It was a beautiful day. The sun’s rays were sprinkling down onto the earth with a warm glow, and the gusts of wind felt refreshing to the face. In the skies above, several streaks of light flew through it.
Six people were traveling within these streaks of light. At the forefront of the group was Xiao Binzi, and behind him was Bai Yunfei and the others.
The group headed straight for the capital of the Southward River Province after they left the Underworld School. From there, they rode one of the still developmental and not yet ready for public ‘airships’. It took them only half a month for them to fly from the Southward River Province to Redfire City in the Great Plains Province.
“We’re here. That’s Mount Crimson in front of us, the place where our Crafting School is.”
The group had disembarked from the airship and flew the rest of the way afterward. It took no time at all for them to reach the mountain where the Crafting School was. Since Zheng Kai had never seen the school before, Bai Yunfei pointed at the mountain with the crimson-red fogs for him to see.
“That’s Mount Crimson? It looks as majestic as the rumors say.” Zheng Kai praised at the sight of the towering mountain.
Since this was the first time for Xiao Qi and Long Lan, the two of them both had an interested look on their faces.
“Oh?”
Just as everyone was getting close to Mount Crimson—just about a few dozen kilometers away now—the group came to a sudden stop.
In the skies above Mount Crimson, the crimson-red clouds were started to churn violently!
And then, a pillar of fire shot straight up from the mountain through the clouds!
“Is this…a Worldly Phantasm?” Bai Yunfei muttered, “Did someone craft a heaven-tier soul armament?”
“No! This isn’t a Worldly Phantasm, this is…the King’s Phenomena!!” Exclaimed Xiao Binzi in direct opposition to Bai Yunfei’s thought. There was something to this Xiao Binzi took notice that Bai Yunfei didn’t.
He grew silent for a second to confirm what he was sensing.
“This is it! This is the King’s Phenomena! This aura…is Jiang Nan’s! He’s become a Soul King!”
“What?!”
“Senior Jiang Nan?!” Bai Yunfei exclaimed. “He’s…he’s become a Soul King?! This is what happens when someone becomes a Soul King?!”
“This is Jiang Nan without a doubt! He’s broken through so quickly…” Xiao Binzi looked shocked at the sight. “Faster now! Seeing the King’s Phenomena is a rare sight, it’ll do you all some good.”
The group flew even faster at that to rush towards Mount Crimson.
……
Now that they were closer to the Crafting School, Bai Yunfei could see that the pillar of fire was coming from the Northern Point of the school behind the main halls. That was the mountain point where the elders and their students would normally have their closed-door meditation in.
Throngs of people were gathered in the main halls of the Main Point. It seemed like almost everyone from the Crafting School was there to look up at the giant pillar of fire sprouting up from one of the mountains.
Most of the students were standing on the ground, though there were a few that were floating in the skies. But regardless, everyone had their eyes on where the pillar was sprouting from.
The figures in the skies were the key figures to the Crafting School, namely the headmaster Kou Changkong, second elder Huangfu Rui, third elder Cang Yu, and even Bai Yunfei’s master Zi Jin.
Under the guidance of Xiao Binzi, the group flew through the skies to approach the skies above the main hall.
With so many powerful auras rapidly approaching, it didn’t take for the group to catch the attention of the people on the ground.
“That’s the first elder! The first elder’s back!”
“Senior Song, Li and Lian are all back! Did they get any of the Extreme King Pills?”
“Eh…? Isn’t…isn’t that teacher Bai?! Teacher Bai is back too!”
“It’s true, it’s true! That’s teacher Bai! Wasn’t he in the Capital? What’s he doing with the first elder?”
“Don’t you know? I heard from senior Tingting when she came back from the Southward River Province that teacher Bai was nearby when the Extreme King Pills were being fought over. She must’ve known that teacher Bai would’ve participated. And the two must’ve come across each other, so they came back together.”
“There’s two strangers with them, I can’t tell who they are…”
“……”
The approach of Bai Yunfei and his group gave rise to the chattering of many of the crafters gathered there. Like a hive of bees, the entire plaza was soon abuzz with chatter before Huangfu Nan sent a glance over to the plaza and immediately quieted them.
“Master, senior, second elder, and third elder…”
Bai Yunfei dropped down to the elevation of the elders and immediately bowed to them.
Song Lin, Zheng Kai, and the others were quick to follow suit. “This junior is Zheng Kai from the house of Zheng, it is an honor to pay my respects to seniors…”
Zi Jin and the others had an odd expression on their faces when they saw Zheng Kai, but when his eyes swept across onto Bai Yunfei, Zi Jin smiled in satisfaction. “Let us wait for Jiang Nan to finish before we talk.”
