Chapter 1167: A Qualitative Life

It was already night by the time Bai Yunfei emerged from the northern peak. He walked on the path back to his room with a smile on the face. Just thinking about how surprised his master had been was a sight far too hilarious to forget.

He felt pleased about it, in fact. What student wouldn’t after surprising their master?

The Upgrade Technique wasn’t something he meant to keep a secret forever. He had his misgivings about revealing it earlier in his life, but that was when he was far too weak to confidently protect himself. Things were different now. There shouldn’t be any problems if his secret got out now.

The world was in chaos, and the Crafting School was stuck right in the middle of it. It was Bai Yunfei’s responsibility as a student of the school to help them weather the storm. Hiding his Upgrade Technique rather than use it for the benefit of his school would simply be far too selfish of him.

So that was why he told his secret to his own master, who could then divulge it to the other elders for him.

He was already prepared to upgrade most of the soul armaments of the higher echelons of the school. He was looking forward to seeing what kind of rare equipment he could upgrade.

……

Returning to his room on the western peak, Bai Yunfei pulled out the Dualflame Cauldron and prepared to upgrade it.

Manually upgrading would be vital to raise the soul compatibility of it to the highest level possible. That meant more time would be needed.

Dozens of minutes later… 

It was with great joy that Bai Yunfei took a second look at the newly-upgraded Dualflame Cauldron!

The cauldron was a work of wonder. It felt like each upgrade was truly bringing him closer with it—it was already at 60% compatibility after his upgrades; that meant this was a soulbound armament now!

The first thing to take note of was the first equipment effect. Before, the cauldron had a multiplier of eight for success, but now it was ten. The biggest shock factor was the +10 additional effect—the ability to basically redo a failed attempt!

Materials didn’t come cheap. Any crafter could tell you that. Rare materials were gathered painstakingly and often times reserved for special occasions. A failure could make any crafter sullen for days. If by chance this effect activated, then Bai Yunfei would be able to try again as if nothing happened the first time!

He sorely wanted to try out the Dualflame Cauldron. It was a tempting idea, but perhaps best suited for another day. It was possible that his master might call him tomorrow even. 

Bai Yunfei didn’t sleep well that night due to his excitement. Choosing to call Xiao Qi out, he and the bird traveled back up high in the sky to where chaotic energy would gather. It was time for them to train.

The feeling of training with chaotic energy was invigorating to Bai Yunfei. The Law of Chaos had made the entire experience pleasant to him now compared to before. Training with chaotic energy felt substantially different now that he understood the methodology behind it. 

He could even feel each training session significantly boosting his strength. It was to be expected, after all. A Soul Emperor using chaotic energy to train? That was meant to be a luxury reserved for Soul Saints… 

Daybreak was fast approaching by the time Bai Yunfei returned. Eating breakfast with a few of the other students, Bai Yunfei bided his time until his master called to him via soul communication to meet at the main hall.

A few elders were already there waiting for him by the time he arrived. Zi Jin, Kou Changkong, and some elders, some of which he had never seen before were all seated there.

All eyes were on Bai Yunfei as he walked in. Each one of them had excited looks on their faces… 

That meant Zi Jin must’ve told the elders about his Upgrade Technique. 

Calming down, Bai Yunfei slowly stepped into the hall… 

…………

……

News of his Upgrade Technique brought waves of excitement throughout the highest-ranking members of the Crafting School. All eyes were on him as he began to upgrade an immeasurable amount of high-grade soul armaments. Many tried to learn his secret, but none could, in the end. They gave up after a while, conceding with some bitterness that only Bai Yunfei would be able to use this ‘Upgrade Technique’.

It was hopeless. Even though Bai Yunfei had the Manual Upgrade Technique, that was the result of his experimentation with the original Upgrade Technique. Without that, no one else would be able to learn it.

Multiple days were spent upgrading soul armament after soul armament. Every Soul King in the school stopped by to see Bai Yunfei to have him upgrade their soul armaments. As a result, the strength of the school skyrocketed by a decent amount—any enemy would be in for a rude awakening if they fought these crafters now.

Upgrading, training, spending time with Tang Xinyun, chatting with friends, or ‘teaching’ others, that was Bai Yunfei’s life now that he was back in the Crafting School, but it was a life filled with niceties and happiness.

……

Early one morning, Bai Yunfei walked out from his room. Seven days had passed since the last of the elder’s soul armaments were upgraded, but a group of people were gathered in front of his room as if waiting for him.

It was Huangfu Rui and her little red magiboar that greeted him first, “Bro Strawhat!” She groused, “You’re so slow! You said we were going to play today! You’re so lazy sleeping in this late!!”

“Ah…” The smile on his face faltered, “Aren’t you all a little…too early? It’s not even eight, we don’t leave until later!”

He greeted the others with Huangfu Rui. Tang Xinyun was there, of course, but there was also Mo Xiaoxuan, Tian Yuhang, Fei Nian, and Zhang Sanxian. Everyone was here so they could first take a small trip to Redfire City.

“Let’s get going then.”

Flying was prohibited upon schoolgrounds, and Bai Yunfei wasn’t about to abuse his status just so they could play. Teleportation was also out of the picture since that’d make the entire trip pointless and boring.

“Okay~! We’re off! Come on, Xiao Rourou! Come on!”

Huangfu Rui laughed, leading the group at the front along with her boar. It felt soothing to the soul to watch her laugh like this. As much as he wanted her to retain that liveliness, to have her remain this way forever was not an option. Bai Yunfei was determined to find a way to help cure Huangfu Rui… 

The group took a while to walk down the mountains. Joking and laughing along the way, everyone chatted to one another about the interesting news they heard about within the school. Tian Yuhang was especially stunned to hear Bai Yunfei’s stories while Huangfu Rui would occasionally prance about the front of the group like a deer. All in all, it was a nice and pleasant walk so far.

“Yunfei!! Hahaha! It really is you! Yunfei!!”

A loud voice greeted the group when they stepped off the mountain. The laughter amongst the group died off as everyone looked up to look toward the source.

A person was coming toward them, that person was…