Chapter 304: Utter Defeat!!
At Hua Chenshi’s command, seven figures came flying forward with blinding speed to surround Bai Yunfei. None of them had any weapons on hand. They were within the grounds of the Tang after all, so it wouldn’t do to be excessive.
These seven men were all Soul Warriors; meaning that the power of the Hua was considerably large. However, this wasn’t enough to frighten Bai Yunfei just yet, “Do you think you can compare to the Crafting School in strength?” Bai Yunfei thought.
Bai Yunfei no longer had to worry about matters like this; he was a person with ‘backing’ now.
However, mobilizing the Crafting School should only be done when necessary. Now was not one of those times.
“Bang! Bang! Bang…”
The sounds of seven muffled strikes could be heard before the seven Soul Warriors flew back without warning.
They had been beaten back just as quickly as they had come forward.
Everyone found themselves at a loss for words until the very last of the seven came to a stop on the ground. Awed, they looked to where Bai Yunfei was.
Not even a single step had been taken from his original position, but everyone could see a faint red glowing object flying right by his side. It seemed to float in the air as it spun circles around Bai Yunfei.
The Cataclysmic Seal!!
As a lifebound armament, the Cataclysmic Seal could be controlled as easily as moving an arm. If it could be controlled that easily, how could any Soul Warrior hope to defend against it?
They wouldn’t even be able to see it when it struck. If not for Bai Yunfei’s precise control over its strength, the seven would’ve been more than just hurt.
“Aren’t you going to capture me? I haven’t moved at all. If you’ve the skill, come and get me!” Bai Yunfei smirked at the gobsmacked people in front of him.
“Soul armament!!” The pupils in Hua Chenshi’s eyes dilated a bit in shock. Not only was he shocked that Bai Yunfei had one, he was shocked that it was so abnormally strong.
“Autonomous control… he can control it at will!! But how? How could a soul cultivator as weak as a late-stage Soul Warrior possess such a spectacular soul armament!?” Hua Chenshi was lost in thought, but he wasn’t the only one thinking this, everyone else was also thinking this, other than the still-smiling Tang Xinyun.
Events like this would be easily accepted at the Crafting School, but when these events took place in the outside world, where very few knew about soul armaments, they’d be extremely shocking. They weren’t privy to what lifebound armaments were, so there was no way they’d even know the Cataclysmic Seal was one.
Bai Yunfei’s actions were extremely alarming to everyone, but Hua Chenshi was far from intimidated. “Xia Wu, Xia Meng, Chen Chong, and Chen Luo, forward!”
At his command, four new figures flew forward in two pairs of violet and green light. The four of them were mid-stage Soul Sprites. The two on the right were of the lightning affinity, and the two on the left were of the wind affinity. This meant that they were extremely fast compared to the normal soul cultivators. In a matter of moments, they were already close enough to Bai Yunfei to grab each one of his limbs.
Even despite the fact that he was being attacked by four even stronger enemies, Bai Yunfei didn’t move a muscle. His eyes twinkled with light as the Cataclysmic Seal started to act in accordance to his will. A half-circular orange glow of light immediately materialized in front of his body.
“Bang bang bang bang!!”
The four didn’t even have enough time to pull their arms back. Caught off guard by the barrier, their arms struck it, but rather than bounce off, their arms merely stopped!
“They’re stronger!”
With a sneer, Bai Yunfei fed in even more soulforce into his barrier so that it wouldn’t dissipate. Now that his defenses had been bolstered, Bai Yunfei commanded for the Cataclysmic Seal to strike furiously at the four figures close to him.
There was a flash of orange light, rendering the four unable to see what in the world was going on. Before the idea to retreat could even fully form in their heads, the Cataclysmic Seal had struck.
Since it was defending against their attacks, how could it let them get away so easily?
Another four blows could be heard as the Cataclysmic Seal struck each of the four squarely in the chest. They flew through the air from the blow, and two of the fighters were unable to stop themselves from spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“……”
The silence was so thick in the courtyard even a pin could be heard if it were dropped.
If the crowd was ‘awestruck’ by how Bai Yunfei had managed to knock back seven of Soul Warriors, they were now ‘terrorized’ that a late-stage Soul Warrior was able to defeat four Soul Sprites without even lifting his hand!!
No, that wouldn’t be accurate.
Bai Yunfei defeated four Soul Sprites without moving even a single finger!!
Only Bai Yunfei and Tang Xinyun were calm at this development. Even the elder behind Tang Zhi, Tang Yongzhong, was squinting his eyes at Bai Yunfei. Pensive as he observed him, the old man’s eyes flashed brightly, but no one noticed the light.
