Heavenfire thought to himself in earnest. Disregarding the argument between the three Regalia, he finally replied:
âIt is a hard decision. The easiest decision is to upgrade either the Soul Sealing Mandate or the Soul Sentinel Scarf. To be sure, the power of either Regalia will be substantially better than before. And upgrading either Regalia will absolutely lead to less regret and disappointment than any other decisionâŚâ
Bai Yunfei nodded to himself, he could agree with such a perspective so far. His initial choices were, in fact, these two Regalia, but he continued to listen to what Heavenfire had to say.
Heavenfire paused to take a breath, âHoweverâŚthe spirit of the Core Stone has a valid argument as well. Perhaps upgrading the Cataclysmic Seal would be a decent decisionâŚâ
âWhat?!â
The argument between the three Regalia ceased at once when Sealer let out a cry.
âBut why! How did the Cataclysmic Seal end up in this?! Heâs but a low-heaven tier! Upgrading that would only see to it reaching its limits, why squander such a valuable opportunity!?â
âLittle Sealer,â Heavenfire glanced over to the Soul Sealing Mandate, âYou have taken Bai Yunfei to be your master, you should consider everything he can achieve. Do you perhaps want for him to miss out on an opportunity to craft a Regalia himself?â
âWhat?!â Bai Yunfeiâs eyes lit up with startled hope, âWhat did you say, Heavenfire? Me, craft a Regalia? Do you mean thatâŚâ
Heavenfire nodded. âIâve said it before, Yunfei. Every soul armament has a âspiritâ. But even the âspiritâ of a regular heaven-tier soul armament can be ignored on a regular basis. The âspiritâ of a Regalia is the only spirit with a substantial enough âlifeâ to it that we can truly call a âspirit of the armamentâ. It is because a Regalia has a spirit that it can be considered as such, otherwise even a soul armament with enough power or defense would be considered a Regalia.Â
âWhether sealed into a soul armament or born from nothing, having a spirit within the soul armament is what it means to be a Regalia. For example, the Soul Sealing Mandate is an example of the former and the Core Stone is an example of the latter. It is said that in the ancient past, the spirits of soulbeasts and even soul cultivators could be used to be implanted into soul armaments. But that method has been lost to history. HoweverâŚâ
Heavenfireâs eyes stared hotly into Bai Yunfei. âI have discovered an unprecedented method for a soul armament to give rise to having a spiritâŚâ
Bai Yunfeiâs heart skipped a beat, âDo you meanâŚby upgrading?â
âExactly! It is by upgrading!â Heavenfire boomed in affirmative, âYour Upgrade Technique has the ability to waken a sleeping or injured spirit of the armament. Furthermore, it can also strengthen the âspiritâ of a regular soul armament. We can see this in the Cataclysmic Seal and Fire-tipped Spear. I suspect that if you upgrade it to a certain degree, both soul armaments will have their spirits âawakenâ to a new level of sentience and truly become spirits of the armament. In essence, this will turn the soul armament into a Regalia!!â
The more he listened, the more Bai Yunfei became excited, âAre you sayingâŚthat if I continue to upgrade the Cataclysmic Seal, the Fire-tipped Spear, and the Critical GloveâŚthey can turn into Regalia?â
âIt is but a guess, but I believe it possible!â
âThenâŚif I upgrade the Cataclysmic Seal to +14, itâs possible it might gain sentience?â
âI have no method of ascertaining thatâŚâ Heavenfire shook his head, âBut I will say that upgrading it to +14 will most definitely strengthen its spirit. We have little information on what will happen when it becomes +14, thus, this decision is the hardest one to take. It is a risky choice in comparison to the safe choice of upgrading a Regalia. It is up to you to decideâŚâ
ââŚâŚâ
Bai Yunfei grew silent. It was a plethora of new information he had just received. The nearby Regalias had tactfully remained silent so he could decide in peace. Their squabble on who should be upgraded between them didnât seem as important now that they thought about what Heavenfire had said. As much as they wanted to be upgraded themselves, Heavenfire had a point. The creation of a new Regalia was also something to be excited over.