It was a crucial moment for Jiang Nan’s breakthrough right now. Now was most definitely not the proper time to be talking.
And so the entire group turned back to look towards the Northern Point. Feeling the burning heat of the elemental fire, Bai Yunfei felt quite surprised. This was the first time he had ever seen a soul cultivator become a Soul King. He did see Long Lan become a class seven, but there hadn’t been anything as awe-inspiring as this sight. Perhaps there was a difference in how a soul cultivator and soulbeast broke through.
At first, the waves of elemental fire had been extremely powerful to feel. In time though, the pillar of fire started to transmit waves of soulforce as well. It was rhythmic, like the beating of a heart. The palpitations started very weakly at first, but after a dozen seconds or so, the fire pillar was now enveloped in a great bubble of soulforce.
Soon after, the elemental fire started to look as though it was being reined in now. Like being guided, the energy started to compress in on the pillar and be absorbed into a point on the Northern Point.
Upon seeing that, Huangfu Nan’s eyes sparkled with glee, “Haha! He’s done it!”
Likewise, Zi Jin, Kou Changkong, and the others all had a smile on their faces.
Jiang Nan was very clearly breaking through to become a Soul King.
As the pillar of fire continued to shrink, the crimson red fogs around them started to calm down a bit. As the area with the densest levels of soulforce and elemental fire, the Northern Point was soon settling down…and in time, the Kings Phenomena was gone without a trace.
“It’s a success! The fourth elder has become a Soul King!”
“Our Crafting School has gained another Soul King!”
Gradually, the entire plaza soon started to pick up in steam once again. This time, Huangfu Nan didn’t bother to silence them. While the students were left free to talk as they pleased, the people up in the skies flew into the halls to talk.
Jiang Nan had become a Soul King, but he still needed some time to consolidate his power and get adjusted to them. For that reason, he’d need to stay where he was for the meanwhile and shouldn’t be disturbed.
Now that everyone was seated, Bai Yunfei and his group first spoke to Kou Changkong of the matters with the Extreme King Pill and the fight that happened in the pocket. Though the headmaster and elders had heard rumors of what happened, they were still surprised to hear the finer details of it all. They looked even more pleased when Bai Yunfei spoke about Song Lin and the others obtaining some of the Extreme King Pill fragrance and silently commented in sorrow when they heard about Bai Yunfei not being able to get any.
With their talks now over, Kou Changkong decided to let Song Lin and the others to rest. He instructed then that after their rest, Song Lin, Li Tiechui, and Lian Lingmin should go into closed meditation and make use of the Extreme King Pills in their bodies to grow stronger and try to become a Soul King.
Zheng Kai and Bai Yunfei retreated after that to allow for the elders to discuss amongst themselves.
……
Bai Yunfei was immediately set upon a crowd the moment when he walked out from the main hall.
“Bro strawhat!! You’re back!!”
A cheerful cry rang through the crowd first before a figure in pink-red clothes came running up to Bai Yunfei. It was Huangfu Rui in her normally-innocent demeanor as always to laugh and greet Bai Yunfei.
“Yes, I’m back.” Bai Yunfei returned the smile with one of his own. Unable to stop himself, he patted the girl on the head and rubbed it, resulting in a wide grin from the girl.
“Tingting, you’re here too!”
It was Zheng Kai’s turn to cry out. Breaking out into smile and stride, Zheng Kai rushed to speak to Kou Tingting from behind Huangfu Rui.
“Zheng Kai? You’re here too…?” Kou Tingting looked surprised to see Zheng Kai but responded to him with a greeting of her own before nodding to Bai Yunfei.
“Tingting, is little Rui alright?” Naturally, Bai Yunfei thought about what happened to Huangfu Rui back in Formagua City and was worried.
Kou Tingting shook her head, “She’s fine…she’s exactly the same as before.”
Bai Yunfei sighed in relief, though there was still a nagging worry in the very depths of his heart that he couldn’t get over.
He was still cautious about this mysterious ‘Dongfang Ming’ and what he might’ve done towards Huangfu Rui.
“Yunfei, you’re finally back!”
“Brother Bai! Welcome back!”
“Brother Bai…”
A second set of cries greeted Bai Yunfei’s ears. Turning, he saw a group of people coming through the current crowd to get to him.
Fei Nian, Mo Xiaoxuan, Xi Yan, Zhong Xuhao, Liu Mang, Zhang Sanxian, Si Kongxian, and a few others. These were all the close friends Bai Yunfei had within the school.
Seeing these familiar faces, Bai Yunfei smiled and nodded at them all.
He was happy to see them.