Chapter 329: The Mushroom is Back, But Now What?! (Third)
“Hold on, brother Han. He’s a brother of mine.”
The calm voice of Bai Yunfei stopped Han Chong from doing anything more. Turning his head in surprise, he saw a smile appear on Bai Yunfei’s face.
Turning back to where the source of the earlier sound had come from, Han Chong could see a young man with a straw hat on his head walk oit of the thickets. Upon seeing him, the throwing dagger in Han Chong’s hand was returned to storage.
“Mingfeng, what happened?”
He nodded at the man being dragged by Jing Mingfeng. No movement or sound was coming from the man, meaning that he was dead.
Tossing the corpse off to the side, Jing Mingfeng said, “Found him trying to spy on you guys. Thought I’d just break a leg or two and take him alive, but the guy went and killed himself before I could stop him.”
Jing Mingfeng had originally planned to hide some distance away to watch the fight. If Bai Yunfei couldn’t fight or couldn’t catch up to the two enemies, Jing Mingfeng would show up to save the day.
However, Bai Yunfei’s quick kill of the two left him so speechless that he almost lost the spy. Thankfully, the spy was only a mid-stage Soul Sprite. He was captured without any further trouble, but Jing Mingfeng hadn’t expected him to commit suicide.
Bai Yunfei’s eyes narrowed together as he pondered the conundrum of who the enemies were. “Any clues on him?” He nodded at the corpse.
“He had come prepared. I didn’t find any clues at all.” Jing Mingfeng frowned.
The question could only be set aside for now after not arriving at an answer. If Bai Yunfei had to guess, these enemies had likely heard about the fireseed spirit mushroom via some sort of secret channel and had planned this robbery beforehand. It wasn’t uncommon, at the very least, but who they were didn’t matter any more.
He had taken the fireseed spirit mushroom, so all that was left to to do was to give it to Tang Xinyun and help her reform her essence fireseed so they could return to the Crafting School. Not much else needed to be done.
What came after was a series of questions for Wu Cheng. Bai Yunfei learned that the robbery attempt was made when Wu Cheng and the others were traveling down Mt. Rubble. Without any prior warning, the seven soldiers that were accompanying Wu Cheng were killed, and Wu Cheng found himself alone.
It didn’t take long for him to be hurt by the two Soul Ancestors and the space ring stolen in his carelessness.
When it seemed as though all hope was lost, the hired help from the Wu, Han Chong and Han Lin, arrived just in time to save him. They were unable to kill the two Soul Ancestors, but their combined effort was more than enough to stall the robbers long enough for further assistance to arrive. However, no one had expected that help to be Bai Yunfei.
Wu Cheng was opening and closing his mouth. There was clearly something he wanted to say, but had no idea how to approach the matter.
“Uncle Wu, you must want to talk about the fireseed spirit mushroom, correct?” Bai Yunfei smiled, “I forgot to mention. I’m the one who bought it at the auction. Since I was afraid of something happening to it, I came here first. The Wu should be sending some men here that can confirm what I have said to you.”
A sigh of relief escaped from Wu Cheng’s mouth before he uttered his thanks. Bai Yunfei looked like a late-stage Soul Warrior, but there was absolutely no way that he’d treat Bai Yunfei with anything but respect now.
Perhaps Bai Yunfei was the young prodigy of a major school or family, or perhaps he was hiding his strength somehow.
Either way, Wu Cheng was under the belief that Bai Yunfei could very well be a Soul Exalt at the very least…
“Aren’t you getting a little too ridiculous, Ol’Bai? Those two were Soul Ancestors, a mid-stage and a late-stage, yet you killed them that easily!?” Jing Mingfeng stared incredulously at the crater left behind by the Cataclysmic Seal.
Eyeing Bai Yunfei as he walked around to pick up the Lightning Bolt Dagger that had been thrown around earlier, Jing Mingfeng continued, “But wow… this has to be what you called your ‘lifebound armament,’ eh? It’s really something else. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of a soul armament that can change shape, but I’ve never seen something like this either.
“Ridiculous, that’s what it is. No wonder you’re a disciple of the Crafting School!
“Ugh, I lose again! Compared to you, can I even really say I got stronger!
“Actually, that lifebound armament of yours looks familiar, wonder why? Feels like I’ve seen it somewhere before…”
Upon mentioning ‘lifebound armament’ and ‘Crafting School disciple,’ Han Chong’s ears perked up attentively. He didn’t know what the former term meant, but the latter term was more than obvious for him.
So, Bai Yunfei was the disciple to someone from the Crafting School!! No wonder he had that many soul armaments and that much power…
A question still remained, who was his elder?
The question would find no answer. Two relatively strong bursts of soulforce came toward them from the north. Shortly afterward, a gold figure and a violet figure came running toward them. The figures turned out to be Wu Peng and Wu Jian. Behind the two of them were their relatively slower group of men.
“Big brother, Wu Jian, you’re here!” Wu Cheng moved swiftly to them.
Though Wu Peng was able to witness a good deal of the situation from afar, he wasn’t able to verify his doubts. When he saw that Wu Cheng and even Bai Yunfei were both safe and sound, he let out a sigh of relief.
