A group of six flew through the air, the leader of them riding on top of a flying sword. In his hand was a compass-like object to point their way while the leader spread his soulsense out to scan the area. He was seemingly looking for something.

The other five behind him were skywalking, meaning they were definitely Soul Exalts. Two of them were Early-stage Soul Exalt, and another two were Mid-stage Soul Exalts.

Though there was a slightly yellow-faced man leading the group, the rest of the people there were flying slightly closer towards the one nearest to him. That person wasn’t using a flying sword or skywalking to travel through the skies. A faint gold light was instead lighting up his person as he flew through the skies.

It was a Soul King.

This person wore a black robe and had unexpectedly white hair. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary in terms of his appearance other than the fact that this was probably a young man.

Probably in the fact that a proper judgment couldn’t be made with the golden mask on his face. It was impossible to tell how old this person really was with it on.

A single bloody crack ran down the golden surface of the mask like a scar. It seemed almost demonic with how jagged the lines ran and how ominous it looked. The only part of the face the mask didn’t cover was the eyes. The right eye was rather average-looking. But the left eye had a very peculiar iris. Where most humans would have a circular pupil, this eye had a vertical one like a beast!

Bai Yunfei would definitely be surprised if he was here to see this person. He knew this person, in fact! This person was…Yao Tong!

Their first meeting was when Bai Yunfei was but a mere Soul Sprite and leaving the Azure Cloud Province to head for the Crafting School. It was just outside Stonegroove City that he met Jing Mingfeng and was pursued by Yao Tong. 

The second meeting came two years later after Bai Yunfei came out from the Soulbeast Forest and was dealing with the house of Xing in Ventia City.

The two were meeting again here in the Soul Refining School! And…Yao Tong was a Soul King now!

“Elder Yao Tong, I’m exceptionally sorry to have you come back to our school as a guest elder while in a situation like this. Our trip to the Scripture Archives for a soul skill and the Armament Arsenal for a soul armament will have to be postponed…”

The Late-stage Soul Exalt spoke apologetically to Yao Tong as the group flew onward.

Yao Tong wasn’t a student of the Soul Refining School, but he had been ‘aligned’ with them for the past dozen years or so. Yao Tong had the privilege of being a guest elder now that he was a Soul King, and the rules of the Soul Refining School stipulated that any guest elder would be given the right to any single low-heaven tier soul skill and low-heaven tier soul armament. It was a type of ‘wecloming gift’ of sorts.

Yao Tong had actually come back to the Soul Refining School to see to that matter when Bai Yunfei ‘intruded’ onto the school. Practically everyone had been sent out to find him, and Yao Tong was no exception to that.

A flicker of light crossed Yao Tong’s eyes. “It’s no matter. An enemy appearing on school grounds should be dealt with promptly.”

He was very surprised to even hear about Bai Yunfei, but no one knew that.

“Bai Yunfei…is it really him? I never imagined he of all people would show up here. What a fine mess this is, but…this might be a good thing for me…”

His eyes flickered over to a nearby mountain point. “Let’s search that area. I can feel a strange disturbance in the elements there. The enemy might be hiding there.”

This wasn’t the first time Yao Tong mentioned a ‘suspicious’ area, but each time he did, he searched the area in earnest and earned the respect of every student there with him.

This time, however, the Late-stage Soul Exalt leading the group had an unwell look on his face. “Elder Yao Tong. that place…cannot be investigated. The enemy will definitely not be there.”

“Oh?” Yao Tong remarked. “Why’s that?”

The man looked hesitant to respond for a moment. “That area is prohibited to enter. Important people are locked up there and is usually looked after by two Soul King elders. One of the elders is involved with the search for the intruder, but there is still one left to protect it. The intruder would have to be stupidly brave to try and hide there.”

“Oh? I see…” Yao Tong nodded ‘knowingly’. It was imperceptible to anyone else, but the realization of what that place was brought a brilliant gleam to his eyes!

“Eh?! A report’s coming in!” One of the Mid-stage Soul Exalts from behind called out. In his hand was a jade slip that was glowing with a peculiar light. “The enemy’s hiding near the Amethyst Cliff! We are to head over there immediately!”

In his hand was a messaging slip. By adjusting the frequency of its waves, simple messages could be transmitted from one slip to another.

The Late-stage Soul Exalt had a cross look on his face, “Alright! Elder Yao Tong, let us hea—”

“Pcht!!”

A gruesome gushing sound interrupted the Soul Exalt mid-speech. The light in his eyes dimmed as he looked down at his chest where a bloody hand was protruding out from it—and within the hand was a still-beating heart!

The hand pulled back out from the chest to leave the Soul Exalt staring at the empty cavern where his most important organ used to be. For a moment, he stayed there in the air before falling down from the skies. As he fell, his eyes looked to the heart in Yao Tong’s hand… 

“Ahh!! Elder Yao Tong! What are you doing?!”

“Watch out! Ahhh!!!”

“Ah! Ah! Ahh!!”

Pandemonium struck out from the remaining four Soul Exalts. They started to scream out in panic as they realized Yao Tong had just killed their leader, but even they were silenced just two seconds later… 

Yao Tong felt nothing as he watched the five dead members of the Soul Refining School fall to the ground. In his hand were their space rings, though he didn’t care quite enough about them to look through them now. Instead, he turned his hid towards the faraway mountain from earlier and flew over after a moment to think… 

    …………

In another part of the mountainous area, Bai Yunfei was looking all around himself with a very dark expression.

He was surrounded.

His enemies weren’t directly in front of him yet, but it wouldn’t be long until then. The encirclement would only get smaller and smaller from here on out, meaning he wouldn’t be able to escape.

It might’ve been possible for Bai Yunfei to hide in the Core World if he dove into the forest and hide his presence right now, but that was just delaying the inevitable. The enemy knew what Bai Yunfei could do and would definitely hide out here as long as it took until Bai Yunfei appeared again. Knowing that, what could Bai Yunfei do, hide in the Core World forever?

Bai Yunfei didn’t want to choose that option anyways.

There was no choice but to fight. If all these people were coming in to attack him, then he’d break out of here then!

Eyes flashing dangerously now that he came to a decision, Bai Yunfei glanced over to his left. Not a single mountain stood there, making it just an empty space of air with just flat or low lands beneath it.

The Heaven’s Thunder took Bai Yunfei off towards the area he looked at at once. Kicking his speed up a notch, Bai Yunfei flew at a speed even faster than his pursuers!

It didn’t take long for another dozen enemies to appear in front of him. Several of them were on flying soul armaments, though the majority were either Skywalking. There were however, two people who were flying.

A Mid-stage Soul King and an Early-stage Soul King.

At the sight of Bai Yunfei, the group in front of them immediately began to explode with chaotic chatter!

“Watch out, he’s coming over!”

“Dodge him! Don’t make contact!”

“Retreat! Elder Li and I will stop him!”

“Retreaaatttt!!”

“Ah! Ahhhh!”

As the crowd exploded with noise, Bai Yunfei shot into their group with the speed of a shooting star.

He was like the wolf among the flock of sheep!

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