Chapter 305: Intimidation
Bai Yunfei held his right fist with a calm look of indifference from where he stood.
No one could tell, but the upper right portion of his arm was trembling just slightly in his sleeve.
In order to defeat the mid-stage Soul Ancestor, Lin Li, in one strike, Bai Yunfei owed the… Eighty-one-fold Fist Force!
It was indeed the very same powerful soul skill he hadn’t fully mastered yet!
Using the Cataclysmic Seal wasn’t a guaranteed win against this enemy. With the insane amount of defense that came with being an earth type soul cultivator, Bai Yunfei was afraid that he’d have to expend a large amount of effort in order to defeat him.
But if he used all of his upgraded equipment in unison, he’d have a greater chance of victory. It’d be equally stunning, but it wouldn’t be nearly as impressive as the strategy he went with.
He’d rather use the Eighty-one-fold Fist Force to defeat Lin Li in a single blow. This was the best way to show off one thing: might!
With how strong Lin Li appeared to everyone else, his defeat would surely shock everyone!
This left one more thing to finish off…
Bai Yunfei’s head snapped back to the dazed Hua Chenshi and Hua Binbai. The two of them were stunned into silence when they saw the pain-filled look of shock on Lin Li’s face. Their minds were completely blank, as if unable to compute what was happening.
Smirking, Bai Yunfei’s eyes gained a sharp glint of steel to them. At his command, the Cataclysmic Seal shot forward with tremendous speed, planning on striking Hua Chenshi!!
What Bai Yunfei did was noticed by Hua Chenshi, but there was no way he could move faster than the Cataclysmic Seal as an early-stage Soul Ancestor. Kicking off against the ground, he tried his best to evade. He barely managed to dodge the Cataclysmic Seal and keep it from hitting him.
As soon as Bai Yunfei saw the Cataclysmic Seal graze Hua Chenshi’s skin, his eyes narrowed together. A large amount of soulforce entered the brick, and then, in a flash of light, the brick suddenly expanded, becoming three meters wide!
“Bang!!”
Despite Hua Chenshi’s instinctive attempt to protect himself with his arms and with a glow of white light around him, he was struck by the Cataclysmic Seal. How could he possibly block it? In a single second, he was sent flying through the air. His right arm was bent at an awkward angle, and his face was a flush-red as blood escaped from his mouth.
Hua Binbai was struck by the Cataclysmic Seal as well. He was sent flying backwards before landing on the ground with a thump.
He gave a small groan, and then he fell unconscious.
“……”
Silence descended for some time. This time, even Tang Xinyun was among the ones who stared at Bai Yunfei in shock. Even she didn’t expect Bai Yunfei to so swiftly strike the Hua brothers when he had only just defeated Lin Li. They weren’t servants or guests, and no matter how hedonistic or rude they were, they were still in the direct line of succession to a major family. Injuring them would only mean escalating the initial problem by another level of degree.
In Tang Xinyun’s eyes, this wasn’t something Bai Yunfei would normally do.
It was a little too… overbearing.
Moments went by before Tang Zhi found himself able to speak. The situation at hand was far beyond what he could control now; if the Hua brothers were seriously injured, Tang Zhi wouldn’t be able to save himself from trouble.
Narrowing his eyes, he was just about to command the guards to capture Bai Yunfei when a single hand came down on his shoulder before he could act.
Turning his head, Tang Zhi saw Tang Yongzhong shake his head as if to say no.
“You… who are you!?” Struggling to get up from the ground, Hua Chenshi held his injured left arm with his right. For the first time since he had met Bai Yunfei, he was finally starting to grow concerned about Bai Yunfei’s identity.
It was a test. Since he knew that he was no longer a match for Bai Yunfei, Hua Chenshi could only hope to use the power of his family to exact revenge, but he’d have to know Bai Yunfei’s background before revenge could be exacted.
“You want to know my background?” Bai Yunfei barked with cold laughter. “I am Bai Yunfei of the Crafting School. My master is Zi Jin! If you still wish to fight, then I’ll be happy to keep you company!!” Each word he spoke was spoken with zealous emphasis.
The very mention of the Crafting School was enough to cause the entire group from the Hua to look surprised. Their group, Tang Zhi included, didn’t understand who this ‘Zi Jin’ was, but Tang Yongzhong, who stood behind Tang Zhi, immediately reacted when he heard the name. Though his pupils rapidly dilated, the flash of light that sparked to life was more than enough to cover up the look of disbelief in them.
……
The house of Hua left swiftly after that. They had come in like a tidal wave ready to destroy, but their departure had been as miserable as a pack of beaten wolves.
Turning around, Bai Yunfei completely disregarded Tang Zhi and the others. He walked straight to Tang Xinyun. “Xinyun,” he smiled, “I’ve taken care of the troubles, let’s go on back.”
“……”
Not a single word was said when left. Tang Zhi didn’t even think about trying to stop them.
