Tang Xinyun’s concern for Bai Yunfei lulled the anxiety he was feeling himself. Now somewhat calm, he gave Xiao Fang a calm stare. “Xiao Fang, you talked about proper guidance, didn’t you? If I can’t use the dangerous chaotic energy now…would I be able to learn to control it? And how would I set about doing that?”
“Hah, not bad, you weren’t scared off…” Xiao Fang laughed. “You’re correct. Chaotic energy, if uncontrolled, is a very dangerous mystery. But if you can control it, then it’s a whole different world of opportunities!
“True chaotic energy requires the raw power of a Soul Emperor in order to be able to stave off the harmfulness of it. As a Soul Emperor, chaotic energy helps one grow stronger. Taking in the elemental energies of the world isn’t beneficial to anyone trying to become a Soul Saint. They can only rely on the power of chaotic energy to get stronger, but that’s a topic far too early to discuss for you. Don’t worry too much about the details of that for now…” Xiao Fang explained.
“You’ve only have a single strand of chaotic energy. It’s unbelievably pure, but it’s only ‘moderate’ compared to the chaotic energy to be found above the Ninth Heaven, probably because of its size or something else. But that’s not important. What’s important is that because it’s ‘weak’ and ‘moderate’ that you’ll be able to make use of it now, as weak as you are. If you can refine it, then you’ll be able to harness its power! If you can absorb the chaotic force and use it in your attacks, their power will be far beyond what it was before!
“But that’s not where chaotic energy is most important for. It’s like a ‘seed’. The stronger you get, the more realms you breakthrough to, the more this seed germinates. When you become a Soul Emperor, the seed will bore fruit and make future training far faster than others!”
“Breaking through to become a Soul Saint requires the refinement and absorption of chaotic energy?”
That was a new piece of information for Bai Yunfei. Xiao Fang was right, becoming a Soul Saint was still too far in the future to Bai Yunfei. Still, just hearing a little bit on what becoming a Soul Saint entails was mind-blowing.
A Soul King couldn’t handle chaotic energy, but a Soul Saint could only rely on it to get stronger.
Just how terrifying were Soul Saints?
He had to admit he was feeling extremely excited to hear about the benefits of the chaotic energy. The benefits were hanging right in front of him like a delicious apple to just reach up and grab.
But he couldn’t get too overwhelmed with his emotions right now. “Xiao Fang, you talked about the benefits of if I’m able to refine it. But…what if I fail? What happens then?”
“Do I even need to say it? Fail to refine it and the chaotic energy will fall apart. Your essence fireseed will explode and then…well, need I say more?”
Bai Yunfei’s lip twitched. ‘I should have known’ was written all over his face.
The line between death and fortune was a thin one. The explosion of power that chaotic energy brought to a person’s strength was terrifying, but he’d be the one to die if it was his fireseed that exploded if he failed.
The mention of death was like a bucket of ice-cold water to douse his excitement. This wasn’t something he could joke around with. Should he fail to succeed with the chaotic energy, he was finished.
“But…” Xiao Fang seemed to be continuing the topic, “While it’s certain death for most if a person fails, it might not be as drastic of a consequence for you…”
“Oh?!” He was excited all over again. “What do you mean by that? Stop it with the suspense and tell me!”
“Don’t forget what place this is, alright? This is the Core World! The world I control! I can pay close attention to the chaotic energy when you try. If anything were to go wrong, then I can simply just separate the chaotic energy and fireseed into a different dimension. That way, we can avoid the resulting explosion from causing you to die. Simple.
“But that doesn’t mean we stop the explosion. We just stop it from affecting you. That fireseed is gone if we do it that way. Normally, this means the death of a person, but you’re different—you have two fireseeds! You’ll just lose one fireseed, and that’ll at most bring you back down to the level of normality of a regular soul cultivator…”
Xiao Fang was starting to wrap up the topic now. “And that about sums it all up. Succeed, and you’ll be blessed with good fortune. Fail, and you’ll lose a fireseed essence…those are the choices, so make your decision.
“Oh, and if you decide to try refining the chaotic energy, then you might as well use the strand in the last chunk of the meteorite. You need to refine the chaotic energy and join it with the strand around your fireseed. The current amount you have right now is…too tiny.”
“……”
Bai Yunfei was fighting a mental battle with himself. Should he do it?
Tang Xinyun opened her mouth as if to say something, but stopped to give Bai Yunfei a look. She knew that this was an important decision for Bai Yunfei to make, and her own knowledge of the subject was far too minimal for her to help in any way.
Bai Yunfei was silent for a while before he finally made his decision.
He’d do it! He’d go for broke!
The allure of being able to use chaotic energy was just far too tempting. He’d regret it if he gave up on the idea here. This was the chance for a great deal of fortune to drop onto his lap. It was all worth it!
Things wouldn’t be too bad if Bai Yunfei failed either. The exchange of his fireseed for the chance of a life-changing power-up was quite worth it.
“Xinyun, you should step back. Xiao Fang might be able to control the area here, but I’m afraid something might happen by accident.”
Determined to go through with this, Bai Yunfei spoke to Tang Xinyun to get her to step back.
A flicker of concern crossed Tang Xinyun’s eyes. She was worried about the possible resolutions of this gambit.
She didn’t say anything about his choice though and instead held his palm lovingly. “Be careful then.”
He watched Tang Xinyun fly off to a faraway mountain before he waved his right hand to take out the last remaining chunk of the darkwind meteorite. “Xiao Fang, should I keep an eye out on anything else when I refine this? Do I just need the chaotic energy in here, or do I have to craft another soul armament like before to get at the energy?”
“I recommend you don’t craft a soul armament. It might get you the chaotic energy, but only in an incomplete portion. I estimate that you should just refine the chaotic energy inside the meteorite. Your fireseed should reach a very crucial point as soon as you take in the chaotic energy. You need to start refining it or…there’ll be danger. So don’t do anything as complex as crafting a soul armament. Just focus on extracting the chaotic energy by fragmenting them up. If you do it that way, it’ll be easier on you to reach the best point of refinement.”
Bai Yunfei was a little disappointed. There’d be no second soul armament for him.
“Fine then.”
He took Nightmare and made several strokes with it. Cracking apart, the darkwind meteorite was turned into several fist-sized fragments by Nightmare.
He knelt down onto the ground and placed his fireseed back into the cauldron. Then he tossed in one of the meteorite fragments into it.