The enemies were nowhere to be seen, and doubt to arose in his mind.
Did the enemies escape with the fireseed spirit mushroom?
The nod and smile Bai Yunfei gave him told him otherwise. Wu Peng relaxed again in relief. He answered Bai Yunfei with a polite greeting before moving toward them, but when he made a single step forward, he noticed the giant crater off to the side. Craning his neck toward Wu Cheng, he asked, “What happened? Where are the others?”
“Aside from me,” Wu Cheng’s face darkened in color, “everyone else is dead. The enemy was… just far too strong. We had no chance of surviving their ambush…”
“…” Wu Peng said nothing in response. The ones who were accompanying Wu Cheng were all competent fighters in their own right and were a sizeable force for the Wu. As such, their deaths brought plenty of anger to Wu Peng.
“Do we know who they were?” Wu Peng softly growled.
“They had no identifying marks,” Wu Cheng shook his head, “I was unable to tell who they work for.”
“How many were there? Where did they run off to?”
“There were two Soul Ancestors. One was a mid-stage, the other was a late-stage, but they’re bot—”
“They’re both dead by my hand.” Bai Yunfei interejected. “Uncle, the ones who stole the fireseed spirit mushroom are dead already. I have no idea if they’re enemies of your family or something else, but the fireseed spirit mushroom is in my hands. For the sake of avoiding any more complications, let’s conclude this deal here. Here is the heaven tier soul armament.”
He took a golden blade from his space ring without any further words and handed it to Wu Peng.
“This…” What Bai Yunfei had said left Wu Peng unable to say anything. What was it he just said?
The two enemies Wu Cheng had been fighting had been killed by him!?
“But… but Wu Cheng said that there was a mid-stage and a late-stage Soul Ancestor!!”
He glanced to Wu Cheng first, looking for confirmation. When his glance was returned with a nod, Wu Peng’s lips pursed together to quell his shock. Accepting the golden sword into his hands, he managed to force a smile to his face, “Well… lord Bai, then as you say, I would like to sincerely apologize for this troublesome matter today…”
“No need. Now that our deal is finished, I’ll leave the rest to you to take care of.” Bai Yunfei waved his hand, reluctant to get any more involved in this matter.
“Brother Han,” he turned to Han Chong on the right, “I’m in a bit of a hurry to get back to Mo City, so I’ll be going first. Here’s a token of my appreciation….”
Thinking about what to give the two brothers, Bai Yunfei shook his hand, taking out a short dagger. It was the very same dagger he had offered up in the auction house with enough attack to be a high-earth tier soul armament.
“I’ll give you this high-earth tier soul armament as thanks for helping protect the fireseed spirit mushroom. Will that be enough?” Bai Yunfei lifted the dagger to Han Chong. Though the two brothers were experts at using throwing daggers, a short dagger like this would come in handy for close-ranged combat.
“I…” Han Chong’s ears found it extremely hard to believe what they were hearing. Looking at the high earth tier soul armament in Bai Yunfei’s hands, Han Chong said, “Brother Bai, what do you mean by this? Safeguarding the fireseed spirit mushroom is something we’re supposed to do. How could we ask for another reward? I… I cannot accept this.”
Bai Yunfei laughed. He tossed the dagger to Han Chong, “I said it before, this fireseed spirit mushroom is extremely important to me. You did me a great favor by helping me, so if I don’t thank you, I’d feel guilty. Take it, brother Han, and if you have the time, come to Mo City and ask for me at the house of Tang. I’ve a few questions about the flying daggers, so I hope you will be able to take the time to teach me…”
Taking a second look at the dagger in his hands, Han Chong hesitated one second more while listening to what Bai Yunfei said. He finally nodded his head. “In that case… I won’t be refusing this. Please expect me in the future, brother Bai.”
“Very well. Then… if nothing else needs to be done, I’ll be heading back. Until next time, brothers!”
Bai Yunfei nodded to everyone in farewell before taking the Tempest Sword out from his ring. Hopping onto it, he waited for Jing Mingfeng to climb aboard before shooting off through the sky back to Mo City.
……
Since the fireseed spirit mushroom was back in his hands, Bai Yunfei saw no reason to travel at a breakneck speed like before. When he thought about going back and helping Tang Xinyun recover her essence fireseed, Bai Yunfei’s entire body felt extremely light.
Jing Mingfeng could be heard letting out a sigh. Thinking it to be quite strange, Bai Yunfei asked, “Hey, what’s with the sigh?”
“Er… I just felt like that battle was really unsatisfying. I wanted to show off. You know, I was looking forward to making a flashy entrance! But… but you went ahead and finished it off in two to three minutes while I caught a small-fry. It’s unsatisfying, I tell you…” Jing Mingfeng shook his head sadly.
“……”
About fifty minutes later, Mo City was finally coming into view. Bai Yunfei found himself speeding up unintentionally, heading to the inn from before.
The inn where Tang Xinyun was waiting.
“Chirp!!”
Suddenly, Bai Yunfei could hear the anxious cry of a bird up in the sky, causing the expression on his face to harden.
“That’s Xiao Bai! Something bad happened!!”
Alarmed, Bai Yunfei urged his Tempest Sword in the direction of the cry.