Chapter 1123: In Search of an Upgrade Stone

“Wow!! Look at how big this skeleton is, Yunfei!! What kind of soulbeast was this?”

The only sound to break the desolate silence in this land was the excited chirps of Xiao Qi. Every single skeleton they passed meant another chirp from the bird as he wondered aloud at every sight.

“Don’t be rude to those who came before, Xiao Qi.”

Bai Yunfei reprimanded the bird before bowing to the skeleton. He was already apologizing to the skeleton for the disturbance in his mind.

This was the fifth skeleton in the last ten minutes. Needless to say, this was yet another class eight soulbeast who died of natural causes.

There wasn’t much to study about these skeletons. They presumably must’ve found the right spot to sit and await their deaths when they came into this place when they were alive… 

Bai Yunfei had nothing but the utmost respect for these soulbeasts. The reason why they chose here of all places to die was for the benefit of their descendants. They chose to leave behind their own insights and inheritances for their descendants to pick up on and learn faster than normal. It was a very generous act of kindness.

Not many class eight soulbeasts managed to die of natural causes with how violent the world of soulbeasts and soul cultivators were. The Wind Ape King and Golden Roc King were good examples of that. It required a lot of power in order for anyone to survive in this world, and it was evident that the soulbeasts of these skeletons used to be very powerful. Bai Yunfei had to presume that those who died of old age surely had to be above the early-stage class eight soulbeast level.

He was right. The soulbeasts who died here were generally of the late-stage class eight soulbeast level or even of the peak late-stage class eight soulbeast level. Unable to advance their strengths, the soulbeasts resigned themselves to stagnation and lived out the rest of their lives in peace.

The closest skeletons to Bai Yunfei and Xiao Qi looked rather tigerlike in anatomy. He didn’t know which subspecies they were, but he surmised there had to be an ice-type here with how the air here was laden with frost. Not only was it thick, but it was also deeply infused with elemental ice.

It seemed almost alive with how it circulated around the place without scattering. As if there was something preventing it from dissipating.

This was what was known as the ‘inheritance’ of one of the tiger clansmen.

A descendant of this soulbeast would be able to understand more about the Law of Ice if they got close to it. Whatever insights and knowledge the skeleton had would be infused into the class seven soulbeast through the frost. Any ice-type peak late-stage class seven soulbeast would definitely find themselves having a far easier time becoming a class eight.

There was also something else worth noting about this skeleton. There was a white soulgem stuck to the skeleton’s head!

The soulgem of a class eight soulbeast! The culmination of everything that soulbeast experienced and learned was shining brightly as if asking to be taken! The vertebrae of the soulbeast was also exuding a soft white shine—this could definitely be used as a high-quality crafting material!

Bai Yunfei hadn’t any intentions of taking anything from this skeleton, though. To do so was blasphemous. Doing nothing but offer up his prayers, Bai Yunfei and Xiao Qi left the place to head toward their destination. This was the type of mannerism he wanted to have and continued to show for any skeleton he came across.

No matter how tempted he was with these items, Bai Yunfei was by no means willing to do anything that might disrespect the skeletons of these soulbeasts.

The Bloodhowl Wolf King warned him about the potential consequences of such an act, but Bai Yunfei didn’t need a warning in order to restrain his greedy urges. 

The only reason why he was here was due to the kindness of these soulbeasts. Those same soulbeasts were extending this kindness in hopes that he could become a Soul Emperor. So how could he return their kindness with a base act such as graverobbing? Could he even craft a soul armament with the bones of these soulbeasts in good conscience? 

To be human was to understand gratitude and deter avarice.

“Oh? Something seems different…have we reached our destination?”

Several hours after his arrival here, Bai Yunfei started to pick up the pace. The air in this area was feeling different compared to the one before. 

The change in atmosphere was definitely something he felt before. It was the sign that he was about to go from one burial ground to the next.

“Xiao Qi, what do you feel?” Bai Yunfei asked, hoping for his partner to have a better idea than he did.

