his original direction. He didn’t go into hiding just yet, but instead took out the Black Phantom and prepared himself to fight.
Several seconds went by as Jing Mingfeng stood there vigilantly.
“Brother Li!!” He cried out in relief after seeing a green streak of lightning approach them. It stopped a distance away from the door to reveal Li Chengfeng!
Dropping his stance, Jing Mingfeng prepared himself to call out to Li Chengfeng when suddenly…
“Bzzz!!!”
There was an ear-deafening explosion as the entire area suddenly started to rumble and warp in on itself as if the dimension was on the verge of collapsing!