In the southern provinces of the continent. Freesia City, Yellow River Province.

Four figures walked through the bustling streets of the city; two males, two females. They were not an inconspicuous group. One of the males had a handsome face that caught the admiring eyes of many women. And the two females were equally eye-catching to the countless male travelers on that street.

Bai Yunfei glanced over to Li Chengfeng, “Chengfeng,” he quipped with a sour look, “you have no business being as handsome as you are now. I feel like a butler to a scholar right now. Had I known earlier I would’ve changed your face…”

Huangfu Rui chose then to turn around to comfort Bai Yunfei, “Don’t feel so bad, brother Yunfei.” She laughed, “You’re the most handsome in my eyes, brother Chengfeng can’t even compare!”

“Haha, thanks for your words, I just knew—”

“Wow! Look at that monkey over there! Sis Yun, let’s take a look! That monkey is so cute! It’s even cuter than Xiao Rourou!”

And Huangfu Rui was off. Having not even heard Bai Yunfei’s words, she was already tugging Tang Xinyun away with her to look at the nearby monkey show taking place while the small magiboar followed behind her.

“……”

Bai Yunfei was left standing there, his head shaking in his hand.

It had been two days since Shen Pojun declared that the school would attack the Wind Lightning School. In those two days, Bai Yunfei had managed to ‘uproot’ the entire Crafting School into the Core World with the assistance of Shen Pojun. That took a single day. On the morning of the next, Bai Yunfei used the Core Stone to transport them through the continent at an accelerated pace. 

And now the group was in the Yellow River Province, a province that had yet to hear about the ‘disappearance’ of the Crafting School.

The Wind Lightning School was located in the Black River Province, a neighboring province of the province they were currently in. Another reason Bai Yunfei was here in this city was so he could see the Ye. Ye Zhiqiu in particular.

The two had plenty in common. They joined the same school at the same time, had a good friendship, and were both equally talented. Though he didn’t have the Extreme King Pill to help him, Ye Zhiqiu was able to become an Early-stage Soul King on his own merits just last year. He had to leave for his home two months prior, so Bai Yunfei had yet to see him when he went back to the school. As such, it would be a nice coincidence to meet him here and see how he was doing.

As of right now, the entirety of the Crafting School was being ‘carried’ by Bai Yunfei. They were all in the Core World and were busy preparing for war while Bai Yunfei traveled on the outside with Tang Xinyun, Li Chengfeng, and Huangfu Rui.

On the topic of Huangfu Rui, the young woman had changed drastically since she awoke. Physically, she had aged from being young and childish to being more beautiful as appropriate for her age. Mentally, she spoke with far more eloquence than before, much to everyone’s delight. She didn’t even call Bai Yunfei as ‘bro strawhat’ anymore, choosing to call him ‘brother Yunfei’ instead.

……

Freesia City was not a very large one, but the Ye were still quite a big family, so it took very little time or energy for the group to find their main residence.

They stopped in front of the main entrance, but they saw neither guard nor worker anywhere to be seen. The entire entrance looked bleak.

Bai Yunfei was confused. Knocking on the door, he waited until a young servant girl opened the door just a crack, “Is there something the matter, sire?” She asked.

“We are friends of Ye Zhiqiu.” Bai Yunfei introduced, “we came to pay him a visit if you could please tell him that.”

“Friends of master Zhiqiu?” The servant girl’s eyes widened just a fraction, “I am sorry, sires. Master Zhiqiu isn’t home right now, and the house isn’t receiving any guests at the moment. Please come back another time.”

And before he could speak, the servant girl had retreated back into the residence and closed the door.

“Well…”

“It seems like he’s not home.” Bai Yunfei turned back to face Tang Xinyun, “What’s wrong with his family though? Not receiving guests? Did something happen?”

“Do you think Zhiqiu is already on his way back to the school?”

“It’s possible.” Bai Yunfei nodded. “News of the battle should have already reached this province. I’m sure Zhiqiu would’ve learned about it and rushed back…we must’ve missed each other then. I wonder how he’ll react when he finds the school’s completely gone? Haha….

“But since that’s the case, let’s get going towards the Wind Lightning School.”

And so the group turned around. If Ye Zhiqiu wasn’t here, then their business in Freesia City was all but concluded. Slowly, but surely, they navigated through the streets to reach a slightly remote part of the city before stopping—their senses had picked up on the fact that someone was trailing them.

