Huangfu Rui came scampering up with the Prisma Lantern held up high above her head. Blowing some dust away from her face triumphantly, she held the lantern out to Bai Yunfei just as he finished talking to Sima Dong, “Brother strawhat, the lantern is ours! Hurry up and give it to sis Yun!”

“Uh…” Bai Yunfei was at a loss. Noticing the mischievous looks Ye Zhiqiu and the others were giving him, he scratched the back of his head out of embarra.s.sment. “Haha, since your soulbeast was the one who took the lantern, you should be the one to give it to sister Yun!”

“Wasn’t brother strawhat going to give this to sis Yun when he won? Why am I the one giving it to her?” Huangfu Rui shook her head in confusion.

“Well… that’s because I didn’t win it. Haha, it’s in your hands now, meaning you’re the one who won. You’re the victor of the compet.i.tion!” Bai Yunfei swiftly came up with an explanation.

Huangfu Rui’s face visibly brightened up at that, “Really? Dai Dai won?”

Bai Yunfei solemnly nodded his head, “Yes, you did.”

“Heehee, really!? That’s awesome!! I’m the winner!!” Huangfu Rui twirled around in excitement before running off to give the lantern to Tang Xinyun. “Sis Yun, I won this for you!”

Smiling, Tang Xinyun replied, “Haha, if Xiao Rui likes it so much, she should keep it.”

But Huangfu Rui shook her head, “No! I wanted to give this to sis Yun, so let me give it!”

“Haha, okay then, I’ll take it.” Tang Xinyun pinched Huangfu Rui’s nose affectionately before taking the lantern.

“Tsk! If you’re going to give it, just give it! There’s no need to have junior Rui give it for you…” Fei Nian muttered off to the side. He was clearly poking fun at Bai Yunfei feeling embarra.s.sed about giving the lantern to Tang Xinyun.

Though Bai Yunfei wanted to explain that there was nothing between he and Tang Xinyun, he felt that trying to explain would only make the matter worse. The best action to do right now would be to simply pretend he didn’t hear Fei Nian.

What he didn’t know was that everyone took his silence as a sign of approval.

“We’ve played enough for today. We should head back to rest for the night and see what else there is to do tomorrow.” Tang Xinyun advocated to the rest of the group. Since there was still plenty of people around them, she spoke in a quiet voice and was quite ready to move away from the people.

Ye Zhiqiu nodded his head as well. “I agree. We should get out of here. We don’t get anything out of staying here besides being used as entertainment for everyone else.”

One by one, the others nodded their heads; it seemed as if everyone else agreed that they felt limited by being watched here.

Sima Dong then asked, “Does everyone wish to rest now then? I’ve already reserved some of the finest rooms in the best inn in the city. Allow me to escort you all there.”

With no further obstacles, everyone gave their thanks to Sima Dong and prepared to leave.

“Oh, one second. I’ve still something I’d like to do.” Bai Yunfei suddenly called out before then speaking to Huangfu Rui. “Doraemon, I’ve a gift to give to you.”

“Ah?” Huangfu Rui was confused, but her confusion then gave way to excitement. “What is it? What is it? I’ve another present?”

“Haha, didn’t you say you wanted this before? I’ve already made the arrangements with lord Sima who agreed with me. Give me a second and I’ll bring this with us.”

Under the curious eyes of everyone else, Bai Yunfei leaped into the air. His Compliant Rope helped him traverse the water to the top of the lighthouse. With a wave of his right hand, a single blade made of fire extended out from his fingers. Cutting the ropes that connected the tower to the bridge, Bai Yunfei then placed a single hand on the foundation of the tower. With a single punch, he made a clean break from the lighthouse to the foundation beneath!

Right as the topmost part was starting to slant, Bai Yunfei’s right hand immediately waved right in front of it. There was a faint s.h.i.+mmer before the bridge suddenly looked brighter than before.

The gigantic lighthouse had been placed in Bai Yunfei’s s.p.a.ce ring!!

Landing back down on the sh.o.r.e, Bai Yunfei returned everyone’s stunned looks with a smile. Turning to Huangfu Rui to wink, he said, “Doraemon, didn’t you say you wanted to bring it home? I’ll have this placed in your courtyard when we get back, alright?”

Two bright stars immediately lit up her eyes at that proposal. “Haha! Really? Can I really take that thing home?”

