A gray light was shining from the surface of the Soul Sentinel Scarf. Flickering in a rhythmic pattern, the light slowly grew in brightness until it was about the size of a fist.

With how rhythmic the light flashed and how it moved about, one could perhaps be mistaken that the light was a fairy of some kind.

“He’s awake! Sentinel’s awake!!”

A white tiger exclaimed from beside Bai Yunfei. It was an excited Sealer.

“That’s without a doubt Sentinel’s ‘aura’. It’s not a newborn spirit, it’s the original Sentinel.”

Xiao Fang spoke from the left side of Bai Yunfei.

“Sealer…Core…”

A voice, soft-spoken like a whisper almost, spoke from within the gray light of the Soul Sentinel Scarf!

“Eh?! He still remembers us?! Haha! That’s definitely Sentinel then!” Sealer began to cackle with laughter, excited to meet his old friend once again.

Bai Yunfei was excited to hear Sentinel too. With Sentinel’s spirit awake, that meant the Soul Sentinel Scarf would be a lot stronger than before.

It seemed Sentinel was still muddled, however. More time would most likely be needed before Sentinel was back at full capacity.

“Awaking that spirit required less work than I expected. I will not need to go into hibernation, it seems. It is strange…this Regalia was stronger than I initially thought. I assumed this Regalia was only a low-divine tier, but I distinctly felt the power of a high-divine tier when it was being refined…”

Heavenfire muttered as he observed the Soul Sentinel Scarf. 

Bai Yunfei fastened the Regalia back onto his forehead first before bowing to Heavenfire. “Thank you for your help, senior Heavenfire.”

Heavenfire waved his hand, “No need for that. I look forward to your future if you could do that much with the Dualflame Cauldron on your first attempt.”

————————

Bai Yunfei and Zi Jin walked out from the examination caves in silence. The latter looked contemplative about something. “Yunfei,” He began to speak, “follow me. There’s something I’d like talk to you about.”

“Eh?” Bai Yunfei blinked, “Yes, master.”

The two walked through a small forest before they arrived at the little residence of Zi Jin.

Directing Bai Yunfei into the home, Zi Jin sat down on a small cot and had his student sit in front of him.

“Yunfei, I’m sure you’re quite curious about little Rui?” He asked, “Allow me to tell you about her situation then…”

“Little Rui?!” Bai Yunfei was shocked. This wasn’t the conversation he was expecting.

Zi Jin nodded. “Yes. Huangfu Nan or Cang Yu was supposed to be the ones to tell you, but I imagine it would be a sore topic for them now. I thought it would be best that I tell you the story then…”

He gave a pained sigh. “As you might’ve expected, this is a story involving your ‘senior’, Dongfang Ming. It happened thirty years ago. I was the headmaster then too, having only just accepted Jiang Nan as my third disciple. Kou Changkong and Dongfang Ming were both disciples at the time….”

A wistful light appeared in his eyes. This was a story that must’ve held plenty of emotions for him, as he looked almost lost as he retold it. And the more Bai Yunfei listened, the more amazed he grew… 

Thirty years ago… 

It was a time when Zi Jin was the headmaster, and Kou Changkong was the ‘rising star’ of his generation. Not only was he talented, but his name was beginning to spread all over the continent. By comparison, the second disciple, Dongfang Ming, was more ‘obscure’. He was a fanatic for crafting and dedicated all of his time and energy in delving into the art of craftsmanship.

In Zi Jin’s eyes, the both of them were outstanding individuals in their own rights. Their priorities were different in ways, but they were still the hopes of the entire Crafting School.

Cang Yu was a senior student at the time. As a powerful and pretty individual, she was the target of affection for many of the male students there. Among those interested were Dongfang Ming and Huangfu Nan… 

Incidentally, Cang Yu and Dongfang Ming were both quite close to one another. Many thought the two would become an official couple when… 

Everything changed one day when Dongfang Ming returned from one of his supply trips. When he did, it seemed like he was an entirely different person… 

As obsessed as he was with crafting, Dongfang Ming would still interact with the other students on a regular basis. But after he returned, he’d spend days locked up in his own cave to craft soul armament after soul armament. No one paid much attention at first, but the situation continued for several months like this. 

That was when Zi Jin realized something was wrong. Approaching his disciple, Zi Jin was horrified to realize that…Dongfang Ming was crafting a demonic armament!

A type of armament forbidden by the Crafting School to craft!

His first thought was to expel Dongfang Ming. But the very thought pained him! Rather than to do that, he decided to be lenient on him due to their relationship as master and student and forbade him from crafting for three years.

But Dongfang Ming’s fascination with demonic armaments was even stronger than Zi Jin imagined! Even after confiscating his materials and cauldron, Zi Jin was amazed to find out Dongfang Ming had a second cauldron and some hidden materials to continue crafting a demonic armament!

To make matters even worse—Dongfang Ming was using an extremely vile method of crafting a demonic armament—the usage of his own blood and soul!

Using the blood and soul of the crafter might not be too abhorrent of a method, but it was a different story if the blood and soul was taken from someone else… 

Dongfang Ming had attacked another crafter within the school and used their blood and soul to craft a demonic armament!

That was when the entire school realized what had happened to him, Dongfang Ming had fallen into madness!

And the student he attacked was a good friend of Jiang Nan!

He fled the school after the deed was done, leaving a heartbroken Zi Jin to be forced to erase his names from the school’s ranks and give chase to kill him.

For kilometers the two played a game of cat and mouse before Zi Jin managed to wound his old student with a serious injury. Before he could land the finishing blow, however, a mysterious figure saved Dongfang Ming and took him away.

And from that moment onward, Dongfang Ming was never heard from again until a year later… 

One year later, Zi Jin was trying to become a Mid-stage Soul Emperor. Then at the most critical moment…Dongfang Ming appeared with several Soul Emperors from the Soul Refining School!

That was when Zi Jin realized it was the Soul Refining School that saved him!

They appeared so suddenly that the Crafting School was caught unprepared. Not only had Zi Jin failed to breakthrough, but he was dealt a critical injury and could only watch as multiple of his students were killed… 

Dongfang Ming planned to bring Cang Yu away at the time, but as it turned out Cang Yu was actually pregnant with Huangfu Nan’s child!

A battle erupted between Dongfang Ming and Huangfu Nan by that time. Before Zi Jin could break up the fight, both Huangfu Nan and Cang Yu were in grave danger—Cang Yu most especially!

In the end, Zi Jin saved the both of them at the cost of his own strength. The wounds he already sustained combined with the ones he got protecting the couple saw to his strength dropping down to the level of a Soul King…

The Crafting School managed to drive off their enemies, but not without paying a heavy price. Many of their students were killed and many of their armories had been looted.

Zi Jin stepped down as headmaster after that. Along with several other of the elders, he disappeared into the northern peak to recuperate his strength.

Huangfu Nan was born not too long after that. Nothing seemed wrong at first, but as she grew up, both Huangfu Nan and Cang Yu realized something heartbreaking… 

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