Bai Yunfei raised his head after a while. âHeavenfire, which soul armament do you think would have the greatest chance of gaining a spirit? If I upgrade them, what do you think the possibility would be?â
âIf youâre so inclined to âgambleâ on the probabilities, then I would suggest the Cataclysmic Seal. But if you are to do that, then you will need to reforge the soul armament. I will assist you in that matter, but rather than attempt to make it stronger, your primary goal is to, of course, strengthen its spirit. If things go as planned, then itâll become +14. If you donât wish to do that, thenâŚyou may upgrade a Regalia instead.â
âWhat? Reforge the Cataclysmic Seal? Can it even go up in tier? Do you mean to do the same thing as when we tried repairing the Soul Sealing Mandate?â
âThat is correct. My reason for choosing the Cataclysmic Seal over the Fire-tipped Spear and the Critical Glove is due to the Cataclysmic Sealâs âplasticityâ. It holds the greatest success for being reforge and having its soul strengthened. In truth, your âupgradeâ is linked with âreforgingâ. Any soul armament upgraded by you has its ability to be reforge decreased. But with my assistance, the Cataclysmic Seal holds the greatest ability to be reforged.â
âI seeâŚâ Bai Yunfei nodded, he believed what Heavenfire was telling him. Putting the +14 Guaranteed Upgrade Stone and the other soul armaments away, Bai Yunfei stood up. âIâll do as you say and reforge the Cataclysmic Seal then.â
âYes, then. Do you have any supplemental materials on you? If not, then we can ask for some from the school.â
âOh, this is the space ring the Wind Lightning School gave us as âcompensationâ. Can you take a look to see if thereâs anything suitable inside?â
He tossed a space ring over to Heavenfire. Shen Pojun had given the ring to him before as well, deciding that Bai Yunfei would be the better person to look through it.
Taking the offered ring into his hands, Heavenfire began to inspect its contents, âWhat an amount!! Itâs comparable to our own stores, almost! I can feel the sincerity in these gifts, my myâŚ.oh? ThisâŚthis is a whitefire tempering stone! AndâŚthis is essence of red alum! And stgyian amber! HahaâŚthis will do!â
Clearly, the items Heavenfire found inside the ring were of considerable worth if he was acting like this. âThereâll be no need to look for any other materials, all we need can be found in here. No better material can be found, in fact! Let us begin the reforging process!â
âYes, letâs start right away!â
âŚâŚ
âHuff huffâŚâ
The flames grew higher and higher as Heavenfire meticulously told Bai Yunfei what to do. Having experienced the process before with the Soul Sealing Mandate, Bai Yunfei found himself having an easier time than before as he threw precious material after material into the cauldron.
Then, the next object to be thrown into the cauldron was the Cataclysmic Seal. After that came a large pile of supplementary materialsâŚÂ
Time trickled by slowly after that. Bai Yunfei could sense every minute change going on within the Cataclysmic Seal, and it was with a bated breath that he worked the flames.
âEh?â
The first anomaly happened when Bai Yunfei felt something strange in his mind. Something within the Cataclysmic Seal had suddenly started to pulsate. Sometimes, the pulse would be strong, and sometimes, itâd be weak. It was far from encouraging to sense the flow.
He thought back to the first time he forged the Cataclysmic Seal. He had been hotheaded back then, and his recklessness nearly caused himself to blow up, but somehow the Cataclysmic Seal had managed to take form after a myriad of freak factors. He still didnât understand how he was able to do it, but he remembered that the âfusionâ of high-leveled materials and other soul armaments had formed together to take on the shape of the Cataclysmic Seal.Â
Right now, Bai Yunfei was getting a similar feeling of that moment right now.
But he wasnât the same greenhorn crafter as he was before. Despite his misgivings, Bai Yunfei was more than ready to adapt to the changes accordingly and manipulate the flames of the cauldron to better temper the Cataclysmic Seal.
Soon, Bai Yunfei was able to quickly understand the changes in the Cataclysmic Seal. Whenever the pulse weakened, heâd work the flames to set the temperature soaring!
âBoom!!â
The flames in the Dualflame Cauldron swelled to life. Scorching the area around the cauldron, the flames would swell with such heat that even Bai Yunfeiâs robes started to singe.
Gradually, the flames would die back down along with Bai Yunfeiâs soulforce. It soon reached the point where the flames in the cauldron had ultimately died out, and the fireseed inside it returned to Bai Yunfei. Heavenfire shot out from the cauldron as well to reappear by Bai Yunfeiâs side. Clearly, the Cataclysmic Seal was done being reforged.
The time was now. Gingerly, Bai Yunfei waved his right hand to bring a red beam of light out onto his palm.
He stared at it, eyes glued to the newly reforged Cataclysmic Seal to study the new changes of the soul armamentâŚÂ