“Haha, of course! Haven’t I already taken it? Brother Sima has already agreed that I can take it.”

“Heehee, brother strawhat, you’re the best!! Brother Sima is nice too!” The girl nodded her head.

“Ha… haha…” Sima Dong gave a vacant smile; this must’ve been the very first time he’d been called a nice guy in such a manner.

“Well then, let’s be on our way. Today has been a tiring one; we can continue our festivities tomorrow.”

“Okay!”

For the next two days, Sima Dong played host to Bai Yunfei and his group. He led them to each and every enjoyable spot in Redfire City before the group had to return to the Crafting School.

Barely even a few days after they returned, Tang Xinyun was taken by Cang Yu away from Mt. Crimson. It was said that she was accompanying her master to take care of several matters in the Black Mountain Province and gain some experience.

As for the others, Ye Zhiqiu closed himself off so that he could concentrate on breaking through to the Soul Ancestor stage. Both Mo Xiaoxuan and Xi Yan were preparing to consolidate their essence fireseed and craft their own soulbound armament when they grew to Soul Sprites.

On the other hand, Bai Yunfei had thrown himself back into his studies of the art of crafting. He wasn’t neglecting everything and everyone like before, but other than the occasional break, he’d spend the rest of his time in the crafting caves.

Creating a mid-earth tier soul armament was beyond Bai Yunfei’s capabilities, and he was aware of that fact for the most part. Thus, he spent the majority of his time improving his fundamentals and trying his best to increase the attack of every soul armament he made in hopes that he’d be able to reach the mid-earth tier boundary sooner.

One thing worth mentioning was the fact that crafting an offensive soul armament was completely different than crafting a defensive soul armament. Soft leather equipment and gloves for example had a distinction in the choice of materials. Then there was a difference on how the end product was made. Sometimes, it wouldn’t even need to be refined and could be made simply with the pure products of nature. In the Crafting School, defensive soul armaments were quite low in ‘output’ as the majority of students preferred to craft weapons.

For those reasons, Bai Yunfei decided not to study how to craft defensive soul armaments just yet. It’d be best for him to focus on crafting offensive ones first.

The weapons Bai Yunfei was making now weren’t as varied as they used to be. All of the ones he was crafting were of a single category: throwing knives.

That’s right. He was recreating the throwing knives from the designs he found in the incomplete manual.

The very first designs from the manual were the most basic and compact knives. Despite that, it took half a month before Bai Yunfei was able to craft a dozen of them. Their weapon grades were merely high-human at best and were all without an affinity. (Equipment made with materials that’d lead to having an affinity were far more complex and difficult to craft).

The other two designs he tried to recreate were even more complex. Far more time was spent on the designs and research, but Bai Yunfei was never able to craft a throwing knife that satisfied the criteria the manual described.

To make matters even worse, the manuals didn’t have any written information on how to properly use the throwing knives. With no other choice, Bai Yunfei had to attempt the most basic ways of throwing them. He had high hopes that he’d be able to find the ‘proper’ way to throw them, but it was with great sadness that he realized he had overestimated his capabilities. Even after throwing the knives for an entire day to the point where both of his arms ached, no progress was made at all…

By day, he was training in peace, and by night, he was…

In the crafting caves, Bai Yunfei held up the metallic throwing knife he had just gotten from the cauldron with a satisfied smile. “It broke through the 600 attack boundary… a mid-earth tier soul armament should have 800 attack. That means I’ve less than a third of the way left to go. I wonder how much longer it’ll take before I can craft a mid-earth tier soul armament. Is it really when I become a mid-stage Soul Ancestor like master said?

“But… should I use the Upgrade Technique to try and improve its attack?” Bai Yunfei thought.

He shook his head immediately after asking himself that question. “Forget it. I nearly lost my life trying to do my best to improve before. I can’t risk my life like that again. I have to keep a low profile now and make sure I can improve one step at a time!”

Right as he was thinking, the voice of Song Lin called out to him from outside the cave. “Yunfei, are you finished with your crafting?”

Startled, Bai Yunfei replied, “Brother Song, please come in.”

Song Lin walked into the caves at a swift pace. Before Bai Yunfei could even ask what was going on, Song Lin spoke with a grim expression, “Yunfei. Come with me to the Northern Point, something has happened!”