Trailing wasn’t the best word, but rather ‘chasing’. Practically in a panic, this person seemed to be running straight for them. Judging from the aura, this person was a Soul Sprite only.

Quickly, the person turned around the corner and came into view. It was just a young girl, whose face was filled with frantic anxiety. She lit up when she saw Bai Yunfei’s group and hurriedly sprinted to get closer.

Not even waiting for Bai Yunfei to ask who she was, the girl immediately began to speak, “You…you are friends of my brother, right?! You came to see him?”

“Your brother?” Bai Yunfei repeated, “Are you Zhiqiu’s sister?”

“I am!” She replied, “I’m Ye Zhiyun. You guys really must be my brother’s friends…”

“Take a deep breath now, what happened? I’m Bai Yunfei, a fellow student with your brother. How—”

“Bai Yunfei? You’re Bai Yunfei!?” The excitement could hardly be contained in her voice now. She fell to the ground in a deep groveling position, “Big brother Bai, please…please save my brother! He’s…he’s…”

Startled, Bai Yunfei waved his hand to bring the girl back to her feet. “What? What’s going on, what happened to your brother?” He queried.

“He’s been…he’s been jailed! He was thrown into our deep chambers by our dad…our dad…he’s changed! I don’t know why he’s suddenly turned into such a terrible man and torturing him…please save him! I’m…I’m begging you…”

“What!?” Thunderstruck, Bai Yunfei turned his attention back to where the Ye residence was and sent a strong burst of soulsense there.

“That bastard!!” Moments later, Bai Yunfei exploded with unbridled fury. In one instant he was gone, the Core Stone having taken him away from the area at once.

Blinking once, Li Chengfeng looked back to the others. “Let’s head back to the Ye at once!”

……

Ye Manor. In one of the hidden rooms deep underground.

A musty scent pervaded the room. It was particularly dark in this room and hardly had any decorations or furniture. Blood splatters dyed the ground a nasty reddish-black, a sign that most of the blood had already been there for a while. A single person was tied up on one of the walls so that both arms were suspended by chains. Terrible wounds covered the body of this person, and it could be seen that a copious amount of blood was still dripping from their body.

Despite being so bloody, anyone would still be able to recognize this person as being Ye Zhiqiu!

There was actually another person in this room. A yellow-faced man in black robes stood in front of him. Snapping his fingers, the man summoned a black whip-like light to strike Ye Zhiqiu, opening up a new wound on his body.

“Heh, what a persistent brat you are. I admit, you’re something else. Death will take you first before you’ll tell us the art of crafting or any other secret…Forget it then, we’ll just have to use Soul Puppetry and use whatever we get…”

He had grown tired of torturing Ye Zhiqiu without any results. Turning around, he started to leave the room to prepare for the next act.

But then…

A rift opened up within the room, allowing for a person to step through it at once!

The person appeared so quickly in the room the man had barely any time to act! Flaring up, the Mid-stage Soul King prepared to fight—

But Bai Yunfei was faster.

All Bai Yunfei had to do was wave his right hand and the man found himself completely unable to move. Not able to resist the forces acting upon his body, the Soul King felt his soulforce be forced into complacency before he was thrown across the room.

“Boom!!”

He slammed into the wall furthest from him and left a crater in it before sliding down the ground, unconscious.

Ignoring the corpse on the ground, Bai Yunfei whirled around to Ye Zhiqiu. Snapping the confines on his arms, Bai Yunfei quickly helped the man up to his feet. Sending his own soulforce into the injured man, Bai Yunfei quickly undid all the blockages on his acupoints and fed Ye Zhiqiu a pill.

“How are you feeling, Zhiqiu?” He asked after seeing some improvement.

“Yun…Yunfei?”

Muttered Ye Zhiqiu. His head was still dazed from the torture, but his eyes could still recognize Bai Yunfei. He tried to speak more, but the only thing that accomplished was having more blood be expelled from his mouth.

“Stay quiet for now, wait until your wounds get better.”

Shushing the man, Bai Yunfei gently sat the man back down to the ground. Once he made sure Ye Zhiqiu was safe and in a good state, he stood back up. 

“Boom!!”

The door to the room exploded violently, showering the room with its splinters as two figures charged into the place… 

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