Now that Bai Yunfei had two-thousand soulforce for the final fight, the elemental fire within the origin acupoint was compressing to half its original size with barely any of it escaping.

The fire outside of Bai Yunfei’s body was starting to shrink to the size of a quail’s egg, and by now, it was halfway in his body!

During the moment of elation…

“Blip…”

Like a bubble being popped, the nearly formed essence fireseed was disrupted!

The partially embedded fireball outside Bai Yunfei’s body was rejected, and as soon as it was completely out of his body, it exploded!

This time, the elemental fire that was within his acupoint ballooned over ten times more than before!!

“Boom!!”

An unprecedented level of light exploded from the Flame Gathering Formation as a pillar of fire shot into the air. It blasted apart the roof of the cave and headed into the sky!!

With an exponential amount of elemental fire bursting out, the cave around Bai Yunfei started to crackle. Fractures appeared all over its surface, and when the fire slammed into the walls, Xiao Binzi immediately realized the danger.

His right hand flew up and an orange pearl was thrown overhead. It then enveloped the group in an orange light, protecting them from the elemental fire.

“Yunfei!!”

It took a moment before Tang Xinyun could fully respond. With a frightened cry, she tried to run toward Bai Yunfei, but before she could, Cang Yu grabbed ahold of her.

A feeling of unease welled up inside of her. The sight of the person inside the pillar proved far too much for her to bear any longer; turning to Zi Jin, who was in front of her, she pleaded, “Senior headmaster… Yunfei can’t hold out any longer! Please save him! There’s not enough time!!”

From where he stood, Zi Jin was completely still. When the words of Tang Xinyun reached him, a feeling of worry and regret flashed across his eyes, “Alas… it looks like this attempt didn’t work…”

He wanted to help Bai Yunfei since his first failure, but Bai Yunfei had been so determined to make it work that the fourth attempt was already at hand. That much alone was enough to make Zi Jin admire Bai Yunfei’s tenacity. He had also hoped that Bai Yunfei would surprise him once more.

But it didn’t look like that would happen any more. Bai Yunfei had failed again, and the Flame Gathering Formation was in a flux. If he didn’t step in now, Bai Yunfei’s life may very well be in danger.

Right as he was about to step in, however, something surprising happened!

The instant the elemental fire exploded, Bai Yunfei felt as if his entire body was about to shatter apart. His mind went blank for a small second, but the pain was enough to anchor him back to reality. Not a single inch of his entire body was not in pain!

There was an odd-red color around his body where the cracks were forming. It wasn’t blood that was leaking out, but a red mist.

“Dammit dammit dammit!! Calm down!!” Bai Yunfei practically howled. His body felt as if a gale was tearing it apart with how he was losing control of the elemental fire. Even his soul felt as if it was being ignited from all the heat, but he was loath to give up now.

“Am I still unable to do it? Why? Why is this happening…

“I had an extremely rare chance with so many preparations in place. So many primal stones and medicines were used, and even then, I still couldn’t do it? I was still reduced to this sad state…?” Knowing that nothing could be done to redeem the situation, Bai Yunfei’s mouth was filled with the bitter taste of agonizing defeat.

He didn’t want to give up, but he had nothing to go on with.

He also knew that Zi Jin would save him no matter what, so even if he was about to be torn apart by the fire around him, he wasn’t particularly worried. Still if he squandered this chance, there would be no time for a second.

Already, Bai Yunfei’s mind was starting to grow hazy. When he looked up at the nearby fire, he could practically feel it solidifying around him.

But then…

A heart-pounding throb ran through his body as if his heart was sending him some sort of blessing. With renewed vigor, Bai Yunfei’s eyes lit up, and his right hand shook slightly as a flash of light flew out.

The Cataclysmic Seal!!

“Brrrr!!”

The instant the Cataclysmic Seal appeared, it gave a s.h.i.+ver as if excited to be there. Floating above Bai Yunfei’s head, the brick started to spin.

For an array as large as this one, a small brick was something it could overlook, but when the brick started to move about, all of the fire was effected.

Soon enough, a whirlpool of flames was created, and at the center of it all was the Cataclysmic Seal!

“Whew…”

Under the amazed eyes of Zi Jin and everyone else, the flames spiraled around the Cataclysmic Seal before shrinking to be absorbed into it!

As the array started to glow brilliantly with light, the elemental fire inside started to flow into the Cataclysmic Seal!

“Crack.” There was the sound of something cracking.

One of the primal stones now had a crack running through it.

Then, like a chain reaction, a series of cracks could be heard as the other primal stones started to shatter as well.

The Cataclysmic Seal may as well been a bottomless pit. In a short few moments, all of the elemental fire in the array was sucked into it, causing the entire cave to darken. With the absence of light, nothing could be seen, and the remaining primal stones were all reduced to ashes!

In the cave, the only thing that radiated any light was the Cataclysmic Seal, and right underneath it, Bai Yunfei could be seen lying on the ground.

Silence reigned through the cave as everyone looked at him in confusion. Not a single one of them knew what to do.

“Yunfei!!”

The first person to move was Tang Xinyun. With a shout, she ran to where Bai Yunfei was without hesitation. When she lifted him up, she could see steam floating out of his body from the many cracks on him.

In a flash, Zi Jin appeared right next to her. Grabbing hold of Bai Yunfei’s right arm, he began to inspect his body.

“Yunfei… Yunfei! Are you okay!? Please, wake up!” The steaming shape that Bai Yunfei was in had startled Tang Xinyun. Panicked and with eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears, she looked to Zi Jin, “Senior headmaster, what’s happening to Yunfei? You have to save him!”

Stooping down, Cang Yu clasped a gentle hand on Tang Xinyun’s shoulder. “Xinyun, don’t worry. Yunfei won’t be in any danger with the previous headmaster here.”

“But… Yunfei is…” Already, Tang Xinyun felt her throat constrict with emotions. Turning her head back to Cang Yu, Tang Xinyun’s eyes were completely stricken with worry.

It was then that Zi Jin pulled his hand away from Bai Yunfei’s right shoulder. “Worry not, Yunfei is fine. He has suffered many physical wounds, but nothing time won’t fix…”

Seeing Tang Xinyun wipe gently at the many wounds on Bai Yunfei’s face, Zi Jin could only sigh and shake his head. He turned back to look at the Cataclysmic Seal above Bai Yunfei with a look of wonder.

The Cataclysmic Seal let loose several flashes of light before falling with a thud right next to Bai Yunfei’s side. Devoid of color now, it looked like a normal brick…

This attempt to form a second essence fireseed had squandered several hundred fire primal stones and countless of precious medicines.

In the end, it was a complete failure.

When Bai Yunfei was brought back to his room, no one knew when he’d wake up. The elemental fire had left a number of wounds all over his body, and it continued to burn him. Streams of steam could still be seen rising from Bai Yunfei’s body—much to the shock of many.

It was a stretch to say he was in danger, but Bai Yunfei clearly was in a very weakened state. That was why even Zi Jin was hesitant to try and do anything. Right now, only Bai Yunfei himself could try to recover.

It was fortunate that he had armor that helped speed up the recovery process, so within half a day, the elemental fire died down to a gradual lull and the wounds around his body stopped bleeding. They finally started the healing process.

With Bai Yunfei’s recovery speed and the added a.s.sistance of his equipment, a full recovery would not take long.

But a question remained to be answered. Would this failure to form the essence fireseed have any lasting effect on him?

And the Cataclysmic Seal. After absorbing the elemental fire, even if it was only for a short amount of time, would it change the essence fireseed within it?