The corners of Bai Yunfei’s lips quirked just slightly. He raise his right hand and pointed a finger at the remaining middle-aged man. He had scar on his mouth and was standing behind the Hua brothers. “And last up, are you going to let him fight me?”
Hua Chenshi messed up. The proverbial iron plate had been kicked, and now he was left with a stubbed toe to make up for his troubles.
He glared furiously at the still shocked Hua Binbai behind him; not to blame him for being dragged into trouble, but to blame him for not giving correct information. They couldn’t back away now and admitting defeat was no longer a possibility.
Gnashing his teeth, Hua Chenshi commanded the scarred man behind him in a very polite manner rather than the dictative way he spoke to the others, “Uncle Lin, if I could trouble you to help us…”
Lin Li was a guest of the Hua, and he was a mid-stage Soul Ancestor with an affinity for earth. Although he wasn’t super strong, he was still quite a ways stronger than Hua Chenshi.
Though he wasn’t a subordinate of the Hua, so Hua Chenshi made sure to treat him politely.
Lin Li stared inquisitively at Bai Yunfei. It wasn’t clear if he was staring at Bai Yunfei himself or the Cataclysmic Seal floating right next to him. Upon hearing Hua Chenshi’s request, Lin Li gave a stern nod and stalked toward Bai Yunfei. His right arm swung out, revealing bulging muscles, and the pigmentation of his skin began to turn gray in color.
This show of strength caused everyone’s heart to stop for a moment.
The man was a mid-stage Soul Ancestor; a level many times higher than the people from the previous two attempts. Up against an expert like this, would Bai Yunfei be able to defend himself as easily as before?
Turning to look at said person, the crowd could see that there was finally a difference in his stance than before. The Cataclysmic Seal was now floating behind him as if trying to say it wouldn’t be used. His right arm flexed forward in a manner similar to Lin Li, and under everyone’s eyes, a glove the color of violet and black appeared over his right fist.
Everyone thought that Bai Yunfei knew his soul armament wouldn’t be able to help him against this enemy, so he was preparing to fight himself this time.
What they didn’t know was that Bai Yunfei had other plans in mind.
His movements had given Lin Li a brief moment of pause, but the pause was quickly overtaken by a rich amount of fighting spirit as he started to prepare himself for a fight.
He wasn’t stupid enough to believe Bai Yunfei was a weak Soul Warrior, but Bai Yunfei was clearly indicating that he wanted a mano-a-mano battle. That was what made Lin Li so happy.
Soul cultivators with an affinity for the earth all craved this type of battle. A battle where fist would meet fist and where force would be met with force.
The two stalked forward three steps each while they stared hard at one another. As if by some sort of tacit agreement, their legs immediately dug into the ground, and they boosted themselves forward with so much force that they fractured the area underneath them. Like arrows, they flew toward one another with great speed. Lin Li was cloaked in a rich glow of orange light while Bai Yunfei’s right fist had a halo of elemental fire wrapped around it.
There were no superfluous movements or wasted actions. As soon as the two drew close enough to each other, they lashed out with their fists.
“Bang!!”
Red and orange clashed against each other in a brilliant show of light as the two fists collided. Waves of intense heat and energy sloughed off one another. A fearsome storm swept through the surrounding area.
“Crack!!”
Then, the distinct sound of bone being fractured could he heard.
Though relatively soft to the ears, it was loud enough for everyone to hear it clearly. They held their breaths in anticipation. Hua Chenshi and Hua Binbai both looked on in glee. They thought that Bai Yunfei had overestimated himself and lost.
Challenging Lin Li in a battle of fists would surely lead to Bai Yunfei’s arm breaking in several places, if he was not maimed completely. So assured were the two that glee appeared on their faces before the dust died down.
On the other side, Chu Qingxue and Zhao Mancha were looking visibly worried. Even Tang Xinyun—who normally had the utmost faith in Bai Yunfei—was clenching her fists as she strained her beautiful eyes, watching the fight in an unwavering manner.
“Boom!!”
The next moment, a single person flew out of the explosion of light with blood flying from his mouth. As the mist of blood stained the air and eventually the ground, the person came crashing down.
This person had fallen in the opposite direction from where he had started off.
Right next to the Hua brothers!
As soon as Lin Li fell to the ground, the light from the previous collision faded from sight. Left at the center of it all was Bai Yunfei. He was still standing carefree on both feet, and his right arm slightly shook. The red light from his hand was gone now, having retreated back into the area behind him.
A mid-stage Soul Ancestor…
Defeated in one fell stroke!!