“Well…I feel like…the aura up ahead is really familiar…” Xiao Qi muttered. “It’s strange, but in a good way.”

“Hm, that must mean up ahead is where the avian clan’s burial ground is…” Bai Yunfei nodded. “Then the location the Three-eyed Tiger King talked about has to be close by…”

Deviating slightly toward the right of their current route, Bai Yunfei traversed through another plain before arriving in front of a long chain of mountains. Making a right, he started the long hike up the nearest one.

It took a while for him to go from one mountain to the next. None of them had any signs of life such as grass, but each mountain had a few sources of ‘light’ that Bai Yunfei knew were the skeletons of a soulbeast. It seemed these mountains were home to a decent number of soulbeasts.

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Sometimes Bai Yunfei was lucky enough to come across several resources of notable quality whenever he crossed over one mountain to the next, but they were never so noteworthy that he collected them. If anything, he felt rather lazy to harvest it.

At last, Bai Yunfei reached the crossing point from the previous burial ground to the avian’s burial ground. They were getting close to where the Three-eyed Tiger King found those upgrade stones!

By this point Bai Yunfei was traveling at a rate of speed far slower than before. His soulsense was covering as much of the mountain as he could so that he could try to find any upgrade stones.

“A mountain peak shaped like the ear of a tiger…”

Bai Yunfei muttered to himself. The Three-eyed Tiger King told him about this specific landmark as being the place where he found all those upgrade stones before.

“Found it!! It’s that place!!”

His eyes lit up with excitement—he had found it! Taking off like a bolt of lightning, Bai Yunfei headed straight for the ear-shaped mountain peak!

“A giant hole…this has to be the place!”

Bai Yunfei took notice of a giant crater near the landmark. The sight was exactly as the Three-eyed Tiger King said. This crater was the result of when the Three-eyed Tiger King became a class eight soulbeast and tested his own strength… 

And that was when those upgrade stones appeared. 

Several hundred years had already gone by since the Three-eyed Tiger King became a class eight soulbeast, but the sight was exactly the same as described. Scrambling down the crater, Bai Yunfei began to scan the ground for the stones.

“Found one!!”

Crooking his right hand, Bai Yunfei had a pile of earth and sand dislodge itself before a white stone came flying out into his hand!

It was an upgrade stone!

A regular one it might be, but it at least proved that this place had them!

The Three-eyed Tiger King said he only collected a few of those stones out of curiosity. He didn’t bother to search the place more carefully, meaning it was possible there was still more of them here!

Excited, Bai Yunfei scattered his soulsense across the crater. Multiple stones were lifted up into the air and sorted through quickly before several more upgrade stones were found. One of them was even a mid-heaven tier one!

“No more?” Bai Yunfei thought to himself. He had a decent sum of upgrade stones after that search, but he really did expect to find a Guaranteed Upgrade Stone or two.

“Let’s dig a little more then! I might find some more!”

He was reluctant to give up. Gathering his soulforce to him, Bai Yunfei leaped high into the air. Readying the Ardent Sun Glove, he fired off one fireball after another at the ground!

“Boom boom boom boom…”

The Tomb was soon filled with noise as the fireballs slammed into the earth. They scattered dust and stone in every way possible with the blast and left deep cracks in the earth!

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“No way…there’s only this much? There can’t only just be this little of it, can it?”

Half the day was already gone. Bai Yunfei had essentially ransacked the entire mountain with only a few more upgrade stones to make up for his troubles! Though he gained two additional mid-heaven tier upgrade stones, the rest were still rather ordinary finds.

“Damn!” Cursing to himself, he sent one last ball of fire in a different direction to vent.

“Boom!!”

The nearby mountain with the ear-shaped peak had its lower half blown apart once the fireball impacted. 

“Sigh…” Disappointed, Bai Yunfei stood up and prepared to walk away from this place. It seemed he wouldn’t be getting what he wanted.

Then he abruptly twirled around. Something about the mountain peak he just blew up caught his eye!

The dust had yet to calm down, but Bai Yunfei could see several white specks of light shining from underneath the dust clouds…