“Uncle Zhong, what do you think?”
Finally, Tang Zhi asked Tang Yongzhong for his thoughts. No longer was he as cold and indifferent as he was when the Hua were here; he was far more pensive to the eye now.
“Hard to say.” Tang Yongzhong slowly slid his eyes away from Bai Yunfei’s retreating figure of. “He is without a doubt a student of the Crafting School. That object he was using is definitely a soulbound armament, and a special one at that…
“Second, his strength is beyond that of a late-stage Soul Warrior. I can’t sense any elements in his body, but his physical strength is that of a Soul Ancestor at the very least!!”
“Soul Ancestor!!” Tang Zhi had come to this same conclusion as well, but he didn’t dare accept it as fact until Tang Yongzhong confirmed it.
Even then, he found it hard to stomach. It took countless drugs and primal stones to forcibly make him a late-stage Soul Sprite level, yet he had been stuck at the final threshold before the Soul Ancestor level for several years.
Of course, this was due to his poor training talent.
His fourth brother was able to become a late-stage Soul Sprite by the age of sixteen; a feat like that was seen once every several hundred years, even in the house of Tang, but it still remained to be seen if he could become a Soul Ancestor before he hit twenty.
Bai Yunfei was twenty at oldest, yet he was a Soul Ancestor already! Not only that, he was able to defeat a mid-stage Soul Ancestor in one blow; this meant that he was most likely a… late-stage Soul Ancestor!
The very thought of Bai Yunfei being a late-stage Soul Ancestor was enough to shock Tang Zhi to his very core. The ‘ordinary’ boy his fourth sister had brought along, who was he?
“Uncle Zhong, who is this… Zi Jin? Why haven’t I heard about him before? Is he a nobody from the previous generation?” Tang Zhi asked the older man in confusion.
“Don’t be so rude!” Tang Yongzhong suddenly chastised him. “Senior Zi Jin was the… headmaster of the previous generation!”
“Wh—what!?” Eyes bulging out in surprise, Tang Zhi’s current expression had completely shattered the ‘knowledgeable’ persona he had tried so hard to maintain. “That Zi Jin is… the previous headmaster of the Crafting School!? Then wouldn’t that mean Bai Yunfei is…”
Nodding his head with a serious expression, Tang Yongzhong continued, “According to what I know, the last time senior Zi Jin took up a disciple was twenty years ago or so. A man named Jiang Nan, and if Bai Yunfei is a student of the school, he’d surely know better than to make lies like that, so…
“Then the situation has gotten a little more complicated… second master, we should await the lord’s return and speak with him…”
“Yes,” Tang Zhi agreed after giving it much thought, “I’ll wait for tonight. When father returns home, I’ll make the report!”
…………
In one of the left-most rooms of a small courtyard to the west of the Tang residence—
Bai Yunfei sat in front of a circular table with his right arm resting on the table. He wore a different set of robes than before, and even the Ardent Sun Glove was no longer on his right hand. All of the muscles in his right arm constantly twitched, and his skin had bruised a nasty mixture of red and purple. From the looks of things, his arm was in an awful state of pain, and it showed on Bai Yunfei’s grimacing face.
The Eighty-one-fold Fist Force required him to use elemental fire to protect his body, but he hadn’t been able to do so this time. Though it was true that he had the Soul Recovering Armor to help him, it wasn’t enough to fully heal his wounds without the assistance of time.
He didn’t regret it though. Mere flesh wounds like this were nothing since he had managed to accomplish his goal.
For him, that was worth it.
Not only were the Hua completely intimidated by Bai Yunfei’s strength, the Tang were given a hint of what Bai Yunfei was capable of.
In ordinary times, Bai Yunfei preferred to keep a low profile. This didn’t mean to say he wouldn’t make use of his ‘backing’ if he needed to; in fact, he’d make use of it if it was necessary, but until the case proved otherwise, Bai Yunfei found it foolhardy to use that trump card often.
Before this, Bai Yunfei had only been a simple soul cultivator with plenty of soul armaments and a decent talent in cultivation. Those three factors wouldn’t be enough to sway the Tang into thinking Bai Yunfei was a somebody.
However, if he were to add that he was ‘the disciple of the previous headmaster,’ the weight behind his name would grow exponentially.
Showing off his strength and the enormous backing he had at once would provide the biggest impact.
Of course, everything he did was done for the sake of Tang Xinyun.
He wanted to let everyone know that he had Tang Xinyun’s back, and the Crafting School had the back of both of them!
“This way… Xinyun’s mother should have a much better time at home now, right?” Bai Yunfei thought as he fed soulforce into his arm. Turning to look at the darkening sky, he sighed. “It shouldn’t be that simple. I’m sure the Tang will have someone fetch me very soon…”
“Knock knock knock…”
Just then, a knock could be heard coming from the other side of his door.
“Eh? They came that soon?”