Chapter 477: Return to the Class Five Area
Only when the thunderfire wolf’s aura was too far away to detect did Bai Yunfei look away with a sigh.
He was reluctant to part with the wolf in all honesty. Having the assistance of a peak late-stage class six was very reassuring and hard to come by, but the wolf had regained most of its intelligence and was no longer like an ordinary soulbeast. He could no longer treat it as an ‘animal’. In the end, he couldn’t continue with the wolf at his side like this.
If Bai Yunfei was selfish, the wolf wouldn’t have been able to run away, though the difficulty in controlling the wolf would be many degrees harder than it was with the blue-eyes wyrm. A melon that was ripped away from the vine so forcibly wouldn’t taste as sweet, and Bai Yunfei wasn’t interested in forcing the wolf to obey.
There was also Xiao Qi’s relationship with the wolf to consider. Bai Yunfei knew they were extremely close, and that Xiao Qi desired for the wolf’s ‘freedom’. Bai Yunfei was more than willing to let the wolf go with just that reason alone.
“Chirp chirp…..”
Xiao Qi chirped sadly after the thunderfire wolf.
Consoling the bird, Bai Yunfei smiled, “Haha, don’t worry. He’s not like a regular soulbeast anymore. There won’t be many soulbeasts in the class six area that could face him. If he does well enough for himself, he’ll be able to become a class seven and become the ruler of his pack….maybe we’ll meet him again.”
The bird flew back to Bai Yunfei’s shoulder. Still feeling sad over the wolf’s departure, it curled up and started to rest.
Bai Yunfei shook his head. The day was only just getting started. The sun was just barely rising up from the horizons, and the night was still there on the opposite side.
It was time for a new day to start….
“Well…let’s get going!” Bai Yunfei stretched his waist, “Let’s head on through the Crack in the Sky and return to the Tianhun Empire!”
……
It was a simple matter for Bai Yunfei to travel through the stunningly beautiful Crack in the Sky. In no time at all, he was well on his way back to the class five area.
Halfway through the Crack in the Sky, Bai Yunfei came across a few corpses, many of them beautiful young woman even in death. Without a doubt, these women were the students from the Aroma School that the two Soul Exalt brothers had killed.
They only wanted to enter the Soulbeast Forest for training, and yet they had been slaughtered by an unfortunate happenstance.
This too, was the reality of the cruel world of soul cultivators.
Bai Yunfei buried their bodies before he resumed his journey. With how special the Crack in the Sky was, Bai Yunfei made sure to be on the constant move so as to avoid any powerful soul cultivator. The class five area didn’t have any soulbeasts he was afraid of, so Bai Yunfei was able to travel quickly and without concern out from the Crack in the Sky.
Now back in the class five area, Bai Yunfei could feel himself relax. He didn’t fear any of the soulbeasts they met, and Xiao Qi made quick enough work to strike fear in the hearts of every soulbeast there.
Bai Yunfei noticed most of the soulbeasts were just like common animals, soulbeasts that didn’t have the talent to become class sixs, and very different to the class five soulbeasts that once attacked Praestia Pass in the soulbeast wave.
This was actually another peculiar point that could be attributed to the Skywards Mountains. Soulbeasts blessed in birth were practically nil here since many soul cultivators from Praestia Pass would come through here to reach the class six area. The smarter soulbeasts knew how dangerous those soul cultivators would be, and moved accordingly.
In other words, the soulbeasts left here were drastically ‘weaker’, so many schools and inexperienced soul cultivators liked to come here to train.
On the third day….
Bai Yunfei sat upon a rock, his eyes wide open as he looked at a peculiar sight in front of him.
A….mushroom.
To be more specific, these were mushrooms that were alive….
These were the class three soulbeasts, the leaping mushrooms.
Their caps orange in color and their bodies white, these leaping mushrooms lacked hands and legs. Their caps have two large white eyes and just below it, a tiny tiny ‘mouth’.
Five leaping mushrooms leapt down to Bai Yunfei when he slept. With Bai Yunfei’s lowered soulforce and the lack of ‘hostile’ aura, these soulbeasts weren’t afraid of him. They were far more curious in fact, and leapt all around him to look at the mysterious never before seen ‘being’ in front of them.
Likewise, Bai Yunfei had never seen these type of soulbeasts before. And so for a while, the five mushrooms and one human stared at one another.
“Chirp!!”
All of a sudden, the chirping of Xiao Qi echoed through the forest. Having just returned from its fishing trip, Xiao Qi flew through the forest, ‘startling’ the mushrooms so that they leapt here and there before fleeing into the forest.
A rainbow bolt of light descended onto the area before it dropped two fatty fishes right in front of Bai Yunfei’s eyes. The light came to a stop on Bai Yunfei’s shoulders, now as small as a pigeon to stare curiously into the direction the leaping mushrooms fled towards.
“Haha, so the class five area has strange soulbeasts like this too….” Bai Yunfei laughed. What he was talking about wasn’t the ‘rare’ soulbeasts, but the ‘harmless’ ones, even if they were of a lower level.
But Xiao Qi was very curious. Taking off from his shoulder, Xiao Qi gave chase to the mushrooms. And in time, there was a happy chirp as Xiao Qi caught up to one of them.
Xiao Qi was a mid-stage class six soulbeast. Just its aura alone would frighten a leaping mushroom to tears, let alone try to escape. But as curious as it was, Xiao Qi continued to give chase and observe them like how a child would.
“Ha….” Bai Yunfei shook his head. Xiao Qi was strong, yes, but it was also still just barely a year old. No matter how fast it grew, Xiao Qi was still like a child, and Bai Yunfei knew that it liked to ‘play’ with other soulbeasts.
The farther Xiao Qi got, the more Bai Yunfei grew reluctant to interrupt it. Taking the two fishes, Bai Yunfei finally decided to follow after it.
The leaping mushrooms weren’t very intelligent, and after even after being chased by Xiao Qi for nearly ten minutes, none of the mushrooms knew anything but to run, and none of them had realized that they were being chased in circles….
And Xiao Qi’s interest in them didn’t wane at all, it seemed. Pretending to be hard at work chasing the mushrooms, Xiao Qi maintained a good few meters behind them and watched as the mushrooms ran themselves into exhaustion.
At last, the five mushrooms leapt through a part of the forest and came to a stop. Their entire bodies lit up with orange light before they each drilled into the ground and went motionless.
As soon as they were submerged, their auras disappeared.
This way, they looked just like five ordinary mountain mushrooms.
“……”
Unfortunately for them, Xiao Qi saw what they did. Hovering in the air, Xiao Qi looked on in interest at the ‘play-dead’ actions the mushrooms were doing with great curiosity.
Following from behind, Bai Yunfei could feel the emotions coming from Xiao Qi and how it felt about the mushrooms….
If they saw Xiao Qi staring at them so intently, the five mushrooms surely would’ve sweatdropped by now.
“Haha, don’t scare them so much, Xiao Qi. You’ll frighten them to death.” Unable to stop himself any longer, Bai Yunfei laughed and moved to stop the bird.
Just a little angrily, Xiao Qi came flying back to Bai Yunfei, sparing just a brief look to glance at the pitiful mushrooms.
“Let’s find a place to make lunch. I’ve lost the way with you flying around so much.” Bai Yunfei laughed, “we can find the route back afterwards.”
Taking the two fishes, Bai Yunfei went for the nearby hill for its elevation.
Xiao Qi brightened up at the sound of having lunch. Chirping happily, it flew after Bai Yunfei.
“Roarrrrr!!!”
From a little ways ahead, Bai Yunfei suddenly heard a furious roar come from the other side of the hill.
“Hm?” Bai Yunfei grew still, his eyes shining curiously. This sound seemed to have sparked a strange type of reaction in him.
Looking off to the source of the sound, Bai Yunfei said, “Doesn’t that sound a little familiar? Could it be….”